Do It Yourself Di!

I have this weird combination of qualities...stubbornness, resourcefulness and impatience...that often leads me to fix stuff around the house. When something needs done, my kids are more likely to yell, "Mom," rather than "Dad." They might someday find themselves paraphrasing that great philosopher Jeff Spicoli, saying, "It's OK, my Mom has an awesome set of tools." (From my husband's favorite movie of all time...anyone?)

Lately I have noticed that my beloved washing machine (seriously, I love my washer and dryer so much that I wrote this blog about them) was filling up very slowly when it started and when it rinsed. I had two possible paths. I could call GE and set up a service call, which I imagined would be free because it's under warranty. Or call the company that services our well and have them check the pressure which I knew would cost money. When I called GE, I found that my warranty expired and I wasn't about to pay for a service call!

So I decided to do it myself. I downloaded the manual from the GE site. Of course, I can't be bothered to keep and organize all the manuals I get with the stuff I buy. I can, however, locate the manual for my 1986 Beta VCR if I ever need it.

I got my tools (yes, MY tools) and got to work. It was relatively simple. I got it done in about 20 minutes and it's all better. I was so excited that I immediately e-mailed my friend Tony who can fix anything and said:

I am so [insert macho expletive here]-ing proud of myself!!! I fixed the washing machine all by myself. Followed the instructions from the manual, used all kinds of tools as well as a bucket, and now it works! The water comes in at full pressure!

How many women do you know who would do that?

Tony's response?

Follow directions?  Not many...

We've come a long way, baby. But we've still got a LONG way to go!

Di

 

Comments

[Natalie]

Ha. Love Tony's comments, but love even more that you fixed the washing machine by yourself. I was proud of myself yesterday when I hung pictures on my son's wall, and measured to make sure they were centered. I've got a lot of fixing to do before I reach your status!

[joAnn]

I am also the handy-person around our house but I am not sure I would tackle a washer. You are woman, hear you roar!

You did not tell us what was wrong with it, though. Please share.

J

[Di]

In answer to JoAnn's comment (which I will also e-mail to her because I am not egocentric enough to think that she is going to check back here daily to see if I answer), the water was going into the washer very slowly when it was filling up initially and when it was filling up to rinse. This caused wash loads to take a really, really long time.

Of course, I first checked that the faucet things were all the way on. They were. When you take the water lines off the washer, there are little screens in there that I guess keep out impurities or whatever. When I took them out, I found that they had stuff on them. It looked like some sort of copper or iron build-up. It's probably something from the hard well water that we have here. I have a water softener in our house, but I used these for about 8 months in our rental house which did not have a water softener. So I just cleaned out the screens and put them back in. Problem solved.

[Shirley]

Hey, that's good to know because we could have the same problem over here across the pond. Thanks for sharing the solution!