I must be getting old...

[Tim+]

Today I took my daughter?s broken washing machine to the tip, WITHOUT SALVAGING A SINGLE COMPONENT!

Tim

[Mr Pounder Esquire]

Neither do I as I have a drawer in the garage full of them. And a bag full of fuses. I recently left a lawn mower at the end of the drive for the pikey scrap men. I did not even bother cutting the cable off.

[T i m]

We had similar but with the roles reversed. Daughter took our washing machine to the tip without allowing me to salvage a single component. ;-( [1]

Mind you, we had salvaged the whole machine from Freecycle about 8 years previous after it had been written of by an insurance company because it was uneconomic to repair (at 13 months old).

Cheers, T i m

[1] She also bought us a new one so we (well, I) couldn't complain. ;-)

[Mr Pounder Esquire]

I have several lawn mower cables in the garage that will almost certainly never be used.

[Tim+]

Bloody hell. Can we swap daughters? ;-)

It was sad to chuck the machine but the spider had broken which is a fairly major job to replace, and as it turned out, unavailable as a spare for the machine (which was probably 10 years old).

Tim

[T i m]

It is handy having a strong (and strong minded when she wants to be) girl with a van in the family. ;-)

Our was the bearings that had managed to last ~8 times the factory ones so I knew I could replace them again and much easier than the first time we did it.

That said, we would still have to re-split and seal the drum (that we had to cut apart the first time) and it wasn't going to be as quick or easy as us letting her buy us a new one. ;-)

I was still keen to have had a look as the machine had a bit of web history. I like doing something that was considered (potentially) impossible. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[Bob Eager]

The first repair I ever did on a washing machine was replacement of the spider and the bearings. I had trouble getting the bearings out. That was when I started reading uk.d-i-y!

I got good advice and the machine continued for many more years. It finally died in about 2010 - 16 years old.

[Brian Gaff]

Yes indeed, I always salvage stuff from old computers, but what is there in a washing machine of a certain age one can salvage? Brian

[Brian Gaff]

It does depend on the amount of use. Some people do washing every day, while others, like myself maybe twice a week. I find it really annoying that they keep spares for things for a finite period, ignoring the obvious fact that some machines will last a lot longer due to less usage. Brian

[damduck-egg]

The glass in the door can sometimes be reused, I got a few from a washing machine sales and repair business years ago and the missus uses them in the green house when bringing on seedlings. Its cheaper just to warm them on a heated box than the whole green house.

They can also be used with a bit of imagination as windows in sheds,boats ,garden summer houses etc or just used as as bowl for large dogs and other animals.

G.Harman

G.Harman

[Chris B]

Judging by the garage I'm currently clearing out

Motors Solenoid valves rubber tubing flat sheets of tin water pumps pressure switches pulleys

In fact everything but the drum, the glass front and the "programmer" (But I have even found one of the old "card type programmers". You know you put it in a different way round depending on what programme you wanted.

In case there are any youngsters on here I tried to find a picture but google has not been my friend. I cant find a picture of the card but here is one installed

[damduck-egg]

Here you are

G.Harman

[fred]

We just sold out 12 year old washing machine for £100 ( Miele) and it was still working perfectly. SWMBO wanted a change :-(

[T i m]

Nice punt for someone.

Weird. 'Luckily' (or 'by design'?) my 'other half' is my other half and so there is little 'obeying' done from either direction. ;-)

The only time she would be likely to want a new anything (especially whitegoods) is if they stop working and we can't repair them (within a realistic timescale).

Without the luxury of limitless resources we both appreciate we can do more interesting things with our money than replacing a perfectly functional washing machine. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[Thomas Prufer]

Drum? makes a useful fire basket! Google "washing machine drum fire basket" to see lots of fire baskets that look like old washing machine drums.

Thomas Prufer

[Rob Morley]

What about the power cable?

You can use the drum as a patio heater or for storage, the glass as a decorative or fruit bowl ... But our last washing machine (which only needed motor brushes) was left in the front garden for a wandering scrap man, having only been relieved of its power cable, because SO wanted a new one and I'd been sternly advised that I didn't need any more old crap cluttering the place up. Mind you, it did come from Freegle more than five years before, and I'd already fixed it a couple of times.

[T i m]

Good man! ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[Bob Eager]

That would be the Hoover Keymatic.

[tabbypurr]

Hoovermatic card readers might just be saleable, the machines were something of an advance in history.

NT

[Chris B]

Thats the fella.