Software
Houzz Logo Print
3katz4me

Do LG washers still have the hammer problem

10 years ago

I'd like to buy one but I couldn't stand that noise and the arrestors don't seem to really work. I was thinking maybe they have fixed that problem since there are so many complaints.

Comments (81)

  • 10 years ago

    Exchange the machine for another brand if possible. LG isn,t going to address this until there is a class action suit. Don,t waste your time and energy.

  • 9 years ago

    I have been driven nuts by my LG washer and water hammer. solved it today. I found 5/8 inch feed lines with no screen or flow restrictor. The hammer is GONE!

  • 9 years ago

    Where?

  • 9 years ago

    weird post, @Dennis Preston posts.this and it's almost word for word as @scoutfinch's post on another lg thread.

  • 9 years ago

    Yep, that's where I got the idea to try a larger supply line. Not trying to be controversial. I tried something and it worked. I posted it.


  • 9 years ago

    Thanks for posting Dennis, I was wondering if someone had 2 accounts, but it didn't seem like spam. I'm glad it worked for you. I see this is an issue with LG. This might just be the answer. So the arrestor didn't work? I don't know much about plumbing.

  • 9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I tried the small arrester, it worked for a day or two. but always came back. I changed the cold solenoid/valve twice. I tried bigger and bigger arresters. The larger hoses with free flow did the trick. LG certainly has a screwed up way of adding water but other than that, I really like these machines.

  • 9 years ago

    I don't think the absence of restrictions is what makes the difference, just can't see how that would work. Maybe the new hose is flexing to absorb the shock? If that's it, then I'd be worried about the frequent flexing eventually damaging it.

  • 9 years ago

    I wouldn,t think it would make any difference at all. The fill valve is screened and restricts flow. The quick open and close is also the issue. But if it works it works. I use arrestors on mine which has worked.

  • 9 years ago

    These machines do loosen the pipes from the pressure of the vavles. I still have problems. My last resort is opening the wall and strap and secure the pipes and get another machine. As my previous post I've spent a lot of money.

  • 7 years ago

    I am experiencing same problem with my washer. It worked quietly first month and then the noise started. It happens only with hot water valve. I installed the arrestor and the noise is still happening. LG should take care of this and fix it. I'll be first in line for class action law suit. I’ve been in my house 20 years and had various washing machines and none caused any problems. Besides, it's odd that this is happening with hot water valve as the water pressure is lower in that pipe..

  • 7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    Sorry your having this problem. I would suggest you get rid of the machine your pipes will loosen more. I brought a GE 2018 I got tired of hearing the loud banging after 3 years in my walls. I still have pipes loose but the noise isn't as loud more like a rattle noise. Also there was a complaint submitted against LG they paid some, attorneys got most of the money. People also signed a confidentiality document not to discuss. Not sure if you'll find the complaint on the internet.

  • 7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago


    Do you have an expansion tank above your hot water heater?

  • 7 years ago

    Are you talking to me? I have a tank-less water heater?

  • 7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    Is this a problem with LG in the newer models? Both Best Buy and Home Depot acknowledged that it was a big problem up until about 2016-17. They both said they havent heard of any complaints in a couple years. Did LG do something to fix this issue? Any experiences?

  • 6 years ago

    I just picked up an LG WM8100HVA and the water hammer issue is still present. I had some arrestors leftover from the previous washer (also LG) that I've installed on both the spigot and the machine. They don't really work in my situation. I think I just have too much water pressure for the washer supply lines.


    The best course of action for me has been to regulate the flow of water at the spigot. It takes a few seconds more to fill the machine, but the hammering is significantly reduced.

  • 6 years ago

    I bought an LG washer and dryer 11-12 years ago and again in December. Neither of them have had any water hammer issues. My son has LGs and hasn't had any issue and my sister had an LG pair until she bought a new house that came with an appliance package including a washer and dryer. She didn't have any problems. I've known a lot of people who have LG washers and not one has had a water hammer issue and we have pretty good water pressure here. I don't know what to tell you, but I don't think it is just the washers.

  • 6 years ago

    Sorry to tell you this? BUT LG settled and agreed it is, was a problem. Now they put on their warranty information, not responsible for water hammering issues. So I know your statement is WRONG!

  • 6 years ago

    Sorry your having this problem. I would suggest you get rid of the machine your pipes will loosen more. I brought a GE 2018 I got tired of hearing the loud banging after 3 years in my walls. I still have pipes loose but the noise isn't as loud more like a rattle noise. Also there was a complaint submitted against LG they paid some, attorneys got most of the money. People also signed a confidentiality document not to discuss. Not sure if you'll find the complaint on the internet.

  • 6 years ago

    shareon, if you are talking to me. the one thing any lawyer knows and you should is that a settlement, especially by the manufacturer and seller of a product, doesn't prove anything -- except the possibility that it was quicker and cheaper to settle and move on that spend years in continuous litigation. If it were just the machines, they probably would have fixed it.

  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    Sorry you weren't part of this settlement,agreement or the conclusion? and the findings and research was? I'm not privilege to say either? So you can what ever want to say. My message is for people who had issues, not for people who want to go back and forth?

  • 6 years ago

    Lotta questions there ...

  • 6 years ago

    Shareon, it sounds like you were misled about what you could expect from a class action lawsuit involving an annoyance. Product class actions almost never involve significant relief or recovery for most of the class members. The lead plaintiff may get more, but they may be the only one who does. I got a check once for 52 cents once. Cost more to process and send that check. Slight discounts on future purchases are fairly common. The majority of class action lawsuits are settled without any admissions by the parties, with non-disclosure terms and with most of the money going to the attorneys. Why do you think the attorneys advertise on TV and in newspapers trying to get clients signed up?

  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    It wasn't advertise! and you are so wrong regarding this LG issue. Moving on? 52 cents too bad for you? Lol!

  • 6 years ago

    Dennis Preston, Thank you! After years of banging pipes, money spent on hammer arrestors and pressure reducing valves, we finally fixed the problem with changing out our input hoses with ones with a wider diameter. LG should make this issue and answer better known to its customers. The problem is fixed without sacrificing performance. Thanks!! - my husband thinks I'm brilliant ;)

  • 6 years ago

    Can you buy these larger diameter hoses at big box stores? Thanks

  • 6 years ago

    Yes - I bought a pair of Eastman brand at Lowes.

  • 6 years ago

    libcolbert - could you post a direct link to the product you purchased? I have an LG I purchased August 31, 2016. Water hammer. Installed the Sioux arrestors. Still have some issues. I'm assuming the ones you purchased is a one item fits all? Mine is one of the bigger LG models. Thank you for your help.

  • 6 years ago

    Yes - here it is: https://www.lowes.com/pd/EASTMAN-2-Pack-6-ft-L-3-4-in-Hose-Thread-Inlet-x-3-4-in-Outlet-Braided-Stainless-Steel-Washing-Machine-Connector/1000096754

    These are rated for high efficiency washers. I think the hoses that we’re originally installed with my washer were 3/8 inch diam. and wreaked havoc on my pipes.

  • 6 years ago

    I have had my lg washer for 3 years now and if I had known this washer had a water problem I wouldn't have touched it with a barge pole.from day 1 the noise started but the guywho connected it said it would pass but today it's still banging we thought it was an airlock tried getting rid of it but to no avail. I've only found out today that it's an on going issue with these washers and the company who builds them refuses to acknowledge that it is a problem. We are going to purchase a water resistor but I'm not happy about it. Will not buy another lg product. Is this company related to hotpoint by any chance?


  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    >>>"Will not buy another lg product. Is this company related to hotpoint by any chance?"<<<

    Not currently but there was a contractual relationship with GE (which owns the Hotpoint brand) for manufacturing some refrigerators. Between (IIRC) 2008 and 2012, some GE and Hotpoint fridges were rebranded LGs. That ended after GE rebuilt ("on-shored") its refrigerator production plant at the Appliance Park facility in Lexington, Kentucky.

    Beyond that, Hotpoint has been a brandname used by GE in the North American, European, and Australian/South Asian appliance markets. GE sold its European Hotpoint and GE facilities and brands to the Indesit conglomerate which was, in turn, absorbed by Whirlpool in 2014. In 2016, GE sold its North American appliance division (including the North American rights to the Hotpoint brand) to a venture of the Chinese industrial conglomerate, Haier, and the US based investment conglomerate, KKR. Not sure who now owns the Hotpoint brand in India and Australia.

    LG is an industrial conglomerate based in South Korea with worldwide production and sales. AFAICT, it has never had an ownership stake in GE or vice versa.

  • 4 years ago

    WOW... THIS IS CRAZY! I HAD NO IDEA THE PROBLEM WAS THE LG WASHER. We have had the LG since maybe 2004, it works great. BUT the BANGING NOISE IS ON THE opposite side of the house and keeps my neighbors up at night bc my husband washes cloths when he gets home around 1am ;(. I have had at least.. 5-6 plumbers come out with no success. The last plumber said it was due to the AC ;0 Really, then why no noise when AC runs, but sounds like the pipes will explode... when we wash cloths. THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR THE DISCUSSION ;)

  • 3 years ago

    I purchased an LG washer and dryer combo 4 months ago. i have had a water hammer problem from the day it was installed. we have attempted to install water hammer arrestors behind the washer. we have also had large Oatey water hammer arrestors installed on the water supply lines…then we had a whole house water pressure reducing valve installed on the inlet supply line for our house. Nothing has worked. The water hammer is so severe, it will shake the floor. im afraid to do laundry. im just waiting for a copper supply line to break and flood my basement and ruin everything stored down there. Home Depot says they are only reaponsible for the first 48 hours after delivery. They say to contact LG. The plumber says it is the problem with the washer’s solinoid valves slamming shut forcefully. LG says it is a problem with our supply lines. It would seem as though everyone is pointing their fingers at each other and we are caught in the middle with a dysfunctional washing machine. we have spent more than $500 attempting to repair this water hammer. we have reachoued out to LG and they have sent a service tech out 3 times and nothing is fixed/better. we have attempted to contact customer care at LG and have been talked in endless circles. at this point the only thing we have is constant frustration. I believe LG thinks we are trying to take advantage. We are not. we only want our money back…they can have their washer!

  • 3 years ago

    I am surprised this is still an issue with LG. Are they the only FL washer that begins the fill process in that manner? Mine certainly did (it was circa 2011) and was annoying as heck, and I certainly worried about the damage to our pipes. But my previous Kenmore FL did not do that. I know I have done a number of loads in my MIL's Miele and I don't recall that ever happening. Why would LG do this but not other manufacturers?

  • 3 years ago

    Some Kenmore models are sourced from LG (with 796. as the leading digits on the model numbers) but it'd be a trick to track down if they also exhibit the water hammer problem.

  • 3 years ago

    I have the LG WashTower from Home Depot & it will be 2 years of ownership next month. All is quiet.


    Do not have any "water hammer" problem at all. Or maybe apartment complexes are built/piped differently from houses?

  • 3 years ago

    its funny, this is the exact same model if washer and dryer that I had in my previous house, I had no problem with them at all…that is why I purchased this set. unfortunately, this W & D have been nothing but a problem. LG will do nothing for me to replace it or stop the water hammer problem.

    sad. :-(

  • 3 years ago

    I bought a new LG WM4000HBA last year and I don't have a water hammer issue.

  • 3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    Our son had LG FL washer & dryer 14 years ago at a previous house in Atlanta, GA. They had to have a water hammer installed due to the noise. That was the fist time I ever heard of such a thing.

    This past summer, we had a new (gas) water heater installed and the plumber automatically installed the water hammer thing; IIRC he said it might be a codes thing now? Or just something they do? At the same time, our incoming water pressure regulator had to be replaced after 25 years. One of those two things did the trick because the water pipes don't rattle anymore when using the master shower.

  • 3 years ago

    Just replaced my 7 year old dead SQ FL with a mid level LG 3600 and I have no hammer issues at all. Interesting......

  • 3 years ago

    So I'm holding my breath . . . . My husband and I just purchased an LG Washer (WM8900HBA) this past Saturday based on Comsumer Reports. I didn't find this discussion board until the next day. Now having angst if we purchased a good washer.


    We are replacing my well loved Kenmore Elite He3t FL Washer of 22 years. I believe I "broke" a major support inside of it back in November, (was spinning a very large, super-heavy, super saturated quilt on the highest RPM setting and heard a loud "snap/pop"), and after speaking to a repair person, figured it would be to costly to repair. So I used it until it broke permanently. Which was last week.


    In all 22 years, I've NEVER had any major issues with my He3t. The biggest complaints about this washer was "moldy smells" inside the machine, but I was fortunate and never had an issue. In a heartbeat would buy another one, but it was a SEARS product, and SEARS is gone (mostly). Loved my He3t.


    So, my new LG Washer is suppose to be delivered tomorrow. (Wed). Based on several comments here and trying to avoid potential problems we've already purchased larger diameter water hoses. Hopefully this will ward off any "water hammer" issue, and we will be fine. We'll soon find out.

  • 3 years ago

    I think I posted this up thread, but I'll post it again. I have an LG washer that I've had for almost a year and I do not have water hammer issues.

  • 3 years ago

    pjgpjg2003, your Kenmore HE3t washer of 22 years ago, Whirlpool manufactured it for Sears, it's a sibling to the Whirlpool Duet line of that time. Sears doesn't itself produce anything, all Kenmore-branded appliances are sourced from the various makers of other brands. The leading digits before the period in Kenmore model numbers (syntax of xxx.xxxxxxxx) is a code for the maker. The code for Whirlpool laundry products is 110, which surely applies to your HE3t. Whirlpool was the primary producer of Kenmore laundry products from the late 1940s until Sears started sourcing some models from other makers nearly 60 years later. 796 is the code for LG-sourced laundry products.

    Sears/Kenmore product codes

  • 3 years ago

    dadoes. . . . Wow! I never realized that! (Whirlpool Duet was twin to Kenmore He3t, & that SEARS sourced their products through various makers). Thanks for that info. . . . I've heard friends saying they would go back to / choose Whirlpool products now. I just didn't have much comfort with that because I think my first washer & dryer set were Whirlpool, (but maybe not, could have been another brand, I can't specfically remember because they were a gift), and the washer stopped working after ~ 5 years, (way to early in my opinion). I didn't have an extended warranty, so I sort of filed it in my mind not to buy in that product line again. (Little did I know, right?). . . . I wish I had known that info earlier. I would have looked at Whirlpool Fl Washers too. . . . Well, awaiting the delivery of our LG today. We'll see how it goes.

    - - Also, dadoes, Thanks for the link! That's great info to know about the product codes.

  • 3 years ago

    trapped . . . I did see your posts too. That gives me some encouragement. I'm hopeful we will be one of the fortunate ones, and that using the larger ID diameter steel reinforced hoses should prevent the "water hammer" effect.

  • 3 years ago

    Pigpig, how is the new washer doing?

  • 3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    Yes, pigpig - this inquiring mind sure wants to know too!!

    Dadoes - it's so cool you're still here. I haven't been around in a decade I suppose, but GardenWeb was THE BEST helping me redesign my kitchen and house. There are so many on here so generous of their so extensive knowledge. My appreciation is kind of boundless here. Anyway...

    pigpig - I'm in precisely the same situation. I have a HE4T that is probably 21 years old? It's not broken, but it will be, I think, too costly to replace. And my love for the thing is perhaps not quite as traceable to flawlessness but laced with a bit of Stockholm syndrome? Over the years I've refloated the solder on the motherboard I think 3x? And replaced the collar once and the shocks once and the water flow stuff. Now the shocks are bad again and the collar is also leaking (ie rusting the body, not unrelated to the shocks problem). Since I guess that means I have to replace all the shocks, even though they're just ~$50 ea, all told we're looking at ~$400 repairs. Which on a two-decades old machine.... the cost:benefit starts to tilt against.

    SO.... back to GW. Or, I dunno, ...howz this different now? ;)

    Thus: I am very curious about your LG choice. I was thinking of making the same. My HE4T IIRC definitely started with that "110..." serial number so it's really a washed-over Whirlpool. Do they still exist? Dadoes said "was"... implying maybe not.

    I know, located at the bottom of a hill, we have very heavy water pressure here. That sounds bad from the outset. We do have a slate floor so that might help but this sort of hammering does sound like a pia and I'm a little nervous to try it. That said I loooooove our FL machine. I have used this machine so many thousands of times, washed so many thousands of diapers and bedding - I feel practically spiritual about it. I feel guilty about retiring it. But part of that is because I don't want to take on a new set of problems. The hammer-thing sounds horrible and it will be really good to know if you've been able to preempt it or if there's any good way to anticipate who will/does have issues. We certainly have a complaint bias/denominator problem in here inasmuch as a few people have chimed in with "no issues" but, given the popularity of these machines it does seem possible the proportion of problem-households/machines is really quite small. But again, knowing whether you were able to stave problems off at the pass, would be super-helpful.

    Also, I'm in the market for suggestions... *****sigh*****. Please hop in if you have any. I gather there's at least one major-proponent of Mieles in here. But the machines are awfully pricey. And cost and availability all seem to be competing in a post-covid screwed-up-supply-chain atmosphere, so.... Fwiw we have a Miele speed oven which has been/was a GREAT product until... it had a problem. Zero human beings seem to know how to fix them (even around here, which is LA, not what I would consider a small market). And my pitiful attempts have been half-successful and wholly-annoying.

    Thus, I'm reluctant to buy another Miele. BTW - another mentioned purchasing via ABT in Chgo, which is where we got that Miele speed oven. I second enthusiasm for Abt's support. They have been nothing but wonderful, even if it's 2000K miles from this urban center. I'd buy an appliance from them via mail again. Love Abt.

    So, at last, my q: ¿How to replace a HE4T 1:1? lol. I want a front loader. I want high efficiency. I don't want to destroy the water pipes. I want large enough to wash a kind size blanket, but not quilt necessarily. That's expendable as a need, but it seems sizes are either small or gigantic anyway. The 4T is actually 3.8 cuft I think, which is medium-sized by today's standards. It's plenty big-enough for us and I'm not eager to replace it with *bigger*, however, it seems there's not really a choice about that.

    Thanks amazing GW'ers. This place will always be GardenWeb to me....


    BTW - here's a link to reviews of the new whirlpools. Lots of the reviews are "incenitivized", fwiw. Kinda meh-sounding a little? Hard to tell....

  • 3 years ago

    I bought the Kenmore Elite front loader washer/dryer set in 2010 from Sears. The model # starts with 796 (40518900) so it WAS made by LG. I'm not surprised, it is a horror for water hammer! I've had plumbers out and cut into walls and made sure pipes were stabilized, but more pipes are rattling and in areas I do not want to break into. We also had water hammer arrestors and they did nothing. I'm happy it has had no other problems for 13 years, but I'm desperate to find a new machine that fills gently. I heard maybe Bosch doesn't fill with the constant on/off jets, but they are too small. I will look at Miele, but I think I heard they are also small? I wish there were some reviews and product descriptions that described the filling process in their machines! It's so frustrating to not be able to find this info, sigh.

  • 3 years ago

    I'm familiar with the older LG models with the very rapid on/off water when filling. I got a WM4200 almost 2 years ago. I am incl9uding a YT video doing a cycle on Heavy duty. Advance to about 7:00 to begin hearing the machine begin to fill. I think you will find its process is significantly differrent than your ol machine. LG WM4200 Heavy duty. Also advance through the vieo so you can observe it filling during rinse.

  • 3 years ago

    boba1, thank you so much! The video shows a very different method of filling than what is in my 13 year old! I will definitely consider one of these models, it looks like it could make all the difference for our pipes.