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])