Sometime May 2012:

After tonight’s episode, I can rule out “Washing Machine Repair” as a suitable career change.

The other evening my washing machine started making an unsightly noise (I am not sure how a noise can be unsightly but I like the word). I spent the evening fretting about what the noise could be, what it meant and how I would overcome the problem.

This isn’t just any washing machine, no it’s a combination machine with a nifty dryer on top. Now you might think “No big deal”, but it turns out it is a big deal and a big hassle.

After getting the “combo” machine mostly out of it’s closet, I carefully squeezed through the door frame and the machine and unplugged the electrical and shut off the water. I felt a little bit like Mighty Mouse, squeezing into a space that I had no business squeezing into.

It was all fine and dandy to unplug the electrical and shut off the water, but what about disconnecting the hoses?

For whatever reason, I have accumulated a fair sized tool box of things. Screw drivers, hammer, a few tape measures (you can never have enough, this runs in the family having multiple’s of multiple’s for no other reason than to have multiple’s) a ratchet and socket set (this was a gift from a friend, seriously, I guess it looked like I needed a set) but unfortunately no set of vise-grips.

I don’t know about you, but many times I’ve needed vise grips and it is a wonder that I do not yet own one, let alone multiples. Maybe a friend will see my need and gift me one, two, three..ten!

Being on a bit of a budget that I am, I used another “call a friend” for use of vise-grips.

With vise-grips in hand, I removed not 4 but 15, yes 15 screws that were holding one metal plate onto the back of the machine.  I sat there wondering what type of quality assurance this “combo” washing machine was subjected to in order to warrant 15 screws.

With the back plate off, I had imagined I would spot the problem immediately.  Why all the snickering!!

When it wasn’t glaringly obvious, I You Tubed “How To Fix Washing Machine” videos.  After much sweating and stressing about all the possible causes, I determined it was beyond my scope of expertise.  I screwed the plate back on the machine, reconnected the hoses, plugged the machine back in and pushed it back into the closet.

The weird noises persisted but I decided until it stopped working completely, I’d continue using the machine.

NOTE: The machine continued to work 6 more years (it may well still be working).  After waiting 8 years to be gifted with vise-grips 🤣, I bought my first pair this past winter.