Grey Water in Washing Machine....what could it be?
 

Try filling with nothing in the basket. If it's still grey with no clothing and no detergent, it's the water or some nasty buildup in the tub. If the latter, try running a HOT wash on an empty machine with some bleach to clean out the scummy mess.

Center seal on agitator shaft may be leaking. Not uncommon.

Test for transmission lubricant. Take a pail or two of obviously clean clear water and dump it in. Run the agitator for a minute. If water discolors you have your issue. I have to clarify this by stating. I am not an appliance service guy. If what passes for a bearing down there is still in reasonable condition.

I probably would change the seal. Newer washing machines and other appliances seem to be more complicated in general and failure rates may be higher.

To change the seal look on the procedure on the net. You will probably find the service manual there as well for free if you look.

Parts for Kenmore in Canada might be hard to get as Sears closed down all operations here. On the other hand they are still alive in America. You might be able to cross refferance that seal at a bearing house as well. Or a busy service guy might have one in stock.

Sometimes the agitator gets really stuck on the shaft. Sometimes not but it has to come off if the test proves the leak is there. Wives seem to get a little rattled if you do not fix it fast. Experience has proven in our household. If any appliance has an issue. Either I fix it fast or replace it. Wives seem to appreciate this.

Now if the discolored water is actually entering the machine is another kettle of fish entirely.

Doing the repair yourself eliminates the cost or moderates it as well as the discussion. Simply because the cost of the repair is so cheap. That is should we just buy another washing machine? In that case a person should do their homework. Many today are not that reliable.

I just suspect you lost your shaft seal.

White Westinghouse purchased Maytag and shut their plant down. It was the simplest longest lasting washing machine ever produced on average. They substituted the line with their own product. This to me was an obscenity. On average you could go twenty five years with a Maytag machine. Change two belts and go another long period of time.

Their secret was simple. You paid for lack of parts and what parts they had where of decent quality. Plus well thought out. I sold a truckload a week at one time. Just had one on display with the front cover removed and a competitors machine alongside with the front removed. Explaining to customers that you are basically paying for the lack of parts. Parts break. Back then the average expected lifespan of the average automatic washing machine was about twelve years.

The wifes current white Westinghouse washing machine Is about three years old and has two faults. One is Electronic and the water control valve is suspect. I have temporarily worked around both problems. There is a slight chance both problems are being caused by the one part. That is another problem to determine. Appears to be a common problem with that model on the net research. There are just several ways of failure when it occurs. Not a specific part. The machine is not displaying a code either.

That means the greyness is from the laundry you have loaded or the detergent you're using. If the clothes are coming out clean and there's no weird/rotting smell, I wouldn't worry about it.

Detergent can cause the water to turn grey. Many washing machines now recommend running a clean cycle (some even have a setting for this). Basically with nothing in the machine, you run it on a short cycle with no detergent except for having the bleach cup filled. Let it run through its cycle. Keeps it fresh.

Just let it sit overnight with only water in it. If the seal is leaking you will see some evidence of lubricant the next morning. I never thought you were checking while the tub had a load.


Normally the soil of the laundry , detergent effect etc will change the color of the water. Tempest in a teapot type of thing hopefully.

Maybe it is grease from the transmission, but it is only exposed to the water when the tub is loaded and causes the agitator to bounce around more.

Unlike the Maytags or GE's of yesteryear, the direct-drive Whirlpools don't have a gearcase exposed to water. Even if the centerpost seal failed, the gearcase oil cannot get into the tub. If you had a seal failure, you'd have a puddle under the machine, not grease in the tub.

Mine does it but I always put the detergent in the tub before the clothes. Is there any chance you hoses are giving up the linings? Try hot only then cold only to see if that makes a difference.

Now I have to go run a cycle without detergent to see if I have the same issues.

Gray water = dirty clothes. That is what the washing machine is for.

Large rubber seal is perished thats on the drum it will be grey in colour .

Washing Machines
 

Lots of good info here ! .

I miss my 1964 Maytag, a gift in 1976 when I was newly married and broke, it had a leaky water control valve, replaced it and it was good for ten years before it simply went dead and I had no idea how to test the timer or whatever was the problem ~ across my back fence was an authorized maytag parts & service place, the A-hole there was grumpy and didn't want to sell me parts for it at all ~ he complained bitterly when I'd bought belts and the water pump previously .

Anyway, what do you alls think of Speed Queen washers ? .

They're still made in America .

Things change with time. I might read the speed queen reviews and articles on the net. To get some current ideal. I do not think they were bad in the day. We had a regional distributor in town that moved a lot of them years ago.

Laundromats used a lot of them back then as well. So they had to be fairly decent at that time.

They may have stopped sales in Canada as it is a long time since I have heard the brand name. Our youngest daughter managed a decent sized appliance and furniture store for a few years. At that time she was impressed with some of the Korean brands. Again though changes occur with time.

Just because it's made in America doesn't mean it's worth the price premium. Do some reading on the web about SQ. Those that love them swear by them. Those that are objective are ambivalent towards them. Those that have been burned by their $**t warranty service and poor reliability swear AT them. The 2018 models seem to be REALLY bad, there are some Youtube videos out there that basically just show them swirling laundry in some tepid water. No thanks. For $1200 I'll buy a proper frontloader that'll actually wash my clothes!

For the meantime, I'm sticking with my '84 GE water-guzzler™ (in Harvest Wheat!). I don't care what I throw in there, it comes out spotless the first time in under half an hour. When it finally kicks the bucket I'll buy a frontloader. There's not a top-loading washer on the market that I'd touch with someone else's 50 foot pole, certainly none I'd spend my hard-earned money on.

Washing Machines
 

Thanx fellas! .

This temporary house has a battered front loading 4 cubic foot Whirlpool duet that works a treat -but- the big grey rubber sleeve between the inner drum and outer housing it looking pretty crispy .

I'm amazed at how well it cleans .

Maytag was sold to Whirlpool in 2006. Everything in their product line today is Whirlpool equipment with a different badge and a higher pricetag. I'd keep the Sears set going until it craters. The direct-drive washers were some of the most reliable ever produced and cheap to repair when they do go wrong. Their dryers haven't changed since the 60s and are dirt-simple.

Noted, keeping my current Sears washer and dryer goiing means less money out of my pocket today. Since I have dogs a lot of my clothes and blankets end up with a lot of hair, some to the point I have to throw them out.

The big stuff I take to the commercial laundry mat down the street that has brand new extra large Speed Queen washers and dryers. It's not a perfect solution but one that seems to work for me right now....

X2 had a Speed Queen washer and dryer zero problems for fifteen years. Wifey wanted new. Bought a Maytag Centennial W/D around five years ago now. Within two months wash cycle would interrupt itself pump out water and end without ever spinning or rinse cycle. Service guy came out under warranty and said many problems with these units if you are on a well with varying pressure. There is a computer that ends any cycle if it detects filling to fast to to slow.
Long and short of it is, I get another job two or three times per year cleaning screen/filter on water fill line to remove sand/iron. Thanks Maytag.

This is why I hang onto my GE for dear life. It's one of the old ones with the "filter hat" on the agitator. All the dog fur winds up there in a big wad. Throw it out after the wash, and once they've been through the dryer, no dog hair! People are sometimes surprised to find out I have dogs because I never have it on my clothes.

Dog Hair Removal
 

Thanx for that tip ! .

I have dogs too and the hair can be a real PIA, SWMBO hates any hair on my clothes, technically both dogs are yard dogs but they occasionally sneak inside and snooze in my lap in my recliner/pain chair..... :rolleyes:

Not Maytag was just the name by then White Westinghouse product. Rather than buying the Maytag brand to add to their empire as is. They just eliminated competition and closed the plant. Slapping the Maytag label on their own product line.

Perhaps not in America yet. I found real evidence of price fixing the last time I purchased a new dishwasher in Canada. No matter where I looked the pricing was exactly the same to the penny with no negotiation entertained by retailers. When they have sales it is the manufacturer company telling them exactly where to price them. The retailers all have the same sales at the same time. I hope Americans are not hit with this.

Appliance margins are not large. At the retail end. At the same time this is not supposed to exist. We brought a white Westinghouse dishwasher this past spring. Good with the bad. This model washes dishes very well but the stainless steel interior liner is prone to rusting. We have not seen it yet but it is reported by enough owners to be a potential issue.

It runs quietly with more sound insolation than the bottom of their line. The wife is happy with it as well. It had good ratings for actually working well. How long it lasts is any ones guess.

When the need was required to replace it. We found one brand that is really great but expensive as well. I was not familiar with the brand. Although there is little doubt it is by far the best. A retailer is not allowed to sell other brands if they handle this line. Somewhere around 2 1/2 times the cost of an average dishwasher. Retailers of them are are not common in my area.

In general I expect the marketing effort of more and more features to continue. More buttons and functions sell product. Yet when they enter service most women only use one primary function they present in reality.

The age of our twenty three or twenty seven cubic foot freezer is starting to concern me. It has been in daily service with no issues for well over forty years now.

I think I will install a temperature alarm as there is a lot of expensive food in it usually. I have not examined my home owners policy if it would cover a failure.

When the wife wants to defrost it. She lets the bulk of the contents decline. Then transfers the remainder to an even older but smaller Armana freezer that still functions. When needed for this purpose.

The primary freezer unfortunately is a little too large to have on the main floor. The pair occupy little space in reality in the basement. Not too many steps down to reach the upper basement either as the house is a slide split.


I believe it is unreasonable to expect the bulk of todays appliances to last as they once did. Beware of frost free fridges if the defrost timer ever jams active. Of course almost everyone has them. This can push a hydro bill into the stratosphere.

Another thing that I experienced was no parts available on a ten year old appliance a few years back. It was the part most likely to call it a day. The motor in the dishwasher.

Because of the cost of some of the electronic replacement parts. A appliance scrapyard selling parts might do okay if it had enough inventory. People just want defective appliances gone when they replace them. Making inventory costs low. Some are probably worth the effort to repair them. If you have cheap used parts on hand it could be a small business with low to no initial capital requirements.

I only include this because times are hard for some people. You would sell at least a few elements a day for example new and used. Once established.

We sold stove elements years ago. And related items. The inventory was provided on a consignment basis. The jobber stopped in once a month and restocked it. Plus we paid for what was sold.

It generated a good overall return with little to no effort. I priced a typical average surface element the other day in Canada. With tax 46.00 now. They averaged about fourteen to twenty dollars retail each when we sold them.

They generated at least a few hundred dollars profit a week back then. It should be at least double that today. It was not a large segment of our business and they sold themselves basically.

Actually looking back if we had advertised them as well. Instead of just selling them by word of mouth. We might have easily increased sales. It was just a very minor part of our operation though. I had to concentrate on the areas that made payroll etc. Those were busy times.


At my age I have no interest in developing new business for myself. Yet things still occur that I examine. The concept of regions meeting their own needs to provide more economic activity is needed. There are endless things that small operations can do. Small is no longer encouraged today. Corporations want it all but they have made a possible error.

I do not think too many are aware of it. How their excess newer greed provides a potential window for the small guy in certain enterprises. That was shut for years if not recent decades as they assembled their empires. In two potential areas of their interest. That also got my attention as having good possibilities.

The larger corporations have reciently have been buying up all the completion they can in them. When acquired they are not changing the original names of the acquired operations. I think they are beating the monopoly rules in some fashion. Plus deceiving the general public. These almost have to be private corporations. Estimating their profit margins if they were stock based companies at one time. They have brought them all back. Years ago.

I could really use a washing machine with that feature. Would you mind sharing the model number of your GE washing machine so I can begin my search?

I don't think any new top loader washer are worth it these days. If you go top loader, I think you need to find a nice condition used 25-30 year old washer.

If you are looking for a top hat lint filter washer, take a look at a Norge burp-a-lator built in the eighties or early nineties. They are well built and very reliable. My parents had late eighties Montgomery Wards burpalator washer built by Norge. I thought it was the best top loader I've ever ran across.


.

GE killed off the filtering washers in 1995, mine's from 1984. Sounds like a cement mixer when it runs, but it'll wash the heck out of the clothes. If you want to see what I'm talking about, hit up YouTube for a GE Filter Flo

I miss the old days, we’ve been married for 30 yrs and got a Kenmore set when we got married in 1988. Those machines were built like tanks, never had a single issue. I literally only had to change over the power cord from the common neutral/ground to the separate ground style when we moved into a new house in 1995 that had the newly mandated dryer outlet. I know they were all brand-labeled, I think we got Whirlpools.

After 10 yrs, several moves, and 2 babies, which had all taken their toll, it was time for something new. Maytag had just come out with the Neptune which was supposed to be the best thing ever. Well not so much. It was fine the first couple years but it turned into a pile of junk. Latch motor failure which burnt out the main board, scummy seals, bad water solenoid, drive belt jump off the pulley, etc. etc. etc.

Got rid of the Neptunes in 2009 after it failed one too many times and I got sick of fixing them.

Got a pair of Samsung machines and while they haven’t been totally trouble free, the issues have been easy to fix. The machine is much easier to work on than the Neptune. I’ve only had to replace the drain pump (may have been self inflicted, it was right after a beach trip...), and the drum shocks went out about 18 months ago. We still get scum problems in the tub seal and water distributor over the soap box but I just have it on an annual PM rotation to open it up and clean it out.

I'll take them. Old machines actually work.

I'm not worried about water use; here on the east coast we have plenty of water. There's even some lying on the ground right now!

You also have delicious blue crabs!!!! YES!!!!

Lots of good food Down East where I grew up, lots of not so nice things too......

1956 Maytag wringer.
 

1956 Maytag wringer. Got it from a friend who moved to Australia. It had been sitting out in the weather for a year. Tightened the belt once, and i have been using it for 25 years with no further maintenance.

We still have our 22 year old Neptune, but it's seen a lot of repairs. The circuit boards were very poorly designed. After going through two of them, I repopulated the board with higher rated components. It was a bit of work, but the board has held up for years. The drum bearing fails every now and then and is a memorable ordeal to replace, worse than the rear axle bearings on my 190D (required Mercedes content). This week's challenge is the motor bearings. I guess they didn't make them like they used to.

Modern appliance to me are just like modern cars. Far more to potentially go wrong. Although the overall lifespan of few brands really outclass many of the others. Cost per mile or cost per washing load is directly rated to your income stream for tolerance. Also when a household appliance goes down. It pretty much demands quick attention.

These values are identified pretty well with cars. Not so much with appliances now. I depend more on my appliance guy to guide us. Trying to stay away from the real junk at least. He sells new and used as well as personally services them. I think he has developed a following where it is known he rebuilds certain brands of older units. For people that want reliability back.

I assume by now most makers of appliances are importing as much offshore content. As cheaply as possible from primarily China. My guess is they are reluctant to pay for higher quality build components from them as it Impacts their bottom line.

We live in a much different economy than years ago.

The consumer is hard to pin down today. What motivates them to buy what they do in all too many cases is a pretty open question. I have resigned myself to buying a new dishwasher about every five years now. If it goes longer without a major issue fine. Simply because that has been about our average for quite some time now.

Occasionaly when following some new car owners of specific brands. I have to wonder what they were thinking as there is so much negative information out there on what they have purchased.

Perhaps they only lease them and disgard them. People that are on moderate income streams do not have to think more but they should. Their resources are limited.

As an older couple our resources fortunately are not limited. At the same time part of this happened because we were always both conservative and watched what we buy.

It is almost ludicrous that the newest stove for the cottage is an older stove. Simply because our appliance guy told me the new ones have serious issues in salt air enviroments about every two years. Think expensive new digital control boards. I pick up the replacement tomorrow afternoon. It looks like new but is far from it. The oven calibration has been checked out. Important as the wife is really fussy about oven performance. Under the burner pots is not just plain or painted steel and like new. Partially digital but the oven control is manual. It may have been an expensive stove in the day.

The oven door spring or springs let go in the otherwise good stove. I had a quick look but there is some serious damage. I found parts of the broken linkage that holds The spring in the bottom drawer. A good used door would have solved the issue. If you could find one.

1956 Maytag Wringer
 

I well remember those, sturdy and trouble free - I hope you remember to occasionally grease the zerk for the drum .

I remember when the last manufacturer of those quit making them long ago, 1970'saybe ? they said they were exporting 99 % of the production of wringer typ washers to Centro America and couldn't be bothered anymore. sad .

I remember these in the early 1960's when they were in the spin cycle you either tethered it to the sink or it'd slowly walk across the kitchen floor.......

I think it was GE who had actual concrete in their automatic washing machines for some time. To reduce any walking effect while spinning out. Physically heavy machines.

I do not know what eventually happened to it but we had a Frigidaire washing machine at one time where the agitator moved both vertically and horizontally. I am not into washing machines but remember that one performed well. Maybe it landed up with a tenant as I do not remember it ever breaking down.

Best in recent years. Yard sale. Kenmore washing machine. Lady said her brother lived alone and was usually away at jobs in other countries. So hardly used at all over the years. He sold his house and we are selling some of his things. Fifty dollars.

In use at the cottage for a few years so far. Seemed to be as described. Middle size tub. No electronics.

I remember the TV adverts for those washers with the bobbing agitator, they looked weird, i wonder how long the transmissions lasted with all that going on .

SWMBO only wants new whenever one breaks, we have to buy a matching pair ~ we have Foster kids so our washing machines get heavy duty use .

The Maytag Neptune and the Samsung front loader that I currently have are equipped with concrete blocks attached to the outer drum. This is for stability.

When I went to change out the drum shocks on the Samsung washer I was struggling mightily until I noticed the concrete blocks. Unbolted those and the drum seemed to weigh about 15 pounds after that.

Yep. My GE is one of those, basically just a cinder block bolted to the transmission frame. Doesn't help much with vibration....those things will walk right out the front door if the load is too unbalanced.

In the back of our minds we probably comprehend how bad it would be Without a washing machine in operation. Time and money spent in laundry mats or washing by hand. Is not a pleasant alternative. So I think the real value of a reliable washing machine far exceeds the cost.

The difference today is the amount of items we own in comparison to times past. We cannot have things breaking all the time. Or even infrequently. Statistically we have to repair or replace everything.

It is not because we are just an old couple now. We have turned against too many functions in domestic machines. I can think of no reason for any electronics involvement. Especially when that becomes the issue far too often with them.

I remember when we first started out as a couple on a shoestring. The wife washed clothes by hand until we could pay for exactly what she wanted. For some reason credit had no appeal other than for business. That never changed in our lives.

The bolts holding the cement blocks on my Neptune loosened up and the blocks went for a walk on their own. A bit of locktite fixed that 4ever.

When I was a kid, my mother had a Bendix, which was a washer/dryer in one unit. Not stacked units, just one front loading machine that switched from wash to dry at the end of the rinse cycle. Lasted 21 years. That was a great machine.

This thread must be like Beetlejuice, said the GE's name too many times and jinxed it. Motor relay took a dump this morning (GE's don't use a centrifugal starting switch) and seems to have welded the timer contacts and cooked the motor. The downside of using 30+ year old appliances....they can go any day and at any time...

If I owned my own home, I would have nothing but 1950s and older appliances in it.

If you had a 50's home, you'd have to have one of these.


The best part is, there was no dryer vent. Instead, there was a cold plate which was cooled by a constant flow of cold water. The hot exhaust would flow across the cold plate, which would cause the water vapor to condense. The water would be pumped away, and the exhaust continuously recirculated. Lint was caught in an efficient trap. You'd waste a lot of water, but there would be no exhaust. Perfect for an apartment, condo or small house.

I think the son in law mentioned. Something similar of a water system was available as an add on. For dryers not too long ago. I did not ask for any details .

Of note though a lot of home fires are caused by accumulated lint in the clothes dryers and vent stacks. It probably is a bad ideal to leave home with a load drying in the machine.

Took the house out cross the street from us as an example. Vastly improving the view. They took the insurance money and decided not to rebuild.

I am as negligent as a lot of others probably in not cleaning the vent system out at least once a year. I do not know if it is against code or not but I never use the plastic flex type hose in a clothes dryer venting system. I still see them sold in hardware stores. The supporting wires and irregular surface conformity probably aid in lint accumulation. Plus the plastic can catch fire as well.


Another member mentioned wringer machines. There always was a small chance of feeding your hand and arm into them in the day. Not the best experience in life but probably not that uncommon. Actually probably still a good choice to wash out greasy and dirty rags in a busy mechanical shop. If an abundant supply is not cheaply available. I am still highly cautious of the spontainious combustion possibility when dealing with greasy rags of course.

I even wonder how many lighter lint fires in the aluminium pipe go undetected. If the dryer is running it is exhausting so it may be undetectable.

That's pretty neat. That's good that it's atomic-proof. I dream of restoring a home that was built in the 1930s and furnishing it with 1930s-1950s items.

Fairly large undertaking to bring a house from the thirties up to some semblance of todays practicality. I am currently Building and installing window boxes to get the widows 3 inches further off the exterior walls.

This house was well insulated for the times forty years ago when we built it. Now I am adding two and a half inches of foam. Horizontally to increase the insulation over the wooden bones of the place especially.

Fun and games in the hottest weather I ever remember here day after day. I am going to try to heat and cool the house with a ton and a half heat pump. Hopefully by using the furnace blower at half speed constantly to aid distribution.

The challenge might be to upgrade a 1930s house in an almost non detectable fashion.

Maybe you can keep paint on trim etc in your locality. Painting exterior wood in my climate is pretty much a lost cause. The original electrical and plumbing will usually have to go. Unless already replaced. Houses of that period seldom had any closets Unless they were upscale.

I often wondered why most earlier car garages where usually so small as well. Convention of the times perhaps. Kitchen cupboards where usually both very limited in size and crude as well.

I examined and talked with an owner pouring over half a million into an earlier house about a year ago. This house was in a very slow area where even labor was fairly cheap.

Actually one of our nephews buys and renovates older houses to rent out. Currently we are aiding him financially as he gets over the hump. He was going to sell a couple to get some working capital. We thought it was better if we helped him instead as real estate prices are rising here.

The house I lived in with my mom for a few years was built in 1936. It was a nice house other than there being too many layers of paint over everything, it having been completely overdone in "old woman craft" wallpaper, and the original wiring often catching fire along with not being able to use the microwave if the washing machine was running, etc.

Later on I rented a small home that was built in the 1930s. It had a central furnace with one duct that heated all the rooms from the hallway. After that, I was living with my sister in a house that was built in 1910. It was a large house with nice glass doorknobs. No real issues with that house.

My grandmother passed away and I was given the opportunity to rent the cinder block house that my grandfather built in 1947. It was tight quarters, but had five bedrooms. I didn't move in, though, as it would have been a large move from Arizona to Utah, and the house was really run-down with the floors caving in.

I wouldn't mind building a house, either, but I'd want to built it solid out of real materials instead of just timbers and sheetrock. I'd also want to use vintage light switches and things. I can't even keep a job to support myself, so it's not like it will ever happen.

Older Houses
 

Well Squig ;

I'm old and have been living in older houses my entire life, it's not all roses and fun let me tell you .

For one the tube and post two wire electrics in your house weren't designed to carry more than 20 watts or so plus they're ungrounded .

Then you look at the lack of insulation and poor weather sealing, this means cold in Winter, hot in Summer and drafty year 'round .

I have lots of old things in my 1923 Craftsman Bungalow (mostly millions of termites), the antique telephones have very poor sound quality no matter how much you love them (a LOT n m case) .

On and on.....

Yes, old houses can be very nice but you'd best be handy and rich .

Myself, I love the Victorian houses I lived in from the early 1950's through the mid 1970's but they're few and far between in Los Angeles unless you're very wealthy .

Just thinking of you making a nice old house good again like you're doing to this W116 makes me smile .

The GE lives! New timer, a wiring repair, and a new starting relay later and it's back up and running like a top. Looks like it gets to Filter-Flo for the foreseeable future. :cool: