Last night this POS leaked. I pulled it out and mopped up the stinky mess, shut the water valves, unplugged it and went to bed.

Today was my day off. The choice was to call a repairman and then listen all stinking day to the lovely Miseries whine about how she needed to wash clothes, don't scratch the floor, etc., or to go ahead and tackle it.

So I ripped the front off the GE Model POS and started digging around. I never did find where the leak was coming from. Was not from the tub overflow tube. No connections were wet. But the bottom of the POS washer was covered with dried water residue and black specks, which turned out to be to from rubber parts and something around the agitator connection to the pulley.

Anyway, I could see thru the outer PP tub that there was a really mess between it and inner SS tub. So I ripped the top off. I was not gentle with these parts -- figuring if I accidentally ruined something it would make getting a new one that much easier. Unfortunately for me, the cover panels came off easily -- most were only held on by 2-4 fasteners or clips.

I spent some time tracing each and every tube and cheap plastic pipe end to end and still did not see any evidence of leakage.

Moving the tub back and forth I could hear water and saw thru the translucent outer PP tube about 1/2 gallon of water still in the bottom.

That's all I could find. So I replaced the top cover, set it for medium load and turned it on leaving the front panel open. Poured in about a cup of bleach with no clothes (in the washer -- not on me).

I watched it during the filling and draining. This machine really is a 100% genuine POS. When it drains, it spins and at the same time the pump comes on. The pump drains most of the water right way, but keeps running. Then the pump stops and starts over and over, I guess as it senses water in the inlet pipe. It's still a stupid design and I would expect the pump to burn out soon, if it's not already damaged.

Each time the tub drained, it still left about 1/2 gallon in the bottom. So before starting the next operation, the tub started spinning and water poured into the tub. So the water went straight out the bottom and the pump off/on cycle started again. I assume this was to dilute the dirty water in the bottom and flush it out again. Really, really, stupid design to leave dirty water (any water) in the bottom of the tub like this.

I could see where it did need cleaning out. The inner SS tub was clean, but the inside of the outer PP tub had a brown ring at the same height as the 8-in high agitator stub. It was obvious that grease floating on the top would stick to the PP tube at that point and not drain out. Another world class design job, typical of products designed in one country and then manufactured in another country with no dialog between them. This is called "technology transfer" in big bidness circles, but in reality the designers don't give a rat's ass if it works or not since their jobs will also be moving to China soon anyway.

I did like the simple way the motor/pulley worked. That and the pump would both be easy to replace if needed. The pump was $79 and stocked locally (I checked that yesterday just in case).

Anyway, where was I....

After the cycle, the smell was almost gone. Will run another cycle tonight with 1/2 gal of vinegar in the water this time and see if that will knock out the last of the stink.

It did not leak this afternoon and I never found where it had come from. So I got a piece of foam board cut the size of the bottom, put some rags on top and slid it underneath. Will check that each time and maybe that will help locate any leaks. Although if it leaks from inside, the bottom is made so that it fills up the bottom of the case all over before leaking out of holes.

End of story. Except that this is still a POS because it's impossible to fill up the tube enough to wash a large load. Even so, the wife still is happy with it, even though it doesn't get the clothes clean.

Next time the lovely Miseries goes on a trip, it's going onto Craigs list and when she come back there will be a brand new simpler washer in its place.

On Fri, 12 Sep 2014 19:40:32 -0700, Guv Bob
wrote:

Last night this POS leaked. I pulled it out and mopped up the stinky
mess, shut the water valves, unplugged it and went to bed.

...snip to keep Aioe happy...

I've found muriatic acid from Home Depot at $5/gal to be a household
'miracle' product!

It instantly removes the calcified deposits in any of our commodes! No
abrasives, no scrubbing, just remove water, pour a bit of acid on a
plastic bristle brush and swash around, DONE!

Most importantly, I've staved off replacing the sludge filled hot water
heater, now twice, using it. Not that I like this hot water heater, I just
like the money needed to replace it more.

You mentioned vinegar rinse, try a bit of the muriatic acid as a rinse.

And when you're done playing with that POS...

I highly recommend Speed Queen, built like a tank, construction built for
simplicity of repair, too and the ergonomics of using it! I have NO idea
what 'normal' manufacturers were thinking. The new SQ is even better than
our circa 70's Maytag! which we greatly miss.

Most importantly, the SQ's mechanical controller allows you to 'restart' a
wash cycle WITHOUT all the water draining out first! Why important? The
Ms. adds some chemicals and washes for 10 minutes [the clothes, not her],
stops and lets soak for 10 minutes, adds some different chemicals and
restarts wash to run 10 minutes, back and forth like that. In NO way does
she want to lose any wash water, those chemicals she uses cost a bit.

How clean does her wash come out? Relate an episode. We were preparing for
a trip for the holiday weekend to the mountains and the snow. She was
washing everything, when sure enough the power went out! I suppose a major
blackout from a stick landing on some power line somewhere! Very angry, of
course only MY clothes, so I packed the washed clothes that never made it
to the dryer into plastic garbage bags [new, unused] to keep from getting
rest of luggage wet and we proceeded to the mountains for our week of
'relaxation'. Well that turned out to be a major debacle, too.
Unfortunately we had booked a cabin at the lake, Nevada side, which is not
quite as clean as California side, and it showed! In preparation I had
requested, and they acquiesced, to shampoo the carpets for us, which they
did NOT do, only vacuum. Upon complaining, they came out with a vacuum!
No, go away. The cabin was beautiful with very good log burning fireplace
[not allowed in Californiz side] But the room being dirty, Ms. would not
touch anything, used tissues to touch their stuff. We slept on top the
covers and never undressed. The next morning the top manager paraded
through, saw that my fingernails were dirty [I did not use tissues] even a
feather on the floor from some dancer's costume! Manager gave us
breakfast, we left, and did not pay for anything there!

Came home very dissapointed, promising ourselves to go again to where we
really wanted to go a month later. Since we were all packed, just left our
luggage intact until we went. A month later we drove the 5 hours to the
mountains, they had shampooed the carpet and we had a beautiful suite,
extending over two floor height!, but California so had NO wood burning
fireplace, just some anemic gas fireplace, yecch! All in all the place
was spotless for us and we started to move in. That's when I opened my
luggage and found the plastic bags of my wet laundry! Oh, oh! I thought
I'd find the biggest mess of those dreaded gray sweaters all over my
clothes. BUT when I opened the bags that had been stored one month, the
contents all were still completely clean and smelled as fresh as the day
[a month ago] when I had pulled them out of Ms. washer and washing
process! We're talking clean here. to be able to be sealed in a plastic
bag, wet, for one month and come out like that.

After that experience I've never questioned her laundry processes or
methodoliges again! I swear hospitals could learn from her!

Bob,

If there's water and the machine isn't leaking, then something else is.
How are the water valves? How are the hoses? How are the seating gaskets at
the hose ends?

Dave M.

"David L. Martel" wrote in
:

Bob,

If there's water and the machine isn't leaking, then something else
is.
How are the water valves? How are the hoses? How are the seating
gaskets at the hose ends?

Dave M.



His wallet is being drained...

"RobertMacy" wrote in message newsp.xl4ph2y22cx0wh@ajm...
On Fri, 12 Sep 2014 19:40:32 -0700, Guv Bob
wrote:

Last night this POS leaked. I pulled it out and mopped up the stinky
mess, shut the water valves, unplugged it and went to bed.

...snip to keep Aioe happy...

I've found muriatic acid from Home Depot at $5/gal to be a household
'miracle' product!

No way jose. Muriatic acid is also known as Hydrochloric Acid and is one of the most hazardous acids. The fumes can do major damage to lungs and eyes. One splash in your eyes and that's all it takes. Burns skin. A drop will eat right thru your clothes.....

"David L. Martel" wrote in message ...
Bob,

If there's water and the machine isn't leaking, then something else is.
How are the water valves? How are the hoses? How are the seating gaskets at
the hose ends?

Dave M.

Found some gunk clogging up the holes in the tubs. Impossible to get down between the ss and pp tubs and clean it right, but got most of it out with a skinny handle brush. Whatever that was it stank to high heaven. A few more washings with vinegar and the smell is all gone.

This turned out to be a good thing - all the checking and I noticed that the drain pipe is starting to back up. Not quite enough to spilll over. Will get the rooter dude out here next week. Drain is 1-1/2 inch which I believe is smaller than the newer houses have. Pump is rated at 14 GPM, which is a hell of high flow in my opinion. Maybe I'll check around and see if I can find a smiliar pump for 10GPM. There's no reason I can think of to have that high a drain flowrate. All it's doing is draining the tub.....

GE design engineers suck.

On Sat, 13 Sep 2014 21:56:06 -0700, Guv Bob
wrote:

"RobertMacy" wrote in message
newsp.xl4ph2y22cx0wh@ajm...
On Fri, 12 Sep 2014 19:40:32 -0700, Guv Bob
wrote:

Last night this POS leaked. I pulled it out and mopped up the stinky
mess, shut the water valves, unplugged it and went to bed.

...snip to keep Aioe happy...

I've found muriatic acid from Home Depot at $5/gal to be a household
'miracle' product!

No way jose. Muriatic acid is also known as Hydrochloric Acid and is
one of the most hazardous acids. The fumes can do major damage to lungs
and eyes. One splash in your eyes and that's all it takes. Burns
skin. A drop will eat right thru your clothes.....

Are you sure you're not confusing this with sulphuric acid?

Also, I didn't say 'play' in the muriatic acid, treat it with respect.
Again, I found that inexpensive product from HD to be a miracle product
for the cleanups I need here. Tiny little bottles of CLR cost more than a
gal and don't even work!

On 9/14/2014 11:09 AM, RobertMacy wrote:
On Sat, 13 Sep 2014 21:56:06 -0700, Guv Bob
wrote:

"RobertMacy" wrote in message
newsp.xl4ph2y22cx0wh@ajm...
On Fri, 12 Sep 2014 19:40:32 -0700, Guv Bob
wrote:

Last night this POS leaked. I pulled it out and mopped up the stinky
mess, shut the water valves, unplugged it and went to bed.

...snip to keep Aioe happy...

I've found muriatic acid from Home Depot at $5/gal to be a household
'miracle' product!

No way jose. Muriatic acid is also known as Hydrochloric Acid and is
one of the most hazardous acids. The fumes can do major damage to
lungs and eyes. One splash in your eyes and that's all it takes.
Burns skin. A drop will eat right thru your clothes.....

Are you sure you're not confusing this with sulphuric acid?


Don't know about the fumes; that is dependent on concentration, but:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrochloric_acid
Hydrochloric acid is a clear, colorless, highly pungent solution of
hydrogen chloride (HCl) in water. It is a highly corrosive, strong
mineral acid with many industrial uses. Hydrochloric acid is found
naturally in gastric acid.

Historically called acidum salis, muriatic acid, and spirits of salt,
hydrochloric acid was produced from vitriol (sulfuric acid) and common
salt. Free hydrochloric acid was first formally described in the 16th
century by Libavius. Later, it was used by chemists such as Glauber,
Priestley and Davy in their scientific research

The old (pre-systematic) name muriatic acid has the same origin
(muriatic means "pertaining to brine or salt"), and this name is still
sometimes used.[1][3] The name "hydrochloric acid" was coined by the
French chemist Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac in 1814.[4]

"RobertMacy" wrote in message newsp.xl6m1pzg2cx0wh@ajm...
On Sat, 13 Sep 2014 21:56:06 -0700, Guv Bob
wrote:

"RobertMacy" wrote in message
newsp.xl4ph2y22cx0wh@ajm...
On Fri, 12 Sep 2014 19:40:32 -0700, Guv Bob
wrote:

Last night this POS leaked. I pulled it out and mopped up the stinky
mess, shut the water valves, unplugged it and went to bed.

...snip to keep Aioe happy...

I've found muriatic acid from Home Depot at $5/gal to be a household
'miracle' product!

No way jose. Muriatic acid is also known as Hydrochloric Acid and is
one of the most hazardous acids. The fumes can do major damage to lungs
and eyes. One splash in your eyes and that's all it takes. Burns
skin. A drop will eat right thru your clothes.....

Are you sure you're not confusing this with sulphuric acid?

Also, I didn't say 'play' in the muriatic acid, treat it with respect.
Again, I found that inexpensive product from HD to be a miracle product
for the cleanups I need here. Tiny little bottles of CLR cost more than a
gal and don't even work!

Yes, HCl may be OK for pros, but I would not suggest it to anyone not used to working with hazardous chemicals. Someone is always going to pour some in a bucket and then dump water into it, which can create a lot of heat and splash it out.

"Ed Pawlowski" wrote in message ...
On 9/14/2014 11:09 AM, RobertMacy wrote:
On Sat, 13 Sep 2014 21:56:06 -0700, Guv Bob
wrote:

"RobertMacy" wrote in message
newsp.xl4ph2y22cx0wh@ajm...
On Fri, 12 Sep 2014 19:40:32 -0700, Guv Bob
wrote:

Last night this POS leaked. I pulled it out and mopped up the stinky
mess, shut the water valves, unplugged it and went to bed.

...snip to keep Aioe happy...

I've found muriatic acid from Home Depot at $5/gal to be a household
'miracle' product!

No way jose. Muriatic acid is also known as Hydrochloric Acid and is
one of the most hazardous acids. The fumes can do major damage to
lungs and eyes. One splash in your eyes and that's all it takes.
Burns skin. A drop will eat right thru your clothes.....

Are you sure you're not confusing this with sulphuric acid?


Don't know about the fumes; that is dependent on concentration, but:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrochloric_acid
Hydrochloric acid is a clear, colorless, highly pungent solution of
hydrogen chloride (HCl) in water. It is a highly corrosive, strong
mineral acid with many industrial uses. Hydrochloric acid is found
naturally in gastric acid.

Historically called acidum salis, muriatic acid, and spirits of salt,
hydrochloric acid was produced from vitriol (sulfuric acid) and common
salt. Free hydrochloric acid was first formally described in the 16th
century by Libavius. Later, it was used by chemists such as Glauber,
Priestley and Davy in their scientific research

The old (pre-systematic) name muriatic acid has the same origin
(muriatic means "pertaining to brine or salt"), and this name is still
sometimes used.[1][3] The name "hydrochloric acid" was coined by the
French chemist Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac in 1814.[4]

It's an industrial chemical.... not a good idea to keep any of these strong acids around the house. HCl in the stomach is milder and is mixed with other fluids and nothing like bottled. Stomach has protective lining. Eyes don't.

On 9/14/2014 12:06 PM, Guv Bob wrote:
"Ed Pawlowski" wrote in message ...


Don't know about the fumes; that is dependent on concentration, but:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrochloric_acid
Hydrochloric acid is a clear, colorless, highly pungent solution of
hydrogen chloride (HCl) in water. It is a highly corrosive, strong
mineral acid with many industrial uses. Hydrochloric acid is found
naturally in gastric acid.



It's an industrial chemical.... not a good idea to keep any of these strong acids around the house. HCl in the stomach is milder and is mixed with other fluids and nothing like bottled. Stomach has protective lining. Eyes don't.


Good point. In my stomach I dilute it with gin, bourbon, or wine. Maybe
you can our a bottle of bourbon in the acid bottle to make it more
dilute and safer.

"Ed Pawlowski" wrote in message ...
On 9/14/2014 12:06 PM, Guv Bob wrote:
"Ed Pawlowski" wrote in message ...


Don't know about the fumes; that is dependent on concentration, but:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrochloric_acid
Hydrochloric acid is a clear, colorless, highly pungent solution of
hydrogen chloride (HCl) in water. It is a highly corrosive, strong
mineral acid with many industrial uses. Hydrochloric acid is found
naturally in gastric acid.



It's an industrial chemical.... not a good idea to keep any of these strong acids around the house. HCl in the stomach is milder and is mixed with other fluids and nothing like bottled. Stomach has protective lining. Eyes don't.


Good point. In my stomach I dilute it with gin, bourbon, or wine. Maybe
you can our a bottle of bourbon in the acid bottle to make it more
dilute and safer.

LOL!!