A few weeks ago the unthinkable happened, we put the washing machine on and well, it just wouldn't go. A mothers worst nightmare, the washing had started to pile up from out #TeamTomm cleaning spree and within about 2 minutes I'd started to panic about how I was going to get it all done!

The worst bit was it was locked with our clothes inside. No matter what we did we were going to have to attempt to fix it just to get our clothes out.

Sadly, we don't live anywhere near family and using a dry cleaner is in no way cost effective to us. So I had to take off to the internet to find a great washing machine deal.  In the mean time, Ryan was googling 'how to fix a washing machine' and sending me all the links, which of course I had no time to read.

Once Ryan got home we got to work together on trying to fix the washing machine. We had a total of not one but four floods on the kitchen floor during this process. The issue was that although the washing machine was filling up and spinning, it was cutting out half way through a cycle because it just couldn't drain but we just couldn't work out why.

So we pulled the machine out and started taking a look at the back, it was a good job we had ifixit to help. The waste pipe was fine and there wasn't any issue. Next we took a look inside the drum, apart from one five pence piece, we couldn't find anything else in there either. The same with the draw on the front too. Everything seamed clear.



I'd already had a go at emptying the filter the day before (hence two out of the four kitchen floods!) but Ryan suggested we tried again, we needed to look to see if the little 'X' shape would spin. As I opened the filter, water again flooded the kitchen floor, we now had a great pile of towels and no way to clean them. Really we probably should have taken it outside and then tried to empty it lesson learnt. Once it was open, Ryan told me that I should be able to pull it out and sure enough I could, I hadn't managed to do this before.

Here comes the water, the kitchen flooded for the 4th and final time, but this time, out come a small Tesco blue token and some shirt collar holder. By the looks of it, they had been stoping the little 'X' shape from being able to spin properly which of course meant the machine couldn't empty.

We then put the washing machine back together and just like that it was all working again. We've been using it for a few weeks now and the only issue we have is the machine leaks sightly each time we use it. So back to search great deals online and this time purchase a machine. At least we got out clothes out!

I guess next time I'll remember to add cleaning the filter into our regular tasks. What other places are you forgetting to clean?

 

*This is a collaborative post*