Sadly, I think someone *did* get rid of the cat by dumping her in the country. She's deaf, and when she was found, was near starvation and full of mites. She's definitely a handful, and I've come to believe she was dumped because of the way she freaks out when she wakes up and can't find me or the other cat. Like she's been tossed again. :( Nobody wanted her because she is deaf. I happened to be at a Pet Smart buying food and took her home. I heard a number of people say oh we can't have her because she's HANDICAPPED. She's a little darling. My other cat doesn't even know she's deaf. He calls for her to come play. Just a service announcement: if you have a pet you want to toss in the garbage, please take it to a shelter, preferably a no-kill shelter. Having grown up in the country, we were the recipients of so many dumped dogs and cats. In my grandparents' generation, it generally ended with a bullet because a farm can only support so many dogs and cats. In mine, I tried finding homes, adopting, etc. I'm not accusing anyone here of such a thing, just that a lot of city people don't understand that country people aren't just sitting around waiting to take care of the unwanted pets. Sorry, it's just a thing with me, and my heart breaks when I think of this little miss being dumped. She's a pistol, but so loving. And being deaf, she wouldn't have lived very long. Don't take this as a personal shot to you; I'm really sensitive to animals. And yet, I eat meat. Go figure.

Hi all, First post. Apologies it is so long. Well, I've been lurking around here for quite a while, just reading and learning. I've loved clothes washers and dishwashers since I was a small child and my mother would only get me to sleep if I was listening to the hum of a washer. In January, I purchased my first FL washer/dryer combo, the LG WM3988HWA. I love this machine and my clothes have never been cleaner, fresher. I just had the first service call out today as the nozzle at the top of the rubber gasket at the door that is used for both the Water Circulation and the Steam features stopped functioning. Well, the Steam still worked fine, but the Water Circulation spray had turned into a slight dribble / dripping instead of a strong spray. This circulates the water in certain cycles, like the Bulky Item cycle and sprays the soapy or rinse water back onto the clothes as they tumble. Now, I follow all the rules, wiping the gasket down after each wash (actually I do it once after the wash is complete, and once after the dry cycle is complete making sure to get underneath it as well, and I get a lot of lint each time). I have run the tub clean cycle every two weeks (it does get a lot of lint out, which I can see floating in the water). I've drained the machine and cleaned the filter at each tub clean (not much in the filter, and the way it's designed, I can't imagine it would catch too much anyway). Well, as you might guess, the technician opened the machine and found tons of lint blocking the spray nozzle in the tube connecting it to the pump. Once cleared, the nozzle worked fine again. I asked him what I might do to prevent it from happening again. I have two shorthair cats, a sister with long hair, and myself in the house currently. I know the water circulates through the filter before hitting the nozzle, or at least that's what it sounds like. The technician told me that I could prevent it by cleaning the rubber gasket, running tub clean.....basically everything I've been doing religiously. I don't want to have someone coming out every few months to clean this out. Are there any suggestions on what I can do to prevent this from happening? I was wondering if you experts out there thought it might work to purchase some gauze or filter material from an aquarium store and stuff it in the filter to catch all the stuff that appears to be going through? I just don't want to cause strain to the pump and shorten it's life, but I thought aquarium filter material is made to work with pumps, so maybe it would be ok. Thanks for any advice. Nico

You can take it any way you want it. I can tell you I know a lot about the pump just as well as a lot of other products. I did not know admitting to any area of expertise was a crime when people ask about it. Is that not why people come to places like this? I feel that 25 years of repair experience is sufficient to offer advice on most things if people ask. I don't work for Pentair so I have no agenda. If you are looking to get the most efficient performance out of a pool pump today, the fact remains that the IntelliFlo is it. Jandy does not have a comparable pump nor does Hayward. They are trying but truth be told, if you know the market, they will not be a player for some time. There are those on other forums that are attempting to invent their own "IntelliFlo" and I say good for them. I'm more concerned about going with what is commercially available specifically for our industry. I've openly shared my opinions on a lot of stuff. Openly shared that some Pentair stuff is crap, some Hayward is and so is some Jandy. On the subject of Authorized installer. Not sure where you are in the whole picture as you don't indicate it, but consider this. In my area, there are about 50 pool service companies who choose to be professional enough to join a trade organization. Who knows how many others just work in the wings on their own. Of those 50, I can verify personally that 3 actually took three days of their time when they could have been earning money and drove 100 miles to get "authorized". I'm one. We invested time to learn about something new. Is it the end all? No. I sell more two-speed pumps today than I do IntelliFlo. But, as you are aware, this topic is pretty important. If I do not know it, I'm not providing my customers what they want. Of those other 47 companies I mentioned, what they have to offer the public is what they invest on their own time. At this point, there are far more bad IntelliFlo installations going in than good. The "authorized" guys have taken time to learn it and that learning curve is huge. We have invested a lot of hours and want to see it succeed. Authorized means nothing more than we are recognized by the company as being able to do more for the customer in service. We have contacts that others do not and at one point, we could offer more rebate $ than the non-authorized guy. In my area, when an issue with this pump arises, there are two of us that are known as go to guys to solve it. Issues that warranty stations can't even fix. That only comes from dedicating time to the product. I'm real big on a water treatment brand that is little known too. Am I biased? Sure. It works where other stuff does not. When you have a problem, would you rather have someone tickle your fancy with all kinds options that could cost you extra money or do you want straight talk with what we have found works better? Do you want a guy at $45/hour who is going to take 3 hours to do a job or a guy at $85/hour for 45 minutes who is on top of something. I'm going to recommend the higher priced guy as it is best for you. not because I like him. The pump is no different. I also happen to be factory trained by Jandy. They have some great stuff and most of it is way too expensive. Some worth the extra cash, some not. There are also other issues I have with them. I am biased for any product in its own unique situation. Ask any guy who has worked on a lot of stuff. He will tell you the best product in each category. Right now, Pentair is leading in most areas so they get the most referrals. How do you reconcile the issues most people here have with builders? I find it ridiculous that a builder will take 60K from an owner and then have the audacity to say he is going to put in a line of equipment simply because he is in bed with the builder. Yeah, he's doing a great service to the customer by giving them not always the best and then getting freebies on the back side for his exclusivity. That is the way it works with the building industry in most cases. i think builders will get a better reputation if they come to the owners and simply ask, "what do you want"? Unfortunately, they like to be biased in favor of quality in most cases.

@nwfan, did you ever solve the issue with your machine? We have a 2010 Miele Inspira that has also been making a similar noise for some time--we replaced the impeller for the circulation pump a few months ago (fortunately Miele USA does still sell the parts separately, though you have to call them directly) after finding that the impeller had split into two just like Petr's photo, which improved but did not entirely resolve the noise. Ignored it after that since it was cleaning fine but now it is giving us an F14 fault code and stopping at that point in the cycle, so clearly the noise was indicating something wrong. We've taken it all apart and checked most everything that is a common source of that code but nothing seems obviously amiss, so we're running out of ideas. Curious to know whether you found a solution (and if so, what the problem ultimately was).