Washing machine maintenance 101

See any connection between kitchen tongs, a skewer and a crochet hook? I didn't think so until early in April when my front-loader washing machine started fine but then stopped without pumping out the water or doing the spin cycle.

My Whirlpool WF665 front-loader

The washing machine was sold with the house and up until now it's worked every time I've put washing in. It doesn't spin dry particularly well but it uses little water to wash a load - a real plus when you're on tank water rather than mains supply.

After twiddling knobs I established that the wash cycle was working fine, but the machine didn't want to pump the water out. The laundry floor got an unplanned wash when I opened the door to get the washing out so I could check the drum. It was then that I remembered I had downloaded the manual back in 2011 so I could find out where to put the washing powder. A quick fire up of the computer, a peek in the 'Manuals' folder and I discovered that I should have been checking and cleaning the pump every 6 months.

Armed with my new information, I opened the pump cover (bottom left of the machine) and caught the water that flowed out in a shallow tray. A quick peek inside and the cause of the problem was glaringly apparent - the pump can't work when it has a rubber band caught around the propeller!!

The next challenge was how to get it out. The propeller is recessed about 40mm and the opening not much bigger in diameter; the rubber band was wrapped tightly around the propeller and although my finger and thumb would fit in the hole, they weren't long enough to be able to pinch the band and haul it out. Neither was there room to operate some tweezers and although the skewer reached the rubber band, it couldn't hook on to it. On to Plan B and the crochet hook; bingo! The rubber band broke but was still caught around the propeller. Plan C was the kitchen tongs - they grabbed the loose end and with a bit of tugging the rubber band came free.

Tools of the trade and the offending rubber band

It's the first time I've tried sorting out a washing machine problem so I was thrilled when the machine went through its full cycle without stopping. Woohoo! I'm now extra-careful about checking pockets and have pencilled in a pump check for October.