The way to Install a Kenmore Washer Front Door Seal

As of 2014, Kenmore — a division of this Whirlpool company together with brands like Maytag, KitchenAid and Amana — provided nine distinct front-loading washing machines. When these machines vary in characteristics, all of them share the basic components of typical front-loaders, including the front boot. This simple but vital part seals the space between the door and the outer bathtub; when it tears or breaks, you have to replace it or your drier will leak.

Turn off the appliance and unplug it from the outlet, if you haven’t already done so, then turn off the washer’s hot and cold water supplies.

Open your Kenmore washer’s front door and then pry the clamp in the door boot seal — the rubbery perimeter across the round drum opening — with a flat-head screwdriver. The clamp is a circular metal ring equipped with a spring, situated just under the rubber lip of the seal. Taking away the clamp allows you to peel the seal off the machine’s front panel. Peel just as much of this seal back as you can, forcing it in the washer’s drum.

Locate the wire connector in your washer’s door latch and disconnect the wire. Open the appliance’s pump filter cover, unclip the drainage tube and remove the filter housing. You’ll likely need a Phillips-head or torque screwdriver for these screws. Removing the filter housing should reveal a mounting screw for the washer’s front panel. Remove this screw as well as any screws securing the top panel to the top back frame of the appliance. Lift and slide the upper panel back, and then lift it upward to remove it in the drier. Prior to removing the control panel, then you may have to depress locking tabs located close to the top of the door opening or the hinge of the door, depending on what model of Kenmore front-loader you have.

Remove the washer’s dispenser drawer by depressing its release lever and then unscrew the screws this reveals, which link the machine’s control panel to the front of the framework. Search for screws behind the control panel and then unscrew them too, then detach the control panel to reveal the upper front-panel mounting screws. Remove these screws and detach the washer’s front panel by putting it in an up-and-out movement.

Free the door boot seal’s drain port in the drainage tube, using a set of needle-nose pliers if necessary. Pry the internal tub boot clamp — a different spring-equipped metallic ring like the very first — along with your flat-head screwdriver and peel the boot seal in the bathtub, freeing it completely.

Implement liquid dish detergent to your fingertip. Insert your finger into the groove that runs via the new boot seal’s perimeter and then spread the soap across the groove — that helps soften the rubber before setup. Working in sections, push the grooved seal of this boot into the tub’s exposed lip. Replace the bathtub boot clamp, pressing it as close to the lip as you possibly can to help hold the seal in place. Widen the spring to easily slide the clamp above the bathtub, then release the spring to contract the clamp, securing it in place.

Connect the seal’s drain port to the drain tube and then reassemble the front panel, control panel, dispenser drawer, top panel and pump filter housing, then reconnect the washer’s door latch adapter cable. Align the lip of the door boot seal round the circular opening of the front panel’s lip, pushing around its perimeter with your fingers to make sure there are no gaps between the panel and seal. Insert the front boot clamp back in the seal’s outer groove to secure the outer part of the seal.