I hope you have an appliance repairman like DT. He came to our house and determined that our older Kenmore washing machine needed a new motor. DT has a lot of old washing machines in his back yard. He buys them cheap and sells the parts. He told me that he would look for a motor for our washer.
Before moving to Africa we used the coin-op washing machines in our apartment complex. When preparing to go to the Congo in 1990, we were advised to buy a gasoline powered washer, but we bought a James hand washer. In July 1990 we shipped it to Impfondo in the People’s Republic of Congo and used it 11 years. We were able to hire someone to work the agitator, but no one stayed in the position very long. An older man named Goffi watched the clothes while they were drying on the line. One day when a young boy stole a shirt Goffi became animated beyond what we expected of him and caught the fleeing boy. We always compared that incident to the elderly infirmed Yoda who trained Luke Sky Walker suddenly turning into a lively Jedi warrior fighting machine.
In Senegal we bought a used washing machine. When we moved from a house to an apartment, our washer’s check valve stopped working. I called a repairman who hauled it off in a donkey cart. He searched the local appliance graveyards for the part and declared it fixed. In that part of the world, the washer sits next to the shower stall where it drains (The washer we used in India drained off the balcony floor). The repair man could not fix the problem, but after I raised drain hose and tied it to the shower hot and cold water valves it worked after a fashion. There were a series of actions that had to be performed at the right time to get through a load. Every time the washer missed the rinse cycle the chairman of the board made her opinion of that machine known to all in the apartment.
DC and KC gave us the Kenmore model 70 that we are now using. DT says the older models perform better than the new ones. I don’t think we need a stream-lined fancy washer and dryer that look like a space capsules. The chairman of the board says that she would like a matched washer and dryer set. I respond that our machines are both white and quite similar in appearance. Besides DT’s used appliance parts service only stocks parts for older models. After the diagnosis, DT brought us a motor from one of his donner machines, but it was also frozen. Working his network, DT received another frozen motor from his friend. Finally on the fourth day after the initial service call, DT installed a used motor for a very reasonable price.
Adventures in Suburbia 