So today it's repair-day, no?
Just replaced the broken washing machine today. Bitch was heavy, made for 20 lbs dry load.
Dampers worn out, heating shorted, beyond repair. Glad that it was insured. The new one cost me only around 150 bucks (700 in the store), considering 250 for the old one from insurance and 5 years of warranty, saves me 5 bucks per month (totals 300).
As soon as i kicked out the thing at the waste dump, i returned home to hear the dryer squeak on every turn of the drum.
So it's bushing maintenance or belt replacement day tomorrow
That reminds me, it's time to replace the bearing and felt glide on mine. 25 years old but the new stuff is not as hardy.
That's why i still repair things. As for the dryer it's the second repair in its lifetime (14yrs).
Same!
I have been looking up parts on various sites and then going to EBAY to order the parts. (For some reason EBAY always has the best prices on appliance parts for me)
My clothes washer is 20+ years old. I have replaced the pump, the circuit board, and some parts that allow to the door to latch/seal. Each time the repair has cost me ~$30 in parts, and would cost more than 10 times that for a repairman.
My wife would point out that we can afford the repair person. She is 100% right. And my time is worth more that what I save...
I don't give a fuck.
I also don't care if I waste more time fixing stuff compared to calling a repairman. I'm technically minded and generally know how things work, and 90% of the time the repairs are very easy to do for someone with basic technical knowledge. In fact, by doing the repairs myself, I not only save money, but also gain knowledge and experience, and I've found out that, in most cases, the quality of work is much higher than that of a busy repairman who just wants to quickly finish the job, get paid and leave. Also, I like the process of Googling about how it's done (if I haven't done it before) and the entire procedure of dismantling, fixing, and seeing the faulty appliance come to life again.
A couple of years ago, my washing machine (10+ y.o.) started having intermittent problems with draining the water, showing an error code on its screen and stopping the washing cycle, with the clothes soaked in water. Restarting the cycle sometimes went through, but gradually the problem became too frequent to ignore. I Googled the error code and found out it was the drain pump (obviously). So I removed the side panel, located the drain pump and unscrewed it. I tried to turn the rotor and, although it could turn, the movement was quite stiff and uneven. I connected the pump directly to the mains supply and saw that it could turn, but sometimes it got stuck. I Googled the part, and the cost was something like $20. I was about to order one, but then I thought, let's try to dissect the old pump to see what's inside. All it took was a flat screwdriver, to pry the thing open and see the insides. The thing had sucked fibers from the clothes over the years, which interfered with the movement of the rotor. I cleaned it up, lubed it with grease and reassembled it. Worked like a charm. I put it back in the washing machine, and it's working perfectly to this day. Only took me a couple of hours, with zero cost.
It's not the cost saving, but the experience, the quality of work, and the satisfaction of doing it yourself.
And, obviously, you should not attempt anything involving high voltages and heavy moving parts, without knowing exactly what you're doing! It's no fun losing your life over a washing machine!
