raleigh, just out of curiosity -- why did you replace the Whirlpool Duet Sport with a Whirlpool-manufactured Kenmore, rather than switching to another brand altogether? (FWIW, I have the HE2T and am very pleased with it after 3 months).

raleigh....what "issues" did you notice that made you think the heater was not functioning? What did you do or how did you prove that the heater was not working in the 3 cycles (whitest whites, heavy duty, sanitary)? Or did you just go by what other people had said by your research on the internet? You are talking about the 8500, not the 8300, right?

I'm very interested about this because I have the 8500 sport HT. I have been very pleased and happy with the sport. I haven't had any problems with it, no leaks during clean cycle either. After reading a post on here a while back about the 2/06 vs 3/06 manual, the questionable heater issue, I called whirlpool. I've since called them again about these same issues aftering reading another post. Both calls lasted almost an hour, with the whirlpool reps putting me on hold to find answers to this. I was told that the first manual which would be the one dated 2/06 had the heater paragraph accidently left out of it so that's the reason for the second manual dated 3/06. Whirlpool says that there were not any changes made to the machine itself the 8500 has always had the heater just the manual was wrong. I was also told that if your water heater is set at 140 degrees that the heater wouldn't be working as long to heat the water to the 153 degrees for super hot. My water heater is set very hot. Ok, I bought both of those explanations, but now your post has gotten me wondering again.

I would really like to know if there is some way to test/prove if the heater is working other than draining the water into a bucket to take the temperature as one poster suggested, I'm afraid I'd have water all over my laundry room doing that trick! I wished the door would unlock during the cycle like some other front loaders do. I will say though that during heavy duty, whitest whites & santitary cycles I have felt the sides of my washer, the door and it is very warm, there is steam and heat coming from the dispenser tray too. This indicates to me that the heater must be working.

Unless someone can give some concrete proof that infact the heater does not work in the cycles that Whirlpool says it does, I just don't understand why Whirlpool would advertise that the 8500 has a on board heater that works in 3 cycles??? What would be the reasoning for them to lie, do appliance manufacturer do that??? This is driving me nuts, I have half a notion to call a service guy out to look at my washer maybe they could tell me what cycles the heater is working on.

Sounds to me like OP basically got PO'd and sold it without bothering to learn what was actually going on. Hopefully he has a good manual, now, at least.

Well frankie57 I guess you will never know if it does or not with that high of water temp at the water heater. You would not get water all over the place either by draining it into a bucket. Furthermore the people who man the phone at 1-800-253-1301 know nothing. I also made further phone calls to verify if the appliance was actually changed in production and that answer was yes. I seen you post about this too on another sticky and obviously you have yet to prove this wrong. Turn you water heater down to 120 and in a few days test it on heavy duty "hot"...drain into bucket. Once you do that come back and tell me this is bs. According to the service manual at servicematters.com for the sport 8500 it should heat to 140 for whitest whites and heavy duty and 153 sanitary. There is no way that it heats with a manual dated 2/06 by design it is! If it heated to 140 and then dropped to 100 degrees by the time the wash cycle drains is also plain bs. Fact is most at Whirlpool know nothing about the change made in this washer and that there are two differences in this model. When you test your sport as noted and DO SO, post back!

I need to drink after all I been through with my Duet Sport HT. LOL. Actually I check this forum often and forever have waited for somebody else with this issue. Now I can sleep at night knowing I was right all along. If you want answers on this from Whirlpool be sure to dig deep until you get the truth. Start by calling the technicians number and insist they connect you to somebody who knows about this and you will have the answer you don't want to hear. Im done with this whole issue and all I can say is the Sport HT is a very nice washer but the Kenmore version was an afterthought done right.

raleigh......its not that I don't believe you (or Northwoods) and think that you are wrong about this issue, so no need to get grumpy with me. I'm not saying I have proved this wrong, nor am I defending Whirlpool. I don't work for or have stock in or own Whirlpool, I'm just a normal person who bought a washer. I also don't like getting ripped off any more than any other consumer , all I'm asking is what did you do, besides draining water into a bucket, what number did you call, to determine for sure that the heater doesn't work on the cycles that Whirlpool says it does? I am asking this so that I can test my machine. I also am aware that the people who answer the phones on the 800-253-1301 line don't know much other than answering basic questions about Whirlpool products. But both times when I called I was put on hold for 30-40 minutes while the person talked to somebody who supposedly knew the answer to this. Or at least I'm hoping that was the fact. I've looked before for the tech line but couldn't find it, could you or Northwoods please give me the number so that I could call them?

For starters I am a very satisfied user of the Kenmore 2t, but I'm also familiar with the sport HT. Yes there are differences between the machines, but that's not one of them. So naturally if your heater isn't working on all three cycles then it's defective and should be replaced or serviced. Remember though, you'll turn the heater off for the cycle if you change the preset temperature.

HI..................

Duet HT 9300 owner here for almost 2 yrs. Can someone elaborate on this "clean cycle?" My machine does not have this. I saw some where where it runs for 50 minutes and fills with alot of water. How much water. It makes me think I should have been cleaning my Duet every month but I don't have a clean cycle on my machine.

Mark

I think, I may be wrong, somebody correct me if so, but I believe that the clean washer cycle is a fairly new cycle that was added to the 8300 & 8500 sports when they came out. The newer 9400 & 9200 have the clean washer cycle on them now too. Mark, if you've had your 9300 for almost 2 years that is probably why you don't have that cycle on yours.

The clean washer cycle is 56 minutes long, you are supposed to add 2/3 cups liquid chlorine bleach, I only use about 1/2 cup though. I'm not to sure exactly how much water it fills with but it does come about half way up the window. It swishes the water one way for a while then the other way, then again the other, and so on. Rinses and swishes, rinses an swishes, etc. The manual advises to run a clean cycle once a month, I don't because I run sanitary and hot washes alot, also use green detergents that don't leave the residue that some detergents do. I also dry the seal, inside of window and drum very well after each use. I know I probably should be running a clean cycle once a month, but...

You could probably clean your washer by running a hot cycle with a few rags with bleach or dishwashing detergent like others have suggested on here. Or call Whirlpool and ask them what they suggest.

Fyuute....may I ask how you are familar with the sport HT, would you be able to clear up this issue about the heater on the sport? Jeesh...I hope so!!!

My two-year-old 9400 has it. I thought they all did.

The point here is this for me and I'm sorry but northwoods is right as far as my washer was concerned. The truth of it will only happen under proper scenerios and being you keep your water heater at the recommended level of 120. There are all kinda versions from none other than Whirlpool itself on when how why heater is to come on then go off da da da. If that sensor senses in cycle its not up to temp the heater goes on once until it is reached. Thats the fact. The Kenmore even includes it on the normal cycle as stain treat option. And you may also turn off heater on cycles that automatically heat. However for me my washer is far from the water heater and how would you feel after researching this yours only heats one one cycle being sanitary? According to I quote the service manual at servicematters.com states 140 degrees for heavy duty hot/whitestwhites of course hot, 153 degrees sanitary. You tell me this too how is it possible for the main wash cycle to drain at 100 degrees after reaching 140? Comeon it would be pretty dang hot still an I can see 120 but 100? Thats taking a thermometer to the water drained. It not like it drains 20 gallons gee...it drains less than a good kitchen bucket full say three quarters full. Its easy to check this and if you have the same washer/manual 2/06 you would want to know. They need to fess up and tell customers the truth about it. After your personal findings to confirm the heater issue on the Sport do complain to them. Good luck.

I have had my Kenmore HE3t over 3 years now. It seems that the cycles are fairly similar on the current machines, though not exactly the same.

On the normal cycle, my washer adds cold water before draining the wash water for 2 minutes, or until 77F is reached, whichever comes first. The Sanitary/Whitest Whites/Heavy Duty cycles add cold water for up to 2 minutes or until 122F is reached. I measure water temp using an instant read thermometer. When the water temp goes above 120F or so, the door no longer opens. I estimate the top temp by measuring the water temp as soon as the heater engages, and then 5 to 10 minutes later. I then average how much the water temp rose per minute, and multiply it by how long the heater stays on. I can hear my heater click when it turns on or off. While my method is not perfect, it seems that the heater does reach the target temps of:
122F Hot (Normal Cycle w/ stain treat on)
127F Hot WW and HD cycles
153F Sanitary

The heater does turn on if the wash water is below 77F for cold or 104F for warm on the WW and HD cycles. That usually only happen when the cold water is very cold, and the load is small, so not enough hot water can be added to increase the water temp to the proper setting.

I clearly have too much time on my hands.

I believe that all machines sold in the US that heat over 120 will add cold water before draining, otherwise this causes problems with parts of the plumbing code.

The easiest way to determine when the heater is being used is to meter the electricity, eg with a $20 Kill-A-Watt meter. You can also snake a thin thermocouple wire between the door and the gasket without an noticable leakage. - DR

Thank you Joe! And Dross too! Now that you both mention that the machine brings cold water in before draining, I've heard mine do that and wondered why the heck would it bring water in just to drain immediately afterwards? I didn't realize that it was to cool the hot water down due to plumbing codes or whatever, makes perfect sense to me. What makes even more sense, finally, is that this is probably why when raleigh & northwoods took the temp of their drain water in the bucket it wasn't as hot as they expected or wanted it to be. They probably would get different readings on the temp depending on how cold their cold water is coming from tap, depending on how cold it is outside too. I know my cold tap water is very cold, with it being winter and also I'm on a well which the cold water tends to be very cold coming out of the well.

It would be so much easier if the sport would allow the door to be opened past the add-a-garment stage but it doesn't. The Bosch 500 I had prior to the Sport allowed the door to be opened during most of the cycle unless it was spinning or too hot. I might mess around with the kill-a-watt meter sometime just out of curiousity. Now with what Joe has said I'm pretty certain that the heater is working when it should.

I have been very happy and please with the Sport since I've had it, it's a very nice little machine that suits my laundry needs fine. I doubt I would have returned it anyway, sounds like some people might have given up on a perfectly good washer for nothing. I'm glad to be past this heater issue and will continue loving the little Sport!

Thanks again Joe for the info and thanks dross for finally adding your knowledge.