Front load washing machines are a curse
Mid 2006, Harmony and I invested around $1800 in a washer dryer set. GE front load, high efficiency, and we paid the extra for the bottom drawers.
January 2007, I accepted a position in Lacey WA and we moved north. Our brand new washer and dryer set went into storage at Mary's house.
November 2008, we move into a manufactured home in Tenino WA and finally have a place where we can use the washer dryer set.
August 2009, the drum stops spinning in the washer. Initial diagnosis is that the belt went bad. After driving over and hour to Tacoma to pickup a new belt, it takes almost 2 hours to get home Friday night. After installing the new belt we discover that it still keeps falling off. There is a little extra wiggle in the drum pulley. Harmony sends an email to GE and the response tells us that the drum bearing has gone bad. A $400-$650 repair that we won't be able to afford for a couple of months.
My parents head to the bank and deposit some money into our account so I can get the new belt without using credit, and give us some extra to boot. While using some of this extra to buy milk for the kids, and the fixings for root bear floats (anti-depressents) for Harmony and I, the lady behind me in line mentions that she is selling a washing machine for $25.
So this morning we make some calls to see if anyone will give us money for our old washer. Long story short, no. Welch's in Olympia will scrap it for a donation to the food bank, but its not even worth parts. We pack the kids into the car and drive to Tacoma to return the belt. The gentleman doesn't charge us the 20% restock fee.
While chatting with the salesman he says the front load machines are notorious for developing bad bearings, expecially the HE versions. The detergent actually helps lubricate the bearing for the drum. The front load HE machines simply don't get enough lubrication and 5 years is the expected life. Since our was in storage for about 2 years it exagerated the problem, our bearing dried out.
Welch's indicated that while dropping off the old machine, if we purchase a used machine they will give us $20 off. Any used machine $129 and under gets a 30 day warrenty. Any machine $130 and over gets a 1 year warrenty. We are considering this option if the local machine doesn't.
While on the way back to town, we get a call back from the lady selling the washing machine. She is home and we can swing by. The machine is in good condition so we dish out the $25 and take it home. After that we pack up the bad machine and I drive it into Olympia.
Friday night while I was attempting to put the new belt on the washing machine, Sam decides to help us feed the fish, and manages to dump and entire bottle of fish food into the 10 gallon tank. So today after everything else, we emptied the fish tank and filled it up with new water. Now hopefully the fish will live long enough for us to buy new fish food.
In other news, Evie is really starting to get the potty thing figured out. Today so far she has only gone through 2 or 3 pairs of panties.
I thing that tonight I'm gonna put the kids to bed, log onto Maplestory, and kill some monsters till I go cross eyed.
January 2007, I accepted a position in Lacey WA and we moved north. Our brand new washer and dryer set went into storage at Mary's house.
November 2008, we move into a manufactured home in Tenino WA and finally have a place where we can use the washer dryer set.
August 2009, the drum stops spinning in the washer. Initial diagnosis is that the belt went bad. After driving over and hour to Tacoma to pickup a new belt, it takes almost 2 hours to get home Friday night. After installing the new belt we discover that it still keeps falling off. There is a little extra wiggle in the drum pulley. Harmony sends an email to GE and the response tells us that the drum bearing has gone bad. A $400-$650 repair that we won't be able to afford for a couple of months.
My parents head to the bank and deposit some money into our account so I can get the new belt without using credit, and give us some extra to boot. While using some of this extra to buy milk for the kids, and the fixings for root bear floats (anti-depressents) for Harmony and I, the lady behind me in line mentions that she is selling a washing machine for $25.
So this morning we make some calls to see if anyone will give us money for our old washer. Long story short, no. Welch's in Olympia will scrap it for a donation to the food bank, but its not even worth parts. We pack the kids into the car and drive to Tacoma to return the belt. The gentleman doesn't charge us the 20% restock fee.
While chatting with the salesman he says the front load machines are notorious for developing bad bearings, expecially the HE versions. The detergent actually helps lubricate the bearing for the drum. The front load HE machines simply don't get enough lubrication and 5 years is the expected life. Since our was in storage for about 2 years it exagerated the problem, our bearing dried out.
Welch's indicated that while dropping off the old machine, if we purchase a used machine they will give us $20 off. Any used machine $129 and under gets a 30 day warrenty. Any machine $130 and over gets a 1 year warrenty. We are considering this option if the local machine doesn't.
While on the way back to town, we get a call back from the lady selling the washing machine. She is home and we can swing by. The machine is in good condition so we dish out the $25 and take it home. After that we pack up the bad machine and I drive it into Olympia.
Friday night while I was attempting to put the new belt on the washing machine, Sam decides to help us feed the fish, and manages to dump and entire bottle of fish food into the 10 gallon tank. So today after everything else, we emptied the fish tank and filled it up with new water. Now hopefully the fish will live long enough for us to buy new fish food.
In other news, Evie is really starting to get the potty thing figured out. Today so far she has only gone through 2 or 3 pairs of panties.
I thing that tonight I'm gonna put the kids to bed, log onto Maplestory, and kill some monsters till I go cross eyed.
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