Appliantology Newsletter: Stupid Plumber Tricks & Flooding Washers

Appliantology Newsletter
Stupid Plumber Tricks & Flooding Washers
June 2012
Don’t Let this Happen to You…
Yet another case of a washing machine that overfills and floods from the “Stupid Plumber’s Trick.” Typically, what happens is that the water flow got choked off in the washer and the machine started filling slowly, or the cold water stopped coming in. For some inexplicable reason, the owner got their plumber involved. Some hack plumbers (a small subset of the venerable plumbing trade) are famous for not knowing what they don’t know but *think* they know it all.

So the hack plumber starts poking around and opens the water inlet valve in back of the washer. He sees the protective sediment screens (note the word “protective”) clogged up with sediment and says, “Aha! I done found the problem! I’ll just remove these stupid screens that keep clogging up and problem solved. Imma frikkin’ genius!”

So instead of fixing the real problem, which is to install a sediment filter in the house water system, Stupid Plumber creates a new, bigger problem: now the valve is completely exposed to sediment damage and the piston inside the valve can– and often does– get stuck open so it can no longer shut off the flow of water into the washer. And the washer floods. I see this over and over again. Here are two examples; if you click the images below, it’ll take you to the video on YouTube where you can watch and hear more gory details:

Now, don’t get me wrong ‘cuz I ain’t complainin’ too much– fixing the boo-boos that those stupid plumbers make are helping me pay for my daughter’s big fat Greek wedding this September. So next time you see a plumber doing stupid tricks on an appliance, tell him Samurai Appliance Repair Man and The Appliance Guru said, “Domo, dude!”
Samurai Appliance Repair Man, www.Fixitnow.com


 

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