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Adventures in Washer Repair
Jan. 17th, 2005 08:11 pmMonday: Washer stops mid-cycle. Check other cycles; always stops when it's time to drain and spin. Independent research, mine on repairclinic.com, Robin's in Reader's Digest Fix-It-Yourself Manual, converges on the same solution: We need a new drain pump. Unless the drain hose is clogged.
Tuesday: Remove clothes and water from washer and disassemble. Hose seems fine. Pump turns, but reluctantly. Order part. Part is to arrive in 3 - 5 business days. Three business days is Friday. Five is the following Wednesday (Happy birthday, Martin Luther King!). Clean floor where washer used to be. Clean interior of washer. Plan wardrobe so appropriate clothing is available for weekend dance workshop.
Thursday: Part arrives! Robin replaces part, reassembles washer, returns wet clothes, starts washer. Washer runs, no leaks; appears to have been properly reassembled. (You've probably noticed by now that there is more to this entry. Suspense builds.) Washer stops mid-cycle. In the same place. Robin takes apart timer, studies diagrams pasted to washer for two hours. Gets tired.
Monday: Robin continues study of diagrams in daylight. Multimeter shows problem with blue wire, which controls spin cycle. Another visit to repairclinic.com suggests lid latch. Lid latch is indeed broken. Duct tape provides temporary fix. Run spin cycle, run whole load again (water getting smelly). Victory!
That was so thrilling that we are now enmeshed in adventures in phone line repair. Did you know that professionals sometimes run phone lines from the box outside the house under the eaves, then down to where the phone jack should go, and through a hole to the phone jack. Then they seal the hole with silicon. You can also run it through the attic, basement (wish I had one!), or walls, but at least two of ours are outside. And after only fifty years in the elements, they just quit working!
We also learned that if you have the kind of phone box with consumer access, you can plug a phone directly into that and just have it outside or run the cord into a window (for a very short-term solution). Wonder if you have consumer access? If you see a totally cool retro box with rounded corners, you don't have access. Unless that's your old box and you also have a new box. If you see a box with a screw, that could be it. Unscrew the screw, open the door, and you'll see a jack for each line. If you unplug the wire from your jack, your inside phones won't work, but then you can plug a phone in there and have a phone outside that works. Perfect for barbecues!
Tuesday: Remove clothes and water from washer and disassemble. Hose seems fine. Pump turns, but reluctantly. Order part. Part is to arrive in 3 - 5 business days. Three business days is Friday. Five is the following Wednesday (Happy birthday, Martin Luther King!). Clean floor where washer used to be. Clean interior of washer. Plan wardrobe so appropriate clothing is available for weekend dance workshop.
Thursday: Part arrives! Robin replaces part, reassembles washer, returns wet clothes, starts washer. Washer runs, no leaks; appears to have been properly reassembled. (You've probably noticed by now that there is more to this entry. Suspense builds.) Washer stops mid-cycle. In the same place. Robin takes apart timer, studies diagrams pasted to washer for two hours. Gets tired.
Monday: Robin continues study of diagrams in daylight. Multimeter shows problem with blue wire, which controls spin cycle. Another visit to repairclinic.com suggests lid latch. Lid latch is indeed broken. Duct tape provides temporary fix. Run spin cycle, run whole load again (water getting smelly). Victory!
That was so thrilling that we are now enmeshed in adventures in phone line repair. Did you know that professionals sometimes run phone lines from the box outside the house under the eaves, then down to where the phone jack should go, and through a hole to the phone jack. Then they seal the hole with silicon. You can also run it through the attic, basement (wish I had one!), or walls, but at least two of ours are outside. And after only fifty years in the elements, they just quit working!
We also learned that if you have the kind of phone box with consumer access, you can plug a phone directly into that and just have it outside or run the cord into a window (for a very short-term solution). Wonder if you have consumer access? If you see a totally cool retro box with rounded corners, you don't have access. Unless that's your old box and you also have a new box. If you see a box with a screw, that could be it. Unscrew the screw, open the door, and you'll see a jack for each line. If you unplug the wire from your jack, your inside phones won't work, but then you can plug a phone in there and have a phone outside that works. Perfect for barbecues!