ERD50
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Our 27 YO Maytag (Model A482) wash machine was purchased when it was just DW and me. It has washed every load of clothes for our growing family (three kids), and I never, ever, not even one time, performed any maintenance on the washer (I have replaces/tightened the hoses, and cleaned the filters in the hoses).
I've been watching the various washer threads here, as I know we are on borrowed time. I get the impression the new ones are just not built like the old ones. IIRC, even samclem's venerable Staber blew a bearing early on.
Well, the past few weeks it seemed to go out-of-balance easily. DW would just fiddle with the load and restart it, I figured if she wasn't complaining I could ignore it. Today, it started making some grinding noise. Hmmm. Then the last load would not spin up - it wasn't draining.
So do you try to fix a 27 YO washer? Washers are complicated beasts, funky transmissions, pumps, level switches, out-of-balance switches. But I'm thinking if I fix this, it might last longer than any replacement. So out come the tools....
I spent too much time trying to get it to finish the cycle, and then trying to pump/bail the water out. If I had just removed the two screws that allow the front panel to lift away, I would have seen there was no belt attached to the pump pulley. And I would have seen there was a convenient drain plug on the tub!
So I expect to find a broken belt, but I pull out an intact belt that looks in decent shape. So next, I try to spin the pump shaft pulley, expecting it to be jammed, which would explain the thrown belt. Nope, it spins fine.
Some more looking around, and I see the main drive belt is in bad shape, a ~ 1" chunk is missing. So, I re-fit the old pump belt, start it up, add some water then advance to 'rinse', and it pumps the water out just fine, and it spins it up just fine. No bad noises either. I run it through a full cycle, and it runs like new!
So I find a belt set on amazon for $15 with shipping. Other than removing those two screws to pull the panel out, no other tools are needed - the belts just slip over the pulleys, the motor is spring-loaded to tension the belts, so that's it. I thought about taking the pump apart, to see if something might have caused the thrown belt, but thought better of it. Will wait and see.
Maybe I'll get another 27 years out of it? Celebrated my success with a first sample of my recently brewed Spruce Wheat Ale. Hmmmmm, beer!
-ERD50
I've been watching the various washer threads here, as I know we are on borrowed time. I get the impression the new ones are just not built like the old ones. IIRC, even samclem's venerable Staber blew a bearing early on.
Well, the past few weeks it seemed to go out-of-balance easily. DW would just fiddle with the load and restart it, I figured if she wasn't complaining I could ignore it. Today, it started making some grinding noise. Hmmm. Then the last load would not spin up - it wasn't draining.
So do you try to fix a 27 YO washer? Washers are complicated beasts, funky transmissions, pumps, level switches, out-of-balance switches. But I'm thinking if I fix this, it might last longer than any replacement. So out come the tools....
I spent too much time trying to get it to finish the cycle, and then trying to pump/bail the water out. If I had just removed the two screws that allow the front panel to lift away, I would have seen there was no belt attached to the pump pulley. And I would have seen there was a convenient drain plug on the tub!
So I expect to find a broken belt, but I pull out an intact belt that looks in decent shape. So next, I try to spin the pump shaft pulley, expecting it to be jammed, which would explain the thrown belt. Nope, it spins fine.
Some more looking around, and I see the main drive belt is in bad shape, a ~ 1" chunk is missing. So, I re-fit the old pump belt, start it up, add some water then advance to 'rinse', and it pumps the water out just fine, and it spins it up just fine. No bad noises either. I run it through a full cycle, and it runs like new!
So I find a belt set on amazon for $15 with shipping. Other than removing those two screws to pull the panel out, no other tools are needed - the belts just slip over the pulleys, the motor is spring-loaded to tension the belts, so that's it. I thought about taking the pump apart, to see if something might have caused the thrown belt, but thought better of it. Will wait and see.
Maybe I'll get another 27 years out of it? Celebrated my success with a first sample of my recently brewed Spruce Wheat Ale. Hmmmmm, beer!
-ERD50
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