Return of the Wannabe Mechanic

Tried to fix my washing machine this morning. What it does is keep on filling. Over the top of the bowl and all over the laundry/bathroom floor. There's carpet involved so it's been messy a couple of times.


I'm unwilling to get someone to look at it for two reasons:

One major one is that I can't really afford it. I got the washing machine for fifty bucks and I really don't want to get a bill equivalent of a new one to get it going. That will be a little too depressing to go near for a while because I'd rather know I got a bargain that needed a little fixing up than a big mistake that I shouldn't have trusted.

The other one is dammit, I want to be the person that fixes things. The one that comes up with the household solutions. Maybe it could be a little feminist, but I really want to be able to cope on my own rather than get a man to do everything for me. I love looking at something and figuring out how it works and then being able to fix it. Maybe its just getting in touch with my own sense of dykeness.


So this morning I'm sitting on the bathroom floor with the washing machine on it's side peering underneath. I really have to find out how to test electrical connections because all I could do was check the hoses weren't blocked and look at all the bits going Well... I can see what it does. It doesn't look obviously busted.... But I don't know for sure.

Then I sat it back up and looked underneath the controls. Whoa! Wires everywhere and all I really could do was look at each bit and think Okay, I know which knob you belong to... and wiggle a few connections but again nothing is particularly obvious. It doesn't have a big burn patch around a connection that cries "BUSTED!" to me.

I do have a theory that the switch thingy that lets the water in and out is a bit tired and won't switch off and that since I'm operating one hose only I could swap that switch thingy with the one for the hot water that I'm not using. But that'll be next time I get the urge to fix things, as I've got to go to work.