A Woman's Work...

... is never done.

On my day off work, my plan was to get laundry done (including bedding), and clean my kitchen. Early morning, I stripped the bed and threw it in the washer. About an hour and half later, I wandered to the basement to find this:


A tub full of water and unwashed linens. What the....? Twist the knob to empty. Nothing. Twist it to spin. Nothing. Twist it to rinse. Again nothing.

*ACK!* Visions of toting laundry to the laundromat danced through my head. The "Crack Kills" view of the repairman's behind played like a movie in my mind. I pictured myself going into cardiac arrest over the repair bill, and the potential realization it might be cheaper to buy a new washer instead of having this one fixed. Yes, my mind went through various scenarios!

Then I came back to reality. I let my fingers do the walking to You Tube. Yes, You Tube! Incidentally, I would've never thought about this if it weren't for my brother. He fixed my doorbell chime by looking on You Tube. But I digress...

On YT, I did a search on washer repair. Amazing how many videos there are! After watching a couple, I *thought* I figured out what the problem was. I took my laptop to the basement with me and I set to work using one of the videos. Brave soul, aren't I? lol I told myself: How much damage could I do? It looks easy enough!

Had to open up the washer...
almost like surgery, don'tcha think?
Kinda scary!
I had to "rewind" the video many times to get the washer torn apart in order to get the offending piece out of it. So what was wrong? According to my internet research, a common problem is a broken lid switch. A quick trip to the local Sears store (my washer is Kenmore) revealed a 3-10 day wait for a part. *ack* No, I need it NOW! I also figured it could get it much faster by ordering online myself. After getting home, I had three plans of action. (Yes, 3!)

First, I noticed that the plastic casing around the switch had come unglued. Why couldn't I superglue it back together? It could work, right? Right!

The "suspect" switch
I figured it was worth a try, so I put some superglue where I saw the old glue gave way. It was a tight squeeze, but with the help of a handy dandy toothpick I was able to get some down in there. Add a quick clamp from the set I bought a couple weeks ago and viola!

If the switch still didn't work after gluing, Plan B was in order: A pair of wire cutters and I would be doing some serious surgery resulting in bypassing the switch. Clip, clip of the black wires, twist the two together, and wrap with electrical tape. Viola, the washer could work with the lid open (not that I've ever left the lid open), or closed.

Plan C involved finding a replacement switch online. Last resort.

Turns out that Plan A worked!! Incidentally, if you look at the video comments, wiitard1210 had the same problem. :) Nice to know I'm not alone. My Dad thinks that the plastic part has points inside that weren't making contact when the old glue came undone. (He came over to help after I had everything apart) After testing the switch to make sure it worked, I put the washer back together under the "supervision" of my Dad.

It Works!!!