Washer Woes

We woke up to beautiful sunshine hoping it will stay that way all day.
Remember the Maytag Man in the commercials of the olden days????

Well, I think he appeared at our house.

For a few weeks now our Maytag Washer has been making a screeching sound at the spin cycle. It was getting so bad that we could not be in the same room during the spin cycle. I called the place where I bought it but they could not guess at what it might be without having a look at it. They also said that they did not have many problems with our type washer which I find hard to believe after searching on the Internet and finding forum after forum where people complained about these washers breaking down so often. $$$$ signs where in my eyes and I certainly did not want to spend a great amount on a washer I did not like in the first place. I had blogged about it earlier. In that Blog I said that we bought the washer in 2008 but in reality it was February 2007. (senior moment mix-up) so the machine is only 4 years old.

washer Blog

Cliff thought the machine sounded like it had a broken bearing. He called the dealer to find out how much it would cost to replace it. They quoted a minimum of $ 200.—but it could rise to $ 500.00. For that amount of money I would much, much rather buy a top load washer which I should have done in the first place.

Maytag Man to the rescue… 
His name is Cliff ☺

As you can see the machine is now unrecognisable ☺ and sure enough one of the bearings is the culprit.

 

I was shocked to see the grunge on the inside. It is soap build-up. When we bought our freezer last year at Sears I happened to talk to the sales lady about our Maytag washer smelling at times. She told me that a tablespoon of the Tide He-soap was enough for a load instead of the quantity that Tide proposes. At the time I thought that was not enough but I now believe her after seeing the inside of our washer. It took a lot of elbow grease to get it clean again. For the last year I had even used the packets of cleaner that are supposed to clean the washer a few times and still there was the build-up.

The bearing had a number and Cliff knew where to buy one without paying the Maytag price. Instead of around $ 60.00 he got one for $ 20.00 at a regular bearing shop but we also needed a seal kit that is strictly Maytag. Of course it was not “in stock” so now we are waiting for it. I hope it will come soon because our cold room next to the utility room is full of washer parts and there is hardly any room to walk. I also hope that we will be able to put that washer back together again which is going to be a tall order.

or fixing the washer ☺

Stay tuned!!