The Washing Machine - Part 1
- stephanieandjosh
- Jan 26, 2017
- 2 min read
We hadn't even considered the appliances when we were looking at houses and it wasn't until we moved in that we realized they may not work and would definitely require work if they did...
None of the appliances match, they are all of different ages, and each one was produced by a different manufacturer. It only occurred to me once we started unpacking and had gathered some dirty laundry that a functioning washing machine would actually be fairly nice to have. I was disappointed to find that the one we had acquired was filthy inside, but set to work cleaning it. I took apart the fabric softener and bleach dispensers, scrubbed the agitator, and scraped off all the slime that had built up between the lid and the drum. It was super gross! And I learned that fabric softener is essentially glue and could not possibly be good for clothes, skin, or plumbing!
It still reeked of stale, dried fabric softener, but it was at least clean enough that it didn't seem like we would be worse off for using it. But... it wouldn't drain.
All of our clothes came out 10lbs heavier and pouring water so hang drying was out of the question. We did try rerunning the spin cycle, but the setting was not independent of the rinse cycle and always included the addition of more water! So Josh took it apart.
He took the settings box off the top, removed the lid, disconnected the agitator from the motor and pulled the drum out of the casing. It was just as dirty as the part I had already cleaned but over a much larger surface... He removed all the grime and it looked nearly brand new! Some pieces retained their rust stains, but otherwise it looked great. He also troubleshooted the float switch, found it didn't work, and replaced the spring which solved the spin cycle problem.
It's not great, but it works, and it keeps an appliance out of the landfill and some money in our pockets for a bit longer. We're learning from the homesteading blogs: “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.”
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