Follow-up on washing machine

[micky]

I got the washing machine assembled maybe 3 weeks ago, with a new belt, and it now spins like it didn't before, but it doesn't agitate!!! It's a Kenmore Whirlpool old model, I forget the term.

I let it sit for a day and tried again. I've found that letting things rest often fixes them. But no luck. I tried all the cycles and every part of the dial (sta-press, delicate, regular, agitating during wash, maybe twice, and during rinse, 7 different places, but none of them worked.)

Then I had my anti-feeding tube removed and though the hole is supposed to close in 2 to 6 hours, it's 18 days later and it still hasn't closed. It hurts a little and leaks sometimes and it makes it harder to work on the washing machine.

But tonight I took off the back and got on my knees and the agitate solenoid/lever seemed wrong. Not only that I foudn a big nut on the basement floor. It looks important but it wasn't one of the ones I took off and replaced later.

Counting the instructions that came with the belt, straight from Whirlpool, I have about 5 sets of instructions, each a litle different. One goes into a lot of detail and suggested in a case like this, switching the wires between the agitate solenoid and the spin solenoid, so I did that, although it wasn't easy to tip the machine over with the pain in my belly from the unhealed hole and the stomach acid making a gravel road out of my belly.

And by golly, now it spins where it should be agitating. I thought that meant I would have to replace the agitate solenoid, which is not bad, but by golly it does that too, when it should be spinning. I dont' know what got the agitation working but it looks like it's almost fixed.

Now if I can only get them to fix me.

[micky]

I switched the wires back the way they were, and it seems to both spin and agitate. I wonder if I just never put the timer at the right spot for agitating.

But I couldn't turn the hot water on. The plastic handle picked this time to crack, after 42 years. It worked months ago when I turned the water off.

THEY DON'T SEEM TO SELL HANDLES LIKE MINE, WHICH IS FOR A FLUTED STEM, WITH 8 FLUTES. The closest I can find is

16 bumps sticking towards the center from the circumference.

THAT MEANS ONE BUMP FOR EVERY GROOVE, BUT ANOTHER BUMP FOR EVERY RIDGE BETWEEN THE GROOVES. That won't work, will it? Either it won't go on or it won't turn the stem, right?

And I couldn't find the hole where the grounding wire was screwed in. I'm sure it was in the upper left hand corner of the back, but there are no holes there. -- so it used another hole.

The dirt in bottom 2 inches, from when I didn't get the water out for months, is just scum and 90% rubbed off with hot water, laundry detergent, and my fingers. (For the other 5 or 10%, I'll use one of those small yellow sponges with blue rought stuff on the back.) But when I drained it out, the first half into the sink was solid black, the stuff that was in the outer basket, that I couldn't see. I'll run soapy water through it a few times until the water is clear.

And the cold water hose has, depending on its position, leaked a little at the connector. I bought a replacement hose at least 10 years ago, but I'd never see a wet spot bigger than a quarter, so Ididn't move the machine to replace the hose.

[gfretwell]

Sounds more like a broken wire under the insulation or a bad crimp on the connector. When you screw with it you get it working but I bet it fails again.

Get a replacement knob with all the inserts for various stems and see if one fits. It may look a little fancier than that one you have but it will work.

[gfretwell]

Don't screw around with a shaky hose. It could flood your house.

[micky]

I can't find that, including at two big plumbing supply houses I looked on webpages for Ace, HomeDepot, Lowes, Amazon, Ebay, Somerville (which is big but not enormous) and Ferguson plumbling supply, which sells NIBCO valves but not handles. It's 45 dollars for a valve and the handle probably wouldn't fit anyhow.

I can find only one with a square hole and an optional 1/2" long sleeve and they don't bother to give a picture of the end of the sleeve. They give 4 pictures, but none of the most important part of it.

The ones they do sell fit square stems or with 16 or 12 "points".

Then I'll have to buy two. They must match!! But they don't sell any .

I looked at radiator handles too. They sell "universal" ones, but all the inserts are square, of different sizes.

There is no glue or epoxy I can put into the hole in my current handle that is strong enough to turn the stem, is there? PC-7 or PC11 or newer ones, they'll all crumble or slip, won't they? Either between the old handle and the glue, or between the glue and the stem.

They sell this thing, but it's hideous:

I coudln't be the only one in these shoes. What do people do?

I guess I left out the last sentence. Now that it's away from the wall and i can reach the hose, I changed the hose. Both were stainless steel clad but the first was from an independant hardware store 30 years ago (after the all-rubber hose sprang a leak and I could hear water running when I woke up in the morning. Not a good sound to hear.) And the new one is in vinyl Ace Hardware bag and its hose is thicker than the old one. I didn't check if there was a visible difference in the quality of the connecctors, but otoh, the first one lasted 20 years, so it wasn't that bad.

Last night, when I'd only replaced the leaky cold-water hose, the larger diameter new cold water hose overwhelmed the hot water and the "warm" water was mostly cold. so I changed the other hose too.

[Jim Joyce]

If you lived down here in the deep South, you'd just clamp a set of Vise Grips to the valve stem and call it a day. Works good, lasts a long time.

When I drive through the Walmart or Home Depot parking lot, I see Vise Grips being used for all sorts of things, like steering wheels or to attach a mirror or a bumper. If they can do that, they can work on a washing machine.

[Jim Joyce]

*groan* And that's why I should have read ahead before I posted the same Vise Grips idea.

[micky]

I got tired of moving the good handle from one spigot to the other, so last night I had to use pliers. You're right, if they were vice-grips, they'd stay there. If I ever need them for something else, I'll know where to get them.

I know. I'm too damn citified. Take me out to a cotton field, I woudln't be able to find my way home.

[micky]

No, everyone should recommend vice grips at least once a month.

[Jim Joyce]

I saw a car the other day where the right third of the windshield had fallen out of its frame and was being mostly held in place with a piece of tree branch. Down here, you use what you have at hand. Lots of cars around here that have a trash bag covering a missing window or a piece of rope or an old shirt to tie the trunk closed. Or a coat hanger as a radio antenna. I like when they dress up the coat hanger with a Confederate flag. It's so wrong that it almost wraps around to being right. Speaking of those flags, we have a pretty big Confederate cemetery here and someone plants a Confederate flag at the foot of each grave so I guess people still care about that. Sorry, I drifted there, but yeah, you can do a lot with a set of Vise Grips, even the Harbor Freight knock-offs.

[Jim Joyce]

Ok, good. Keep them with the duct tape, the rope, and the fishing poles.

[micky]

Those are trash bags? I thought they were window covers.

The real ones are very tough. I haven't tried using the knock-offs as a hammer.

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

I have an outdoor faucet fixed that way. The hole had gotten too big and smooth to just replace the handle. It's easy to operate that way.

[Clare Snyder]

And the roll of fence wire (preferably not the twisted barbed type!!!)

Nothing you can't patch together with duct tape - or fence wire if youi have a vice-grip!!

[Clare Snyder]

Just don't get stuck with one of the "limey knockoff" Mole grips!!!.. awful, terrible bodge!