Provident Living Garrity Style

After scouring the Utah Craigslist postings for a couple of months, I finally found a stackable washer/dryer set in Logan. Not only that, but it was only $75 bucks for the set! The reason why it was so cheap was because the washer wasn't working. After talking to the owners and doing a lot of research myself, we figured it would still be a good purchase and went ahead with it.

Some of our friends helped us pick it up and load it into our apartment after a ward softball game on the 3rd of July. We just left the washer in the back of the van for a week or so until I had finally done enough research to feel confident that I could fix it myself. (I picked one up from Keegan with this- he is constantly doing research about his plethora of hobbies and various projects... the DIY and Instructables pages are old friends with him but I'm a noob so it was a big deal for me!)

The root of the washer problem was that it wasn't spinning. I figured out that it was most likely that the carbon brushes were worn and needed to be replaced. So, after more research online and some great online tutorials by our fellow Brits, I went to work. I yanked out the old carbon brushes, found out which kind to order, placed the order with a company in the U.K since the U.S didn't have any, and waited patiently while the washer sat in our hall for about a week and a half.

They finally came and I was pretty excited but a little nervous at the same time. If I was wrong then our risk of buying them plus extra parts would have turned into a huge expense. It costs about $50 bucks to have an electrician even LOOK at a washer... and thats if you take it into the store. Sheesh! Keegan has frequently said in the past few weeks, "I'd love to make $50 bucks an hour!" No kidding! But, I forged ahead and did it on my own...

I ran into a couple of kinks but after some help from Keegan making a call to an electric shop in town and a very friendly and knowledgable electrician, we got it figured out. I made a trip to the store and talked to the gentelman Keegan had spoken with, and an hour or so later I was on my way. Right before Keegan got home I had done a test run and that sucker was spinning like crazy- I was so happy! He did the finishing touches of setup for the set and we washed four loads that night! :-) But not without another kink :-( We had never set up a wahser/dryer before so we didn't do it quite right on the first try. The washer wasn't advancing to the next cycle unless we manually twisted the dial. I was pretty sad about this. But it was Keegan who did all the research this time to fix the prob. Turns out the water wasn't draining properly because we hadn't put the drain hose in the right place. We had just laid the hose next to the drain on the floor. We really laugh about this now... but we just didn't know! Keegan commenced to squeeze behind the stacked washer and dryer and set it up properly with the drain hose coming up a couple of feet and then back behind the wall where there was a good sized hole in the wall that we had...overlooked before. :-)

Costs
Washer $25
Dryer $50
Carbon Brushes shipped ₤7.49 ($14.97)
New outlet plug $7.40
Labor to switch plugs $10.00
Elbow Joint for exhaust tube on dryer $4.60
Tax $1.44
Grand Total: $113.41

No more laundry mat for us! Almost priceless :-)