GFW850SPN0RS Reversed polarity at power cord

[murdrod]

Hey guys, 

I'm working on a newer General Electric GFW850SPN0RS that will lock then unlock then will fault out with door open indication. I've replaced the lock and inverter board trying to get it working but it's still doing the same thing. After some testing I've determined power supply cord has reversed polarity. I received the replacement cord, another latch and new main control . I tested the new power cord before installation and it also has reversed polarity. I'm afraid to hook it up and blow a new control board. Has anyone ran into this issue before? 

[16345Ed]

It probably the house wiring that’s wrong not the cord. 

Edited July 1, 2023 by 16345Ed

[Budget Appliance Repair]

1 hour ago, 16345Ed said:

It probably the house wiring that’s wrong not the cord. 

That's what I was going to say also - but according to the tester in the lower picture the house wiring polarity is correct.

[16345Ed]

2 hours ago, Budget Appliance Repair said:

That's what I was going to say also - but according to the tester in the lower picture the house wiring polarity is correct.

I’d double check it with my meter anyway. 

[Terry Carmen]

I'm with @16345Ed The outlet is wired wrong, regardless of what the tester says or there's something goofy in the appliance wiring. What's up with the white wire that has a plice in it instead of going to the power connector?

The power cords are made by a machine. If it were wrong, there would be thousands of them out there and it would e huge news.

On the plug, the wider prong should be connected to neutral. It will either be a white wire, or have ribbed insulation. Check it with your meter.

The hot lead will be the narrower prong and be black or non-ribbed.

Edited July 1, 2023 by Terry Carmen

[Nathaniel Peterson]

Looks like someone's been messing with the wiring in this washer. If the house wiring is correct I'd be tracing from power cord in respect with the wiring diagram. Why did you replace the inverter just wondering. Did you have an issue with the spin or wash cycle? Main board should control the door lock on this model.

[murdrod]

Hey guys I received this from customer care manager at Ge

 

Ryan,

 The reverse polarity shouldn’t have anything to do with the issue. The serial number puts the age of the product back to October 2019 so if it was going to create a problem it would have happen back then. I did find a service bulletin that might help… otherwise you will need to call TAG again

The polarity is correct at the outlet. I actually brought this unit to my shop for further evaluation. You can see in pic 1 of the meter I’m getting 120v from the white wire to the green. 

The cord I’m testing is brand new from the factory. 
I’ll be installing the new parts soon and will report the conclusion. 

I’m sorry I didn’t reply faster to this thread, my father died in an Airplane crash last weekend returning from servicing a commercial gas range in Old Harbor, Alaska. Our family is absolutely devastated about the loss of Rod.  It was just me and Dad at our shop so it’ll be a challenging change for me. 

[murdrod]

I installed the new cord, ccu and lock and unit is working. 

[Nathaniel Peterson]

23 minutes ago, murdrod said:

I installed the new cord, ccu and lock and unit is working. 

Good to hear on washer and sorry for your loss! Hopefully you're doing as best you can. Hope you can take some time to grieve. My wife lost both her parents within a year and had a hard time with it and still does to this day. Best advice I can say is try not to hold in your emotions. Hopefully if you work for a company that they have you some time to deal with it as best as possible as everyone is different and grieves differently. Take care brother.

[murdrod]

On 7/11/2023 at 5:13 PM, Nathaniel Peterson said:

Good to hear on washer and sorry for your loss! Hopefully you're doing as best you can. Hope you can take some time to grieve. My wife lost both her parents within a year and had a hard time with it and still does to this day. Best advice I can say is try not to hold in your emotions. Hopefully if you work for a company that they have you some time to deal with it as best as possible as everyone is different and grieves differently. Take care brother.

Thanks so much, we're both owners of our own companies but still worked together and still shared an office and shop. He did most of the commercial jobs and refrigeration and I do the domestic calls. It's been a tough couple weeks for sure. We're the only appliance repair on our island. My customers have been more than understanding and sweet to me.  

[MJClark]

I'm having the same issue. GFW550SPN 4 Y.O. machine shutting off during wash cycle start. Problem started last year & I replaced the accelerometer & got a year out of that, now it's doing the same. Pulled apart, followed diagnostic tree & kept getting no power to the line side. Checked polarity on the factory cord & am getting 120V on the neutral side. Purchased from Costco 5/20. Call in to GE waiting to hear back, in the meantime I filed a report with Consumer product safety commission cause there's clearly a bad batch of power cords out there. Hope this helps others with their GE washer issues

[Terry Carmen]

Are you sure the outlet isn't just wired backwards? I've never found  a miswired molded power cord .

 

https://www.se.com/us/en/faqs/FA156527/

Edited September 15 by Terry Carmen

[MJClark]

No, outlet is correct, Black(hot) to gold, White(neutral) to silver. I've experienced the same two failures on a 4yo washer, first was about this time last year, & now again. Seeing as how GE washers are now chinese made, It isn't improbable there's a batch of incorrectly made power cords that are causing similar issues. I know polarity isn't an issue with some motors & devices but electronics are a different story & will lead to premature demise.

[MJClark]

Ima push GE real hard for a new machine under implied warranty due to not knowing what other issues might reveal themselves down the road

[Frizb99]

The power cord on my GFW550SSN1WW is also wired backwards. I thought I was going crazy when troubleshooting the main board and got voltage between the white and green wires. It’s kinda hard to see in the photo that I have continuity between the middle white wire and the “hot” blade on the plug!

[MJClark]

Just had a very nice follow up conversation with a safety investigator from CPSC & forwarded my findings to them. I'll wait for GE to contact me as I'm done with their doom loop phone tree. At the very least this would explain premature failures of the inverter boards. Diodes, resistors, logic gates, & bridge rectifiers don't like reversed polarity, even A/C. Hope this helps someone else & prevents someone getting zapped looking for power on the wrong leg.

Cheers!