Repair Report

I was right but it's going to cost me $450. The clothes washer's pump was the culprit and we need to get a new one.

The repairman showed up this afternoon, listened to my experiment and conclusion and then said something to the effect that he thought I had hit the nail on the head. He then went about the task of cleaning out the trap. This is a simple enough job but it's something that is not even mentioned in the owner's manual but which, even I could see, needs periodic cleaning. He removed the lower front panel (three hex-head screws) and then proceeded to open the screw-out trap in the lower front. As he unscrewed it, water poured out as did lots of cat fur and lint (easily and wad the size of a small orange but smelling a lot worse), a couple of 2" long brads (picture hanging), a pile of coins (57 cents worth), and a half dozen miscellaneous metal parts that are interesting but which whose function we can not ascertain.

All this crap obviously blocked up the plumbing and caused the poor pump to die trying to get water to flow around it. When the tub filled with water and then had to be drained, the pump could not pull/push the water through. Once the obstruction was cleared, we cleaned out the pump in the hopes that it would be able to do its duty. Unfortunately, the several times the machine was left plugged in and full of water, the pump must have burned itself out trying to accomplish the impossible.

Al, the repairman, ordered a new pump ($262) to be delivered here and rescheduled us for next Wednesday so he can install it. (Although, after watching him carefully, I could probably do that job.)

Let us hope that that will be the end of the problem.

At least my "wealth" is being redistributed the way it's supposed to be done and not through some effing government agency.