Washing Machine Blues

Do you ever have issues with the washing coming out of the machine dirtier than when it went in?

You know that gunge that seems to get on the clothes that are on the outside of the ‘pile’ as it has spun out in the last spin part of the cycle.

It happened the other day and I was also having issues that meant I was going to have to call in the appliance technician to have the machine fixed.
Every washing load was cutting out.
It would do the first part to the emptying of water and then the whole machine would turn off. No beeping or flashing lights just dead.

If I switched the machine off at the wall, waited 3 minutes, and turned it back on; it would light up the part of the cycle the machine was doing before it cut out. It would then start on its own but only for the next part. A wash would take four times of turning it off at the wall and then switching it back on again.

(I have a Fisher and Paykel Smart Drive Excellence that has the stages of the cycle marked by lit up spots – 4 in a cycle)

But each time items would also come out with the gunge.

In the end I decided to give the machine a clean.
I mean I didn’t want some chappy seeing the dirty machine as he checked it out.
I unscrewed the handle thingy inside the agitator so the whole agitator could come out. I cleaned this with hot water and a scrubbing brush. Then I set the machine on hot water and added a cup of baking soda. We had the fire going this day and the hot water was being heated by our wet back so I didn’t feel guilty about using the hot water.

The machine did a whole cycle without stopping!

I tried it again in just a small height for the water. It did it without stopping.

Now was the test. I did a load of washing and the machine worked completely and the clothes were clean.

My advice...
Clean the machine once or twice a year with baking soda and hot water and you will save the cost of so called repairs and a service man’s fee!!