Maytag 613A leaking mystery


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Thread Number: 94005 / Tag: Vintage Automatic Washers
Maytag 613A leaking mystery

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Post# 1186822 8/4/2023 at 14:25 (273 days old) by dangerboy (Calgary, Alberta, Canada)
Checkrate/Likes Hello, I've got a Maytag 613A washer in my cabin that only gets used a few months a year in the summer and then gets drained and winterized in the fall and left dormant over the winter. Last winter, I'm sure I winterized it the way I always do by draining the inlet hoses, putting the machine into the beginning of the spin cycle until I don't hear anymore water coming out the discharge hose and then pouring RV antifreeze into it so the antifreeze gets drawn into the pump and possibly into the discharge line. A little over a week ago, my nephew ran the machine for the first time this year. He ran a large load of beach towels through it. Everything went fine. Yesterday, I ran an extra-large load of bedding through it and as it was filling it started leaking very badly with most or all of the water coming out of the corner where the drain pump is located. When I got the mess cleaned up, the water and soggy laundry out of the drum and got the front off the machine I started to look for where the water was leaking from but couldn't see anything obvious. If the pump housing is cracked, I cannot identify where. Furthermore, the pump and its inlet hose were full of water and no water appeared to be leaking from the pump. I got the top lifted off and noted that there was no evidence that the water came from the inlet regulator or whatever you call it. There was no water on the inside back or side panels of the machine but there was some water splashed on the inlet hose to the drain pump, higher up and a little ways away from the drain pump. It would seem then that the water came from somewhere lower down in the machine. I don't understand why the machine didn't leak when my nephew ran that load of towels and it leaked like a sieve when I ran the next load around a week later. If I failed to winterize the machine correctly, I would expect the housing to be cracked from freezing and it should be obvious where but I cannot see any evidence of cracking on the housing and the pump housing was holding water and not leaking after I stopped the machine filling and shop vacuumed out all of the water from the drum even though the inlet hose to the pump was still full of water putting a little bit of a pressure head on the pump. I also filled the pump and left it on a bench over night and not even 1 ml of water seeped or leaked out of it. Of course, that test is not definitive as it was not under any pressure. Can anybody tell me where that machine could be leaking from? Keep in mind, the leak occurred as it was filling to run the first wash cycle and it looked like most of the water was coming out of the corner where the pump is. I think I'll go down, reconnect the pump, put a bucket underneath it and with shop-vac at the ready, try filling the machine again to see where the leak is coming from. If anybody has any other tips on how I can troubleshoot the machine, I'd really appreciate hearing them. TIA

Post# 1186824 , Reply# 1 8/4/2023 at 14:51 (273 days old) by DADoES (TX,�U.S. of A.)
Checkrate/Likes 1 � Check the water level pressure hose where it connects to the tub.

Post# 1186836 , Reply# 2 8/4/2023 at 18:29 (273 days old) by dangerboy (Calgary, Alberta, Canada)
Checkrate/Likes 2 Got it solved! It could've been one of two possible things or both things at the same time. The inlet hose to the discharge pump was a little loose where it connected to the tub. I don't know if it was loose enough to leak but if I twisted the hose the hose rotated on the nipple so I tightened up the hose clamp a few turns and then it wouldn't rotate on the nipple when twisted. A leak there may have accounted for why I saw some water drops on that hose between the tub and the pump. I wasn't very observant yesterday so I don't know if this was the case then but today the hose that connects from the bleach dish or whatever you call it to the bottom of the tub had come off the bleach dish and the open end was lying down on the bottom of the tub. I could tell there used to be a hose clamp on that loose end but that hose clamp was nowhere to be seen inside that machine. That hose started leaking water as soon as the water level in the tub reached the point where the bleach gets introduced into the tub water. I have a feeling this is what the cause of the problem was yesterday and that hose fell off the nipple on the bleach dish in between when my nephew put his load through and when I put mine through. That would explain why there was no leak when my nephew's load got washed but there was when I put my load through about a week later. If that's the case then it's embarrassing that I wasn't observant enough to detect that problem yesterday. I was too focused on the pump and other hoses to even think about that little bleach delivery hose let alone look at it. At any rate, I put a new hose clamp on that connection, tightened it down and now the machine works flawlessly with no leaks. Looking forward to at least 20 more years of flawless operation from that machine. It actually sees very little use every year so as long as I don't f up my winterization and freeze the tub solid one winter, it should run for years and years without a problem.

Post# 1186848 , Reply# 3 8/4/2023 at 20:23 (273 days old) by sprog (Boston)
Checkrate/Likes 1 *Thanks for sharing your solution* The beauty of this website is sharing our collective experiences for the greater good. Many Thanks!

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