Throwing the washer or dryer in the car when something goes wrong isn’t really an option unless you're built like the Hulk and drive a van or truck. That mean you’ll have to call out a repair person to make a potentially expensive house call and hope he's brought the right parts for the job. Some manufacturers are installing network capabilities in such devices to allow problems to be diagnosed remotely, but the laundry isn't the most common place to find a network connection. LG has come up with a way to troubleshoot washer and dryer issues remotely by getting the devices to chat with a technician over the phone in a language R2-D2 would understand.
Called SmartDiagnosis, the system would allow consumers to call the LG customer service center at which point they would be asked to press a series of buttons on the laundry unit suffering difficulties. This triggers a series of diagnostic tones with each tone corresponding to with a specific maintenance need that can be identified by a service technician over the phone.
For those instances when the problem can’t be resolved over the phone, the system would allow the problem to be identified and the field technician would be able to come prepared with the correct parts so that the repair can be carried out in one visit.
SmartDiagnosis is already available on some LG units, including its newest front-load SteamWasher with 6Motion Technology models, its first top-load Wave Series washer models, and their matching dryers.
