WHOA! I had to look at your name to see if it wasn't my post! I bought a new Bravos set in Dec.08. Didn't have a problem till I went to use the white cycle that uses hot water. I won't list all the calls and weeks I had to wait to get the problem resolved but just say that it took till March and they ended up replacing the water valve, then the whole control board, then when that didn't work, another valve. When they checked each part of the valve (don't know exactly what or how many there are) one had low voltage. Each time I had to wait or would have had to wait for the parts because "they were on backorder". For the control board it was not to be available till March 20th and the order was placed on Jan. 22. Needless to say, I raised holy cane and got hold of our WP Rep who mangaged each time to get the parts here within a week but of course then I still had to wait for the repair company to schedule which was usually a week after the part came in.

Since they finally got the machine to work, I haven't had any more problems. BUT, each time I use it I fear the dreaded "LF" code.

BTW, we went through the check list of things to do before we called and after it appeared I had a lemon, I asked the place we bought it from to take it back and give me a new one. I was told "once you ask for a repair, they won't take it back." Well if I had known that, do you think I would have called??" Of course not. You do what you are supposed to do and look where it gets you!

If you want to read the longer version, do a search by my name mboston and you should come up with several posts or responses to other's post about Bravos.

I wouldn't buy the machine again. I am not convinced that it washes that well. Love it for bulky items but in general - like my old Kenmore that was 13 years old better.

My advice is that when you have it set up by the delivery people, go through each cycle to see if it fills properly. Had I done that, it would have gone back the same day.

Just wanted to say -- I've owned my Maytag Bravos washer since June '08, and I haven't ever had this issue once. Evidently, many other Bravos owners haven't either. There are many glowing owner reviews at sites like Sears, Home Depot, Lowe's, etc.

scott649, I am very glad you got your situation straightened out. I only use the Bulky setting for comforters, blankets, and pillows. Have not had any problems.

Mara - what model is yours? My son bought one in May 08 and has not had any problems. Loves his washer and dryer. The newer models - 800 series, not the ones that begin with a 6 - have significant changes to them. This is what I was told not only by the repair guy but by Maytag itself.

mboston, my washer model number is WTM6700. I don't think they're made anymore. Do you have model B--8750? (Not sure of the exact number, but I believe it's got "875" in it.)

A next-door neighbor bought that one in the spring of this year because she wanted the internal water heater, and she says it is far and away the best washer she's ever owned. She has owned two FL's and says this one is far better.

Mine is MVW800VQ and the dryer is MEDB800VQ. I have a 'clean boost with heater option that I have never used. It uses a heater within the washer to maintain the selected temperature setting throuhout the wash period.

Mine is not a front loader.

My main issue was that parts should not be on backorder for that long unless alot of people were having issues with their machines not working, especially when the model was a newer one. And if that were the case, they should be willing to do a recall or take the machine back.

I don't know what model the OP has, maybe its not the same one as I do if there are even newer models out now. Hopefully they got the kinks worked out and other will not have the same "LF" code problems I had.

I guess when anyone posts, they should lead in with the model numbers. It would help. You must have the same one my son has and he loves his. Has had no problems.

To mboston or anyone else who has the MVW800VQ model,

I need someone to confirm that you are or aren't experiencing the following so that I can determine what is normal before taking further steps.

1) On the normal setting and wrinkle control setting, I cannot select the warm/warm wash/rinse temp option. All the other cycles allow that option. In the manual I read that warm rinsing increases the chances of wrinkles which could explain why that is not allowed but I wouldn't expect the normal setting to be the same.

2) When I want to add another garment, once I press the Start/Pause button, the time displayed will go back to the beginning of the cycle and start all over again. I would think that if you pause at 39 minutes then it would restart at 39 minutes and commence where you left off, not go back to the beginning and start all over. When it restarts, additional water drains in the tub to dilute the detergent so I'm always afraid that more water was added than necessary, especially when it's just one sock.

3) When the machine is in the wash cycle, the drum spins back and forth and you can really hear the motor whirling. Is this sound normal because I find it loud and annoying.

Any opinions would be helpful.

1. I can't select warm/warm for the normal cycle either.
I don't usually use a warm rinse and usually use cold water to wash unless its whites, which gives you hot/cold.

2. I haven't really tried to add an item to the wash unless its right after I have started it and then it hasn't seemed to go back to the beginning, but it will add more water. I just finished laundry so I don't have a reason to start a load to see but will keep an eye on it next time I do a load.

3. Are you talking about the noise when it is spinning? I know that it sounds like a jet taking off then. You can hear the motor, I assume, when its washing but I wouldn't consider it annoying or overly loud. However, my laundry room is pretty large and its off my breakfast room, not next to my kitchen or family room. I don't close any doors so it must not be too loud.

Let me ask you a couple things:
1. Do you think it cleans as well as a machine that fills up to the top like the "old" machines did?

2. If you have the dryer, do you find that some clothes in the dryer will be dry while others of the same weight are still really damp. I find that to be the case with my t-shirts, panties. Not really heavy items just cotton clothing.

3. With your washer, do you use the extra rinse alot? I usually do, knowing I am using more electricity and water.

Guess you read my rant about the LF code. I wouldn't call for a repair till I knew what was really wrong. Good idea to ask here first.

I don't usually use a warm rinse and usually use cold water to wash unless its whites, which gives you hot/cold.You really should use warm as a matter of normal course, hot when appropriate for the load, and cold only if the fabric truly can't take warm. Constant cold-water washing is one factor that contributes to complaints of poor performance, and also to mold and crud build-up in the machine.

I don't have the machine in question, but the Normal cycle is what's used as the test scenario for EnergyStar qualification, so that cycle may be restricted from warm rinse for that reason.

Pausing and restarting the machine early in the cycle (does it have an "Add a Garment" indicator?) may purposely restart the cycle time and water level sensing for reasons of assuming the user added more clothes.

The Oasis/Cabrio/Bravos family of washers uses the Fisher & Paykel SmartDrive-type of motor to run the wash plate or agitator and spin the basket. These motors do have a jet-engine sort of sound.

When you push the "Pause"/"Start" button the "add a garmet" indicator comes on. Guess that is telling you its okay to add a piece.

For years now we have been told to use cold water, so why now use warm? Are you saying that using cold decreases the cleaning ability of the machine or causes parts to go bad? I use the "Affresh" tablet when the indicator comes on telling me to clean the machine. So far I haven't seen any mold and mine is a top loader, not front. If I do at least one load a week with hot water, wouldn't that help in cleaning the tub, especially if that load uses bleach?

I did check the manual and it does say to use Warm/Cold for most of the loads except when sanitizing, super wahing, or whites. Actually no load is listed as cold/cold. Hmm... thats interesting, I hadn't noticed that. I will have to try it and see if it makes a difference.

Yeah, we've been told to use cold water to save energy. What we haven't been told is that it's a tradeoff, because cold water doesn't clean as well. The link below is from the web site of the Soap and Detergent Association, the detergent manufacturers' trade group.

Also, if your machine has a heat boost option, I would definitely use it.

Here's something I posted a while ago, about how much it costs to wash in the right water temperature:

"Assuming electric heating, and 5 gallons of wash water, how much energy does it take to heat water from cold (65F) to warm (104F) or hot (120F)? My quick calculation gives around 0.5 KWH for warm, and 0.7 KWH for hot. Let's say you do one wash a day, half of them warm, and the other half hot. Then you would use 219 KWH per year to heat wash water. At a rate of 20 cents/KWH (more than many of us pay) that would cost $44/year. Multiply by 3, for a non-HE machine, and it's $132/year. At a rate of 10 cents/KWH, the cost of water heating is $22/year for an HE machine, and $66/year for a non-HE machine. Cost for gas water heating might be lower. Are properly washed clothes, towels and bedding worth that much? I think so."

Here is a link that might be useful: Energy Management in Home Laundering

Thanks for all your replies. To answer mboston's questions:

1)I purchased my machine in May 09 and always ponder whether the cleaning job is better than my old non-he toploader. I guess it is but now I'm reading that I should have been washing in warm at least yet I've always done so in cold. That may explain why my whites always looked dingy. I will have to experiment and let you know. Hate to think I've been doing laundry wrong all these years. Note: I'm not totally sold on the way the plate moves around to rotate the clothes. It doesn't look like the clothes are moving around enough to make a difference as a front loader motion would. There was a time when I had a total disaster because my robe somehow encompassed the entire top of the wash load creating a huge air pocket underneath. All the clothes under had soap residue and were still dirty. This would not have happened with a tumbling circular motion. Oh yes, I get heavy wrinkling on all light weight items which has prevented me from going the heavy spin route most times.

2)I have the matching dryer to the washer also brand new and have only noticed some dampness on mainly the waistbands of jeans or some thicker cotton items. But no, generally similar weight items dry at the same rate.

3)I recently only noticed the extra rinse button and started using that on things like towels because I don't like them with excess soap residue (thus causing stiff towels). Maybe I should use extra rinse all the time because there are many times where I'm not happy when soap residue remains on dark clothing. I'm not sure why that is and wonder if it's because there's not enough water doing the washing or the clothes are not moving around enough.

The noise I'm refering to that is annoying is during the wash cycle. With every turn of the impeller you hear a high whirl and then a low whirl. It will do this until the wash is done and then the jet sounds start for the spinning. My girlfriend has an LG front load which is so quiet on the wash cycle (gentle water swishing sounds) which is in stark contrast to what I hear on mine. Maybe I'll call Maytag to see if this is normal.

Thanks and please let me know if you have a chance to add a piece of garment when the "add a garment" light is on. I swear it goes back to the beginning of the cyle.

Just started a load on wrinkle control and after 3 minutes lifted the lid as though I were going to add a garmet. Yes the timer did go back to 53 minutes from 50 and it did go back through the add a little water, spin, add a little, spin action as it does at the beginning. Guess I don't add stuff that often or at least its at the very beginning so I really hadn't noticed.

As far as the sound while washing, I paid more attention to it but mine isn't that loud. Sounds more like a grrr sound to me. I don't find it annoying but it is different than my old top loaded washing sound. I think it is because there isn't as much water - almost sounds like it is struggling to work but obviously isn't.

I did switch to using the warm/cold temp today. Will see if it gets clothes cleaner.

Just started a load on wrinkle control and after 3 minutes lifted the lid as though I were going to add a garmet. Yes the timer did go back to 53 minutes from 50 and it did go back through the add a little water, spin, add a little, spin action as it does at the beginning. Guess I don't add stuff that often or at least its at the very beginning so I really hadn't noticed.

As far as the sound while washing, I paid more attention to it but mine isn't that loud. Sounds more like a grrr sound to me. I don't find it annoying but it is different than my old top loaded washing sound. I think it is because there isn't as much water - almost sounds like it is struggling to work but obviously isn't.

I did switch to using the warm/cold temp today. Will see if it gets clothes cleaner.

Judyfoodie,
Just wanted to let you know that I was doing a load today and needed to add a sock when the load was already in the wash cycle. I pushed "Pause" and the lid unlocked, I added the sock, then pushed "Start" and the cycle DID NOT start over. It DID add a bit more water but then returned to agitating and the timer did not reset to start the cycle over.

So maybe if its in the fill part of the cycle, it starts over but if later in the cycle, it won't. Don't know what to think now but glad it didn't for me.

Thanks for checking mboston! It is reasurring to get feedback from someone who has the exact same machine. I remember having to add a garment a few months ago and the cycle didn't go back to the beginning like what I'm experiencing now but maybe that was during the wash cycle too. The inconsistencies really make you doubt this machine. I wish the manual was more clear and detailed...it doesn't state what happens in reality, for that you have to make your own observations and notes.

I had an unbalanced load on towels using the bulky cycle
(which I've since discovered was the incorrect cycle to use) and the instructions to clear the UL (per manual) didn't work for me if I followed exactly as stated. Finally had to turn the machine off to drain the water but somehow it went back to where I had left off and commenced the wash. And when this happened the time remaining went back by 5 or so minutes and then readjusted instantaneously to where it should have been all along. With maybe 5 months left of my warranty period I'm going to test he heck out of my washer/dryer to make sure all should be working as it should be.

I'm going to call Maytag to get confirmation on this "add a garment" business and to see if the grring noise is normal. Oh and I just did some laundry on the warm cycle of some fleece PJ's. There was the same dirt on the bottom of the pants as on the PJ shirt. Pants came out clean but the same stain on the top remained...which means inconsistencies in cleaning too...sigh.

Yes, the unbalanced load instructions are incorrect. DH put a bunch of jeans and lightweight items in the Bravos 850 this morning and selected the Bulky cycle. The load got unbalanced and the normal "routine" the machine runs didn't work.

The uL code was showing and no amount of doing what the manual said worked. Finally DH gave up and pushed the power button to turn it off. Then the machine corrected itself and finished the load. So the manual is definitely wrong.

Scott649, thank you for posting this. We purchased a Maytag Bravo two short years ago and today out of the blue the error message started. We tried everything the user manual said. Husband stated it was probably those expensive no flood hoses, and it was. Thank you for your post. He installed the cheap-o hoses and voila! The washer works again!

We purchased the Maytag Bravos washer (MTW6700TQ1) and matching dryer (MED6600TQ0) back in August 2008.

About a year ago (2014) we started having the LF code when using the "Sheets" setting to wash. It only does it on that setting, no others. I've just been washing sheets and towels on normal and haven't had an issue, but it would be nice to be able to use the sheets setting! I feel this washer is much harder on our clothes, and especially our towels, which seems to get worn, frayed, and actual holes very quickly. That didn't happen with our older set that filled up with water when we used it. No, I'm not a big bleach user either. We only use it occasionally, same as when we had our older set.

As far as the dryer goes, we usually have to run 2 cycles to dry our clothes completely. We keep the lint screen clean, so that shouldn't be an issue. Also, I don't know how efficient it actually is since we have to run it twice to dry our clothes!

I feel this High Efficiency set doesn't wash as good or dry as good as my older set, which I only got rid of because it was too small for our growing family's laundry needs.

Sounds like your dryer vent might be full of lint. You need to pull the dryer out and take the vent off and check for a blockage before you have a fire. Also your lint screen may need to be washed in warm water and dish detergent. If you use dryer sheets they tend to build up on the screen and stop the air flow, plus find the metal strips(mine has 2 right beside each other) inside your dryer which are the moisture sensors and wipe them off with rubbing alcohol. If that isn't the trouble, it still won't hurt anything to clean them.

If the washer is doing damage to the towels try a shorter wash time or a cycle that may agitate slower. It's not just Maytag, that style washer just doesn't use much water regardless of the brand, although the newer models have a deep wash that is supposed to use more but not a tub full I don't think. Hope this helps.

Regards to the dryer ... has it always left loads damp? Or, it worked better 7 years ago and got worse as time moved along? The most common cause of poor performance is an obstruction in the exhaust ducting ... either accumulation of lint or a problem with how the ducting is run (too long, too many turns, or crushed/obstructed flexducting).

However, if no problem can be found with the exhaust ducting ... two follow-up points:

1. Are you using the auto-sensor cycles, or timed drying? If auto-sensor, do you always go with the default "Normal" dryness level, or have you tried changing the setting to "More" for loads that are consistently ornery about drying sufficiently,
2. There should be an adjustment option on the dryness sensor function to increase it by 15% or 30%. All four dryness levels (Damp, Less, Normal, More) will be increased by the selected percentage. Check your user guide for details.

Thank you Scott649. After having my washer for a year it showed me the LF code. I decided to google LF code problems 6 months ago and your post caught my eye. My color cycle was the only thing that worked for about 6 months. Two days again that cycle started the LF code. So I sent my friend to pick me up some cheap hoses. That fixed my problem. Didn't have to waste money calling a repair company. You and Google saved me time, money & trips to the laundry mat.

Unfortunately we purchased this piece of junk, the Bravos XL to the tune of nearly a thousand dollars, thinking "heavy duty commercial" would bring a decent machine to last mare than a year or so. Should I suppose have gone with a Samsung. within a year or so we got the dreaded "LF". It happens at least once during a minimum of half the washes we do, on all settings....hot cold, "power wash", delicate, bedding, etc. etc. Beside the fact that every was seems to take a half day to finish, and the "LF" error, its been a wonderful experience. After about a year and a half of reshifting loads, trying to put the heavy at the top, then the bottom, without success, I just resigned myself to the fact the machine is and always will be a piece of crap; One day, when I was in the appliance dept at Home Depot, where I purchased it with a ten year extended "warranty", fresh from a bout of fighting the machine, I walked into the appliance department where we purchased it. What followed was what can only be described as a comedy of errors. First of all the saleswoman interrogated me as to why I had waited so long (apparently she has no concept of "we actually have a life outside of the laundry room"), she reluctantly looked up our transaction only to tell us she could find no record of our purchase, of the machine or the supposed "warranty". After informing me that a customer had just been in and told her that this was the best machine he'd ever had, I became adamant that I wanted SOME kind of answer. She didn't understand why it would upset me to find that home depot, which has a computer system to rival the pentagon, would have no record of my purchases less than two years prior. She proceeded to call HD "service", where she got busy signal after busy signal. Until reading the prior discussion, I had been seriously considering going back to HD and buying the biggest sledge hammer they sell and beating this pile of sheet metal into nothingness.... but now that I realize someone has the answer I'll contact HD and exercise my non existent 10 year "warranty" until these incompetents fix it.

another Bravos LF comment - We have had Bravos washer/dryer for about 5 years now, it's been fine but as mentioned here When I wash sheets on 'Sheet' setting I always get the LF, so started using Normal setting, is that going to damage the machine? I just did it today, it did do that load balancing thing (banging when it spins) , but just spread out the load it and it seemed OK. I usually wash one set of queen sheets + cotton duvet cover all at once + pillow cases, is that overloading the machine? Can i just use Normal setting?