The Washing Machine Debacle

We bought a new washing machine. For the record, it was not a Christmas gift for Cathie. I've had to learn the hard way the fact that appliances do not count as Christmas gifts. To my wife, the Washing Machine is the equivalent of my cell phone. She cares about the features, the capacity and the style because she uses it virtually every day. After a ton of research, we bought a top of the line GE front loading washer with the four year extended service plan.

What I didn't buy was the $250 drawer that this sits on top of. it's about $10 in parts and provides you with an ergonomically correct height so you're not bending over as much. INSTEAD, I took four plastic milk crates, duct taped them together and placed a piece of plywood on top of them. This has been the source of great mockery.

The real fun started when I went to hook up the water to the washing machine. The original hoses for my old machine would not reach so I had to disconnect them and hook up the new hoses. The cold water hose came off pretty easily, but i needed to get my pipe wrenches out for the hot water hose. Bad idea, in hindsight. I gave it one semi-gentle turn and the entire pipe broke off. Hot water was spraying all over the laundry room as I ran to try and shut off the hot water. It turns out, I have no hot water shut-off valve. I'm not sure if this was a conscious decision when Kevin and I replaced the hot water heater, or not. I was able to turn off the inbound spigot to the hot water tank, which slowed things down a bit. I then had to turn off and drain my hot water tank in order to not have it all trickle out my laundry room floor.

I mopped up the water and then looked at pipe that needed fixing. Could I have fixed the pipe? Probably, but most likely very badly. I was set to call a plumber when Jeff volunteered to come over, claiming it was a ten minute job. Jeff came over yesterday and amazingly fixed it in ten minutes. (Thanks a bunch Jeff. I owe you.)