I noticed that our older washing machine was leaking every time we did a load. The leak seemed to increase in volume and I had wanted to replace this older washer with a more energy efficient one for our LEED remodel. Of course a new model would be quite expensive so I looked for a used set with a gas dryer on Craigslist.
I lost an offer in early January when the owner did not get back to me before it snowed several inches. I didn’t want to try to move a laundry pair in the snow. And the pair was over 10 years old. Then we were going out of town for a week and while we were gone someone else purchased the set.
About two weeks later I noticed this ad. I emailed the contact immediately but I happened to be in the hospital with my mom that day because she was having a procedure. I almost missed out on this pair too, but the person who was going to borrow a truck to get them did not show up, so we were able to use the tilting trailer to load these–the washer is heavy, over 250 lbs. They were manufactured in late 2008 and purchased new in January 2009. The owner had all the paperwork including the bill of sale. So this set is a bit newer and the price was very low. It was the last day they were available because new ones were coming the next day and if they were not gone, the owner was going to have the delivery folks haul them away. The location was about 30 minutes away which was not too far.
They were in a mud room attached to the garage off their kitchen so there were only 2 steps down into the garage. We quickly disassembled the pair with a screwdriver to remove the brackets and a pliers to loosen the water and gas connections, luckily there were shutoffs for both, and carted them out with our appliance hand truck. Loading them on the tilt trailer was not too difficult, we perched them both on the end of the trailer and then stood on it to tilt it up and latch it. Then we pushed them forward over the axle of the trailer, put a tarp over them and tied them down with bungee cords, straps and rope. Didn’t want them going anywhere. We got them home just fine and before the snow started falling.
All I had to do then was to remove the old set and clean the floor before the new set could be put in.
I have been cleaning up portions of the stained concrete floor in preparation for putting up walls. So I had the cleaner, sealer, and polish available to treat the floor after I tried to get the water stains out. I was not completely successful in removing all the stains but with new sealer and polish it doesn’t look too bad. The sealer had to dry overnight so it was the next day, on Sunday, that I was able to install the new washer and dryer. I started by thoroughly cleaning each of them with Clorox cleanup.
Installing consisted of figuring out exactly where I wanted them. I wanted to have enough room to use the gas pipe for drip drying on hangers so that meant closer to where the utility room wall will be, but I didn’t want them to be too close so that they would have to be moved when the wall is built.
After setting the washer in place, it had to be leveled front to back and side to side and the legs adjusted and tightened. The next step was installing the hoses, and I used plumbers tape on the connections. Then moving the drain enough so that it would clear the gas pipe attachment for the dryer. I cleaned out the drain hose and attached it and set it into the stand pipe.
The dryer had to be lifted up on the washing machine. That was awkward but we got it up there. Then I had to reattach the brackets so that it could be screwed to the washing machine. I also used some 3M double sided tape to reattach the four rubber feet that cushion the dryer on the washing machine.
Reattaching the exhaust pipe flue was a bit of a hassle because I had to rearrange the pipe for the higher attachment and cut the flexible pipe so there was not too much so it would not get kinked or dip down. Luckily I had some good flue tape to attach the pipes together and the clamp ring for the dryer side. I also cleaned out the pipe, although it was not too dirty because I had cleaned it out when I reconnected the dryer last time.
We bought a new flexible gas pipe for the dryer because the old one had been kinked, but we re-used the water hoses the owner had been using. It took almost all day to finish the floor polishing and put in the new set. But by evening I was washing some clothes in it. Unfortunately during the first couple of loads the washer shimmied way too much during the spin cycle, I tried using the medium spin and it still shimmied. I was afraid we had broken a drum support while moving it. I noticed the timer would reset itself after a particularly shaky spin and start the whole spin process again! I interceded by changing the spin cycle to rinse and spin and it finally finished the load.
Today I found the service mode information, performed the tests, and read the service codes: http://www.appliance-repair-it.com/GE-front-load-washer.html. There was only one error code and that was for a blocked drain. Since the drain is freely flowing now, I assumed that was an old error code. If not it will show up again soon. Just in case I opened and cleaned the pump filter at the bottom of the machine. But there was only a little wet lint in the filter.
Everything else tested out as operational, and even the spin cycles did not shake the machine. I can only assume that the clothes I loaded were off balance. I tried a load of sheets today and the spin cycle was fine. So hopefully I will learn to use the machine so that it doesn’t get the jitters.
Finally, I moved a cabinet from the garage to the utility room to hold the detergent and other items we generally kept on the dryer. It has a nice shelf inside for extra bottles of detergent, vinegar and even some wine and liquor we had on the floor. Also has three drawers which I used for placemats for now. It holds some stuff we had laying around the utility room. Looks much more organized now!