It didn’t take long for our $52 part to come. I happened to be out running errands for work when the delivery arrived. Robert was so anxious to get in installed, it was done before I came home. What a wonderful surprise, but I was hoping that he would have taken pictures of the repair to post. Oh well, it is amazing to have our washer working again.
It’s amazing how much easier the installation is with instructions. I’m glad that we pretty much were able to open and remove the door without damaging anything before the instructions arrived. The main thing that we should have done that we didn’t was UNPLUG the power cord from the outlet. Probably good advice for anyone, and we just happened to not be thinking at the time.
Robert did figure out how to open the door by wedging a flat head screwdriver into the gap between the broken handle and the door hook. He was able to push on the screwdriver to loosen the door while I held the door and pulled it open. Then he removed the door by removing the screws in the hinge. We did this all the night of my unfortunate accident.
When the new door handle came in, all he had to do was remove the door pin out of the handle by rocking needle nose pliers back and forth. Then he assembled the new handle by placing the latch in the handle and rest the spring on the latch. Then he lowered the door ring onto the new handle. He aligned the ring, the spring, and the latch, then drove the pin through the latch. He then used a small screwdriver to align the latch, spring and ring on the other side and drove the pin the rest of the way through. He then reattached the door ring to the rest of the door assembly and reattached the door to the machine.
We’d have to say, we had a good experience with the Splendide company and are very pleased that we could do the repair ourselves. I’d be curious to know about any of your experiences with do-it-yourself repair on your washer. Did you have good luck with the company? How was their customer service?
Now every time I use the washer, Robert reminds me about the sticker he put on the washer (came with the repair kit) that reads: “IMPORTANT This door locks DURING ALL CYCLES and STAYS LOCKED up to 2 minutes after the cycle ends. DO NOT attempt to open this door until the Status/Door Lock lamp blinks SLOWLY.”
I think I’ve learned my lesson, but I guess I still have several weeks of teasing from Robert left.