Whirlpool Duet Washer noise

The noise this thing makes is terrible. I followed the advice for finding the problem given by a professional EMC engineer, and it appears that the control panel is unshielded -- informal comments from the Whirlpool representatives indicate that this may be the case. (Most of the advice was geared towards AC line radion but it's not -- it is coming from the control panel.)

Whirlpool has kindly offered to send a new motor and control unit to install and see if the problem is particular to my unit.

• When it's off, there's broad noise coming from the switching power supply. It seems to be radiated through the front panel. It also makes discrete noise that I can hear 4 feet away on an FM broadcast radio, even when the unit is off.
• When it's on and the motor is running, it makes a tremendous racket, about every 17 KHz, with bands of noise. This noise too seems to radiate most strongly from the front panel.

So, you can hear both noises on in an AM in the kitchen, an FM radio, and on my HF radio 2-30 MHz. The noisiest part seems to be right at the control panel. It doesn't seem like the power cord is radiating much!

Someone who works in industry gave me this AB EMI Drive Notes document about EMI measures required for large frequency-controlled AC rotating machinery. It's for 7-8 kilowatt motors, which are bigger than the ones in the washer, but similar in design, I think.

I used the FM radio, the AM radio, and my Elecraft KX1 with a short wire antenna and found that by far the noisiest part seems to be right at the control panel. Putting the antenna near the power line didn't pick up much noise, nor did it pick up much noise in front of the washer chamber.

There is to be some broad noise during operation, but the strongest most of the noise is concentrated in at intervals. One set of noises repeats as follows, during spinning and some times filling: 14.005 14.022 14.03750 14.053 14.070 14.085 14.10250 14.11750 14.13250 14.18250 14.19750

Another weird, different noise was at 7.57760

K2 Images

• This image shows operation just before the washer startted. 7.030-k2-clear:
  
• This shows the noise of the washer starting, fairly quiet before any mechanical action. 7.030-k2-washer-starting:
  
• This shows the washer rotating, on a different frequency that is subject to noise. It's fairly broad at this point. 14.070-k2-washer-start-rotating:
  
• This is a weird noise (to the right of the blue lines). To the left is foreign SSB transmissions. 7.05775-817-washer-spinning3:
  
• This shows that the noise stops when the rotating stops; notice how the weak PSK signal becomes visible around 1150Hz offset. 14.070-k2-washer-stop-rotating:
  

FT817 Images

I switched to my FT-817 for general-coverage operations.

• Here's a baseline with the washer on but not spinning, still noisy but no discrete noise. 14.070-817-washer-on:
  
• The motor spun at different speeds during this period and you can see the see the lines vary. 14.070-817-washer-spinning:
  
• Again, when the washer stops, weak PSK signals can be seen. 14.070-817-washer-still:
  
• When the water pump turns on, broad noise is seen. 14.070.817-washer-pump:
  
• Broad noise from washer spinning at a slightly different frequency, 2KHz up. 14.072-817-washer-spinning:
  
• But it gets worse at the same frequency with spinning. 14.072-817-washer-spinning2:
  
• Again visible 7.75KHz up but a little quieter. 14.0775-817-washer-spinning:
  
• The pump made some really weird noises on 40 meters. 7.045-817-washer-pump:
  
• More weird pump noises on 40 meters. 7.045-817-washer-pump2:
  
• Different noises on 7.060 7.060-817-washer-noise:
  
• The pump again on 7.060 7.060-817-washer-pump:
  
• And a weird spinning whirring that changes frequency. 7.060-817-washer-weird2: