Where the Odd Sock Lives

June 20th, 2007 | jchaager | family

One of the eternal questions of modern society is, “Why do I end up with odd socks after washing clothes?” Many have attempted to explain this phenomenon. But now, the mystery has been solved

I got a phone call from my wife while I was at work yesterday informing me that our washing machine was broken. Seems that it had filled with water, washed the clothes, but wasn’t draining the water as it should. Since she had 5 loads of laundry to finish, she loaded the dirty clothes into the van and headed to my parents house to continue washing.

So, with this crisis awaiting me, I left work at the end of the day mentally preparing myself for the long process of trying to fix whatever the problem might be. I made it home about 6PM, said hi to the kids, the dog, and the wife (not necessarily in that order), and started collecting the tools I would need to tame the mechanical beast.

Step 1 was figuring out how to empty the water out of the washer. Our laundry room is located between the kitchen and the garage, meaning the only way to empty it was to run a hose out the back door and attempt to siphon it out. I put the hose in the washer, took the other end outside, and started trying to suck the water through it to get it started. I think I made to sucks on the hose before I remembered that I had a drill operated pump that I had picked up last year for another project and never used.

This pump is one that you attach a hose to on the inlet side, tighten the shaft into your drill, then simply pull the trigger on the drill to operate it. After priming the hose with water, I hooked it up to the pump and pulled the trigger. Water came spraying out of the pump into the yard. After about 15-20 minutes of pumping, the water flow started to sputter and come to an end.

With the washer now empty, and 30+ pounds lighter, it was time to start investigating the problem. I pulled the washer out from the wall, disconnected the power and water hoses, and positioned it so that I could work on it. Having no instructions for how to take it apart, I did what any good DIYer does. I started removing screws until it seemed to be loose enough to get the back off. With the back detached, I started unplugging the wires and unhooking connectors that were holding the back on. Compared to the machines I work on everyday, washing machines are surprisingly simple.

With the back removed, it was time to start tracing the drain hose to see if there was a blockage of any kind. Where does the drain hose lead? Why, to the front of the washer where I can’t reach it. So, it was time to readjust everything so that I could remove the body of the washer. With the body removed, was finally able to trace the hose to the pump on the front. There didn’t appear to be any blockages in the hose, so that meant I needed to pull the pump off and see if it was functional.

In order to get the pump off, I had to unhook the other hose that ran from the washer drum to the pump. In case anyone out there isn’t aware, just because you can’t see water in the drum when looking from the top doesn’t mean there isn’t any in it. So, after dumping half a gallon or so of water onto the floor and into the buckets a managed to scramble into place, it was clear that the blockage was not in that hose.

With the hoses disconnected, I was able to unhook the clips holding the pump to the motor and pull it out for a look see. And what should I find balled up and crammed down into the inlet pipe of the pump? Why, an odd sock. I pulled the soaking and shredded sock out of the pump and started reassmebling the washer.

A mere 45 minutes and some extra disassembly later, I had the washer back together. We fired up the washer to run a short wash cycle. To my and my wife’s relief, the washer ran fine and when it came time to drain, all the water rushed out the bottom and into the drain. Success!! All told, the effort took my nearly 3 1/2 hours. But I’m sure that next time I can get the whole job done in less than 2. Just you wait and see.