Ms. Fix-It: File This Away In Case You Ever Need It
My maid came to me today and told me that my front loading washing machine wasn’t working. She had run a load and the water wouldn’t drain. When I went to check on it I noticed the load consisted of rubber backed bathroom rugs that had started crumbling so I figured this was plugging the little holes the water drains through. I kept trying to put the washer in the drain cycle but instead of draining and spinning in one direction, it just kept washing by rotating in alternating directions. It wouldn’t go into the spin cycle because it still had to much water and thus kept staying in the wash cycle.
I had her unplug the washer and then opened the front to let the water start draining. When it got low enough I took a cup and bailed out most of it. Then I spun the interior to disburse the remaining little bits of rubber that were still in there and cleared them out of the trap. After that I closed the door and set it on the drain cycle again and plugged it back in. As we held our breath, the washer quietly slipped into the drain cycle and seamlessly engaged the spin. I told her to run the empty machine through a couple of cycles and then clean the interior real well before using it again.
Victory is mine!
Update: As more ruber particles tried to make their way through the washing machine, it clogged up again. This time it was not enough to just clean the trap. I actually had to turn the washer on it’s side so I could disconnect and clean out all the hoses and parts of the drainage system that are underneath front loader. By the time I was finished I had a two quart sauce pan full of debris. Damn, I’m good!
