Welcome to the future. You'll never again have to phone in and talk to appliance support, trying to explain the quietly annoying sound coming from your dryer and the weird puddle near the washer. Kenmore has designed a way for your washer or dryer to talk directly to tech support—right over the phone. The best part about this future world? It's happening right now, and the functionality is already built into many of the Kenmore laundry machines in homes across America.

Sears, who manufactures Kenmore laundry appliances, figures that around 60 percent of their service calls aren't related to mechanical failure, and probably something that could be fixed without having to call in an expensive repairman.

But since most consumers aren't trained to figure out what's wrong with their machine, Kenmore figured out a way to talk directly to their washers and dryers. It's called Kenmore Connect:

Basically, you dial an 800 number, put the phone’s receiver over the machine’s power button, and push the wash/rinse button or dryer’s temp button. Troubleshooting data is transmitted to the experts, enabling them to diagnose the problem and come up with a solution.

Kenmore has been testing their new Kenmore Connect system with select consumers around the country, so it's been a feature built in to all of their recent washers and dryers. Here's the complete list of previous models with Kenmore connect:

• Washers: 40272, 40311/8, 40441/8, 40512/8, 41022/8/9, 42192/8/9 and 29272/8


• Dryers: 9/80872, 9/80311/8, 9/80441/8, 9/80512/8, 9/81022/8/9, 9/82192/8/9 and 7/69272/8

If you've bought a Kenmore laundry appliance that's enabled with the feature, check your mail soon for a notice of your washer or dryer's new-found functionality.

If you don't own a Kenmore-Connect-enabled appliance, shop for one here.

Via Consumer Reports