Snookered by a hose

As a self-proclaimed fix it kind of guy, I do these things separately from my company as a hobby and past time that I enjoy. Nothing makes me sleep better than knowing that everything is working.

How dare you not work

I had been struggling to repair a washing machine that used to work fine but had recently decided to get hung up prior to going into the spin cycle.

I would come back after the cycle should be long completed to find very damp clothes and the machine stuck mid-cycle. I did my due diligence as a man and took the lid and back off, I even called customer service and took their trouble shooting advice.

Nothing would change the new bad habit. As I reflected on the history of the unit, I remembered that it was given to me by a friend that had experienced a similar problem but was unable to get it fixed.

That is when I gave in and called the local certified technician. As a problem solver I realize that I do not have all the answers. Reaching out to an expert is a logical, but painful thing (to the ego) to do.

The master arrived

Expecting an old man to slowly step out of a beat up truck, I was immediately disappointed when the skinny kid hopped out of the nearly new van holding a little clutch of tools.

Within a few moments he diagnosed the problem as a water supply problem. “What? the water was on, I checked”. Yes, he said but the hose is a flood-proof kind which shuts off internally when it is activated. In other words, the washing machine was calling for full on water and the hose cut off the flow thinking it was a hose rupture.

Once we replaced the hose, the machine was fixed. I paid the punk and off he went, I would have slugged him had he snickered. Fortunately for him he was empathizing with me, having had learned the lesson himself on another appliance recently the hard way.

The aftermath

While I was licking my wounds from my $90 lesson, and buying replacement non-flood-proof ones. I popped into Grover’s Pay & Pack, Paul was impressed and recalled having a similar problem with a toilet. “I am not a big fan of those hoses either” He said, as he set me up with an old style braided steel line that will likely last my lifetime.

I am on a mission now to eliminate the darn things. floods are rarely caused by a ruptured hose anyway. My opinion is that they are a waste of money. I do these things during non-Levco time to be sure it doesn’t interfere with the Remodeling business. Repairing things and understanding homes is just another passion of mine.

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