Hit 500 washer drain pump replacements this week and it got me thinking

2 comments

2 Comments

Hit 500 washer drain pump replacements this week" - man that's a lot of water moving through those things... I had a neighbor last year who kept telling me her washer was making this low growling noise like a bear was trapped inside. Told her it was probably the pump bearing going bad but she waited three months to call anyone. By the time I finally looked at it the pump was so clogged with hair and lint that it had actually cracked the plastic housing. Water was everywhere in her laundry room, soaked through the floorboards into the basement ceiling below her. Her insurance covered it but what a mess over something that could have been caught early with a simple listen. Point is, those pumps take a beating with all the stuff people let slide through their wash.

jenny_jackson11d ago

Told her it was probably the pump bearing going bad" - that's exactly what I did with my mom's washer last summer. She kept saying it sounded like a cat hissing during the spin cycle. I figured it was just the pump bearing too, so I popped the front panel off and sure enough, there was a bobby pin wedged between the impeller and the housing. Fished it out with some needle-nose pliers and it was good as new for another year. That little fix saved her a service call and a whole lot of water damage. It's wild how something small like a bobby pin or a hair tie can turn into a major flood if you let it slide.