The Joys of Homeownership: Appliances

We've lived in this house for 2 1/2 months and already had two broken appliances (plus the ice dispenser on the fridge, which was broken when we arrived, but since the fridge otherwise functioned, that hardly counted).

The disposal was a real bear. We were just finishing the bulk of our big home improvement projects and looking forward to an evening of relaxation when the darn thing just stopped working. It had gotten totally jammed up. My husband sat trying to unjam it for several hours the evening it jammed, but it just wouldn't turn freely. He ended up buying a new garbage disposal from Home Depot and installing the next day. I suspect that all the paint we washed down that sink wasn't good for the disposal. When we painted our bedroom, I wouldn't wash anything in the side of the sink with the disposal.

This weekend our washing machine stopped working. It wouldn't drain, it wouldn't spin. It just made a sad little humming sound then would trip the circuit breaker. I unloaded all of the clothes and wiggled thing to see if it would start working, but no luck. We pulled the box off so we could take a look at the inside. I successfully diagnosed the problem as something to do with the pump. We disconnected one side from the pump so we could try to turn it. Sure enough, it didn't turn. We were tired and still recovering from colds, so we decided to go to bed instead of dealing with it more. Water was still pouring out from it anyhow, so it was a bit hard to work with (my husband bailed the water out to the best of his ability, but there was still a lot left).

The next morning the water had completely drained and my husband took the pump off the rest of the way. He found one of my daughter's socks inside the pump, torn to shreds but still successfully jamming the wheel that is supposed to churn water through. Once reassembled, the machine works fine. Thank goodness for easy fixes. And for the internet with lots of how-to guides to help us discover the simple fixes ourselves instead of calling in the professionals.