One of the Appliantology Brethrens presented a small head-scratcher for us the other day about a GE GTWN4250D1WS top-load washer:

Quote

The customer says it only fills up half way even when on super load size. Is this inherent to this type of machine or is it a problem?

Sounds like a real problem, doesn't it? Back in the good ol' days, when you set a top-loader on maximum fill, it would fill that sucker all the way up. But wait -- before you start tearing things apart to take a look at the pressure sensor, let's listen to some words of wisdom from Brother @sh2sh2:

Quote

Normal, these machines are low water usage, most they fill is 2/3 the only thing I can make sure of is that they have good water pressure and flow

Ahh, well now, looks like we were about to get tricked! And just to confirm our suspicions, we can do a quick search on the web for that model number. Sure enough, you'll see it listed as a High-Efficiency washer.

HE top-loaders use far less water than old-skool washers in order to comply with regulations, even when you set them to fill as high as they can. However, customers aren't usually aware of this when they buy the machine, so calls like this become customer education jobs. By the way, because HE top-loaders use so much less water, they tend to get pretty poor wash results as well. So if you get a customer calling you about their HE top-loader leaving their clothes grimy, odds are that's also a situation where you'll have to break the bad news about the quality of the customer's machine.

Knowing this, you can save yourself time and money by recognizing these calls when they come in and fielding them on the phone. Fewer junk service calls means more time for the good ones!

Want to join the conversation and workshop appliance repair problems with your fellow techs? Become a premium tech member today.