Long Live Your Washer and Dryer!
Over the years we’ve seen lots of things inside of washing machines and dryers that will stop them from operating or even cause them to break down altogether with catastrophic results. These items can:
Snap off impellers from your drain pump,
Tear the door seal on your front load washer,
Tear the felt seal on your dryer,
Short out your heating element,
Break the igniter on a gas dryer,
Make the tub seal leak on your washer (and a few other things I'm probably forgetting to list here).
Over time, your laundry equipment will break just from natural use, but there are some things that you can do to help your washer and dryer last as long as possible. Here are a few tips we suggest:
Clean out your pockets. Over the years, I have found all kinds of interesting things inside of washer and dryers including:
Coins,
Pens,
Divot tools,
Necklaces,
Razors,
Bobby pins,
Drywall screws and nails,
Rocks,
Sand, and even
Underwires from bras!
Mind your jewelry. I once saw a necklace get caught in the inner tub of a washer and, during the spin cycle, it cut the outer tub in half like a chainsaw!
Do not wash blankets unless you have a front load washer. Top load washers do not do a great job washing large items like blankets. They will essentially get the item wet and soapy, but won’t be able to agitate well enough to allow the soap to make good enough contact with the dirt and oil inside to actually get it clean.
If you DO have a front load washer and you wash a blanket, do not dry your blanket in your dryer. The blanket can block the airflow through the drum causing the dryer to burn out its thermal overload and possibly the element. After it's done washing, hang it up until it air dries (hanging it over a door works well!) and then put it in the dryer on the air fluff setting to soften it up.
Lastly, if your bathroom rug is starting to deteriorate, it’s best to throw it away and get a new one, as the cost of trying to get the remains of your rug out of your washer or dryer could be as much as buying 20 new bathroom rugs!
Your washer and dryer do have the ability to block some of these things, but you’ll be rolling the dice and it will eventually catch up to you. Following this advice can add years of life to your machines.
We hope you found this helpful- remember, you can call us any time and we’ll give you the same friendly advice that we would give to the people we love most.
Cheers,
Joseph Seeley