GE Washer Rant

As mentioned in my previous post, we have had a problem with our new GE front load washer. thanks to fixya.com, we have taken care of it......the problem is/was this;

These things work very differently than the top loading variety; the kind of "spill" water onto the clothes, toss them around, drain, and repeat....until the final rinse/spin cycle. Not too long after we bought it, the machine stopped going all the way through the last spin cycle; it would either stop with time left on the timer or finish, but either way, the clothes were dripping wet. We looked through the manual, called the store, talked to GE customer service...no one had ever heard of this (yeah, right) and said I needed to call a repair person, it should be under warranty. The sales person (at Famous Tate's) thought it might be a chip dislodged during transit, or we were using too much soap. I finally happen upon a site called fixya.com. You can type in a problem or an appliance and you will usually get several "answers" to the problem; I can't vouch for the credibility, this is consumer run....but this issue was widely discussed here. Apparently, there is a filter down below the tub in front which has to be cleaned out fairly frequently; everything which is not laundry goes in there, change, hair ties, pocket fodder...even socks. The issue I and many other people have is this-WHERE IS THIS FILTER MENTIONED? The answer is *nowhere*. Not in the manual, not on the GE website.....no service reps can tell you about this....are there any labels on the machine alluding to this filter, which needs to be cleaned? Nope. Is this filter easy to find and access by your typical consumer? Nope.
You have to access the filter by unscrewing 3 screws at the bottom of the lower front panel. You pull the panel off then unscrew a cap......a gallon or two of water comes out, then you can pull out the filter attached to the cap. You take out the crap that was stuck in there, impeding the water from properly draining and the put it all back together. How would anyone know this with no reference in the manual? Some of these people on the site had paid hundreds in service calls and blown pumps, and still no one had told them about this. that's HORRIBLE! Something which obviously needs to be cleaned (like a lint filter, only wet) fairly frequently should be a little more accessible.....and marked!

Could this be a Class A lawsuit?
Maybe it's just Monday, but I'm really ticked off over this.......we could have blown our pump, we could have paid a serviceman to come "fix" it, and probably never say what it was because he wanted to get paid for another visit.......and crap stuck in your filter would not be covered under warranty.....

Weekend Spoils

For our "holiday weekend", we
1) finished fixing the water supply pipe over the laundry room.

2) pro actively knocked out a section of ceiling in the downstairs bathroom, as it had suspicious water marks on it like the laundry room, and it was right in line with the leaky supply line.No Leaks, dry as a bone....tee hee, silly us.

3) Hung the art deco light fixture in the entry hall; it looks gorgeous, although the bulbs are too bright, we couldn't find the globe lights with the cut glass pattern in lower than 40 watt, so we will install a dimmer.

4) Finished putting the master bedroom back together after switching the bed from one area to another; now it looks like a bedroom instead of a construction sight. Except maybe for the really ***rough*** floor in the larger portion......it is not in as good shape as the smaller part which we sanded and poly'd. We will consult with a historical flooring specialist on whether or not it is salvageable or not. Hey! There's one right around the corner!

5) Fixed our NEW GE front load washer....more on that in another post; this needs to be shouted about!

6) Mowed the new sod for the first time.....it felt good to mow grass....but the other side is struggling so badly, I'm beginning to consider a "reduced grass plan" for the front as well as the back; may not without grass at all, but we have better things to do and spend out money on than providing constant life support for our lawn. Then the rains will start and we'll be dealing with fungus.

7) Strongly coerced (ok-yelled)the kids into cleaning their rooms...it was either that or call in a haz-mat team to do the job. Mission *almost* accomplished......a lot of trash bags came out of those rooms....I'm still missing many of my glasses.....

Wow, we got a lot done...and I have to credit Mike for doing most of it.....Thanks honey!

I will add if I think of anything else.....we ended it all with a rib & corn on the cobb dinner.
Happy Monday!

Flying the Flag

We have been flying our flag all weekend; it's something we had always done while I was growing up; my father was a marine in WWII, so it was never an option not to. It's kind of a tradition, we have the same flag pole holder which was on my parent's house in Bath, Maine for over 30 years. I'm sad to see that there are not all that many other houses who put a flag out; and I can't tell if it's due to lack of time and resources, or a personal preference. I can't say I am happy with all that is going on in our country, but it is our country, and I'll keep flying the flag as a symbol of my patriotism. And I'll barbecue ribs today too! (a symbol of my hunger from being so patriotic) Enjoy the day, if you are lucky enough to have it off.......

Drip......Drip......Drip......

The tip off, the discovery and the ceiling on the floor.

Well, the plan to do nothing but tie up loose ends has failed already, and it's only Friday! The suspicious "get to it later" water spots on the laundry room ceiling got really wet and started dripping today. We thought it might have been old water damage from before we replaced the roof, but as it was dripping water, it was obviously not old.It wasn't raining, so it couldn't have been the roof at all. Mike cut into the ceiling to locate the source of the water, and found not a leaky drain pipe from our master shower like we thought, but a leaky supply line. Since we did not plan on replacing the piping at this point, (it's fairly new, for a really old house) we will just use some fiberglass tape which goes on wet and completely seals itself around the pipe. This shouldn't be a HUGE project, but anything not planned for is a pain....although in old houses, the unplanned is a way of life. I have looked at the stains and felt uneasy over them.....so in a way I'm glad I know what it is. The crap on the floor is old insulation, scraps of bathroom tile (from the upstairs bathroom from when it was "remuddled") and some scraps of old newspaper...hard to read off such small pieces, but there was an ad for circus tickets-$5.50 a piece (not that old?). There was also some nasty looking stuff I can only deduce is a rat/squirrel by-product. Wish us luck!


***UPDATE:
Ok, the tape didn't work...who was I kidding? The elbow joint was too far gone and needed to be replaced. I'd like to replace all of the galvanized steel piping we have (that orange/brown water in the morning is so nasty) but we have so many other things to do. Hopefully, this will take care of it; time will tell-if everything's still dry in the morning, we're good.

Memorial Day Weekend!

A three day weekend! Sounds good to me.....I noticed very light traffic today, so I'm sure many people out there are taking a four day weekend. In Maine, this was the traditional opening of the outdoor activity season....planting, yardwork, even the beach.....BRRRRR......I guess the thermometer hitting 65 in Maine is a little different than it hitting 65 here. We don't have much planned this weekend-we won't start the side of the house until next week so we can finish up some assorted items around house & yard and let our backs recuperate.....
We are making some progress in the battle against the "nuthedge" (spelling?) weeds overtaking our sidwalk strip...we spent some serious time and money digging, planting, mulching & even installing landscaping fabric. this stuff comes right up through the fabric, comes back after being repeatedly pulled, and does not respond to even extra strenght Round Up (double strength). There is an herbicide sold especially for this weed, it's not cheap, and it's not instant, but it seems to be impacting the pesky things. It will take a few applications; the good thing is that it is safe for other plants, so we did not have to remove everything before spraying. I've also heard that placing several layers of newspaper will impede the stuff for awhile before it breaks down. But for now, I really want to kill it...I'm so mad at it!
Any big projects going on in the neighborhood and beyond?