Fixing the Washer

Yesterday I was washing a load of laundry when I noticed a river of water flowing from under the door of my mud room where the washer is housed.  Wonderful.  I opened the door and saw that the water was cascading from beneath the washing machine.  Luckily, it was in the final spin and drain cycle, so I only had to wait a couple minutes for the water to stop.  I grabbed a couple towels and sat down in front of the computer for a seemingly endless search on how to solve the problem.

If you have an HE machine and this has happened to you, I hope you will benefit from this post.  I know I saved at least $300 by fixing the problem myself, AND I had my washer up and working the very same day.  My leak was coming from the front of the machine.  If yours is coming from the back, this post probably won't be much help.

I have a Whirlpool Duet Sport frontloading HE washer.

The first thing I did was unplug the washer.  That's vital whenever you're working on an appliance because you don't want to get electrocuted, right?  Next, I removed the kick plate on the front of the machine.  I used a socket wrench to get the bolts off.  They are located on the bottom of the machine and there are 3 total.  You don't have to lift the machine or put blocks under it or any of that if you have a screwdriver that is thin enough.

Here's what it looks like (I've circled the location of the bolts holding on the kick plate in red. You will probably need to lay on the ground to see them):

Once you get the kick plate off, your machine will look like this:

See where that hand is grabbing?  That's the drain filter.  Put a bowl or something underneath it and slowly unscrew it (counterclockwise).  Mine was on there ridiculously tight because it was the first time I'd undone it.  Holy cow it was hard to get off, but luckily taking it off slowly allowed me to just "turn off" the water when my bowl got full so I could empty it out.

When it comes out, you'll have something like this, except yours will be dirty and it will probably have a bunch of stuff sitting in it like coins, screws, etc.:

Clean that puppy out.  It's the drain filter, so it's probably a good thing to know its location and how to access it anyway.  Once that's done, shine a flashlight around in the area that it goes to make sure there's nothing else in there.  I had a baby sock stuck in the drain tube on my machine.

Put the filter back in.  Also, if your machine isn't draining at all, you probably need to replace the entire pump assembly (the part that the filter is attached to), but luckily because of it's location that's an easy fix.  Order the part online and it's just 2 clamps and a plug-in electrical connection to install/uninstall it.  You can totally handle the job on your own.

After I fixed up the filter, I ran a load of clothes sans kick plate.  Not recommended and probably dangerous, however in my case it revealed that my leak was not fixed yet.  I also saw the water was coming from the seal around the door of the machine where it joined up with the tub.

I googled a YouTube video of how to fix it and everything said I would need a new one if there was any leak at all.  I called Whirlpool to get a price... $150.  No.  Amazon had one for $60.  Score.  So before I attempted the repair on my own, I decided to see if I could get the old "boot" off.  Fail... that process is so dang complicated and it involves taking the entire top and front panel off of the machine.  That wasn't going to happen since my machines were stacked, so I decided to look for a suspicious part I saw in the video.

To do this, I released the spring clamp/wire around the front of the door seal.  Just use a screwdriver and pry the spring (at the bottom) away from the machine.  The rest of the wire will pop right off.  Now you can disconnect the seal from the door opening, so do that and clean all around the inside of it.  Push it inside your washing machine and you will have access to the space near the drum.  I don't have any pictures of this because I was too busy to take photos and it's not a "normal" procedure, so there aren't any photos online either.

Next, I used a makeup mirror and a flashlight to locate the screw of the clamp that attaches the "boot" to the drum of the machine.  For me, it was on the left side around 10 o'clock. I found a small phillips head screwdriver and used it to tighten the screw on the clamp by 1.5 turns.  Then I went to work reseating the "boot" around the door opening and getting the spring-loaded clamp/wire back in place.  I closed the door and ran another load of laundry (with the kick plate still off).

SUCCESS!  The washer was working again and there were no leaks this time!  Getting the kick plate back on was the hardest part of the project and it really made me wish I had my machines on those laundry pedestals like this one:

Newtown, CT Shooting

After watching the tragic events of today unfold on the news and on Facebook, I feel like I must comment about something that someone said.

A former friend (as I unfriended them following this comment) updated their status with a message saying that it was a good thing none of the first responders wasted time praying and that they just apprehended the shooter in a timely manner.  They went on to say that God wasn't in any hurry to stop the shootings.

First of all, it's not like the shooter was taken out with a bullet from a police officer.  The first responders arrived AFTER the fact.  The shooter killed himself.  For someone so crazy to then turn the gun on themselves, I say IS divine intervention.  Imagine how many more children would be dead right now if the shooter kept going until an officer took them out.

What this poster failed to realize is that God gave everyone free will and unfortunately some evil people CHOOSE to do horrible things.  God doesn't stop people from doing horrible things.  However, if our society was a little more open minded and accepted that religion has a place in public life, maybe more people would be exposed to the types of morals and values that make for a safer society.

Thou shalt not kill.  Honor thy mother and father.

Those two lines would have prevented this whole thing from ever happening.  Instead, this sociopath decided to kill his mother and the students in her Kindergarten classroom.  I can't imagine that he had any type of faith, otherwise he wouldn't have done this in the first place.

So to the Athiest that posted the horrible comment on Facebook, it looks like you and the shooter have something in common.  You are both missing something rather important in your lives.  Faith and the types of moral compasses that would prevent you from shooting a room full of children or using a tragedy to spread your own anti-religious views.

This one horrible comment sparked such outrage in me.  I was tempted to respond with a something I once heard...  A student asked God why He allowed such violence to happen in schools.  God simply replied that he is not allowed in schools.

I urge everyone to keep the families and children caught in this horrible tragedy in your thoughts AND prayers.  Hug your children, kiss your spouse and never forget to tell the people you care about that you love them.  You never know when it will be your last chance.

That Neighbor

They say that everyone has "that neighbor" - the one who comes and goes at all hours of the night, doesn't mow their lawn, is a revolving door for somewhat questionable activities, etc. Think about your neighborhood and you can probably pinpoint who "that neighbor" is.  If you can't, odds are that it's you.

Up until about a month ago, we really didn't have "that neighbor", so I assumed it was either us or the people next door.  They don't come or go at all hours, but the basement light is constantly on during the night and they probably don't own a lawnmower.  They do however own several dirt bikes that they start up at random times whenever we are out back with the kids.  That's special.

However, since the addition of our newest neighbor, the one with the dirtbikes hasn't seemed all that bad.  Our dear neighbor has decided to clear-cut his lot, giving a lovely view of our backyard from the road.  The trees used to act as a natural barrier for kids and pets.  The new neighbor has also decided to build a house on his newly cleared lot... as close to the boundary lines as allowably by the town bylaws.

He also thought it would be a good plan to knock on my door and ask me to clean up the debris in my yard that is unsightly.  The debris is from a construction project, which we began before he bought the lot.  It's not done, hence the reason the debris is still there.  I find it rather insulting for him to tell me that my small pile of wood and metal is more unsightly than a clear-cut lot that's full of holes and temporary wooden molds for a foundation.  I also have a toilet in my debris pile and I feel it might be making a good planter in the future... facing the neighbors house of course.

He also hired a questionable surveyor that has given him some misinformation as to the location of the boundaries, so now he is trying to "meet with us" regarding the boundaries.  He is claiming a portion of our yard belongs to him.  There's also an area near our sheds that is in question.  He claims they are on his property, we know they are on ours (we had a surveyor confirm this).  Here's where it gets fun... our surveyor says they are on our property by 22 feet.  His says they are over the line.  22 feet is a HUGE discrepancy for professionals.  The problem is that his company has the larger reputation, but they are basing their claim off of a plot plan drawn up by a fly-over aerial photo of our lot.  When I spoke with the department of public works about this, I was informed that the photos are for estimates, which aren't accurate and the distances can't be used by a surveyor. 

Now the real fun begins of convincing the neighbor and his good-for-nothing surveying company that the distances are inaccurate and that he does not own the part of our yard that he thinks he does.

To me this all seems rather silly.  If you purchase an empty lot next to a house, why on Earth would you assume you own the neighbors property?  That seems like looking for trouble to me.  Whatever he thought would come of moving next to us isn't going to happen and any hopes he had of having a good neighbor are now crushed.  I think a nice tall fence is in order and he can feel free to not contact me further.

I am so outraged at the nerve of this individual.  Then to top it all off, he started threatening legal action -- on what grounds I have no idea -- because he is old and I am young and he thinks that will intimidate me.  Well, have fun with your lawyer, waste all the money you please.