Small Chassis Washer Drain Errors

 

Maytag calls them F21 errors. Wascomat calls them Error 2.

Other brands have their own code for the same problem: a slow drain.

What is causing the drains to be slow?

The quick answer is a litany of debris:

coins

hair pins

lint

rubber backing from rugs

socks

rocks,

pet hair

Anything that will fit in the drain will be the culprit!

The easiest thing to check is the drain.

Most small chassis models have some sort of panel on the front of the machine. Remove that and behind it is the pump. Some older frontloaders require you to take off the entire front panel.

Either way you should see a circular drain with a cover that can be twisted open.

Twist on the cover and the drain screen should come out when you've twisted a few turns.

The above picture shows all of the junk that accumulated. There was a sock, paper clips, coins, and a bunch of the rubber backing from a bathroom rug.

Once you've dumped out the drain screen. Stick your finger inside the pump drain hole to see if there is anything stuck in there like a sock or dryer sheet. In the models I work with you can feel a small impeller inside the hole. If it isn't blocked up you should be able to spin it freely with your finger tip.

 

There is always water in the drain. If you don't have a bucket you can use the front panel as a water catch. If there is water inside the tub before you start this process then you need a bucket!

 

More examples of junk inside drains.

When you are done your drain and screen should be clean. I like to run a test cycle on the machine just to make sure and to give the machine a rinse in case there was water stuck inside for a time.

It's a good idea to check the drains once or twice a year even if they don't back up.

Remember my other articles about finding money in dryers?

You can often get a chunk of change from your drains too!

Ev

A Heck of A Nice Guy

Condensation in Dryer

Have you ever come into your laundry room or laundromat and noticed the dryer doors were wet?

The dryer works fine but each time that it rains or snows you notice the water dripping off the inside of the glass.

If you see this hapening with regularity you might want to check your backdraft damper inside the dryer. The following pictures are using a Maytag MLG45 stack dryer, however the general idea is the same across all dryers. 

To solve the problem open up the back of the dryer.

Locate the exhaust duct inside the cabinet and the exhaust fan. Somewhere there should be an access panel in the exhaust duct or sometimes the backdraft damper will be on top of the exhaust fan housing.

Remove any panel that covers up the access hole.

Behind the panel should be a damper of some sort that stops air from gong back down into the dryer.

Notice the silver "ramp" in the picture above That is the damper in its closed position. Moist air from the top dryer can't get into the bottom dryer and moisture from the bottom dryer can't go back into the top.

This is the same damper when we first took off the access cover.

Notice the lint.

The lint was not allowing the damper to close enough and when the dryer was off all of the damp air from a rain storm would go back into the lower pocket. If the top pocket was running some of the hot air would go into the cold lower dryer and that caused the condensation.

On a related note, if you notice the paint inside the lint drawer area or on the lint drawer itself starting to peal off, odds are you have a problem of moisture getting back into your dryer.

Make sure you clean all of the nooks and crannies on the damper so that it swings freely and easily.

Your damper should look like this when you're done.

Depending on the way your venting is set up you can also add an external damper in the duct work coming out from the dryer. Sometimes it is easier to deal with that location than to go into the dryer itself all the time. 

Thanks to owner S from Milwaukee County for letting me use his dryer for these pictures!

Ev

A Heck of A Nice Guy

Goodbye Old…

 This week WASH begins our official tenure at the new location on Tower Avenue. The old location in Brookfield served us well for many years. We say goodbye to the old and hello to the new! I look forward to seeing you at some point at the new facility.

Ev

A heck of a nice guy

This was the old show room and the entrance to the Parts area and service counter

Great Lakes customers and employees will always remember this is Dan’s office

A newer rendition that took up space of the old lunchroom and created some new officers

A look into what used to be the parts area

This was Reed’s office. It had no heat so he used to have to have his own space heater and still had to wear a winter coat

I don’t remember knowing that there was an attic. This was the area behind the lunch room

Warehouse 

This was unused space behind the office. For a brief time it was a bigger conference room until it was divided in half

Storage above the bathrooms and show room

Warehouse bathroom. Even when clean it still was gross

Loading dock looking from the old parts store

The other half of the break room/lunch room. When the conference room was divided into two this became an office space

From the back of the warehouse looking forward

I have had many careers and jobs in life. Not because of nefarious reasons or scandal, I just have a lot of interests and figure if I'm going to pursue some of them I might as well get paid. Whether you are on your first job or your 10th, at some point you have to ask if this company or job is right for you. How do you decide to do that? JohnThiel has some ideas from this article back in 2015 and they still apply today.

What does this have to do with laundry?
If you own, work in, or manage a laundry room or laundromat the same rules apply.
This is an example of where my jobs in laundry and recruiting collide.
Ev
A Heck of A Nice Guy

When You Know It's Time to Go

Mar 19, 2015
In this series, professionals share all the right — and wrong — ways to leave a job. 

When I left my first job, my boss told me I was making the biggest mistake of my life. I told him that he might be right, but I had to follow my instinct. I didn’t need to argue the point. I was optimistic about my future, and, by leaving, I knew I was taking an active role in improving my life.
People often associate quitting with giving up, but it’s really about understanding when it’s time to go — especially today, when it’s increasingly rare to see someone do the same job for 20 or 30 years.
So, how do you know when it’s time to move on? Over the course of my career, there were a number of situations that I’ve found to be pretty universal with others.

If you’re genuinely bored with your work, you should really think about doing something else. Staying on is not fair to the company you’re working for, or to its clients or customers. And it’s certainly not fair to you. This happened to me at my first job. When it started to feel rote and mundane, I knew it wasn’t my future.

If you find your own values are misaligned with the organization, you should definitely leave.
I had one job where this happened to me — and as soon as I realized it, I knew I had to quit as quickly as I could. If my values and my ideas of service are compromised, I can’t sleep, so I have to go.

Sometimes, the company and its culture might be great, but you have the bad luck of working for someone who doesn’t have your best interests at heart. Someone, for instance, who is jealous of you, or has low self-esteem and takes that out on you. In my case, I was able to reach out to others in the company, and eventually found a new role working for a different part of the same firm.

Of course, one of the most common — and best — reasons to leave a job is because of an opportunity or challenge somewhere else. For example, some years after I started at Merrill Lynch, I left a job in a local field office — one that I was both good at and comfortable doing — to work in New York on the leadership team. It was a stretch role for sure, but I had been steadily investing in and building my leadership skills. When I got that opportunity I knew it would have a big impact on both my personal and professional life, but I was ready and I had to make the jump.

No matter what the reason, if you do make a move, remember to do it in the most professional way. No need for pay-backs or to get the last word in — that most likely will come back to haunt your career aspirations. Remember that first job I left, when I was told I was making a huge mistake? That former employer is actually a client of ours now, and I have a great friendship with him today. But most importantly, it’s always better from your own psychological standpoint to stay optimistic and maintain your dignity — even in the toughest circumstances. That will serve you well, no matter what your work situation.

John Thiel
Head of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management

John Thiel is the head of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management and is responsible for the strategic management of 14,000-plus financial advisors and 6,000 client associates, as well as more than 200 private wealth advisors.

Lies From A Boss

 

You’ve told a lie sometime in your life.

-No, you don’t look fat in those jeans
-I have a headache
-I forgot

While the examples above are indeed lies by the definition of the 8^th commandment, “Thou shall not lie.”
we call them “little white lies.”
They don’t hurt anyone.
They help us avoid conflict with each other.
Some would say they are not lies or sins but rather “polite responses” that show good manners.

What about telling lies in the work place?
If your boss tells you to say something to a customer, and the boss has no malicious intent, and it later turns out that statement wasn’t true, did you tell a lie?

If your boss tells you to say something that they know it isn’t true, and you say it but didn't know what you were told was false, did you tell a lie?

What would you do if a boss told you to lie to a customer?

My first sale in radio was on my third day on the job. A prospect called in and the sales manager gave it to me and said it was time for me to try out what I had learned over the previous two days of training. He gave me the commercial package I was supposed to sell and sent me on my way. I met the prospect and he bought the package after some convincing. Proudly I came back to the sales manager with contract in hand. The manager looked at the contract and told me he couldn’t accept the deal because the price per spot (a.k.a. commercial) was too low. I pointed out that 90 minutes earlier he gave me this exact package and I sold it to the customer for the exact price he told me to sell it at. He said I had to go back to the customer and tell him that I sold him the wrong package and he had to buy this new package that had a higher price and fewer spots. I asked him to go with me since it was my third day and I didn’t understand why the package he told me to sell, and that I sold, was suddenly no good.
He said he didn’t have time and I should go and tell the customer “I made a mistake because it was my third day  and I sold him the wrong package.”
On the drive down I was upset and mad.
Why do I have to talk the fall and look bad for someone else’s mistake?
I did what I was told to do by the manager at the original meeting.
I was taught that rule number one of sales was “never lie to a client.”
I believed that then and practice it to this day.

I decided that I was going to tell the customer the truth.
If I lost the deal or made the manager look bad I would still be able to sleep guilt free, and maybe the customer would appreciate my honesty and use us again.
The customer was surprised to see me and more surprised when I told him that we needed to redo the deal.
I told him the exact reason and words my sales manager used.
The client said he appreciated my honesty and signed the new deal.
He asked for my sales managers name and phone number.
He said he was going to call him and tell him what a lousy manager he was for sending me down with a stupid excuse why he had to buy the new package and should have honored the terms of the original package.
I’m not 100% sure the customer called my manager, but the manager never asked me to do anything that dishonest again.
I kept my integrity and got the deal. In fact this customer exclusively bought from me for the next several years.

I was right to handle this situation this way.
On the way down to the second appointment I knew I was right to handle it that way. In the appointment I knew I was right. After the appointment I knew I was right. To this day I know I handled that situation right and have handled similar situations the same way. I was taught my first day of my sales career the number one rule was to never lie to a client. 
Over the years I have stedfastly followed that rule.

I have had managers over the years tell me I should outright lie to a customer in circumstances where I don’t know the answer and to “make one up” because of the belief that if you give the client an answer it is better than having no answer at that moment. I disagree.
How would you have handled the situation with the customer I described above?

Ev
A Heck of A Nice Guy

Everet's Laundromat Newsletter October 2022

 

Everet's Laundromat Newsletter October 2022 Gotta love October baseball!

I'm a very important title Wow! The Packer season is not going like we hopped it would be, at least so far. Lets hope it turns around. In the meantime we have great October baseball!   There are lots of interesting laundry tips on the blog. Below are three of them. Just click on the link to open an article. Thanks for looking! Everet A Heck of A Nice Guy Featured Articles this Month It is going to start getting cold really quick (some of you in northern Wisconsin are laughing at that statement since you already got 12 inches of snow this month) homeless in your store might be an issue: dealing-with-homeless-when NOT in your store   Part 2: dealing-with-homeless-when-IN your store   The above articles might be a little controversial so here is a plain old tech tip: fixing-Maytag MHN33-f-number-errors if you have the older version: fixing Maytag MHN30-common-errors

Selling? Buying? Call Your Distributor (and maybe others)

 

Between November 2021 and the end of March 2022, 18 laundromats that I was working with changed hands. These 18 stores were owned by 14 owners. If you are looking to buy additional laundromats or sell the ones you own, let your distributor know that you are looking. As a salesperson working for a distributor, there are always people calling asking about getting a store or if we know anyone looking to buy. The main office gets calls and emails all the time from people looking for locations.
A lot of these calls are from "tire kickers," people who don't know how to get into the business and just looking for information. Sometimes calls are from other owners looking to get an idea of what their stores are worth in todays market. There are some of these callers that are legitimate buyers with the backing to buy. The company I work for is not a broker. I and the company do not act as a broker in these situations.
No commissions. No promises. If I find someone that seems to be a good candidate for buying your store I pass their information over to you and let you decide how you want to work with it. If you're selling a store I ask what information you are comfortable with me sharing with prospective buyers. If I talk to a legitimate someone that seems to be a good buyer, I pass their name over to you and you run with it.

Depending on how fast you want to buy or sell, this is also an opportunity to reach out to other distributors and open up some new sources for leads. They get leads too. Some might be the same, but others will be different. Can't hurt. Plus you get more information on other brands and stores and trends in the industry.

So what does the distributor or salesperson get from passing along a lead to you? One of two things.
The chance to help a current customer find another store and maybe sell some more equipment, or the opportunity to meet a new owner with the chance to sell equipment.
A third thing that I get out of it is the opportunity to learn something new.
I've learned that every owner, new or old, can teach me something about equipment, marketing, repairs, and all other aspects of store ownership. I've incorporated these ideas into my own experience or passed these nuggets of wisdom onto other owners to help them improve. Thank you for sharing.

Ev
A Heck of A Nice Guy

Everet's Laundry Newsletter September 2022

 

Everet's Laundry Newsletter September 2022 I hope everyone has had a great summer!

Huebsch There are lots of interesting laundry tips on the blog. Below are three of them. Just click on the link to open an article. Thanks for looking! Everet A Heck of A Nice Guy Featured Articles this Month A common problem of dryers not heating; the sail switch dryers-not-heating-clean-sail-switch   A common problem of dryers not heating; sensors dryers-not-heating-clean-sensors   Ever find torn bills in your changer? Stringing? stringing-bills   I know I said above there are three articles, however here is why you should read the ones that interest you, in my humble opinion of course! why-read-this-blog

Laundry Room Rule #4: Keep the Machines Working

Rule number four is an obvious one, however one that is harder to maintain than most.
This is because of the expenses involved in hiring a technician,
the skill level of yourself or your maintenance people, and the fact you are not able to stand next to the machines 24 hours a day so it is harder to know when machines get broken right away.


Perhaps as a landlord or building manager you do not see laundry machines as a valuable asset. Perhaps they have always been looked at as simply a convenience for your tenants. However I would like to offer a slightly different view. Pretend for a moment that you only have one washer and one dryer. Let’s say you charge two dollars for each one. So the average person who comes down to wash some clothes is going to spend at least four dollars. Two dollars to wash and two dollars to dry. Let’s pretend that the machines get used an average of once per day. That is a total of four dollars per day. Multiply that by 30 days in a month and you have $120 per month in revenue. Multiply that by 12 and you have $1440 per year. Let’s pretend the machine cost $1200 to buy. With just one person using it each day you have paid off that machine in less than a year. The rest of the time that you on that machine, outside of a percentage of money that you allocate towards gas and electric and water, the rest is all profit.
Now let’s pretend the washer is broken but the dryer works. You’re not losing two dollars, you are really losing four dollars. Most people are not going to just use one machine and not the other, especially since they do not wanna carry wet clothes around or have no place to dry clothes or have to wash clothes at your place and then carry wet clothes someplace else to dry. So for every day just one machine is down here losing four dollars. Let’s pretend the machine is broken because of some user error, part, or just simply unplugged by a tenant.
The machine is down for four days a month. Multiply that under $16 a month. That may not sound like much, but as a percentage of your income in an entire month it is over 10%. Take that $16 a month and times that by 12 and now you’re looking at $174 $172 in losses for the year. You’ve just delayed paying off your washer or dryer by that much longer. You have also inconvenienced your tenants and by forcing them to try a laundromat you might have lost the income from that tenant completely.


You may have noticed that I did not include any repair costs in the above scenario. Typically you would hope that you would not have many repairs and the ones that you would have you can take care of yourself. Things like coin jams, belts, door hinges, even control boards are things that anyone on your staff should be able to change. All of the machines today are generally easy enough to maintain that such repairs can be done by People on staff. This is why I like to encourage people when they have washing machines in an area that they can potentially be abused by tenants weather on purpose or by miss use, to purchase new machines rather than used. Used machines save you some money in the beginning, however they do not generally have a warranty for parts or service that last the length of the time that she would like that washer to remain in use. I personally think it is a much better investment on a new machine, because most companies offer a three or five year parts warranty on that machine when you buy it. I like to encourage people to purchase a new machine, and then order some spare parts. You get them for free, so take advantage of it. Order an extra belt, or buttons, or a soft drawer, or even a control board. Keep them handy in a nice place so that if something does break the odds are you will have a part to fix it faster than waiting for someone to mail things to you, especially in today’s supply chain situation.
When the warranty runs out continue to run the machines you purchased until either they break completely or you run out of spare parts. When either of those situations happens time to get a new machine.


Now I can’t see all of you that are reading this article, however I bet that some of you are thinking to yourself this guy is in laundry equipment sales, of course he is going to say we should buy a new machine. Yes it is true that I am in Laundry sales, however if you get a used machine and something breaks, already stashed, you have to wait for a service technician or at minimum find the part that you need to order and then wait for it to arrive provided that you know that the broken part you are ordering will indeed fix the problem if you get a used machine and something breaks, unless you happen to have the parts already stashed, you have to wait for a service technician or at minimum find the part that you need to order and then wait for it to arrive provided that you know that the broken part you are ordering will indeed fix the problem.
Let’s pretend best case scenario. Your washer breaks on a Tuesday. You notify a service company immediately on Tuesday that you need a service technician to come take a look. The service technician arrives Wednesday. They find the problem and order the part. The parts company gets the order on Wednesday and says they will overnight the part to you. The The part arrives on Thursday. The service technician comes back on Friday after you have confirmed with their company that the spare part did indeed arrive. Your washer is now been out for days. And the scenario that I mentioned above you’re looking at $16 of loss Plus the cost of the service person which is usually somewhere around $100 per hour and the cost of the part itself. When you buy new, the parts are included for free for a certain amount of time depending on the manufacturer. If you take my advice and place an order for some spare parts that you will commonly need, then you have them on hand and your washer will not be down as long and you are not out the cost of the parts for the service technician.
Keep the machines running and you keep the income flowing and your tenants happy. Happy tenants lead to less problems, and good tenants in the future.

Ev

A Heck of A Nice Guy

rule-2-keep-it-well-lit

rule-1-keep-it-clean