I have a GE Front Load Washer, Model WBVH6240. It recently stopped draining. I removed the front service panel and drained the tub using the drain plug. The filter was pretty clogged with various items (coins, a rock, nail, screw, etc).
I thought that would fix the problem but it still does not drain. The pump doesn’t seem to operate, it is hot to the touch so I’m assuming it is burned out. Confirmation of that would be great or if there was an easy way to verify I’d appreciate it.
I can’t figure out how to access the pump in order to remove / replace it. I can’t access from the front service panel or the rear. Right now that is the biggest obstacle for me to repair - Help.
The pump is a DP40-018 Hanning Elektro Werke. I also couldn’t find the pump or this model washer on this web site for parts.
Hey Scott,
With all the items you have found in the drain I suspect you more in the pump. First thing you can do take the drain hose can blow into it without restriction. If not take lose the hoses to the pump. You might want to get some pinch off pliers to save water from going ever where or a shop vac to suck out the tub. If the pump is getting warm current is flowing to it and propeller is jammed more than likely. The front should have a couple of 1/4 screws at the corners on the front I think. should pop after removing them.
Good Luck.
Mike
tvfixer, thanks for the input. The hoses were clear so I pulled out the pump. You were right, just the two screws and then it came out after disconnecting hoses and power.
There were a couple of small items and a lot of lint in the pump, although nothing that looked like it would cause it to be jammed. I cleaned the pump, tested it outside of the washer and confirmed it worked. I installed it back in the washer, put everything back together and it works - no problems.
Thanks for the tip to check for something else clogging the pump and how to pull the pump out.
We had this problem for months. I took the bottom front panel off and removed the drain plug/trap. WOW! I found pens, change, tools, screws, guitar picks, hair, sand…no wonder it wouldn’t drain! I cleaned all that out and now the washer is working fine. My guess is the pump that was getting hot had some manner of debris inside it? I wish GE would publish this as a maintenance issue (or did they already?). Anyway, my wife is happy again
Remove three small screws from front bottom panel. Drain plug is white on my machine. It is adjaceent to the pump just to the right of center under the door. Note the alignment marks for reinstalling it when you’re done. Have a bucket handy! Hope this helps!
Our Sears/Whirlpool washer was showing a F21 code as well. We could eventually get it drained but we could tell it was not doing well as it was making quite a noise. We hired the Sears repair man, he says “I see this all the time - it’s a sock stuck in the drain.” He takes 3 screws off the panel just below the door on the bottom side of the panel and lifts it off. There is a white cap on the right side that he unscrews by grabbing the cap with a plyers. Important: catch the water as a lot will drain out. Pulls out the sock and some coins and says that will be $150. Hopefully I just saved you that money.
Thanks to this site my front load washer is fixed. The washer would not drain or spin. I had drained the washer by taking the drain trap out, what a mess. The washer was still doing the same thing, no drain and no spin. I felt the pump and it was hot. Then I found this site, as other’s have sugested, I decided to re-drain the washer and pull the pump out and check for clogs in it. I didn’t have any lint in it , however I found a rubber band just behind the propeller. I removed it, put washer back together, and the washer works like new. WOW this site saved me calling the repair man and costing me big money.
I just wanted to say thanks to those that took the time to post their rememdies here. Through your descriptions I was able to free two socks (I thought the dryer ate them), a golf tee, sand and a streight pin. Also, I am two cents richer than when I started. After the cleaning the stuff out of the clean out, my washer is fixed. You saved my weekend.
Thanks to all of you for your input! My frigidaire washer would not empty water from the rinse cycle. I did an internet search and stumbled upon this wonderful site. You explained precisely what to do (it was a GE response, but close enough to work for my Frigidaire). I did it, and it worked! Thanks to the contributor who noted there was little lint or trash in the dryer, but cleaning it of that small amount still corrected the problem. I had almost nothing but a bit of lint and a little gunk buildup. Would NEVER have believed that was enough to interfere, but it was! A later entry commented on working on the frigidaire pump specifically. Sorry I didn’t see it earlier. That entry is correct. You need to be prepared to replace the red metal tension clips with metal screw-type bands. It is impossible to get the red metal ones back on in the back area using regular household tools, and it takes very strong hands to open the clips. I was able to remove everything and clean and reconstruct the pump housing, but I didn’t have enough finger strength to put the red metal clips back on, even with vise grips, etc. to help. The screw-on bands were a life saver! Be sure to get 6, 3 a size exactly the same as the red clip and 3 one size larger. That way, if you can’t get the exact one to open enough to fit around the back hose (the hardest to reach and work on), you can go up one size and then just tighten it more.) There was a lot of water, but my washer is on a draining stand, over a concrete floor with a floor drain, so it was no problem. If you’re working on a “good” floor, be sure you have set up a mechanism for catching the water when you open the drains. Thank you again, everyone!!! Your answers were right on and you saved me the $150 repairman fee!
I have had quarters getting stuck in the pump in a GE profile clothes washer. I would think that GE would redisgn the unit to add an X of plastic so that coins cannot ener the pump. I added a washer to the front of the puinp that will not allow quaters to enter. I’ll let you know how it goes. Draining and cleaning every time is a pain and all due to a lousy design. [quote=masterfool;59188]We had this problem for months. I took the bottom front panel off and removed the drain plug/trap. WOW! I found pens, change, tools, screws, guitar picks, hair, sand…no wonder it wouldn’t drain! I cleaned all that out and now the washer is working fine. My guess is the pump that was getting hot had some manner of debris inside it? I wish GE would publish this as a maintenance issue (or did they already?). Anyway, my wife is happy again :)[/quote]
Our GE front-loader just started acting up over Christmas. Clothes were still wet at the end of the wash cycle, but until then it worked fine. I was just about to call the repair person (UGH! $$$$) and I searched this site.
I, too, cleaned out the drain trap (I never knew this existed) and it STUNK TO HIGH HEAVENS! There were coins, stones, can tops, and a doggy poo bag clogging it up. No wonder it gave up rinsing and draining at the end of the cycle.
I’m now running a quick load to see if this fixed the problem. I have faith it will. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!
Thank you, everyone who posted! What a ridiculously easy fix to unclog the drain. Not only did I do it myself (very proud of myself), I saved the repair fee ($150 for him to even show up) and I’m $10 richer. My ex can eat his hat for telling me I would never be able to do it myself. The $10 was his and I’m keeping it! lol
THANK YOU!!! All who posted, this helped me to fix my washer!
I have a GE frontloader - purchased in 2008 - nothing but problems -
To answer a few questions that are here -
The drain plug is on the front of this washer - you can see it without removing anything - there is a small 5"x3" panel on the front bottom that you pull out and then the plug twists free - have a large pan ready and unsrew slowly - water will come gushing out - have towels at the ready!
There are 2 screws on the bottom of the larger bottom front panel - remove these and you can see inside
you will see the drain plug housing is connected to the water pump and there are two hoses connected to the housing and the pump one coming from the washer to the drain plug and one going from the pump to your drain.
Remove the hoses carefully - I used plyers to pinch the clamps together.
the hardest part of this was removing the drain plug housing and pump - because it seems like you should be able to just remove the pump - but you can not!!
see attachment to this post for a picture
There are two screws holding in the housing and pump - remove them and the whole thing pulls clear.
Once out you can make sure there is not more coins or crap in the thing. Three screws hold the housing to the pump - mark these with a sharpie before you remove them - because once it is off there are multiple ways to re attach it.
Once free of the drain plug housing I spun the pump a few times and put it all back together -
Tried it out by put a few items in on rinse and spin- very few items - this washer determines water output by weight of load. At first the pump made a buzzing sound- but by the end of the cycle it was quiet as ever.
same problem. I had almost resigned myself to getting a new machine (I don’t know how old it is - it was in the house when we moved in a year ago.) I found this site and the fix seems to have worked - two washes in and counting.
I love this aspect of the internet! Thanks to all posters of helpful advice.
Thanks to the site I was able to get my washer working again. Like many of the above posters have reported, my washer would stop at what seemed like randow moments with the start/stop light flashing. Hitting the start/stop button would allow the cycle to resume but always I would end up with tons of suds and very wet clothing left in the basin once the wash was “done”.
I took the advice of opening the front panel and cleaning the filter as a first step. Since I just moved into this house I wasn’t certain the last time it was cleaned out and did it ever show.
My findings in the filter include:
1x pen, in several pieces
4x loonies (canadian dollars)
1x dogtag necklace
1x handful of what looked like pieces of demin
?x pieces of square plastic
Overall the filter was absolutely clogged and it looks like the washer would have timed-out or overheated itself trying to suck water through all that stuff.
I also wanted to say thank you for this information. I had washed a pillow which inadvertently ended up with a hole and some of the stuffing went into the machine. I had cleared all the stuffing out of the door and then afterwards when I tried to run a load of wash got the error message that the machine had a drain problem. The machine is only like 4 months old. I found your advice and decided to try this method first before calling a repair person. Besides the pillow stuffing in the filter I also found some coins and a thick headband of my daughter’s. My machine is now working again and it didn’t cost me a penny to fix. I never would have thought that there was a service access panel in the front. Thank you so much.
I am having the same problem my GE washer wont drain. We cleaned out the drain and had a lot of stuff in it, thought it solved the problem. We put everything together and the drain thing is hot like you said. I have call customer service and I need a repair man. It is so close to the holidays and really cant afford it. Please can you give me more suggestions?
