Today was a bust for any kind of web development learning activities. However, I did learn a few things about electronics! The morning started off by discovering our vintage Maytag Neptune Washing (MAH3000AWW) machine has stopped spinning out the clothes. So with sopping wet clothes in the washer, I began researching the problem.

After much googling, I learned that this is a very common problem with the Neptune. In fact, so much of a problem, that Maytag settled a class action lawsuit over it. Here are several great links if you happen to run across this post:

• http://members.shaw.ca/gavb/index.html
• http://neptunewasher.blogspot.com/2008_01_01_archive.html
• http://www.applianceaid.com/neptune12.html
• http://www.neptunewaxmotor.com/index_files/Page482.htm
• http://www.goetjen.com/maytag.htm

I contact Roy Goetjen via email, and verified the components needed to fix the problem. Roy’s a great guy and will fix this problem if you’re not up to the task of fixing it yourself. You’ll just have to pull the board and mail it to him. he said he’s fixed well over 2000 of them over the past several years! Wow! I guess the Maytag repair man isn’t sitting around idle anymore.

So I ordered the resistors and the triacs from Digi-Key, and the wax motor from RepairClinic.com. Here’s what I ordered from Digi-Key:

• Resistors – 3.9KH-ND, qty. (5) – $0.29
• Resistors – 3.9KQBK-ND, qty. (5) – $0.32
• Triac – 497-7699-ND, qty. (4) – $1.76

Here’s what I ordered from RepairClinic.com:

• Wax motor – 1063620, qty. (1) – $12.10

I’ll update this post once the parts arrive.

4/8/2010 – With all the parts in hand, I first spread out a newspaper on the breakfast table and plugged in my soldering iron. I then re-watched the demonstration video about repairing the controller board, and replacing the wax motor. First, I clipped the burned resistor and triad. I then took the soldering iron in one hand and a pair of my wife’s crafting needle nose pliers in the other and pulled out the leads to the components. Next, I removed the old solder with copper braid. I then took a small flat bladed screw driver and scraped off some of the protective coatings on the board so I had something new to solder too. I then installed the components and soldered them in place. Piece of cake!

I then removed and replaced the wax motor and the controller board. I ran the thing (empty) and it seemed to work great! So, the next morning, I put in a load of towels, and let it rip! I watched it carefully, but managed to leave it while it was finishing up. When I went to open up the door, white smelly smoke came out of the door! My first thought was omg, the thing is burning up. So I quickly unplugged it, and opened it back up only to find there was no obvious damage or anything wrong. After an email exchange with Roy, we determined that my wax motor was probably not broken in properly at the manufacturer, and my first (real use) broke it in! Scary! In any case, I ran the additional six (6) backed up loads of clothes through with no further problems. So problem solved!