Walking Washer on pedestral

If your machine did not vibrate from the start. The problem is the motor control board. It uses feedback from the tach on the motor and current draw from each of the motor windings to detect if the load is balanced enough to go into high speed spin. I can explain this in more trchnical detail if you desire. Good luck, The Admiral

Wanted to add that additional info on this fix may be found here.

Jsrock516 is right on with his explanation and solutions. Just wanted to share one additional solution that one fellow came up with for use in his mobile home. His option considers providing dampening of the vibrations as shown here. It's a very simple solution, yet it seems to work. The main thing to keep in mind with this solution is that it is merely trying to dampen the resonant vibrations. Don't be too forceful in your own solution (think lightly touching the top of a vibrating tuning fork with your finger to stop the tone).

The recommendation by the service tech is actually a very common and very effective solution to your problem. I'm sure it was explained to you, but for the interest of anyone else reading this, I'll explain it again.

When the manufacturers first introduced the front load washers, they did not take into consideration the possible problems created by the centrifugal force of the washer's spinning action. Most of these washers spin in excess of 1200 rpms! A spinning action that fast, coupled with the washers heavy weight and a floor that flexes (even a little) will cause a resonant vibration. In simple terms, it will cause the washer to bounce or walk. Replacing the shocks with heavier duty shocks does help, but if the flooring is not substantial enough the washer will continue to have problems.

Another cause could be your pedestal. Early model pedestals had an open back which caused it to "tin can" when the washer spun. "Tin-canning" is the phenomenon of the sides of the pedestal casing waffling in and out as the weight of the washer rides on top of it. This would also cause excessive vibration. The solution: The manufacturers redesigned the pedestals with an enclosed back that would prevent this from happening (You would think they would have figured this stuff out during testing phase of manufacturing, huh?) If your washer is a later model, you will have an enclosed back on the pedestal. If there is no back panel, a stiffiner kit can be purchased and installed by yourself. All you need is a drill and a screwdriver. Instructions are included. The part number is 134682000. I found it listed at searspartsdirect.com.

Yet another possibility is the leveling of the machine. Since yours is mounted on top of a pedestal, you need to make sure you are leveling the feet of the pedestal, not the washer. If the washer is properly mounted, it is bolted to the top of the pedestal frame. You should then adjust the feet of the pedestal to ensure it level front-to-back and side-to-side.

Now...when you've checked every other possibility, its simply not the washer. Most consumers don't like to hear this (especially owner's of newer homes). The worst places you can put a front loading washing machine is in a mobile home, or an upstairs laundry room. The reason - the floors are usually not as reinforced. Even homes with a laundry room over a crawl space or basement can sometimes have problems if the floor flexes. Most home builders don't take added reinforcement into consideration for the installation of a front loading washer.

I told you ALL of this information to finally get to this point. An inexpensive way to reinforce a laundry room floor is to install a 4 x 8 sheet of heavy plywood under the washer. The plywood has to be a minimum of 3/4 inches thick and needs to be secured (screwed down) to the existing floor. This distributes the weight of the washer better. You can also safely fit BOTH the washer and dryer on top of it. A lot of people don't like this idea, because they feel it wrecks the look of the existing floor. I have seen homeowners, install a reinforcement this way and add paint and trim molding to give it that "supposed to be there" look.

You may get mixed reviews about this, but I have seen it work for homeowners. Plus, its a less expensive option than hiring a contractor to firm up your sub-flooring or joists.

I hope you find this information informative and helpful. If you have questions, please let me know.

NOTE: This problem will apply to any front loader with floor reinforcement issues no matter what the brand name is.