Hi All!
Washing machines. I don't normally think about them much other than when I am doing yet another load of laundry. A washing machine cleans clothes so it automatically cleans itself, right? WRONG!
The other day I was putting fabric softener into the automatic dispenser thingy when I caught a glimpse of what was under the removable dispenser cup thingy. (Okay - I had seen it before but had decided to ignore it. I couldn't ignore it anymore yesterday!) To my horror, under the little cup lurked horrible, black gook. I am not talking just a trace of black nastiness - I am talking a bunch of it! It looked like it was planning to take over the entire machine so I HAD to do something about it.
Acting much braver than I really am - I started in. Now, I have NEVER read the washing machine instruction manual - I mean, how hard is it to wash clothes? Why would I need to read the darn book? So - not having read the manual or ever cleaning out the fabric softener dispensing apparatus before (which I would have known to do had I read the manual I am sure!), I just set out like an ignorant oaf. I knew the little cup thing that actually holds the softener came out so I removed that and went to work. I filled the next part with hot water and bleach and got out an old toothbrush to attack the gook.
This worked pretty well until I realized the the paper towel I had used to temporarily stop up the little hole through which the softener was dispensed had somehow disappeared. Oh no! Now what do I do? All I could imagine was the whole system getting jammed up and Hubby finding out. Wouldn't he be happy?
Frantic, I started fiddling with everything and, surprise, surprise, the part which holds the little cup thingy came off! Yeah! Of course that let me see the part into which that part screwed which - as you might well guess - was coated with black gook! Would the gookiness ever end?
Once I determined that I had now removed all of the removable parts (or all I wanted to find out were removable) I formed a new plan of attack. I filled up the sink with hot water and soap. The parts which I had removed went to soak for a while as I set to work on the gook in the part that held the part which I removed. Wouldn't it be nice if I actually knew the names of the parts?
After a few minutes of intense scrubbing with the toothbrush and some swiping with paper towels, that part was clean and all I had to do was finish cleaning the removable parts. This involved the toothbrush, q-tips, and a toothpick but, I did it. When I was finished it looked like new. After running the machine with the hottest water and some bleach, I was comfortable that the gook was gone and the machine could now wash clothes again.
Hubby came in, looked at the clean machine and said "Neat." That was it. How is that for appreciation of my hours of work?
Trisha
1 comment:
That reminds me of the time I found out that the little silver thing on my sink could be removed and cleaned underneath. I don't know what it is called but it has something to do with the dishwasher. That was a nasty job.
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