The tub light has been burnt out on my MLG2000AWW washer since moving into my current home over two years ago.  I didn't even realize it had a tub light until recently, and today, since the dryer's light burnt out not too long ago, I bought replacement C7 clear bulbs for both.

After installing the replacement bulb in the washer, I waited for it to go out on its own with the door left open.  I gave it at least five minutes and it stayed lit.  Both my Duet and Affinity tub lamps went out after a couple of minutes.  Now I'm thinking there's no point to having a tub light in the washer if it's going to be on for days at a time because I always leave the door ajar.  Or is there a timer component that's not working?   It sure would explain why so many Neptunes had mildew issues if the door had to be tightly closed in order to shut the light off.

IMO neither light does much, so if I have to remove the bulb from the washer I'm OK with it.  Mildew prevention is a much higher priority.  There is no mention of the washer's tub light in the owner's manual other than instructions on how to replace it.   I would think if the light is supposed to shut off after the door has been open for a designated interval, it would say so somewhere. 

Could lack of a timed lighting cycle have been an oversight on Maytag's part? 

Thanks Kevin.  All's well here, but yeah, I'll be removing the bulb from the washer.  Shame on Maytag for not promoting proper mildew avoidance measures.  No wonder they received so many complaints.

I made my statement above because I have read here in the past that Maytag received an avalanche of complaints about black mildew stains on boots not long after the Neptune series was launched.  The boot on my Neptune has stains from the previous owner that have proven impossible to remove.  I'm pretty sure she never left the door ajar because this stacked pair was located near a doorway and protruded enough to cause tight passage on the way to the basement, so a partially open door would have made that traffic flow problem even worse.  This is why I had a pump and a laundry sink installed in the basement and moved the set down there.

I did see LED versions of the C7 bulbs but when I checked the stats against the C7, the LED produced 30 lumens compared to 43 for the C7.  Additionally, the LED offered two types of lighting, either soft white or daylight.  I wasn't sure which would be better, and since it seemed the C7 would be brighter -- which is counter to everything I've experienced with LED -- I opted for incandescent. 

The problem with the LED version I saw was that they're not 7-watt bulbs.  They're like 0.6 watts, so unless there's something about the characteristics of LED light, they'd not be as bright as a standard C7.   I'd consider LED and letting the door remain open if they provided enough light to make a difference.  There's a large overhead florescent fixture by the washer, so really the bulb isn't crucial.  I just thought it would be a nice touch to have a a courtesy light for the tub just like cars had (have?) them at the bottom of the doors.

So is it OK to go with higher wattage bulbs?  At this point, I'm only thinking about the dryer, but wasn't sure if anything over 10w was safe.  And yes, there's no such thing as a 10w C7 size bulb from what I've seen out there, so 7w was the best I could do.  I've seen some 15w incandescents but they're a little larger and I don't think they'd fit.

I didn't see anything definitive in recent replies about whether a 0.6w LED would provide more actual light (not lumens, since the packaging info indicates they're lower for the LED) than a 7w incandescent C7.  There's no point in trying an LED bulb if it won't be any brighter than a standard issue C7, except for the fact that I could leave the washer door open and not care if an LED bulb remained lit.  Since the type of light produced is very different from an LED compared to a C7, I don't know if a lumens rating even applies. 

Hi Ralph, you differently gave me my morning laugh of the day when you said that you put in the Asher bulb and then waited 5 minutes for it to go out.

Neptunes were not exactly cutting edge in their engineering , in fact they were about the least sophisticated machine introduced in decades and were already 10 years behind the industry standards of efficient design. I remember when My older Brother Jerry [ a quality control engineer ] looked over the gas stack Neptune I got him and he commented how old fashioned the electrical design was and the large amount of wiring the machine had.

`Maytags not having a way to turn off the light with the door open was Mts single biggest mistake in designing the Neptune FL Washer.

[ Westinghouse even in 1959 when they added a tub light to their TOL FL Washers had a switch so you could leave the door open without the light being on, and they continued having a switch through 1994 ]

Maytag started having mold problems almost immediately after the introduction of the Neptunes with class-action lawsuits following fast.

Martin is correct however, you can close the door on about any FL washer and it will not ever have a mold problem if you are USING the machine properly. 

Washing Machines Do Not and Will Not mold if they are not coated with Bio-Film [ scum and dirt ] from washing in cold water, too LITTLE detergent, Crappy detergent and lack of LCB and or too much fabric softener.

John L.

Hi Glenn, I guess this is why detergents so often mold in the box and have sell-by dates on them and you have to throw them out so often, LOL

This is basically the problem of poor training in the appliances repair business and the lack of any scientific common sense in the world today.

John L.

John, yes, I think the former occupants here were cold water washers.  Just recently I read a post by someone here stating that blue stains on a dryer drum from jeans indicate cold water washing, and the Neptune's dryer drum is blue all around the perimeter of the front opening.

Also, the five minute wait wasn't intentional.  The phone rang so I was on a call and went back to check the machine to find the bulb still lit.

I like a lot of what makes the Neptune old fashioned though, as you well know -- I prefer knobs and dials over touchpads and readouts, and am pleased to own a FL machine with those low-tech controls.  I can forgive Maytag's failure to include a timer for the tub light.  That's not nearly as annoying to me as having to type in my request every time I run a load of wash.

Thanks for the tutorial Keith, but I'm still not sure about the lumens information on the incandescent C7 packaging vs. the LED C7 type. 

I'm fully aware that LED bulbs will produce more light -- or lumens -- with less wattage, but I thought lumens were lumens regardless of the type of bulb producing them.  That's why I purchased incandescent.  The lumens figures were higher for the 7w incandescent than they were for their 0.6w LED equivalent.

If I'm missing something here, by all means please explain further.

Thanks again Keith.  Glad I'm understanding things correctly. 

I'm still not into the habit of going directly to Amazon for everything.  I got my bulbs at ACE, which admittedly doesn't offer the widest range of options.  I was already there to pick up a 1" barbed elbow fitting to make modifications to my Maytag washer's drain hose, so I decided to grab bulbs too.

I'll check out Amazon and order accordingly.  Those 60 lumen LEDs sound like the perfect solution.