7mo ago

I changed the door seal on my washing machine

Old one got a tear in the front and was leaking water on the floor. Had to take apart a bunch of the machine, and I gotta say that the two seals (inner drum and outer casing) were both tricky to get on properly.

Doing a test load of laundry now, and there's no leaks (so far), so that's pretty excellent

26 comments

These seals are a real pain indeed, but $50 and an afternoon of sweat is indeed worth several more years of life on a perfectly decent appliance.
- Those door seals are why I’ll never buy a front load washer again. Top loaders are so much better!
  
  Hear hear
  Don't even know how the old one tore in the first place.
  
  Nope, kills my back
  
  They use way more water which is in scarce supply here because it all gets allocated to megacorps to grow tropical plants in the desert for profit :( (California)
Primo work. That sounds like a real pickle for sure!
You've almost inspired me to change my freezer seal instead of just adding more Vaseline when I can feel cold air leaking.
- You can also do it the lazy (and cheaper) way and get one of those toddler fridge locks to hold it shut
- Why not caulk it? I imagine if you put something like cling wrap on the door to prevent it from sticking together, that'll work well enough.
  
  The Vaseline works and can't be seen from the outside at all
This is a thing?! Sharing small victories of daily life?!
First things, first: congratulations on that task. It can be a daunting task. But the feeling of accomplishment is just so... fullfilling.
- It was definitely a dull task, however daunting
  
  I'm aware. Especially dealing with those very thing spring wires... it can be taxing.
Nice job, man!
A good trick to know for this task is to spread some detergent on the portion of the seal that will sit on the metal flanges just before mating those surfaces. That helps make the seal repositionable for a bit and makes it easier to slide the seal on. The detergent will dry out and won't negatively affect the attachment of the seal long term.
- Yup, I did that and it helped tremendously
Of all the menial chores, none are more satisfying than well performed maintenance.
This is actually very interesting.
excellent fixes are indeed excellent
My seal is getting a bit funky. Maybe cleaning will stave off need for future replacement.
But I'm presently selling my house so maybe leave it for the next owners. Which some might consider slightly evil.

26 comments