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Thread: F&P Aquasmart, unbalance

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    Default F&P Aquasmart, unbalance

    I scored it from our local recycle center, model WL80T65.
    All seems ok except that it goes out of balance too often when it tries to spin.
    Normally this is caused by the bowl perferations being all blocked, not allowing water to escape.
    But with this machine, it seems that the suspension rod dampers are faulty. They are fully sealed.
    Has anyone had their Aquasmart repaired for this symptom?



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    Hi Rievax,

    Not much of an expert on these things. but i doubt the bowl perfs would cause the issue (obviously unless one side it totally blocked!).

    I know someone who 'knows' about these things. I'll ask her tomorrow. She used to work in a washing machine manufacturing plant and now sells them 2nd hand. She see one come in and goes "crap"! or one that has no working buttons etc and she goes "good"! Seems to know the good from the bad to the ugly, which is what the wife tells me!

    But i do know that damper 'rods' can go and they can be expensive.

    Stupid Question: Is it your machine and have you seen it do it?
    You would be surprised at how ONE wet towel can throw off a spin...

    They used to (or still do), use concrete blocks incorporated in the base to keep them jumping around.

    Anyway, i'll show her your question and see what she says.

    Cheers,
    GT250.

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    Yes, I purchased it for $50 last weekend from the recycle yard at our local tip. It looks like new and didnt even smell bad.

    The rods used in older models have an open ended plastic cylinder at the bottom end containing a spring and a bucket shaped plastic piston.
    When I work the spring by hand on these older rods, I can feel a damping action as the air compressed by the piston slowly leaks out.

    The rods from the Aquasmart have steel cylinders with plastic plugs that are fixed in with roll crimps. I can feel that there is a spring inside and possibly a piston but I feel no damping action at all.

    Maybe there is supposed to be some sort of fluid inside that has leaked out somehow.

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    Btw, The blocked bowl perforations is a common cause of unbalance problems with F&P washers. The fix is to remove the bowl and have it cleaned with high pressure water.

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    Hi Rievax,

    Sorry for the delay. I didn't get to see her yesterday. I'll see her definately on Monday.

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    I found this on another site which implies that faulty dampers is a common problem.
    "Overall: Mine is just out of 2yr warranty and the shock absorber has gone. Have found another person with the same problem and was advised by repairman that this a common problem with this machine. "

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    I have put oil into the dampers. The machine is now very tolerant to unbalanced loads.

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    Talking Fisher and Paykel and Aquasmart going out of balance

    Hi Rievax,

    Good job on your repairs, I can back you up as I've had success repairing F&P machines that go out of balance every rinse cycle, they do build up a thick film of gunk on the outside of the bowl blocking the drain holes in the bowl, kinda gross but I agree, a high pressure water cleaner is the go. I think this happens because people don't do regular cleaning washes with nothing but detergent & water in the machine.

    Also, cheers for your advice on Aquasmarts going out of balance, a lot of people replace the moulded straps (kind of like rubber bands) at the top of the bowl only to realise the problem still exists, either replace the lower suspension kit (4 parts) or modify by filling with engine oil or similar (I found drilling a 3mm hole in the middle of the top plastic plugs, immersing in oil and working the shock till air bubbles stop coming out) remember to clean and seal the hole before reassembly.

    Keep up the good work.

    Cheers

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    Quote Originally Posted by Trytofixanything View Post
    ... they do build up a thick film of gunk on the outside of the bowl blocking the drain holes in the bowl, kinda gross but I agree, a high pressure water cleaner is the go. I think this happens because people don't do regular cleaning washes with nothing but detergent & water in the machine.
    I'll put my 20c (inflation adjusted) in here...

    The problem is caused by people doing only cold water washes. With the F & P machines especially, you need to run a HOT wash through at least once a week, preferably more often.
    This helps to clean out the soap scum layer that forms when only using cold water. The soap scum also blocks up the drain pump.

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    Ohh no not the aqua smart!

    what I do with these stupid f&p aquasmart series washers is remove the two screws from the front of the machine under the small rubber plugs, this allows you to lift the whole top of the machine back, then take the top plastic connecting ring off the top of the wash bowls, then remove the small plastic cap on top of the "agitator disc" to access the 3/8 bolt holding the disc down, next remove the agitator disc. You can now lift out the entire wash basket and give the entire inner and outer bowls a damn good scrub (we use a $5 kmart car wash broom)

    reassemble with some wd-40 on the bottoms of the suspension rods and from then on do a hot empty wash with no soap or load at least every month to get rid of the wax! try not to wash in cold every time you use it and always buy HE front loader powder for aqua smarts, they are a upside down front loader and DO NOT like normal top loader soap being used in them, this is where the problems start.

    hopefully this helps a few people aquasmarts are an annoying thing to get right


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    Quote Originally Posted by sam2012 View Post
    Ohh no not the aqua smart!

    what I do with these stupid f&p aquasmart series washers is remove the two screws from the front of the machine under the small rubber plugs, this allows you to lift the whole top of the machine back, then take the top plastic connecting ring off the top of the wash bowls, then remove the small plastic cap on top of the "agitator disc" to access the 3/8 bolt holding the disc down, next remove the agitator disc. You can now lift out the entire wash basket and give the entire inner and outer bowls a damn good scrub (we use a $5 kmart car wash broom)

    reassemble with some wd-40 on the bottoms of the suspension rods and from then on do a hot empty wash with no soap or load at least every month to get rid of the wax! try not to wash in cold every time you use it and always buy HE front loader powder for aqua smarts, they are a upside down front loader and DO NOT like normal top loader soap being used in them, this is where the problems start.

    hopefully this helps a few people aquasmarts are an annoying thing to get right

    Thanks for the info supplied, very helpful.
    Cheers

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    Annoyingly, F&P have passed on the same stupid design suspension rod dampers to most of their current models.
    Their 7Kg 600mm model still uses the same tub and plastic dampers from the superseded MEDIUM models. It works just fine, so WTH!

    I have been experimenting with 300,000 cSt silicone oil with good results. I drill a 3mm hole in the top plastic.
    I flush out the residual grease with a solvent, blowing out as much as possible with compressed air. If the silicone oil gets too diluted with other fluids, damping can become too weak.
    I inject 5 grams with a 5 CC plastic piston syringe.
    Last edited by rievax; 13-11-20 at 12:57 PM.

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    I have found a two liter of cheep supermarket bleach before a hot wash does marvels for the system cleanup

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    I'm getting better results by increasing the oil to 10 grams per damper now.

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    Looking like my silicone oil idea is NFG. The damping goes weak after a few days. I think that the oil is slowly going to the bottom, leaving the walls too dry to damp the piston.

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    For dampers you need a thicker (denser) oil.

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    The idea I posted 9 years ago works but the oil is gradually works its way up the rod and ends up on the floor.
    I opened up a damper and found a reason for the oil loss.
    As well as there being an exterior bottle neck for the rod to pass through,
    there is an internal one also, which would extend below the oil level.
    I'm experimenting to find a quick and easy way to open up the damper to remove this internal piece, then reliably closing it up.

    Last edited by rievax; 24-11-20 at 08:07 PM.

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    I have had initial success at restoring the dampers' function by replacing the original foam elastomer piston ring with a foam rubber material I got from an Alibaba seller, , the 35 duro 7x7mm open cell die ejection rubber.
    There are still some details to be worked out like deciding on a suitable grease that won't accelerate the deterioration of the material.
    I'm currently using PAO grease which is supposed to be unsuitable for natural rubber, which I think the material is.
    The ultimate question is, what will be the life span of the fix?
    Last edited by rievax; 04-04-22 at 05:38 PM.

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    I was given one of these for free recently , only 3 years old . Scumbags at F&P quoted my friend $630 to come out and replace the damper rods . a new machine was $800 odd. so anyway i found the dampers ok and there were no blocked holes in the drum so presumed it was a control panel fault and stripped it down for parts. When i removed the inner drum to salvage the bearings i found the drum to be half full of water !! seems that the shaft seal allows water to get down into the drum cavity but there is no way for the water to escape... and once this happens there is no way to fix without a full dismantle . I can not forsee any service tech pulling it down this far in a customers home , so i suspect they do a quick shonky fix by replacing the dampers which may get it through 30 days warranty. Im not touching anything F&P for my own home in future.

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    Quote Originally Posted by VroomVroom View Post
    I was given one of these for free recently , only 3 years old . Scumbags at F&P quoted my friend $630 to come out and replace the damper rods . a new machine was $800 odd. so anyway i found the dampers ok and there were no blocked holes in the drum so presumed it was a control panel fault and stripped it down for parts. When i removed the inner drum to salvage the bearings i found the drum to be half full of water !! seems that the shaft seal allows water to get down into the drum cavity but there is no way for the water to escape... and once this happens there is no way to fix without a full dismantle . I can not forsee any service tech pulling it down this far in a customers home , so i suspect they do a quick shonky fix by replacing the dampers which may get it through 30 days warranty. Im not touching anything F&P for my own home in future.
    Which model is it? A set of 424569P rods that suit most current models can be got direct from F&P for $98 delivered. They must be selling thousands because of the short life span as the rods are out of stock a lot of the time.
    It's normal for there to be water sloshing in the bowls upper and lower balance rings.
    When the dampers have failed, the tub suspension feels very bouncy when the agitator is pressed down and released. More difficult to check if it's a Cleansmart model with low profile agitator.
    Last edited by rievax; 05-04-22 at 08:11 AM.

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