Our dryer gradually stopped working. This time, we caved in and called the repair guy. Work is crazy busy, it has been raining a lot, and we had a bunch of wet sheets and clothes. And I had not experience with the dryer. (Had it been the summer vacation, then we could have probably made the attempt...
When I fixed the washing maching we ordered the part from Amazon.com and I fixed it myself. (We are now also watching the free films from the prime membership.) Total cost of the repair was under $100 for the part. Add in the prime membership, and it was less than $200 for the repair and a year's worth of videos.
This time, my wife called around for a while before she could find somebody that would come out on Monday. (The dryer broke on Thursday.) The Monday guy ended up with some space on the schedule and came Friday. So, we lucked out. They came, looked at the problem, replaced a $20 part, and gave us a bill for $200. Part + labor + service call charge.
The washing machine part was under $100 on Amazon put retails at places like Sears for around $200. It also looked like a more complex repair job. So, we would have been looking at $300-$400 for the second repair. And that would have come two months after the first repair, which would have been around $200. I think that series would have easily been enough to justify the purchase of a "low efficiency" dishwasher.
I guess this is what we get with the "iPod" generation. Stuff tends to be really cheap. Repair costs tend to be really high. So, instead of trying to get things to work better, we simply through them out and buy something new. Viva la waste. Ughh.
Showing posts with label washing machine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label washing machine. Show all posts
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Saturday, December 08, 2012
If it can break...
Washing machine plastic pipe broke, then gasket broke. (See a couple recent blog posts.)
The dishwasher heating element broke. The dishwasher would start to go through a cycle, then stop with a flashing light. The manual didn't have much to say. However, after pulling off the service panel, I found the "secret" manual that described the code as meaning a "heating problem". I started looking for fixes online. Some described a jostled out element. So, I went to look, and lo and behold, there was a crack in the element. Amazon.com here we come. (Now why can't the dishwasher just be "dumb" and continue to wash without the element? Stupid smart machines.)
The laptop computer wont power up. It was acting flaky, and would need a few tries to finally get it to start. I finally pulled it open and found the vents were totally clogged. Cleaning these out greatly improved the fan performance. (Now we could leave it on without it turning in to an oven.) However, it did not do much to help the startup problem. It was especially bad on hibernation. The computer had recently complained about low disk space. I had finally connected the two and thought "hey, I should delete the hibernate file and just disable hibernation, and we could just leave it on." Alas, my wife shut the computer, and accidentally started the hibernation. It apparently went in to a deep sleep from which it will never recover. We decided to replace it with a chromebook for general use, and nettop for windows stuff.
Dental filling fell out. Again. These "front of teeth" feelings just do not stay in. It often seems to be after eating nuts or something then brushing my teeth. Off to the dentist. Again.
And the pipes clogged up. It seems a couple times each year we have to call the $15 sewer and drain guys out to snake the line. (It costs a lot more than $15... I think $15 is there "service fee". Then there is fuel surcharge and a fee to do the snaking. Adds up to somewhere around $90)
And the shower trap needs a good cleaning. The trap does prevent the gunk from getting stuck in the pipes. But, it still is a lot of work to clean out.
And the dryer is making weird sounds. Time to get a new one?
And I didn't mention the bikes. The triple has been to two bike shops to "tune up". It would be nice if the gears actually worked. (The high "hub gear" seems to work. Only it doesn't like to stay there, and I sometimes have to ride holding it in the gear. Not fun!) Neither seems to know much of what they were doing. The second one has not even returned my call. The Japanese bike has a flat. The attempts to repair it have not "taken". The bikes all need lights. The schwin, Trek and Giant bike are all in not-quite ridable condition. (Ugghh. Thank you bike doctor.)
The dishwasher heating element broke. The dishwasher would start to go through a cycle, then stop with a flashing light. The manual didn't have much to say. However, after pulling off the service panel, I found the "secret" manual that described the code as meaning a "heating problem". I started looking for fixes online. Some described a jostled out element. So, I went to look, and lo and behold, there was a crack in the element. Amazon.com here we come. (Now why can't the dishwasher just be "dumb" and continue to wash without the element? Stupid smart machines.)
The laptop computer wont power up. It was acting flaky, and would need a few tries to finally get it to start. I finally pulled it open and found the vents were totally clogged. Cleaning these out greatly improved the fan performance. (Now we could leave it on without it turning in to an oven.) However, it did not do much to help the startup problem. It was especially bad on hibernation. The computer had recently complained about low disk space. I had finally connected the two and thought "hey, I should delete the hibernate file and just disable hibernation, and we could just leave it on." Alas, my wife shut the computer, and accidentally started the hibernation. It apparently went in to a deep sleep from which it will never recover. We decided to replace it with a chromebook for general use, and nettop for windows stuff.
Dental filling fell out. Again. These "front of teeth" feelings just do not stay in. It often seems to be after eating nuts or something then brushing my teeth. Off to the dentist. Again.
And the pipes clogged up. It seems a couple times each year we have to call the $15 sewer and drain guys out to snake the line. (It costs a lot more than $15... I think $15 is there "service fee". Then there is fuel surcharge and a fee to do the snaking. Adds up to somewhere around $90)
And the shower trap needs a good cleaning. The trap does prevent the gunk from getting stuck in the pipes. But, it still is a lot of work to clean out.
And the dryer is making weird sounds. Time to get a new one?
And I didn't mention the bikes. The triple has been to two bike shops to "tune up". It would be nice if the gears actually worked. (The high "hub gear" seems to work. Only it doesn't like to stay there, and I sometimes have to ride holding it in the gear. Not fun!) Neither seems to know much of what they were doing. The second one has not even returned my call. The Japanese bike has a flat. The attempts to repair it have not "taken". The bikes all need lights. The schwin, Trek and Giant bike are all in not-quite ridable condition. (Ugghh. Thank you bike doctor.)
Washing Machine Take 2
A month ago, when I was fixing the washing machine, I had initially suspected a gasket problem. I was grateful when I started doing it, that it was only the plastic detergent intake pipe. This was a cheaper part ($15 vs $95) and an easier repair job.
Then this month water started accumulating under the washing machine again. D'oh!
The first though was that the pipe might have broken or come loose. So I started the "take apart the washing machine" procedure again. Alas, I am getting pretty good at it now. As I started to work, I picked up a couple legos on the floor in front of the washing machine. I took off the bottom panel and looked for signs of water. There weren't "up high" signs common with the detergent pipe. Hmmm. As I continued to work, I noticed a little gash in the gasket. That couldn't be good. But, I continued on to check the pipe, make sure it wasn't cracked, then tried running a load.
The load seemed to go well until water came in. It came in the machine, then shot straight out through that little gash. D'oh! I tried placing a bit of bicycle intertube there, but that didn't seem to work. Just a little piece of plastic missing, and we now have the replace the whole thing. The chunk missing seems to be right where water gets shot. It could be natural wear, or it could have been some legos that broke it. Anyway, it would be the long repair.
My wife signed up for the Amazon prime again to get the fast shipping. (And we got a new computer to try the instant video...) It came in a couple of days. I went through the initial part using the "picture site" in my previous blog post. However, I got a little stuck on removing the gasket from the machine. So, I took a look at a
YouTube video. (I still can't quite place the guy's accent.)
I realized, you only have to unscrew the inner-gasket thing a little bit. (I had gone a ways and almost undid it the whole way.)
Also, the inlet pipe just "pops" out. The picture page takes about soaking it in water and all this complicated stuff. None of that is needed.
The picture page also suggests removing the bottom counter-weight. Don't do it! Yes, it does make it a little bit easier to put on the gasket. But, putting the weight back on is a bear. It is not worth the effort.
The video has a good suggestion of "lubing" the gasket before attaching it to the machine. And what would you lube a laundry-machine gasket with? Why laundry detergent, of course.
My first try putting the gasket on seemed too easy. Then I noticed the arrows were not lined up. So, I tried again. This was also pretty easy. I guess the lube does help.
Then it was off to put everything back together and try a load.
Did I mention that there was a pile of dirty diapers in the machine as the "final load"? They had been sitting there a few days, and I finally pulled them out before working on it. Since they take a couple hours to wash, I decided on a shorter "towel and washcloth" load so I could actually get to sleep tonight. (I am still tempted to go back to a "low-efficiency" washing machine. We may have given up too soon on the old one. This supposed high-efficiency machine takes forever to run, and seems to have had no positive impact on energy or water bills. [They may have even increased the bills])
Then this month water started accumulating under the washing machine again. D'oh!
The first though was that the pipe might have broken or come loose. So I started the "take apart the washing machine" procedure again. Alas, I am getting pretty good at it now. As I started to work, I picked up a couple legos on the floor in front of the washing machine. I took off the bottom panel and looked for signs of water. There weren't "up high" signs common with the detergent pipe. Hmmm. As I continued to work, I noticed a little gash in the gasket. That couldn't be good. But, I continued on to check the pipe, make sure it wasn't cracked, then tried running a load.
The load seemed to go well until water came in. It came in the machine, then shot straight out through that little gash. D'oh! I tried placing a bit of bicycle intertube there, but that didn't seem to work. Just a little piece of plastic missing, and we now have the replace the whole thing. The chunk missing seems to be right where water gets shot. It could be natural wear, or it could have been some legos that broke it. Anyway, it would be the long repair.
My wife signed up for the Amazon prime again to get the fast shipping. (And we got a new computer to try the instant video...) It came in a couple of days. I went through the initial part using the "picture site" in my previous blog post. However, I got a little stuck on removing the gasket from the machine. So, I took a look at a
YouTube video. (I still can't quite place the guy's accent.)
I realized, you only have to unscrew the inner-gasket thing a little bit. (I had gone a ways and almost undid it the whole way.)
Also, the inlet pipe just "pops" out. The picture page takes about soaking it in water and all this complicated stuff. None of that is needed.
The picture page also suggests removing the bottom counter-weight. Don't do it! Yes, it does make it a little bit easier to put on the gasket. But, putting the weight back on is a bear. It is not worth the effort.
The video has a good suggestion of "lubing" the gasket before attaching it to the machine. And what would you lube a laundry-machine gasket with? Why laundry detergent, of course.
My first try putting the gasket on seemed too easy. Then I noticed the arrows were not lined up. So, I tried again. This was also pretty easy. I guess the lube does help.
Then it was off to put everything back together and try a load.
Did I mention that there was a pile of dirty diapers in the machine as the "final load"? They had been sitting there a few days, and I finally pulled them out before working on it. Since they take a couple hours to wash, I decided on a shorter "towel and washcloth" load so I could actually get to sleep tonight. (I am still tempted to go back to a "low-efficiency" washing machine. We may have given up too soon on the old one. This supposed high-efficiency machine takes forever to run, and seems to have had no positive impact on energy or water bills. [They may have even increased the bills])
Saturday, November 03, 2012
Fixing the Washing Machine
Our GE washing machine started to produce a puddle on the floor after every time we washed clothes. That was not a good sign.
The manual gave a few possible hints (overloading, high sudsing detergent), but none of those seemed to be the real problem.
Next step was to unscrew the bottom control panel and find the "secret" technician's manual. It was somewhat of a pain to remove. (Perhaps the way that it "settled" made the screws tougher.) Alas, nothing very useful here.
So, off to google-land. It appears leaking is pretty common, and usually caused by a torn or broken gasket. This in turn, is usually caused by foreign objects forcing there way through. Gulp. We seem to have a lot of those. A new gasket is about $100. And replacing it is a fairly time-consuming process.
I found some instructions on how to go about replacing it. I liked the instructions on http://www.foobert.com/blog/2011/02/08/ge-frontload-washer-door-gasket-replacement/. However, there were some hints on other sites that helped also (such as using a bungie to attach the control panel.) I went through the first part of the steps, up until taking the door off and removing the wire band from the gasket. I didn't need to completely remove the gasket or the weight.
After taking things apart, there didn't seem to be anything obviously wrong with the gasket. So I put things back together (save the bottom access panel). I tried pooring water in the drum to make sure it wasn't leaking. Still looked good. Then I put some laundry in and ran a cycle. Using a camping light, I tried to look up and see where the leak was coming from The water ended up coming from the center, but that was because it was coming down the stone. Tracing it further up, it appeared to be coming from somewhere above the gasket. Maybe the top of the gasket? Further inspection seemed to indicate something above the gasket.
I then took it apart again, and found the detergent valve was cracked. Ugh! Cheap flimsy plastic thing. Tried a quick glue job. But that came apart as I put it back on. Amazon had the piece for about $15. We ordered it Saturday night. With Amazon Prime, it showed up Monday morning. That was fast. The new one slipped on well. Then I tried pouring some water through. All was good. Finished putting it back together. Now the loads ran flawlessly without a leak.
It was amazing how convoluted the setup was. It seems like a great way to provide for repairman labor. A couple of hours work and complete dismantling of the machine to replace a simple plastic piece. Great engineering, eh?
The manual gave a few possible hints (overloading, high sudsing detergent), but none of those seemed to be the real problem.
Next step was to unscrew the bottom control panel and find the "secret" technician's manual. It was somewhat of a pain to remove. (Perhaps the way that it "settled" made the screws tougher.) Alas, nothing very useful here.
So, off to google-land. It appears leaking is pretty common, and usually caused by a torn or broken gasket. This in turn, is usually caused by foreign objects forcing there way through. Gulp. We seem to have a lot of those. A new gasket is about $100. And replacing it is a fairly time-consuming process.
I found some instructions on how to go about replacing it. I liked the instructions on http://www.foobert.com/blog/2011/02/08/ge-frontload-washer-door-gasket-replacement/. However, there were some hints on other sites that helped also (such as using a bungie to attach the control panel.) I went through the first part of the steps, up until taking the door off and removing the wire band from the gasket. I didn't need to completely remove the gasket or the weight.
After taking things apart, there didn't seem to be anything obviously wrong with the gasket. So I put things back together (save the bottom access panel). I tried pooring water in the drum to make sure it wasn't leaking. Still looked good. Then I put some laundry in and ran a cycle. Using a camping light, I tried to look up and see where the leak was coming from The water ended up coming from the center, but that was because it was coming down the stone. Tracing it further up, it appeared to be coming from somewhere above the gasket. Maybe the top of the gasket? Further inspection seemed to indicate something above the gasket.
I then took it apart again, and found the detergent valve was cracked. Ugh! Cheap flimsy plastic thing. Tried a quick glue job. But that came apart as I put it back on. Amazon had the piece for about $15. We ordered it Saturday night. With Amazon Prime, it showed up Monday morning. That was fast. The new one slipped on well. Then I tried pouring some water through. All was good. Finished putting it back together. Now the loads ran flawlessly without a leak.
It was amazing how convoluted the setup was. It seems like a great way to provide for repairman labor. A couple of hours work and complete dismantling of the machine to replace a simple plastic piece. Great engineering, eh?
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