The Death of a Washer - a story in three parts...

Forward: This will be another laundry-centric series of posts. Feel free to skip this series, if you are MY SISTER. ;-)

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I spent much of November traveling, and this schedule necessitated that laundry be committed on an as-needed basis. The Basic Three loads became: whites, work clothes/husband socks, kids uniforms/jeans (as space allowed).

Once I was done with traveling, I began the mundane task of Catching Up on Laundry. (To which I respond - how can one ever be Caught Up? Does all the laundry ever get done? Sigh.) It was with one of these catch-up loads that apparently killed my washer.

A little history about my washer - this set was new when we moved into the house three years ago. It's a Sears version of a poor Whirlpool design. I'd purchased this model 2 years earlier as a replacement for a traditional top-load, central agitator machine. When we moved, I bought the same washer and a matching dryer so I could have a MATCHING SET. Very exciting! Yes. I said it. I said this would be laundry-centric.

We'd had to call in a repair on this washer last year - resulting in a new pump; not a cheap fix. In my internet research at that time, I saw that there were a lot of problems reported with this model, and a class action law suit was pending against the manufacturer. But, I replaced the pump, which seemed to be the main cause for concern. That, and the lint-heavy bath rugs I'd been washing when the machine choked, and had been advised against washing in this machine by the original service tech. Since this was the first repair, we didn't qualify in the Class for the suit stuff. I thought we'd dodged a bullet. Hmmph.

Ok, back to last week. My washer's dead and shows me a helpful fault code: Stuck Relay. Hmm. I know a bit about relays, but thought this would be a simple thing to fix. I cheerily fished the damp laundry out of the washer, planning to dry it and rewash after the washer had been fixed. Then, it's back to our As Needed Laundry mode: haul the load of jeans and school uniforms over to the in-laws. Sunday night, I scheduled my washer repair appointment for Wednesday.

Fast forward to Wednesday's repair appointment. The Friendly Repair Guy says the Machine Controller Board is not responding to his magic key combinations asking for more diagnostic information. The Tech Line tells him to replace the Machine Controller Board - doesn't that sound like a more expensive part than just a Stuck Relay? Must be something like the nurses do in the pediatrician's office - it's not a shot, it's just a little pinch. Ugh.

As it happens, Friendly Repair Guy has a Machine Controller Board on his truck. Let's drop it in and run the diagnostics to see what the machine can tell us! Yeah, good in theory, but the new Machine Controller Board didn't turn on either. We've either got a bad part or a Bigger Problem. Oh and that Class Action suit? Settled, and the postmark date for claims has long since passed. Hmmm. Not a good sign.

Well, if you were paying attention to my title, you know this isn't the end of the story. And yes, it turns out, we're in the Bigger Problem category. Stay tuned...