And this is what I found caught in the strainer. :-)

The machine had been abused with carelessness and BAD usage habits.

Thank you very much for clarification!

Do you by any chance know which washers have that little door in the lower panel?

Dadoes- I am surprised that Duet was draining the water out at all. That was a mess in there!

eleena: "Do you by any chance know which washers have that little door in the lower panel?"

I cannot give you a list, but I can tell you that our Samsung '419 washer has that little door for the filter.

I don't intend for the pics above to be alarmist or turn people away from frontloaders. This machine was horribly abused and neglected by the user (although to be sure, that may be more typical than not). They apparently rarely checked pockets, the collection of debris in the pump trap included screws, gun pellets, chicken bones, paper & cellophane wrappers, what appeared to be a tampon applicator, all bound together with lint into the most foul-smelling mass imaginable. There was a camera memory card caught in the tub outlet hose leading to the trap. The bellows, drum, & outer tub were coated with mildew & scum. I suspect they ran a lot of cold washes, likely *never* used the Sanitary cycle (the machine has onboard heating), overdosed liquid detergent and softener, never used chlorine bleach, and *never* ran the machine's cleaning cycle which in this case is not on the cycle dial but is a special key sequence outlined in the instruction manual (Read the manual? Why? It's just a washing machine, everybody knows how to use a washing machine ....).

"(Read the manual? Why? It's just a washing machine, everybody knows how to use a washing machine ....)."

LOL
I think what you found in the trap and overall condition of the machine says it all.

@dadoes: Wow that looks like the mission impossible trap. How did all those things make it through the tiny holes of the tub?! esp hard metal items?!

Reference the picture above. There's a small gap between edge of the drum and face of the outer tub. Small bits of debris can slip through there.

Dadoes,

Stupid me. I bought used old Whirlpool Duet that doesn't have Debris Filter access at front that's not accessible to clean. Looking at your picture, it needs to disconnect the entire back shell covering to get to it clean. Do I need to hire a technician to get the job done or me & my BF can do it?? I don't mind the cleaning but how complicated is it to take the covering apart & put them back on??

Raquel_Backstreet,

Please cite the model number for confirmation of the design.

If the front panel is one piece, doesn't have a separate, removable lower section, then the entire front has to come off. That involves removing the top panel, the control panel, detaching the door boot (thin wire/spring hidden behind the rim) from the front (NOT from the tub), and probably removing the door latch mechanism on back of the front panel before it can be set fully aside.

Access can *maybe* be had by detaching the door boot from the front panel and reaching down through the space without removing the front ... but that'd be a tight squeeze and also make a mess since there's no way to gracefully handle the residual water that'll spill out of the pump housing.

Whirpool Duet Washer GHW9150PW3. I attached a pic. It is on a pedestal drawer. If the filter is required to be clean monthly, Its horrible if there is no access for the consumer to get to it but take the entire shell covering apart. I will appreciate your advise.

There's no need to clean the pump filter monthly. It shouldn't need attention unless the machine is throwing a "long drain" error or some other problem is apparent ... that is assuming the user has good laundry habits that includes checking pockets for stray objects and avoiding washing shag throw rugs and other such linty/stringy items.

This model has a separate lower panel ... see the seam (red arrow in pic below) slightly below the door? That means the front panel is two pieces.

There are screws at the corners (blue arrow indicates one at the left) at the bottom of the lower panel (above the pedestal), maybe a 3rd screw in the middle.

Open the pedestal drawer to facilitate access to the screws. Or you can remove it completely, but the open drawer is a convenient "catch" for the residual water that will come out of the pump housing when you remove the filter cartridge.

Thank you so much for responding. The machine is running fine & no flashing error. I just got them and worried the people who had them may not be taking good care of it & when was the last last time they look at it. You said not monthly. How often should I open and clean it then? Untill I see flashing lights or see problem?? Because I just got them, thinking opening it to look to make sure the filter is in a good condition & clean. I prefer to prevent the problem vs. Already have a problem. :)

It's not a large ruckus to check the pump protector, then you'll know where you stand with it and can ignore it for the duration unless a problem is confirmed.

Where is the pump protector located? How do we check for it. What are we looking for? What's a bad or good signs??? Thanks again! Again, the machine is not showing any problem right now but I'm afraid it's very old that it maybe on its last leg! Lol

Raquel_Backstreet,

Look up at the first picture in this thread. It clearly indicates the pump protector housing. Remove the lower panel of your machine, gently move the wire harness support (if present) aside and unscrew the cartridge from the housing.

Thank you SO MUCH again dadoes! Me & my BF opened the pump protector. ( I didn't realized that's the pump protector is the same thing with debris filter! Lol.) Surely there is a lot of items we found in there! Nail cutter, metal screws (that causes rust stains) rocks, hair tie & clips. Now I understand how important to check pockets before throwing clothes in the washer! I cleand & sanitized the heck out of it!! It looks like the monthly sanitize cycle was not been done for a long time also. A lot of debris came out of the drum little holes too! They didn't have the manuals so I doubt it. so I printed it from website and learned how to run the sanitize cycle. It looks like it's running fine & no flashing light error. Now, the question is, if it's been abused in the past, although I will do great care for it now, would it still hold up for many more years? I guess only time can tell...How bad could have been affected from the past users who didn't take good care of it! Not sure how old it is and how long they had it. ..

I am shopping for a new machine and I googled but nowhere can I find the answer.. Most front loading washers don't have a filter access panel anymore. They have a filter but you need to take the entire machine apart to do what seems to me standard maintenance if you want to have the washer for 15+ years. The question is.. Why are access panels non-existent for most new washers? Are they useless? Is there no actual need to have access to coins/junk that might go down the drain? Do the machines have a pre-filter thing going on that coins/junk won't go down in the first place?

Most LG front loaders as well as Sears machines made by LG had a small square access panel on the left front of the machine.

My older Bosch Nexxt washer has an access panel as well on the right front of the machine. In the 8 years I have owned it I cleaned it out twice. The first time it was pretty gross. The second time about 6 months ago it looked brand new. I attribute this to using powdered laundry detergent and the use of Borax every now and then.

Jeff

Exactly Jeffrey, that's what I see with 2017 models. A few have that small panel to access the filter, most don't. Good brands like Electrolux, Maytag, and Whirlpool don't have them on any new model. I take it from your comment that powder detergent would be why you believe they were needed in the past?

For the first several years I used nothing but liquid detergent in my machine as I do warm washes about 90% of the time but I still had a bunch of "gunk" in my filter area. I then switched to powdered detergent and after cleaning the filter as recently as 6 months ago it looks brand new, The only change was switching to powdered detergent so I now use that 100% of the time.

I still think access to the clean-out filter is a good thing for items such as coins, screws, etc. and if I was looking for a new washer I would want this for my machine.

Jeff

Thanks for this insight Jeff. For now, with only you providing feedback I have to stand by my thought that a drain filter is a must have though the top brands don't provide access panels. Really baffling, it's like a select few great brands want us to break apart the machine or better yet, buy a new one every time the drain gets full?

What's even more of a mind frack is that sites like consumer reports and cnet have zero mention about maintenance over 15+ years. Anyone who buys a washer is obviously thinking "how long is this thing going to last and how much will I need to invest into it?". The filter thing is top of mind for me, it's an easy addition just put an access panel and that part will be good to go. For now, I guess top brands are out of the question. Quite a bummer.

can u please tell me why they dont have lint filters as i have a hoover hd vision and i own a dog and all my clothes still come out covered in hair and all threw the machine, seems like it just circulates, very frustrating

Not all front loaders have filters or "coin traps". I came across a low cost Electrolux front loader which did not show a filter or coin trap in the parts diagrams while the higher cost ones did.

I recommend you search for "washer parts" online and you can enter your model number and see the drawings (schematics) for your washer (or dryer), very helpful, also interesting to see how simple some are made or how complex, maybe to complex, some are made.

Having no coin trap or filter can cause a pin, small sock, small rock to get jammed in the drain pump.

I recommend yearly cleaning of your filter, even if is difficult to get to. :)