Home appliance repair safety. While I was on a call recently, I ran into a situation that is the worst dream of any appliance repairman. She had answered a call on a non-spinning washing machine from a very frustrated housewife with three children whose clothes were piling up.
After removing the front screws and removing the front cover, I quickly realized that the last person to repair this washer was a rank hobbyist or a handyman with a lean toward makeshift engineering.
The reason this particular washer was refusing to go into the spin cycle was that the wire leading to the lid switch had shorted out, it burned in two, though luckily it hadn’t affected any other part of the washer. .
However, the biggest problem was that someone in the past had completely bypassed the lid switch, while those of you who are not in the appliance repair trade may not realize the implications of such a move. dangerous, any self-respecting professional appliance repairer will tell you. this is a big NO NO!
To explain, the purpose of a lid switch, which is usually, but not always, tied to a lid locking device, is to keep the washer lid tightly closed while the machine is spinning at high speed, which can achieve hundreds of RPM (Revolutions Per Minute). This is the period of time when your washing machine presents the greatest danger to your family or to anyone who uses the machine..
Not a year goes by where an unfortunate individual foolishly decides to stick his arm into a machine that is spinning at high speed in the wrong effort to slow or stop it. The results are always tragic.
Clothes in the washing machine usually catch the person’s arm and then literally twist it. In the best of cases the arm is broken in several places, in some of the worst the arm has been ripped from the body, an event almost too horrible to imagine.
To link this, the purpose of your lid switch is to absolutely make sure this is not happening to whoever is using the washing machine or to anyone passing by. Under no circumstances should a lid switch be bypassed, nor should you make any other repairs to a unit whose switch has been bypassed.
In the few cases where I have encountered this problem, the owner was upset to learn that the main safety feature of their appliance had been omitted and was more than happy to pay the small additional cost to have the safety system of the cap will work properly.
How can you make sure your washing machine is working properly? Put a load in your washing machine, turn it on, and let it fill with water. Most washers will allow you to open the lid on the shake cycle so you can add detergents and fabric softeners.
Now with the machine full of water, open the lid and advance the time to the spin cycle. In any properly working washing machine, THE WASHER MUST NOT ROTATE WITH THE COVER OPEN !!
If your washing machine does, call your local appliance repair technician. As the old saying goes, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
