US Warns Samsung Washing Machine Owners After Explosion Reports (cnn.com)

Samsung may have a new problem on its hands, and it feels too familiar. The U.S. regulators on Wednesday warned users of certain top-loading Samsung washing machines of safety issues following reports that "some have exploded." CNN reports: The warning, from the Consumer Product Safety Commission, covered machines made between March 2011 and April 2016. It did not specify a model. The commission suggested people use only the delicate cycle to wash bedding and water-resistant and bulky items because the lower spin speed "lessens the risk of impact injuries or property damage due to the washing machine becoming dislodged." The agency said it is working with Samsung on a remedy.

Comments

Re:Clearly Samsung's QA department.....

[Obfuscant]

This isn't a "bug". It's a case of an overloaded drum being spun at high speed creating forces that the drum cannot handle after some use.

Anyone who has used a top loader knows that it needs to be at least somewhat balanced when it goes into spin mode. The problem is certain kinds of "washables" that aren't distributing themselves around the drum and instead stay lumped up and heavy.

Try suing a centrifuge manufacturer when it self-destructs after you've put something in only one of the slots. That's that this is.

Re:Clearly Samsung's QA department.....

[cnaumann]

So why doesn't it detect the imbalance and reduce speed or shut down? Pretty much every washing machine I have owned does this.

Re:Clearly Samsung's QA department.....

[lgw]

Any halfway-decent washing machine will detect such an extreme imbalance and shut down. Any washing machine that is so shoddily built that it can actually "explode" (not just damage itself) due to an unbalanced load shouldn't be legal for sale in the US.

Exploding batteries. Exploding washing machines. I'm going to keep a safe distance from my Samsung TV.

Re:Clearly Samsung's QA department.....

[Obfuscant]

The front loading ones seem to be more robust....

Front-loaders spin around a horizontal axis, which means that when they start to spin the load is subject to gravity to assist in distribution around that axis. As it rotates, some things fall to the bottom, some stick to the side. As the speed increases, more things stick.

There is no similar distributive force in a top-loader. The lump at the bottom is pushed to the outside as soon as the tub spins and it sticks where it is.

Re:Clearly Samsung's QA department.....

[Anonymous Coward]

Considering your UID, that's unlikely. Most if not all of the machines from the 80s and 90s were dumb. They'd walk across the floor if the load's unbalanced.

Re:Clearly Samsung's QA department.....

[bev_tech_rob]

Considering your UID, that's unlikely. Most if not all of the machines from the 80s and 90s were dumb. They'd walk across the floor if the load's unbalanced.

Uhhhh....my mother's Kenmore washing machine (bought back in the late 70s) had an out-of-balance detector on it that would stop the motor and sound a VERY loud buzz when the machine was out of balance and would not continue until the condition was resolved.

I call bullshit or very shitty machine design...