Don Rivers Fixes the Washing Machine and is A Heroe [VIDEO]

Sometimes a man just needs to fix something! It matters not that it is something his wife has ask him to fix for months. The victory is still as sweet. I am such a man. I have pulled off a fix of historic proportions. (editor's note ... It did not include duct tape)

It started a few weeks back. The spin cycle on our washing machine started to fail and eventually quit working all together. My wife or son (I don't know which) discovered that the reason it was not working was due to a safety switch in the machines door. The switch was malfunctioning and kept the machine from spinning because it thought the door was open. They figured out a way to use a coat hanger and trip the switch so they used the machine like that for a few weeks.

Then the switch stopped working again (despite the coat hanger switch.) It stopped with a tub full of water and a load of clothes in mid cycle. It was time to order a new washing machine. In order to get the old one out we had to drain the water and that got me thinking. I was going to use the bilge pump from the boat and pump the water from the machine's tub into buckets. Then I would take the buckets outside and empty them. This was going to be a major pain. I wondered if I could bypass the door safety switch.

I figured to get to the switch would mean taking the back off of the machine and then probably taking other pieces off; and who knows if even then I could get to the defective switch. That was not the case at all. The switch was held in by two screws on the top inside of the machine. I simply removed the screws, the switch dropped down. I cut the wires to the switch and spliced them together. This effectively bypassed the switch and the machine now works fine. It took all of five minutes to complete. They tell you not to bypass this switch so I must say "do not do as I have done."  Here is a video with my fix. (Even though I say "dishwasher" I meant "washing machine")

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So now the question is do we still want the new machine. This one is an older model that still soaks the clothes in a tub filled with water. The new energy efficient machines just spray your clothes with water. I really think the old machines get clothes cleaner. We may just hang on to the old one a little longer.