Sunday Project:

[fancycwabs]

Name: Fix the damn washing machine.
Status: Complete
Symptoms of problem: Washer would agitate the clothes until they were ready to kill, then stop, without draining, rinsing, or spinning.
Cause: Lid switch had broken completely free from its mount.
Temporary solution: Tie lid switch permanently closed with a bag tie from a loaf of bread.
Unintended consequences of temporary solution: Water all over the floor of the laundry room.
Time spent mopping up water: Twenty minutes
Time spent sucking up the rest of the water using the steam cleaner after getting tired of mopping: Twenty minutes
Amount of water on floor: Probably a couple of gallons.
Skills required: Shopping, unscrewing, unclipping, bulky object manipulation, tool location, finding small parts which have fallen inside a washing machine, swearing.
Cost of part: $25
Photo of the new switch in a plastic bag:

Is it easy to take a washing machine apart?: If you know the trick to it, yes. If not, you're screwed.
Photo of washing machine in its disassembled state:

Is it easy to put a washing machine back together?: Not as easy as taking one apart, that's for certain.
Clothing washed since the repair: About half a load.
Amount of water on floor after repair: Just what I couldn't get up from the first massive leak without moving the dryer.
Feeling of manly/husbandly satisfaction: Low. I didn't even get a thank-you from Mrs. Cwabs for the last project, so this project will probably lead to more complaints about how I don't do enough laundry.

Comments

[bigbrownhound.livejournal.com]

I think that trick to taking the housing off the washer is pretty cool. Had I known about it I may have been able to replace the worn out gear in our old washer instead of buying a whole new one when we didn't have any money to buy a whole new one. We have a whole new one.

See you Thursday for lots of gluttenous thanksgiving power, power, power and dirt dobbing madness!

[fancycwabs.livejournal.com]

Honestly, there's more involved in assembling your average store-bought bookcase than changing out the lid switch in a washing machine. Five screws, four clips, and a whole lot of trying to line up the machine sides with the little alignment tabs on the base. It took me a couple of hours, what with the running back to the computer to see if there were hints on putting it back together, and also the stopping to control my rage when I got the sides of the washer under the part it was supposed to be over, but if you knew what you were doing and had ample room to get around the machine, you could do the whole job in fifteen minutes. Then you could charge $150 for a service call.