Katalina --- What made you think you needed to have them serviced? How were they performing? (I have F&P w/d, 2+ years old.)

The dryer was making a high pitched--even for the F&P--squeeling noise unlike any other sound it ever made. It sounded like bad brakes on a car.
The washer has been a disappointment from the beginning. I don't think the clothes get as clean as my old Whirlpool cleaned them for one thing. The other thing is it was never happy with a heavy load. A simple load of towels could sent it squealing and I had to rearrange the load. Forget any of my king size blankets or anything. I put them in there but I knew I would have to baby it along. I don't know how the suspension rods went out but the service guy checked it all and told me it had been installed correctly. It hadn't been installed by them. I asked him to check it because these problems just kept getting worse and worse.

If it was this bad from the beginning, why didn't you return it?

There is a known factory problem related to improper lubrication of the drum bearings on the topload dryer. Not all of them are affected. Mine is past three years and has not exhibited any symptoms. If that was the cause, then F&P should be approached about covering the repair. Your serviceman should have known about this, a service bulletin was issued on it.

The washer squealed with a heavy load? The only thing I can think of about the suspension rods that could cause squealing is if the tub sank down very low from the weight of the water and clothes, and the bottom of the motor rubbed on the floor. Was any evidence noted in accord with that? If the tub was leaning off-kilter, you'd obviously see it and know something wasn't right. FWIW, my GWL08 is eight years old and my IWL12 three years and no trouble with either. I've run eight pairs of jeans and very large loads of towels, it handles them fine.

In regards to cleaning results: Try using the soak option occasionally. Also use a proper detergent dosage. Some people apparently believe F&P agitator toploaders such as the GWL11 are HE-style machines and reduced amounts of detergent are to be used. That's not correct. True, the EcoActive wash phase uses only a small amount of water and theoretically would need only a small amount of detergent. However, the deep wash fills to normal levels and needs normal amounts of detergent to keep soil in suspension. EcoActive, in fact, is also intended to take a normal detergent dosage, which results in a very concentrated wash solution to kick-start the cleaning process. If you use regular high-sudsing detergent and get too much suds during EcoActive with a normal dose, start with a smaller amount of detergent, then ADD MORE up to normal dosage for the deep wash.

Hello Dadoes, I was hoping you would see this message. There was no evidence of the tub sinking down. If it was off kilter, I couldn't tell. We did check it for level. I use the normal amount of detergent and have used the soak option occasionally. It's OK in that regard, just not great. Just tonight, I put in a king size mattress pad, and a set of sheets and it went haywire again. I had to twice rearrange the load. I try carefully to balance the load from the start but it doesn't seem to do the trick. That's the annoyance it's had from the beginning. I thought it was an idiosyncrasy of that kind of machine so I just lived with it.

It was the dryer doing the squealing, not the washer. Right now the dryer is on the blink again. It isn't getting hot. I have to call the repair guy back. Aarg!

I sent FP a message about this trouble. If they do something nice for me, I'll post back about it.

You might try just washing the mattress pad alone. That way it might stay more even around the agitator and not have the sheets to throw it off. IMO the tub of those washers aren't all that big anyway so maybe the loads are just more than it can balance?

If the sheets and mattress pad are of considerably different fabric weight and absorbency, they'd best be washed separately. One of my mattress pads is very lightweight foam fiber that doesn't absorb much water, I wash it separately, never had a problem. I have a 100% cotton thermal blanket that gets VERY heavy when wet, I washed it with sheets ONCE, which are much lighter weight, and got an off-balance situation, so now I know not do that. It does fine with towels. I've never washed sheets with towels for example, but I have washed sheets with casuals such as cotton/blend shirts and shorts, which are similar fabric weight and absorbency.

Also, when running a load consisting of multiple large items such as sheets, DO NOT wrap them around the agitator. Gather each piece into a bundle and drop them down into the basket, spaced evenly around. Use smaller items, such as pillow cases, as "chinkers" between the larger items.

Of course, washing a *single* large items such as quilt, mattress pad, bedspread, etc., there's no choice other than to wrap it evenly around the agitator. Use the Delicate cycle set for a longer wash time (repeat the wash period if desired), and check the item before each spin to make sure it's still evenly distributed. My IWL12 has a special cycle for Comforters and the like, that is preset for high water level, moderate agitation speed, does two deep rinses with NO spin between, and then stops before final spin and beeps with a message on the display to check the item and press Start to continue with the spin.

Yes, I am the contributor to 3 large large loads of towels in dadoes' washer, part of his reference to large loads of towels. My 3.1 cu. ft. Frigidaire front loader holds 1/3 more towels than my 3.0 cu.ft. 1986 Lady Kenmore. When I put the typical Frigidaire load of towels in the F&P, it wasn't quite full. I've also washed a load of 10 long-sleeve & 12 short-sleeve polo-type shirts in his machine without a hiccup. And i wear large & xl in those types of shirts. I am going to be blunt, a king-size mattress pad and king-size sheets in the same load is simply too much for one load even in the largest domestic front loader, which holds more than an F&P. That's machine abuse.

I hardly abuse the machine, for heaven's sake. The mattress pad is exceedingly thin and the sheets are just sheets. This machine won't take the load size that my old Whirlpool Gold did. I used to wash king size comforters in it and also the slipcovers from some chairs (heavy denim) without a problem. I can't do that in the FP. It's just way too touchy a machine, that's all I'm saying.
The dryer works pretty well, I'm just annoyed I had to repair it so soon.

What cycle do you use for the sheets/mattress pad load, and how exactly do you load them into the machine? Anything else in the load, or only the three large items (mattress pad, top sheet, fitted sheet)? Have you tried my suggestion of dropping them in as bundles without wrapping around the agitator? That'd be easy to do with three items, dropping them into the three "sections" of the basket divided by the agitator fins.

Just for kicks, have you tried enabling the automatic out-of-balance recovery option to see if the machine can fix itself? You'd probably not want to leave that option enabled all the time, as it involves more time and water for filling and agitation to redistribute the load.

You might also try manually setting a water level (medium-high or high, I suppose) to eliminate the test agitation strokes for auto water level sensing. That may help prevent the items from getting shifted around as much, the test strokes tend to do that by their nature.

I just happened to stumble on this post, and I must say I am truly amazed. I thought with the advent of the washing machine it was supposed to free your time for other things. If you have to "baby sit" it during a complete cycle to get it to perform than you might as well get one of the roller machines in the 40's and wash your clothes!
You should not have to "coax" a washing machine into doing its job! What I am hearing is like telling someone they have to wash their flatware and dishes separately in the dishwasher.
I am sorry as complicated as folks have desparately tried to make laundry; it is not!
You ABSOLUTELY should not have to soak all your items or specific items that are not HEAVILY soiled to get them clean in a washing machine!! If you do the washing machine is the equivalent of having a Porsche in your driveway w/no engine! (it is useless)
All this different detergent for this fabric vs that fabric and cant wash this fabric type w/that fabric type, too little/too much detergent, water level to high or too low for deep cleaning vs. normal cleaning....
GIVE ME A BREAK PEOPLE....STOP THE INSANITY....(lol)
When the day comes that you cannot wash a king size set of sheets and mattress pad in todays washing machines, we all need to just give up and start washing along side the creek like they used to do on "Little House on the Prairie"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dadoes, no I haven't tried it yet because all sheets are clean! I'll try dropping in bundles next time I wash something like that. I do wash some things that don't really lend themselves to the bundle thing--like a comforter. I didn't even know there was an out-of-balance recovery option. I have the GL-11 and most of the time I use the regular wash.

lymylg: EXACTLY MY POINT!!! You said it much better than I did. Plus I had to repair both of them after only 3 years

My point is that, no, there shouldn't be this much trouble happening. As I stated, I've had no repairs or operational/usage trouble with either my GWL08 (now 8 years and 2 months old) or my IWL12 (three years and one week old). My questions and suggestions are to determine if there's something about the way the machine is being used or loaded that is contributing to the problems being experienced. The instruction manual specifically states that a mix of large and small items will wash and balance better, and not to wrap large items such as sheets around the agitator. Katalina apparently has not read her instruction manual thoroughly, as she did not know about the automatic balance recovery option (and perhaps other details about the machine's use and operation). The machine can't be faulted for that.

This picture and short video clip shows a rather large load that my IWL12 handled very well. It's the same capacity as Katalina's GWL11.

15-second agitation clip (5.2 MB). I have a 9-minute video that shows much more of the action but the file is too large for public sharing due to bandwith usage.

{{!gwi}}

OK. I just washed my chair slipcover which is probably the equivilant of 5 pairs of jeans. I arranged it as carefully as I could. I chose the heavy duty option and made sure the water level was high. The machine bucked and rolled anyway. Free to good home: One GWL-11.

First mistake, don't use Heavy Duty for the slipcover. And high water level may have been too much. Too much water can result in too much "float space" and get the item bunched-up on one side, *particularly* on Heavy Duty which has a more aggressive agitation speed.

Did you visually confirm the slipcover was off-balance in the basket? Did you choose the Softener Rinse option, or use the default Shower Rinse? The "bucking and rolling" occurred immediately at the first spin? Did you pause the machine and rearrange it, at which point the cycle continued without further incident? Or if you used the Softener Rinse option, did it "buck and roll" again at the final spin?

Wash the slipcover again. Use Delicate (low speed spin), or Woolens for better water extraction (medium spin speed). Medium-high water level. Add the soak option if the item is dirty enough to need it, in consideration of the slower agitation speed. If you don't want to soak for a full two hours, either use the Time Saver option (which cuts all phases of the cycle in half), or press Advance when soak time has been sufficient.

If you'll deliver, I'll take your GWL11 and even pay you $100 for it. :-)

If you live in San Diego, you got yourself a deal. It bucked and rolled in the final spin cycle. I did not choose the softener rince option or the shower rinse.
I'll try it again.
But I just want to shove the stuff in and walk away like I used to. I'm careful about washing like items together, I'm not a complete clod. I just don't want a machine that must be handled so delicately. I surely don't want to have to "readjust" every heavy load I wash. Obviously, I choose the wrong machine for me.

Shower rinse is the default if softener rinse is not specifically selected. Shower rinse alternates several times between 60 RPM, 300 RPM, and 670 RPM with spray rinses. There's no further agitation, the load rests in the basket in whatever position it was in at the moment agitation stopped at the end of wash. The final 1000 RPM spin occurs after the spray phases are finished. I know it's not possible, but I'd sure like to observe the machine in action. If the load "bucks and rolls" at 1000 RPM, it should also at 300 and 670. Something odd may be happening ...

Oops. 60 RPM in the previous reply should be 23 to 27 RPM. I was thinking of my Calypso when I said 60 RPM.

I don't know about RPMs and I don't want to know. I just put a king size comforter on the delicate cycle which has slow spinning. It stopped and sounded the alarm at the first spin/wash cycle. I now have a washer full of water with a heavy wet comforter in it. Story of my life with this %^%(&%$ machine. Life is too short to suffer this carp with laundry! I truly hate this machine.

Sounds like you have something specific wrong then. What was the error code? The clothes will be saturated when spin starts but there should be no standing water in the tub, it all MUST drain before spin can begin.

I'm sure you're frustrated, but understanding technical details about what the machine is *supposed* to do goes a long way to determining and understanding what's wrong when it *doesn't* do what it's supposed to do. If you're too frustrated to provide details, then best to toss it to the curb and get a different machine.

Forgot to say also, that a KING-size comforter may be an overload, depending on how heavy is the fabric and stuffing. I've run a queen-size heavy-quilted bedspread in my F&P, and it washed but was a very tight fit. I have a queen-size comforter of fairly light-weight construction and filling (part of a bed-in-a-bag deal on close-out @ JCPenny for $72). It fits OK, but I'd never attempt a king-size of the same weight.

Perhaps a super-size frontloader would better fit your needs. Duet, HE4/5, Epic, LG, etc.

I have a neighbor that has the F&P and LOVES them. She has said before that she will not even wash a Queen comforter in hers. She said it was just too full for her so she just takes all of those to the laundramat.

katalina...I am not trying to get anything negative started this morning, however....you need a fl. No offense to the tl owners but I got SO sick and tired of having to run downstairs and rearrange loads in my old tl to keep it from jumping hurdles. I am washing those exact same loads in my fl WITH NO ISSUES WHATSOEVER!
Nobody has time to or brainpower to have to select all these different cycles, rinse options, rpm settings etc to wash a simple slip cover or comforter. I take real comfort in the fact that I can put whatever load necessary in my fl and set the timer to come on at 5am and not hear a sound. When I awake the only indication outside of remembering there are clothes to dry is the light in the washer tub that comes on after a completed cycle!

As I've mentioned a few times I had an old Whirlpool top loader that washed all these heavy items with out a single problem. The comforter is really a coverlet and not as large as it sounds. Had I known I would have to supplement my laundry duties here with trips to the Laundromat I wouldn't have even considered this machine. I chose them because of reviews here and elsewhere and because I have limited space in my laundry room. Two top loaders were ideal for the space. Now, I just want a washer that will do what it's supposed to do without being coaxed and cajoled into it.

luvmylg, there's no need to SET all those icky/complicated details on an F&P. The machine handles the RPMs and rinsing itself, I was just stating the details of what happens during the cycle, hoping to get some details back to better get a handle on what's going wrong. Again, with the comforter/coverlet being as described, there's very likely something specific wrong either with the machine or the usage of it. No further useful diagnostic details have come to light. I asked what was the error code / alarm that occurred, no answer. katalina does not like the machine, would rather fuss than take steps to get the problem corrected. No need to question further or suggest additional diagnostics or tests.

When I wash my sheets, towels, shirts, *comforter*, blankets, jeans, whatever ... I choose an appropriate cycle (same as you do when you turn the dial on your LG), press start and the machine does the job.

I have to agree. The F&P works fabulously with little more than selecting the correct temp and pressing run. I have no issues at all and it cleans everything fine.

Being the laundry geek that I am I do take extra steps and manually fiddle when doing my whites. But I gotta say I have never seen my stuff so snow white as they do now!

I don't get any error codes. There's no screen to display any kind of code. It stops in the spin cycle either late or early and it make the tinkling sounds. What else can I find out?

A "normal" out-of-balance situation is indicated by the "tinkling" sound and the first rinse or final spin LED flashing. When the problem with your comforter or slip cover occurs, have you confirmed that the item is indeed out-of-balance? The aforementioned fault code is flashing, and the item is bunched toward one side of the basket? Does rearranging the item evenly in the basket and pressing Start to continue the cycle fix the problem? On the Regular and Heavy Duty cycles when using the standard shower rinse function (Softener Rinse is not selected), there is no further agitation after the wash period, so rearranging the item *should* take care of the problem for the remainder of the cycle if a simple out-of-balance situation is the cause. Permanent Press, Delicate, and Woolens do a "softener rinse" with agitation so an out-of-balance could occur either once or twice on those cycles -- after wash agitation and after rinse agitation.

Any machine malfunction generates a fault code and/or alarm sound. The Wash Progress LEDs on the panel light up in a pattern to indicate the code. Some common codes are listed on a technical service sheet stored inside the console. Still more are explained in detail in the service manual. I have a copy of the service manual, I can send the file to you if you are interested.

The last fault code can be retrieved by going into Diagnostic Mode. With the power Off, press and hold Wash Temp Down, then press Power. Let go of both buttons. Press Spin Speed Up or Down until the Hold and Slow lights are BOTH on. The pattern of LEDs on the Wash Progress indicate the last fault code if it was within the last 8 cycles.

You said the washer had all four suspension rods bad after three years of use. Something seems seriously wrong about that. My GWL08 is eight years old and is doing fine, as is my IWL12 after three years. I know you say you don't overload or abuse the machine, but there must be some cause. Particularly if you are STILL having trouble AFTER replacing the suspension rods. Is the machine level and stable? Have you ever had a fault-code in which the High water level LED was flashing? I assume the suspension repair was done by a competent repairman, so all the springs should be installed correctly.

Check and report back here on the fault code if you wish. Otherwise, that's all I have to offer.

does anyone have any info or experience with the new F& P AquaSmart washer WL26CW1 and matching dryer?