This will be a short and even a pointless post! But here it is anyway. Over the last weekend, I started on washing my clothes. It was not a big load and so I put my Whirlpool washer (about 9 years old) on ‘Small Load’ setting.
Or so I thought the setting was! Within a few minutes, the washer started to shake violently. I thought that was odd but then thought it was probably because of the small load. Then the washer became quiet–maybe the ‘rinse’ cycle. I went out of the house for a walk and when I entered back the loud thudding and banging was just unbearable. The banging was like ‘The Exorcist’ movie’s Regan bed thumping! I rushed toward the utility room and… to my horror..the washer had moved about a foot to its left, banging against a deep freezer and other things. I immediately cut it off.
Then I thought–oh boy, it’s bad. Maybe a huge repair bill. Let’s call Lowes for help? I called my father in law Jimmy for help–who lives across from me. He rushed to my help–he’s so helpful! Bless his soul. He and I pushed the washer back to its place. We then tinkered around with settings and started an empty wash test cycle.
No problems this time! We sat and watched the Washer carefully, ready to pounce on it, should it behave like Regan’s bed again, but no, the washer was apparently exorcised! Hmmm. Then it occurred to me in my initial run I didn’t see a light for the water temperature. That was odd. Upon some more tinkering of the dial, I realized that I had the wash cycle selector dial initially on the ‘Wash the Washer’ cycle! And that, presumably because I had the clothes in, caused the problem!
Mea culpa for sure. But still–the dial’s pointer can be easy to misjudge–you could have it pointed completely wrong way as I did. I have similar problems sometimes with our toaster oven.
Morale of the story: Companies need to have the dials more clearly defined for people who maybe, as we often are, in a rush. Are you listening Whirlpool?!
Anyway, this is still a great washer–minus the often confusing dial. Happy Laundering!
Alpha Objects: A casual blog about technology, travel, and more. 