I consider myself to be a good homemaker. And, I take care of problems around the homestead here. But, when reaching the young age of 58 years old nobody ever told me about a washer having a drain line trap. In addition to that, it needs occasional cleaning. Well, the one on my machine probably made it about 14 years or more before it started acting goofy. It started throwing codes out at me. As a result, I had to learn washer drain trap cleaning in a hurry! Who knew?, there was such a thing in your washer to begin with.
I have had a kenmore front loading washer for many years now. On occasion it had given me a couple code warnings over the last year or so. Never consistent though, always the same two. But, I would self clean it and it always worked after that. Soooo, I just went along my merry way thinking all was well.
Code F-21? or 5D?
So it happens again one day, code (5D), followed shortly with a (F-21). Instinctively, I unplugged the washer to see if it would reset itself in some way. Distracted as usual it was well over a 1/2 hour before it was looked at again. When I went back later and plugged it in, it finished without a problem. Sooo, should I just ignore it again, and go on my merry way? Probably not, so I went in search of the booklet that came with the washer. Now, there were no codes in this book so it was basically a bust. O.K., the internet was my next choice. And yes, they actually talked about why a kenmore machine of my type would give a (F-21) & (5D) code.
(F-21) had something to do with the drain line being obstructed. The (5D) is telling you that there has been to much soap used. To many soap suds can cause the machine to drain longer than 8 minutes offsetting the (F-21) code! So, if you see D9 first, followed by no action for 4 minutes the F-21 will show up. Then you know the cause was to much soap, and it needs to be drained. To reset it you need to press the “stop” button twice and drain. Follow up with a simple rinse and drain cycle to get rid of excess soap suds. Although, if it is just saying obstruction only (F-21) error code by itself you know its plugged. Obstruction could be possible anywhere on the line, since this one drains outside down the side of a hill.
This Line was grandfathered in with our house, so I thought I better go find the end of it. Checking it to see if something crawled up it or roots had grown over it. I knew that it would be an adventure in dodging poison ivy and snakes. All this trouble for washer drain trap cleaning!
Drain line outside after cleaning
Let’s trouble shoot!
It was a bit of a effort to pull the line out of the ground. I used the garden hose and passed it as far as I could up the drain line. I didn’t feel any resistance what so ever. As a result, I put the hose on full and waited for something to flush itself out of the line! Nothing came out but the water. Feeling confident the problem was fixed, the washer was put up to its first challenge. First load went well, heavy stuff too! Second load, nope, there is my favorite code again showing up first (F-21).
Now this situation is starting to get irritating. Hmmm, lets call a handy repair man. Nope, we are still in the midst of this global pandemic of Covid-19. Nobody will come to your house, and actually come in and repair anything right now. Well, it is kind of funny but my husband just purchased a old fashioned hand washing board. I don’t know how he timed this so nicely? But, I was not going to do laundry on a wash board by hand! This is for decoration.
Time to go back to the owners manual and internet to research this error code better. Finally, a you tube link gave me some insight. It stated something about a drain line filter possibly being plugged. DRAIN LINE FILTER!, what!, nobody ever mentioned this machine having a filter that needed to be cleaned. One fella stated he found a sock, 62 cents in change, and a set of keys in his. This could be a real possibility for our washing machine since we never cleaned any filter like that before.
Time for tools
The bottom panel needed to come off since this drain line filter or basket was in this area. You will need a tool kit with bits, wrenches, and sockets for this little job. I really couldn’t tip the washer over by myself. So, it was a bit of a challenge to take the 3 screws out that hold this bottom panel on. Once the panel was removed, a plastic sleeve was stuck on the inside of this panel which held instructions. The instructions stated, “For Service Technician Only”. It was a booklet for looking up all the codes that could display on your machine in case of a malfunction.
I was dumbfounded, this must be the way a service person can figure your machine out. The error code manual is just hid someplace on the machine. Possibly in this universal location on your machine that everyone knows about but you!
Let’s find that Washer drain trap for cleaning!
With the front panel off, the drain line filter is easily identifiable. Now, all I have to do is turn it loose and take it off.
Being very cautious, I put a bowl in front of the outlet because more than likely water would be in there. I wasn’t sure what I would find in this filter since it was never taken off before. Nobody ever told me this thing was on this washer!. O.K. let’s go!
Ohhhh my, are you kidding me! What in the world happened here. Never thought there could be such a catch all on a washer like this. Out of curiosity this force drives you to check out everything that was actually in there. Yucky!
Well, here it is. Hair tie, ear plug, nail, screw, juice box straw, plant identifier, petoskey stone, gem stone, 88 cents, and lots of lint. When looking at the basket, it did have another area that could be cleaned. You just have to take it apart at the top portion. Then the stink hit me, kind of smelled like a sewer. It was full of this black sludge that needed to be cleaned off as well.
The washer drain trap has been cleaned
Put the parts back together and give your washer a try. There is always a chance that the actual pump has been damaged from all the years that it went without cleaning. If that is the case the next thing which will be tried is ordering and replacing the pump itself. As of today, there are still no home repair people available to fix things like this. I truly hope our nation can get back to some normal activities soon.
Once back together, the back up of some laundry loads needed to be started. Things went well, except I was getting the to many suds error code (5D). I did what it had told me and things have been going quite well with it. Hopefully it will work for a few more years. You can bet the next washer I purchase the first question I am going to ask is, “does this washer have a drain trap that needs cleaning?“. Happy washing!
