Remember those commercials with the Maytag Man, and how he was so lonely because he never had to do any service, because their machines were so reliable? Well that’s all changed…
Our Maytag washing machine started acting up, blowing the GFI circuit, leaking water everywhere, and not spinning properly, so we called for service. I knew I should have expected trouble when we got the machine, as it’s the ‘Performa’ model. (Long-time Mac users are chuckling right now…)
The Maytag Man managed to do a quick-fix with some electrical tape, and said he’d return again with a new part. What was the problem? Seems a hosr developed a leak, and was ‘peeing’ (his term) water onto the motor, causing havoc with the normal wash cycle. He said that the used to use a hard rubber hose, but switched to a corrugated plastic hose at some point, speculating that perhaps they found a different supplier. I think what he really meant was that Maytag wanted to save a few bucks by using a cheaper part. I could go one step further by saying they used chaper parts so that you’d have to call for service and be billed for that, but I won’t go that far. Yet. (Hmmm, looking through the owner’s manual I notice that they will replace parts at no cost, but you will be charged for labor, mileage, and transportation.)
The good news is that now I know how to repair a washing machine. Well, some washing machine problems. Add this to my garbage disposal autopsy a month ago (yes, it was successful, and that works fine now as well) and I’m racking up the home improvement points. Slowly, anyway…