Monday 28 December 2015

Washing machine is fixed

I got out of bed this morning hoping to call the washing machine repair shop so they could come out and fix the machine before the end of the year. The problem was that every shop whose number off Google I phoned had a voice message. Some voice messages told me that the shop would be open next Monday but many of them didn't even say that much. I should just call back later. That was until I found a fridge repair shop in Chippendale which I called.

The first thing I asked was "Do you also do washing machines as well as fridges?" The guy said 'yes' so I told him what the problem was. I went through the symptoms again: the machine would initially work and the drum would turn but then it would stop and give an 'LE' message. I also told him about the high-pitched scraping sound the machine made when it appeared to be trying to turn the drum but without success. He told me he would call me later in the day and to wait for his call.

Around 11.30 he called and said he was in Gladesville so I told him I would be at home if he came over. He promised to call me from the street so I could let him into the garage to use one of my car parking spots. About 30 minutes later he called so I went down and let him into the garage. Up in the apartment he maneuvered the machine out of its resting place and turned it on. But then he asked me for some clothes to wash, in order to replicate the actual operation of the machine. I went to the bedroom and got the laundry basket and he put the dirty clothes in the machine, then turned it on.

The machine weighed the clothes by turning as it usually does and then started to fill with water. It then made that scraping sound and the drum stopped turning. I told the repair guy that this was what had happened before, before the machine gave the 'LE' error. But then the drum began to turn as it normally does when it's operating well. The 'LE' error message did not appear. I felt slightly disappointed that the machine failed to replicate the same symptoms as it had before, at this time, while the repair guy was in the apartment. The machine then proceeded to operate as normal. However it had demonstrated some poor operation because it had at least made the same odd scraping noise and the drum had not started rotating normally immediately.

The repair guy, whose name turned out to be Peter, told me he thought he knew what the problem was and he also told me he had the spare part in his car. He had already brought up one spare part. This part, the rotor magnet, turned out to be worn in the original so he ended up replacing that as well as the rotor positioning sensor. We had to go back down to his car in the garage to get this spare part.

Back in the apartment he switched the original parts with the new parts and carefully put the machine back together. Then he taped up the spigot on the u-bend under the sink and attached the curved plastic part that makes the drainage pipe spray the water from the machine into the sink. He plugged the machine back in and slowly shifted it back into position in the laundry area in the kitchen. I had asked him for a business card and he put a magnet on my fridge. Then we went back downstairs and got his EFTPOS device, which we took out to the building lobby as the signal wouldn't come through in the garage. I paid him $330 using my credit card and he left. I went straight upstairs, put on a load of laundry and went out to get some lunch. I felt as though something important had been completed.

Contact: Parrahills Appliance Repairs, 0418 407 470

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