I would have expected the installer to come back for that 150.00 install and at least find out what the problem is. He should have at least tested it out. Have you tried running another load in case it was just air in the hoses from the initial startup?

I had an error code the first load I did on my new washer, I called customer support, they told me to unplug it, wait five minutes and try again, it worked. Hopefully it's just a start up glitch...

I can't imagine why anyone would pay $150 to have a washing machine installed. I've done every machine I've bought myself, and one for my neighbor as well. Nothing to it. Drain hose, hot/cold fill hoses are included, electric cord ready to go. Unbox the machine, locate the instruction sheet, follow the instructions for releasing any shipping straps or bolts, set it in place, connect the hoses, level it, done.

As for what I'd do ... I'd unplug the machine, disconnect the fill hoses and check if perhaps some debris in the water lines broke loose and clogged the screens, clean them if necessary. Run the hot and cold water full-force into a bucket to make sure the lines are clear. Make sure the end of the drain hose isn't pushed down too far into the standpipe to cause siphoning. Reconnect, power-up and run another load.

Dadoes, unfortunately not all of us are DIY'ers and some of us have very young children underfoot with a clueless husband at work. I needed a decent install with the dryer venting done safely. I doubt at 5'0 tall and 105 lbs that I could have pushed those machines around like the guy did today. Home depot was supposed to have installed for free but walked away from the job. I will be pushing them tomorrow to reimburse me the $150 as I have read the fine print of their install terms and it seems they were just lazy. I agree that $150 is a lot for what did seem like a fairly simple, straightforward job. Hence, my amazement that HD wouldn't complete it.

Anyhoo - I have unplugged it numerous times and checked the hoses but will try those other suggestions. An asst. mgr at Home Depot and I are on a first name basis at this point, and he has agreed to help try to fix the problem asap and [possibly] get Maytag to cooperate quickly. Unfortunately it's not a start up glitch as the error code happens each and every time on "normal" wash cycle at the same time in the cycle. It WILL function on a "quick wash" cycle, but not sure if it's rinsing or not. It certainly is not washing very well....wouldn't even get leaves off a sock!! Don't know if that is just the lack of thorough cleaning on that particular cycle though.

I am feeling even more remorse for not choosing the LG's....

Thank you all for the input.

Are you positive that the hoses are hooked up the right way? i.e. Hot to hot and cold to cold? I hooked up my Whirlpool Duet HT once the wrong way, (which is almost identical to your machine) and had the same type of error.

No I'm not positive. I would hope that my appliance guy who is very knowledgeable would get the hoses the right way, but anyone can make a mistake. I don't get this insufficient water error code on the one other cycle I've tried, but I do think it's some sort of water input issue as I cannot see where there is ANY water at all coming in to rinse the clothes. It doesn't drain after the so-called rinse cycle, just spins. The hair and yuck from the clothes remains on the window and the clothes coming out are very fragrant with the Tide. Nice smell, but another clue that there is no rinsing. The Home Depot mgr on the phone earlier this evening thought it might be a faulty sensor.

It's just been a disappointing day and I'm hugely disappointed in Maytag and Home Depot.

...but I do think it's some sort of water input issue as I cannot see where there is ANY water at all coming in to rinse the clothes. It doesn't drain after the so-called rinse cycle, just spins. The hair and yuck from the clothes remains on the window and the clothes coming out are very fragrant with the Tide. Nice smell, but another clue that there is no rinsing.And that's a clue that the hot and cold hoses may be reversed. The machine likely rinses in cold water, so if the hot hose is on the cold connection, it may sense the hot water flowing when it should be cold, and trigger the error.

Or maybe the installer forgot to turn ON the cold water faucet? Can you reach behind the machine and check that?

three-daisies, did you purchase the extra length hoses from Home Depot? Are they called "flood-safe"?

You say they are less prone to bursting, but do you know if they have an automatic shut off feature in the event of a rupture?

If so, that most likely is your trouble. That type of hose causes all sorts of trouble with the new washers. I'll bet your washer is fine.

Have your installer replace them with hoses that don't include the auto shutoff.

Here is a link that might be useful: flood safe

dadoes, I definitely checked to make sure both faucets were on. But they definitely could be reversed if the hoses aren't clearly marked for hot and cold (maybe my installer didn't know that, I sure didn't).

dixiedarlin1, in fact I did purchase the extra length hoses from HD. Don't know if the brand itself is Flood Safe, but that's exactly the type I have, I"m sure it's the same - the braided stainless steel 6 ft hoses. [I needed the extra length as my faucets are in the basement - the hoses run down thru a hole in the floor and connect the pipes just below. The other pipes burst a long time ago from freezing so I guess a plumber re-routed the connections.]

I am also suspicious the hoses are the problem! If these hoses are so great, I wonder why they cause all sorts of havoc with the washers. Seems like an odd choice - get the safer hoses, but have your washing machine not work with them.

As an update, I must give some credit to Home Depot which has been very attentive to me. The salesguy arranged for someone to come out this afternoon to hopefully fix whatever ails the washer or hoses.

FloodChek hoses are more robust than normal hoses, and don't have any active components to interfere with flow.

I'll bet the hoses are reversed. Happened to me 12 years ago when I got my first Boschs (Bosches? It looks wrong either way...)

I've insisted on certified installers ever since.

three_daisies, if the hoses are simply not reversed, insist that your installer make sure that you are not using the 'flood safe' hose. If they are, get a different set of hoses!

For some reason the check valve engages and stops water flow when there is no apparant problem, causing all sorts of problems, inconvenience and disappointments.

Is it possible the check valve end is attached to the washer rather than the faucet?

Now you see why I say to buy appliances from a competent appliance dealer! Even if they cost a couple bucks more, and I doubt it would be $150 more, you would have probably had it installed, tested and if there was a problem they wouldn't make you wait weeks for service like the BigBox places do.

BTW, if the hoses you're talking about are the rubber hoses with the braided steel jacket on the outside, it's a total myth that they're less prone to bursting. Actually, many plumbers recommend against them since most hoses will swell and you can see them start having trouble, but with the jacket, it holds it in so you don't see it, and it actually puts more stress on the hose itself.

If it's a water issue, one thing you could do that is simple to test it is put a "Y" connector on the launtry tub faucet, connect both hoses onto that, turn on both the hot and cold and give it a test. That would provide water to both at all times and you'd know whether that's the problem.

Oh, and in fairness, EVERY manufacturer can have a defective machine. So far we don't know if the machine is defective or if the install was defective. But you can't blame the manufacturer for that. You have to take responsibility yourself that you bought from HD. None of the big box places will come out immediately. And what's worse, if you were suckered into buying a service contract, this would just be a preview of coming attractions.

Good luck. Hope everything works out for you.

Cynic - I totally agree. HD definitely wasn't my first choice (nor would be my 2nd or 3rd choice) for an appliance purchase, but we were using AmEx points turned into HD gift cards for the washer purchase - unfortunately, to get a "free" washer, we were locked into the Big Box store (AmEx offers no alternative to a HD type store to cash in points). However, as I mentioned in an earlier post, this HD's particular store's asst. mgr and salesguy have tried their best to be helpful and understanding. The 3rd party delivery people were the inital problem, and I think, after a long friendly chat with HD yesterday in person, I believe they are going to refund me the $150 I paid.

As an aside, HD's installation terms don't mention the restrictions or reasons the installers gave for not completing the job (they can't go on other floors of the home). I didn't contract for those undisclosed terms, and they can't just NOT install for their own reasons without the customer being a party to (and agreeing to) those conditions. It's basic contract law. HD needs to rewrite its installation terms to reflect the conditions under which an install will or won't take place....

Well, here's the update. Dadoes & Zedd (and cynic)- you were RIGHT on!! The install was defective - the hoses were switched. When my guy hooked them up to the faucets through the laundry floor in the basement, he couldn't see which went with the cold & hot - or did not realize they were temperature specific. Oh great. Anyway, I wasn't charged for that service call (which had been arranged by Home Depot with an authorized Maytag service group) and I was able to successfully complete about 4 normal cycle loads once the hoses were switched. I was relieved that it didn't seem to be anything with the washer itself.

THEN, another ERROR code - I began a sanitary cycle which has a pre-programmed cycle time of 1:50, then it added time to show 2:30. It kept adding bits of time and I finally went to bed. I did notice that there were some more suds than in the other cycles although I had been careful about not adding too much HE Tide. Got up this morning to find F-27 flashing and the towels sitting in some water (as if the cycle had stopped during the rinse cycle). I did drain and spin according to the troubleshooting and have started the towels on a normal cycle with NO detergent to ensure that they are rinsed well. I don't know if this is a preview of what will happen on any sanitary cycle, but I'm going to test it again today.

Thanks again for all the input.

Bravo! Very happy to hear your machine is working! I can understand having a 3, 5 and 7 year old ourselves that the laundry piles up FAST!

I would suspect the F-27 error is due to over suds error. The hotter that water, the more suds are produced. The smallest amount of detergent produces suds like crazy on sanitary cycle. I have found Tide HE to be very sudsy as it is. I have given up on HE liquids all together. If you have soft water, you may want to give HE powders a try. I find powder to be less sudsy more so on hotter temps and rinses cleaner all together.

The target to shoot for is a FEW suds/bubbles being splashed onto the window. In a HE front load machine, too many suds results in reduced cleaning performance, all the water is used up to make suds and there is no water left to actually clean the clothes.

When I used liquid, I would get a pitcher of hot water, and a table spoon of liquid at a time followed by flushing it into the machine with hot water from the pitcher into the machine. So I would put 2 tablespoons into the dispenser then start the machine, once the machine had filled on it's own, I would watch the suds. No suds yet? Add another table spoon of liquid flushed with some hot water from the pitcher. It could get a little tricky using the Sanitary cycle, because as the machine heated the water hotter, more suds were produced.

There is a learning curve with HE front loaders, learning how to not over suds the machine, while still using enough detergent to get clean clothes. Having 3 young children, almost all their clothes have been washed on sanitary on a regular basis. The biggest thing I had to get my brain around was that SUDS does not equal cleaning power. I had to get used to seeing very little to no suds and trusting that the clothes were getting clean. Worst thing that could happen is I had to re-run the load with more detergent, and chalk it up to a test run.

I have been using home made laundry soap the past few months and find it works better than anything store bought, and produces very little suds and is very forgiving for over dosing the machine. I have tried pretty much every liquid and powder on the market both HE and non-HE. As far as claims for HE detergent (both liquid and powder) producing less suds, I have not found that to be the case. I found no difference in suds or cleaning power between for example Tide HE powder or normal regular every day Tide.

Remember that all detergent manufacturers want you to use as much detergent as possible. Half or less of what they tell you to use usually does the job.

Have been eying up the Maytag 3000 series in Crimson red as a replacement for our 6.5 year old Whirlpool Duet HT which is getting a little tired after 10+ loads a week for 6.5 years.

Thanks Zedd. Reading this forum I was on alert that there can always be a suds problem with the FL's, and I sort of suspected that something might go wrong on the sanitary cycle of towels last night after seeing the suds. It wasn't an enormous amount, but more than I had seen in my 4-5 normal loads done previously. The F-27 error code isn't specifically addressed in the manual so I don't know if it was suds or overflow (a google search on f-27 came up as "overflow condition" on Whirpools). I actually did one successful sanitary cycle of underwear, socks prior to aborted towels cycle. I am going to do a load of sheets on sanitary to see if the problem happens again. The sanitary cycle is a feature that I was really looking forward to with 3 small kids and a somewhat stinky yellow lab! If the error is due to the weight of the towels, that will be problematic as I really like the towels to be extra clean....

I have currently the Tide HE liquid, but will buy some HE powder to see if there's a difference. So it seems that I will also have to test out amounts with the sanitary cycle, especially.

The Red 3000 model is great looking, although I bought the white b/c of price. The good news: this washer is QUIET, quieter than my Kenmore 80 series TL, and there's not a lot of vibration. I did not opt for the pedestal. It seems to have adequate water for the wash cycle (I've seen that concern about FL's on this forum). The matching dryer seems to work just fine, similar to my old Kenmore dryer in time - NOT the quick drying that I expected though.

However, I can't tell YET that the clothes are so much cleaner and fresher than with my old TL. Some dirt stains on my toddler's pants from the playground did NOT come out even with Shout pretreat spray. I haven't done a "whitest-whites" cycle yet, but the white socks that came out of the sanitary cycle were not much brighter than when I did them in the old TL on hot. I've seen people rave about how clean the clothes are and how old stains come out in FL's, but so far in my limited experience, this washer hasn't done that.

Lastly - Home Depot just called and is putting back $150 on my credit card to pay for my installation.

"Old" stains may not disappear immediately, but they'll fade over a few washes. Some may not.

I've found Wisk HE 2X liquid to be particularly low-sudsing (pretty much NON-sudsing) in my Calypso. And it has a nice scent.

Tide HE powder does generate some suds, but they're "light-weight" suds and dissipate quickly when washing action stops.

I've never used Tide HE liquid.

I suggest selecting the highest "Soil Level" setting available for whichever cycle you're using, to make the wash cycle longer. After all, that's when most of the cleaning takes place. American-market FL washers seem to have relatively short cycles, because that's what we're accustomed to. So any time you can add to the washing part of the cycle is worthwhile.

i bought a maytag Bravos series 800 set, washer and dryer, just before Christmas and had them installed the next day. Used them several times for large items, regular clothes, and sheets, all washed on warm/cold cycles. In the past the only time I use hot water is on white clothes with bleach, like my hubbies underwear and t-shirts. Since that load is so small, I waited till I had more to do that first hot wash load. When I did, I got the LF code blinking back at me. I pulled out the manual and did all the checks I was supposed to do. When hubby got home he did them as well and we figured out that it had to be the water valve or cellonid (sp??) that wasn't functioning right and that probably I was really just using the cold water on all the previous wash loads but never knew that since the lid locks during the cycle. But all the other load came clean - so guess it didn't hurt. I called the # I had for contact and they arranged for someone to come out on Jan. 2nd. He went through all the checks we did and came up with the same answer. BUT it is taking a week for the part to come in and it will be this Monday, the 12th before the install of the new valve. By then I will have a full load of whites. I have been able to do the regular loads with no problems. Since I always used to use cold water on most of our clothes, it hasn't been too bad but I do like to use hot occasionally on sheets, esp. if someone has been sick around the house or on the towels when we have colds.

I use Wisk, even before I got the HE washer. It is cheaper and does as well as Tide. I also find less of what I call "grease marks" on hubby's dress pants. I thought it had come from the softener but after using a bottle of Tide that I got on sale a while back, I noticed the grease marks again that I never got when using Wisk. (and the same softener that I used with both detergents.)This was with my old washer not the new one. So I guess it is not from the softener but from the detergent.

I still have mixed emotions about the Bravos series. Love the tub for comforters and large loads but not the longer cycles in the washer and dryer.

Well my Maytag 3000 series washer only 1.5 years old with light to moderate use decided it only wants to work 30 minuts after power is restored F70 fault(intermittently). After 3 visits from the maytag man both motor control and control panel were replaceed and $685.00 dollars in parts and labor it couldnt be fixed so, Sears refunded the parts and charged me 128.00 labor. I am now waiting for my compairable model LG to arrive by the way I bought the 5 year total extended warrentee and the Maytag is going into the basement untill it completely dies as a second machine(lucky me). as an engineer explained, the computer control circuit is taking its sweet time to reset. There seems to be a flaw in the CCM design that you would think maytag(whirlpool)is aware of. I assume it costs more to replace the computer control unit than to buy a new machine.