The other night, Robert went off to work and I planned to do some office work and hang out with the dogs. I decided to do a load of laundry while I worked. All was fine and dandy, the washer was doing it’s thing. I had set it not to dry as I was going to take the load to the RV Park’s laundry to dry faster. The Splendide washer/dryer combo units are wonderful to have in the RV, but the cycles seem to take forever, especially drying heavier fabrics like jeans. The wash cycle was done and that was when things went sour.
I was sure the cycle was done, but apparently not…as I tried to open the door, the lock was still engaged and off came the handle! I was just standing there staring at the washer with the broken handle in my hand. How on earth was I going to get the laundry out? Oh, no…how on earth was I going to tell Robert? After all, we haven’t even lived in the RV full-time a month yet and I’ve already broken something.
I just felt sick. My stomach was in knots. I was angry with myself more than anything. I went ahead and set the dryer setting so that the wet clothes could have a chance to dry. I hated to have wet clothes just sit in there just in case it would be a few days before we could get them out. I did my office work and tried not to beat myself up over it.
Robert finally came home at about midnight after a good gig at Indian Shores. After he had a chance to relax a bit, I broke the news to him. He didn’t get angry at all; he simply looked at the situation and was puzzled at how to get the clothes out. After assessing the situation a bit, with a screwdriver in hand and some elbow grease, success…the door was opened. The door face was held together with just a few screws, so he went ahead and removed them so that we wouldn’t have to worry about the door locking again. He had to remove the glass window in the process, but the door back is still on the hinges.
He got online and found everything he needed to know about the machine on Splendide.com. He figured out the part number and the following day we called the service center. Fifty-two dollars later, we have a new little plastic handle on its way. When we get it I’ll post how we install it.