Breakdown

Well, our clothes washer has decided to stop.

A couple of weeks ago it pulled the same crap but after letting it sit over night, it went back to working normally. But yesterday, nope. Terry managed to do two loads of my laundry from my two plus weeks at the Bolt Hole (this after doing several loads of her own on Saturday from being in Atlanta and South Carolina) and then the machine just stopped in mid cycle. It would fill with water, slosh the clothes around to wash them and then…stop.

The wash load (two sets of sheets) wasn’t overly large for the machine’s capacity but it was definitely wet now and sitting in soapy water. The electronic controls were blinking “Pause” so I would push the button and the machine would go through the initial steps of locking, unlocking and relocking the door, sloshing around what was in the tub and then…stop. Over and over again we played this game.

Eventually, I opened the door during one of the moments it was “Paused” and hauled the wet laundry out into a bucket. (Terry then took them and the rest of the laundry down to Mansfield to wash in the Laundromat.) I then bailed the water out of the tub, cursing the machine all the while.

Once empty I thought I would try an experiment. I set the controls to do a “rinse and spin” cycle and pushed the run button. The machine went through the initial steps of locking, unlocking and then relocking the door. It filled with water and sloshed the water about as if to remove any soap from any clothes that might be in there. And then it stopped.

It went into pause mode and unlocked the door. I opened the door and bailed the water out. Closed the door and pushed the button to resume and …IT DID! It went into the spin cycle as it tried to squeeze moisture out of the non-existent clothes. It then stopped and refilled with water for the second rinse. Sloshed the water about for a few minutes and then…stopped working again! Eventually, I got to open the door and bail the water out.

From the above action, I conclude that there is something wrong with the pump. Either the pump has failed or there is a loose electrical wire that prevents it from turning on. As a result, when water needs to be pumped out of the washer, it doesn’t get pumped out and the sensors in the machine prevent it from going on to the next step.

I’ll find out if my conclusions are correct tomorrow. That is when the repair person is supposed to show up. Terry called Sears Repair early Monday morning and spoke to someone with an Indian accent who took all our info and promised someone would be here on Wednesday between 9 AM and 5 PM.

They will have one shot. If no one shows up, then there is an ad in the Yellow Book for a local who claims to repair all models. (Ours is a GE front loader that’s just 2 years old. Out of warranty and out of luck.)