There’s nothing like a flood in the laundry room to get your attention. Window left open in the rain? A burst pipe? No, none of that, but an overflowing washing machine that was the culprit. We started a load of laundry, the machine started to fill, and well, just didn’t stop filling. It makes a heck of a mess, and is more than a little aggravating. We have dirty clothes we can’t wash, and a small lake to clean up. The Shop Vac took care of the lake, but what about the washing machine?
Find the Problem
I started with that greatest of all inventions, the internet. I typed “washing machine won’t stop filling” into Yahoo! and got something like 20 million results. The answers.yahoo.com told me the sensor that measures the water level was bad. Easy enough, I thought, let’s get to it.
Find the Part
The Sears Parts Direct site is a great place to find anything you need to repair appliances, lawn equipment, and almost anything else you have around your house. I found the model number on the washing machine, entered it into the web site, and worked my way through the schematics to get to what I needed. I was then able to order the part online and have it shipped directly to my house.
Remove and Replace
I removed the housing around the washer, found the bad part and removed it. In a few days, the new part arrived. I was able to install it, put the housing back together, and start washing again.
All this was accomplished with a screwdriver, socket wrench, and some patience with the small screws. Outside of waiting for the part to arrive, I spent about 30 minutes researching the problem, removing the old part, and installing the new part. It’s a relatively simple task if you have any level of mechanical aptitude. Two major bonuses with it were the savings on the service call, and the fact that I was able to do the repair on my own terms and not have to wait for a repairman to arrive.