I should have known better than to talk about my home appliances

[Towncrier]

Somehow the subject of home appliances came up at lunch on Thursday. We were discussing the merits of the various brands of washing machines (or washers). I mentioned that our Kenmore washer was 18 years old and that we'd had to have it repaired a couple of times, but that it was pretty reliable. I mentioned that I had read about people having problems with Maytag appliances and finding out that Maytag is now just a brand name and that they are no longer manufactured to the same high standards as the Maytag repairman used to claim. We talked about who made washers for Sears. Who made their tools. I don't think we talked about who made the tires for Sears.

Anyway, I digress. Fast forward to yesterday evening. I get home from work and Sue tells me that the washer is doing something odd. It tried to eat a sweater and it refuses to spin. It also is making a horrible clunking sound during the agitation cycle. Now I'm agitated. After dinner, I went to investigate. I eventually pulled off the back panel and discovered that the washer had been slowly leaking water onto the wig-wag switch and that it wasn't wigging and wagging anymore. Without going into too much detail, the wig-wag is like the automatic transmission of the washer, shifting from neutral to agitate, to spin. One half of the switch was a rusty mess. This is not the original wig-wag as the original wigged out several years ago.

Anyway, after much discussion, I guess we're in the market for a new washer. I can't wait to try to get the old one out of the basement since we remodeled the basement several years AFTER the washer went down the stairs in 1986. When we replaced our dryer some years ago, I learned some choice new swear words from the delivery guys. They were aimed at the (expletive deleted) builder who did the remodelling. Little did they know that the were telling this to the person who designed and aided in the construction of the basement.

So it's off to the appliance store this afternoon. Decisions, decisions.

I just realized that we talked about refrigerators at the same lunch. Oh drat.

 

[pumba]

I remember threatening our old clunker of a car....saying if you don't make it up this hill you are history........well it didn't work and it was history.......but we got a neat red convertible firebird the next week.....just think how great your new washer will be......more energy efficient......remember .......energy costs less if the machine is newer

 

[EpcotKilterFan]

Originally posted by Towncrier

I just realized that we talked about refrigerators at the same lunch. Oh drat.

But at least you do not have a trip to Europe planned John

But I would take a look at that fridge before your WDW trip LOL!

Debbie

 

[Poohnatic]

Dan,

Don't get GE's,whatever you do.

I bought my house 5 years ago and it came with the gamut of GE appliances.

Stove...three months in, the top broiler igniter fried. It was replaced, but the second one fried a year and a half later.

Dishwasher...dead. Been dead for about six months now, after deciding a year ago that it would pee all over the kitchen floor every time you used it. It also didn't have a disposer feature or dirt cup to take the food residue out, so it would throw that stuff up onto the dishes! I have to buy a new one before I even sell this house, and I'm kinda tired of washing the dishes all the time.

Washer...repairman came in when it was six months old and wouldn't agitate. Now it sounds like a plane wants to take off when it hits the spin dry cycle.

Dryer...even though I've cleaned the lint out of the thing (and the buildup in the vents, too), it's taking longer and longer to dry stuff. What ticks me off is that when I moved out of my old house into an apartment, I gave a good friend my washer and dryer I'd bought at Montgomery Ward back in 1990...those two are STILL going strong, and they were the cheapies!

I won't talk about any other appliance, lest it can read this stuff!

Suzanne

 

[Towncrier]

No trip to Europe, Debbie, but a road trip to Atlanta next weekend.

(Debbie is referring to the time we left our home for a two week vacation to Belgium in 1997. When we got home, our fridge had died along with everything in it. You cannot imagine how badly our house smelled for several days.)

Thanks for the heads up Suzanne. I believe that our 18 year old Kenmore was manufactured by General Electric, but times change. Now I think that GE stands for "good enough".

 

[nativetxn]

Poor, John. Sure hope your fridge doesn't know you were gossiping on Thursday.