OK. So Today I am going to be moving a washer and dryer upstairs. One way you can make these a lot easier or a lot lighter is to take out all the water. Inside this hose here all this water is trapped and the same with inside the hose that comes from the drain line. So we have actually got quite a bit of weight right here just in this hose line. So one way to make this a lot easier is use a good old wet dry vacuum and just pull all that water out of there. Could be maybe a gallon of water and that is just adding a bunch of unnecessary weight. So vacuuming this out will just make it easier to go up the stairs. Again that will just take a lot of the weight out because a lot of the weight is just in all that extra water that was in there and now the machine will be a lot lighter to move around. Good to go. Yep for sure it’s a messy messy job. That’s what it is but at least this makes it a little bit lighter.
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So I had a clog on this particular washing machine. You may want to watch my video on how to take off the washing machine lid and access panel.
That hose you saw back there I was able to vacuum out the water from that particular port. That’s a nice easy way to prevent all that water from spilling on to your floor. The other way you can do it is to vacuum from the drain line hose itself. Either way. But sometimes it is just easier to vacuum from where I showed you. You also want to plug the machine or have the machine turned off while you are working on it. You can turn it off at the breaker. The hoses have a couple clamps. It’s not real clear for you to see here but there is two hose ports that hook onto the pump here. This little impeller pump and basically just squeeze those clamps. Pull the hoses off. The bottom hose is a goes into a smaller diameter and that’s usually where stuff hangs up. Either a coin or a bobby pin or something along those lines will go down the drain.
So this one I was able to slip it off. It can be really tricky getting inside there because it is tight quarters. Also it’s all sheet metal all around so you want to be really careful there because it’s very sharp. It’s very easy to cut your arms. Vacuum back here. So vacuumed from the top end first. Found this bobby pin and now I am going to try to reuse it to pull the coin out because I can feel the coin back there. So just going to bend this into a little hook. Hopefully I can insert that in the drain hose and pull out the coin. That’s going to be what I attempt to do.
I was able to get behind the coin. Now the question is being able to pull it out. Use my pliers here. Oh darn it. Oh I got it. Here it is. All that trouble over a dime. That’s what was clogging the drain line. There is even a bit more debris behind it. Back there. There we go. Put it all back together. Good to go.
You might check my other video Five Most Common Problems With Washing Machines for more details on problems with washing machines. Also it’s a good idea to check the impeller for any other coins I show it a little bit more. It’s not super clear in my video Frustration Over A Lost Penny where I show a pump that was clogged with a penny and take apart the impeller or take off the impeller and look deeper in there for anything else. Which is a good idea. Once you have gone to this point of taking the machine apart. That way you don’t have another clog down the road or if there is a penny or a coin there it doesn’t wear a hole in the side of the impeller. Anyway that was this one. Washing Machine Stopped On A Dime. Good to go.
OK. When you need to get into these types of stackable laundry machines pretty much all of them have a spring release mechanism here on the bottom. See right here. What you do is grab it with a pair of pliers. Pull it down and than tilt the lid forward a little bit. Than do the exact same thing on the other side and this will allow the control panel to be flipped down. As you can see. This one I have got to replace the timer so I have got the new timer there but anyway. That’s how you can get into the panels and to reset them you just pull that little deal back down again. And that actually pulls this down. Right here this little arm here to go underneath here and latch into place and just do it gently. Pull it down first. Don’t try to push it closed without pulling the spring down. Otherwise it will bend this piece and you will have a mess trying to get it back together. Anyway.
~ Wash On ~
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Kung Fu Maintenance demonstrates how to run new dryer vent or replace old air leaking hose in super tight quarters.
OK, today I’m going to be running a dryer vent from the top here, onto here.
Looks pretty impossible, doesn’t it?
I’ll show you again how it is actually possible.
OK. Well you’ll have to check your particular codes for your particular area. For me, this is all that fits here.
What I have is some foil tape for this that’s rated for heat use. For heater use that has a high temperature. So you want to make sure you’re not using a type of tape that might start on fire. I’m going to remove all my old tape there.
This is for an electric dryer. I kind of like electric in a lot of ways. Gas you’ve got more possibilities of carbon monoxide poisoning, and all that. It’s more critical that things are correct. We want things correctly anyway.
Here we go. So connecting the top part’s straightforward. We’re going to slide that. OK, so this part’s easy and straightforward. It’s just going to go straight on there.
The tricky part is getting up here, either with a ladder. What I’ll do is, I just put my feet on each end. Basically step up there, and stand in there. And before I do that, I’ll tear off a piece of my tape to get it ready. And pre-peel a little bit from the backing.
And this is the nice thicker tape. A little bit wider. It’s nice to have one really good seal on there.
So now stepping up to the deal here. And this is [INAUDIBLE].
OK. Up and in. Now I’ll just grab to the back.
OK. And I know putting these on sometimes can be just a little bit tricky. Tricky, tricky.
This is practically a flashlight video right here. Welcome to the top of a washing machine and dryer. The laundry center, with Kung Fu maintenance in this corner, versus the dryer. Pretty sure I’m going to win, but you never know. The thing might try to knock me off.
There we go. And we’ll leave plenty of room there. And we’re ready to tape it off. You can see a little tiny tear there. We’ll make sure we get that also.
But the first run definitely more concerned with getting a half-and-half seal between the vent itself. And you can see how I’m pulling the back paper off of the tape. Anyway. Giving that half-and-half seal over the vent, we’re really going to squeeze all that tape down. Make sure everything’s nice and good there. And I’ll probably to do another round of tape while I’m up here.
I’m just going to pull off enough. I might do two rounds here, just because.
OK, let’s get started here. Come on, buddy. Come on legs, don’t fail me now. Come on tape, cooperate. Who’s side are you on, anyway? Are you rooting for the dryer? You should, because you’re going to be there for a long time. Just do your job. There we go. OK. Beautiful.
OK, for sure that’s going to hold perfectly now. It’s overlapped. And where that tear was, I’m just going to strengthen that up and overlap. This is why we’ve got a solid and secure seal. And beautiful, I might add. For the top. Here we go.
Now I can get down from here. Whoa, not like that. Don’t try this at home, or at work. There we go.
I’m down, I’m free. OK.
Now, to show you how we do this. Get rid of all my paper there.
OK. Basically, as you can tell, there is not enough room to go down the side here. So what we have to do is go at an angle. The way we’re going to do this, is we’re going to pull as much of the hose there, nice and sideways. And then right here we’re going to angle this down, and bring it down the side. And definitely easier said than done. I have a little bit that I can tip the dryer a little bit, and that’s fine.
As you can see, slinky-style. Slinky, slinky. I’m going to bring it down slinky-style. There we go. Come on, slinky. Slinky, come on. OK. And taking care not to crush the vent, just pulling it down, little by little. And you can see how I’m undoing it here. And moving that all the way to the back, where we want it. OK.
And the critical spot is when we go through the hole, because that has sharp edges. It’s unfinished metal. So be real careful there. What you can see is we’ve opened the line. Now we’ve got a nice solid line going all the way through.
Now on this side you’ll see us coming through. Come on through, buddy. Pass that through. And being very, very gentle. We don’t want that stuff to slice. If it slices through there, it’s going to be a very difficult repair.
We’ll bring this right to a vent. And we’ll see if we have some more that we can bring on down, and give us a little more wiggle room. Come on down, just like so. And just evenly spreading the love. OK.
We’ll bring it on through. Nice and gentle. The key is not putting too much pressure there. And we’ll slip it on over.
Now some places call for rigid plumbing, so you may have to do that in your area, in your situation. It just depends. This I’ve found is the way to fit, and the way to go.
In ten years I finally had a problem. But then I’ve found a lot of these that weren’t connected properly. So I had to redo them and connect it properly.
To make a good seal, as long as this seal’s good, it just keeps everything going good, and prevents lint from building up inside the controls and everything. It just really preserves the life of the system. If you’re getting a slow dryer, it’s definitely worth having a peek back here. Looking at what you’ve got going on for your venting.
And also you might check where it exits the building. Make sure everything’s clear there. As you can see, sometimes these are a little tricky. Getting them to come up and over. The inset, there we go, and that’s going to be beautiful.
OK, now it’s foil-taping time. Undo enough to make a complete circle, a little bit of an overlap. And that first one, it’s critical to go half-and-half over the elbow, as well as over the tape.
OK, and then we’ll smooth that all on. And you want everything nice and clean here. You could see this one was already nice and clean. If it’s not, you may want to clean it up first so that you have a good, adhering surface to stick to. Because if that is all dusty, and it only sticks to the dust, it’s going to come off after using the heater for some time.
Now personally, I like to tape up all of these elbow joints. This does allow rotation. You can see how that can rotate. That’s fine, but once it’s in place we really don’t need it to rotate anymore. And I really like to tape these in place, just because a lot of times when you turn the dryer on– I’ll even do that now, turn the dryer on– you’ll see sometimes a puff of dust just come flying out of there. Out of these unions, where the turns are. And this one’s actually OK.
Oops, I’ve got my old dryer vent in the dryer. That wasn’t good. Oh well. OK.
I’m going to have get rid of the old dryer vent. It had split, right there, where it goes through. So I probably needed a new one here. Put down a major remodel here. Anyway, to make a long story short, everything’s going to be nice and brand new here. Anyway.
This is just going to make it that much more efficient, not having any air openings right here. One other thing to watch for is to make sure that these screws up top, right where it goes in, are nice and tight. These do come loose sometimes from vibration. But mine are nice and tight there. OK.
And I’m going to have to pull that dryer hose out of there in a minute, just for testing purposes. Even though I did run it inside there already, that wasn’t really a good– not a good thing to do. But we’ll survive.
You know, if you don’t get things right, or do things right, the first time, it’s going to punish you later. It’s going to attack. Alright. We’ve got it on there, now ready to test it for any air leaks. OK. And I’m going to go ahead and pull out that dryer vent. We don’t want it to get dust and stuff all over inside there. It’s definitely full of some gnarly lint there. OK.
And the other items are laundry items, so I’m not worried about that.
Definitely a good idea to clean out the lint filter catch back here once in awhile. It’s got the kidney-shaped deal that pulls out, and you can separate the two halves of this. And if we’re good, we clean all that stuff out once in a while, too. Which I’ll need to do. Don’t want to run my flashlight in there.
OK, anyway. Close it up, and start it, and now we’re just going to feel for any air leaks. And this should just be pushing the air out of there. Ah, beautiful.
No leaks, and we’re sure. Sure, no leaks, just feeling around. Alright. And everything’s good.
One other thing, with these dryers, it’s good to let them breathe. If you have doors that close, it’s a good idea to have louvred doors. If you don’t, and you want to have your stuff dry faster, you might want to leave the doors open while the dryer’s running, so it can pull air in there.
It’s not critical, but you’re going to have to use your judgment. It’s one or the other. If you close it up, you’re minimizing the sound, but you’re lowering the speed that stuff is going to dry. If you open it up, you’re going to hear a little more, but it’s going to speed up your drying. And save you a little energy.
The alternative would be adding some type of louvred doors. Anyway, good to go. That’s how to put the dryer vents on. Nice and neat. Good to go.
Today I want to discuss with you the big controversy that’s going with dryers. This is a 120 volt dryer or 110 volt. Plugs into a regular one ten outlet. There are dryers that are made with a 220 volt outlet.
So what’s the difference?
Well what it is is manufacturers are able to reduce costs on the dryer by putting in a 220 volt dryer. The reason. The amount of copper that is in the winding of the copper motors. It takes a lot more copper to wrap the windings of a 110 motor. So for a 220 motor you have a lot less copper wrapped in the windings. Because you can get the drive power out of the 220 voltage.
So a little bit different.
220 vs 110 Dryer Motors
220 is not necessarily better or faster drying. You still have your regular coils on the back here. It’s only how the dryer motor is able to spin. It still spins the same way. Heat is still exactly the same. All it is is the spinning of the motor.
So once again the difference. The 110 voltage. The dryer motor, the coils around the motor will be more windings, more copper windings. So the copper adding the cost to the dryer itself. So a 220 volt dryer is cheaper. That’s the story on 220 vs 110 dryers.
110 vs 220 Laundry Dryer
Of course 220 dryers will be wired different and you need a different plug. Larger plug outlet for the 220 end. Not every situation is run for that. Mine is not all though I do have empty slots in my breaker panel that I can take out here to add you know the larger 220 breaker for a dryer.
As you can see mine is 110 right now. Not in any hurry to change that really because again it just reduces the cost of the machine itself but doesn’t really improve in efficiency or anything. Still got the same heater coil. Same amount of heat output. Just different in the way that it rotates.
OK. When you want to reset the control panel access. Tilt it up like so and than grab this part. Pull it down all the way. Sometimes you have to scoot this back and forth a little bit in order to get it. There we go. You want to make sure you don’t try to force it closed because you don’t want to bend the spring clips. The way that they mount in there they are pretty particular so. There we go. That’s how you reset the control panel.
Kung Fu Maintenance video show the remedy for clothes washer washing machine dryer laundry center leaving marks stains smudges on clothing items.
OK. Every once in awhile you get a washer dryer that is leaving marks on the clothes. I wanted to show you what is going on there also how you can clear it up.
What is going on there is if the dryer is too full the clothes will rub against this gasket here. What you can do is take a clean rag.
What I find works really good is these clean up wipes. These type of wipes and put that in there and rub it along the gasket and you will see it. See it coming off on the rag there. Anyway that is what is getting into the clothes. It just takes really getting in there and cleaning it up real good because it’s just some nasty stuff over time. There’s really no way to completely prevent that. You can actually replace that gasket but again the easiest way is just to clean it all up. Just take some time with it and keep going along and rubbing it.
A couple different wipes, a couple different rags. Show you with a towel here. If your clothes are going along the back and they just happen to brush against that it is pretty easy to start getting some marks especially on like a whit T shirt. Part of it is gonna be minimized by doing smaller loads of clothes in the dryer. There is no way to keep it out completely but that will minimize it and that way the clothes aren’t pressing right up against. Because if you got a super full load and they’re pressing right up against there all it takes is a small touch. Cleaning this out once in awhile will minimize it. So that is what I am doing here. That is how to get it done. Good to go.
Yeah so once you are all done cleaning it up with the chemical make sure you use a dry rag and go around and clean it really good with that dry rag to rub, wipe off the rest of it. Anyway doing this every month or maybe every other month will just minimize that. There may not be a way of making it completely, completely perfect but just doing the smaller loads and cleaning this once in awhile will minimize it. That’ll keep everything cleaning how it’s supposed to.
One ~ 0:22 Washing machine does not spin ~ caused by broken lid switch.
Two ~ 1:05 Agitator not agitating ~ caused by broken agitator dogs.
Three ~ 1:50 Clogged drain line ~ caused by penny or item down drain.
Four ~ 2:01 Water leak ~ many different causes, loose hose, cracked pump, etc..
Five ~ 2:09 Washer wobbling ~ most often cause is items out of balance.
00:14 So today I wanted to cover the 5 most often sources of trouble with washing
00:18 machines with you
00:19 the first
00:20 most common problem with washing
00:22 machines is a washer that won’t drain or spin
Washing Machine Won’t Drain Or Spin
Clothes Washer Not Spinning Lid Switch
00:26 usually because of a broken lid switch
00:29 a click should sound
00:31 as this is set in place
00:34 If you do not hear the click then your
00:37 or if the washing machine isn’t going into its last cycles
00:41 it is usually the lid switch here
00:45 occasionally you can just push on this right side
00:48 and get it to close the switch plus sometimes you can just adjust the post a tiny bit
00:53 uh… so that the post will extend further
into the switch which will close the switch also
00:57 occasionally you can just move the switch or tighten it up
01:01 often it must be replaced I have a video showing that
01:05 Number two most often problem with
Agitator Not Agitating ~ Clothes Wet Or Not Coming Out Clean
Clothes Washer Not Agitatating Check
01:08 washing machines often goes unnoticed
01:10 something you would likely want to check often is that your agitator
01:14 dogs are functioning as they should
01:16 the way it should work is turn the bottom one-way or the other so
01:21 this one is working in the proper manner
01:23 and the agitator dogs are functioning but if it is
not doing that than your laundry is only getting rinsed
01:28 they aren’t really getting washed
01:29 it is an often unnoticed
01:32 problem with washing machines
01:33 it’s most likely so common because the agitator dogs inside here are
01:38 engineered to break if someone’s arm was to get lodged in here or if something
01:43 was to bind up too much the agitator dogs will break on purpose as a safety mechanism
01:50 Number three most often source of trouble with washing
machines is
01:53 a clogged pump
Washer Not Draining Or Slow Drain ~ Clogged Pump
Washing Machine Not Draining Pump Removal
01:55 at the impeller
01:56 occasionally a penny or a button or
Clothes Washer Penny In The Pump
01:59 something like, a bobby pin
02:01 whatever it is goes down the drain line and hangs up in the pump.
Clothes Washer Leaking Water
Number four most often source of
02:05 trouble
02:06 is a leak. Usually leaks occur
Clothes Washers Most Often Leak Point
02:09 up on the left side.
Clothes Washer Out Of Balance Banging And Wobbling
Number five most often source of trouble is a washing machine out of
02:13 balance. Now this is usually caused by laundry items being out of balance
02:18 it is just a matter of adjusting the clothing. Often a towel or
02:22 something gets on one side and you hear the whump whump whump whump of
02:25 the machine
02:26 what you need to do is open the lid
02:28 and than go ahead and readjust the clothing or go ahead and reposition the towel
02:32 uh… rearrange the items inside the basin to get a more balanced
02:36 and then proceed to run it again and watch if it
02:38 works out to cancel the
02:40 out of balance symptom occasionally you might lose a spring usually though it’s just that the
02:46 machines out of kilter
Washing Machine Most Common Leak Point
02:47 someday I will have to make you a video demonstrating how to reset the spring if it did come off
02:51 there is three individual shocks and then there is a spring
02:54 that holds the bin in place
02:57 now the way to check if your machine is still in balance is to proceed to run it
03:01 with only water
03:02 allow the water to fill up
03:04 if the machine finds its balance than it proves it was just a matter of the laundry
03:08 or the clothing items
03:09 being out of kilter
03:12 so that is the 5 most often sources of trouble with washing machines.
OK, today I wanted to go over the five most common problems with washing machines with you.
00:19 The number one most often problem with washing machines is a washing machine that doesn’t drain or spin, most often caused by a broken lid switch.
You should hear a click as this goes into place. If you don’t hear that click then your, or if your washing machine is not going into its final cycles it’s most often this lid switch here.
Sometimes you can just press on this right side and get it to engage the switch. Also occasionally you can just adjust the post a little bit so that the post will stick further into the switch which will engage the switch. Also sometimes you can just adjust the switch or tighten it up. Often it needs to be replaced I have a video on that.
01:05 Second most often problem with washing machines often goes undetected something you’d probably want to check regularly is that your agitator dogs are working properly. What it should do is turn the bottom one-way or the other. So this one is turning it like it should and the agitator dogs are functioning. Now if it’s not doing that than your clothes are just getting rinsed. They are not really getting washed. It is an often missed problem with washing machines. And it is probably very common because the agitator dogs inside here are designed to break if someone’s arm was to get stuck in here or if something was to bind up too much the agitator dogs will actually strip on purpose as a safety mechanism.
01:50 Third most common problem with washing machines is a clogged pump at the impeller. Sometimes a penny or a button, or something else, a bobby pin, whatever goes down the drain line and gets stuck at the pump.
02:05 Fourth most common problem is a leak. Most often leaks occur up on the left side.
Fifth most common problem is a washing machine out of balance. Now the most often cause of the machine being out of balance is just a matter of redistributing the clothes. Usually a towel or something gets on one side and you hear the whump whump whump whump of the machine.
What you need to do is open the lid and than go ahead and readjust the clothing or go ahead and readjust the towel. Readjust the items in the bin to get it more balanced. Then go ahead and run it again see if it works out and you have no more out of balance deal.
Sometimes you could lose a spring. Most often times it’s just that the machine is out of balance. Eventually I’ll have to make you a video showing you how to reset the spring if it did come off.
There are three different shocks and then there is a spring that holds the machine basin in place.
Now the way to check if your machine is still in balance is just ahead and run it empty with water. Let the water fill up. If the machine finds its balance than you know it was just a matter of the clothes or the laundry items being out of balance
Anyway that is the five most common problems with washing machines!
Have you seen these wash and dry combos? Toss in dirty clothes shut the door, turn it on, and when it’s finished you have clean dry clothes. No need to changeover from wash to dry.
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Pretty cool, eh?
Some pros about these washer/dryer combos follow.
• Easier on clothing as it does not have an agitator (big honking plastic post in the center of the washer) that pushes your clothes around, wearing them out prematurely.
• Most are front loaders. Front loaders generally use less detergent and less water to get results.
• Many are easier on the environment and energy star approved.
• Many have self dispensing detergent dispensers so you don’t have to measure in detergent every time. Just reload the dispenser once in a while.
• Many use standard voltage electrical outlets so you don’t have to do expensive or extensive rewiring.
• Many do not require complex venting setups.
• Uses less space. One cyborg instead of two.
Seems too good, a plug and play device that washes and dries in one loading. According to reviews there does seem to be some drawbacks.
Some of the cons of these washer/dryer combos follow
• Hard to find someone who can fix them, when, and if they breakdown.
• Considerably longer wash and dry times. It usually has a smaller capacity which can slow down production on the never ending story called laundry.
• Larger families may need more than one of these to make it work out well for them.
If I could design an apartment complex I would put one of these in each bedroom closet. It’s no longer just a clothes hamper, it’s a washer dryer combo. Set the timer so it finishes in the morning and the clothes are nice and warm. Now you’re ready for action.