Dances With Washing Machines

Our clothes washing machine has been on time-out since Wednesday evening when it leaked. Since then Hawk has been shopping around online figuring out what washer we'd it with. We were deliberative about buying this one 10+ years ago; we'll be deliberative about the one that replaces it. Meaning, we've bought a short subscription to Consumer Reports (again) and we're checking reviews to select models that have above-average ratings for cleaning effectiveness, water and power efficiency, and low noise, at modest cost.

But before we click "Buy Now" we figured we'd give our current washer another chance. It seemed just barely possible, and an experience plumber who helped us look at it agreed, that water pressure spikes from water main work in the neighborhood that day could've made the leak a fluke. Today I finally had the energy to pull out the washer and take a look at it.

I unplugged the washer, disconnected the drain and supply lines, and taped all the cables and pipes out of the way. Then I trundled the washer out of the laundry closet. I had to unhook a fan-fold door to help get it out. (Little problem there. I've adjusted, removed and installed fan-fold doors in our house before.)

The floor beneath the washer is pretty messy. You can see that in the photo above. The mess there is years of dust bunnies, presumably from the dryer, mixed with water from the washer's leak a few days ago. Once I had the washer out of the way it wasn't too hard to clean it up with a water spritzer and a roll of paper towels.

I took the opportunity while the washer was moved out of the closet to do some additional cleaning. I pulled out the soap tray and gave it a thorough cleaning in the sink, with soap and hot water. We've never done a full cleaning on it, and was moldy. I also cleaned the rubber grommet and around the glass window of the door where it makes a seal, in case dirt or grime there was the source of the leak.

Speaking of finding the source of the leak, I tipped the washer onto its face to see if I could find a leak leak on the underside. No dice; the underside has a metal cover bolted in place with several bolts. I decided to skip it.

Again, our thinking here with cleaning up the washer was not just to clean up the space for a replacement but to give the old washer one more try. Just in case the leak was not a fluke, though— and I've got to admit, the chances it was just a fluke are, like, 1 in 10— I went out and bought a spill pan for the washer. It was $31 plus tax at Home Depot for one that's cheap plastic but fits nicely.



Here you can see the washer moved back into place, sitting atop its new spill catcher. I've got a (light) load of laundry in there. I'll know in about 90 minutes how much of a fluke Wednesday's leak was.

Update: The load of wash completed with no leaks.