Good washer!

Good washer!  Yesterday I discovered an unexpected little piece of intelligence on our new washer.  I tossed in a load to wash and started it up, then returned an hour later to move it over to the dryer.  Usually the washer is completely “off” when it completes a wash – no lights, no sound.  This time there were lights on, and every 15 seconds or so an unhappy little tune played.  The clothes were soaking wet, and obviously had not been rinsed or spun.  Waahh! says I.  My new washer is busted already?

But then I looked at the control panel more closely.  A message was scrolling by on the three-character display (three characters, GE?  Seriously?).  It said:

H2O SUPPLY

Well, even I could figure that out.  Something was wrong with the water supply.  That's when it dawned on me that the washer was probably clogged with resin beads from our old malfunctioning water softener, like virtually every other plumbing fixture in the house.  So I turned the supply valve off, disassembled it, and sure enough: a cubic centimeter or so of resin was plastered against the washer's inlet screen.  Five minutes later, I had it cleaned and reassembled – and the washer did three loads for me without any problems.

Now I eventually would have figured out what the problem was.  I think.  I might even have figured it out without having the appliance repair guy out.  But that little message sure saved a lot of heartache!

How did the washer know the water supply had a problem?  I can think of several ways.  It might have turned on only the cold water (the hot wasn't clogged), and noticed that the water level and/or weight didn't change.  It might also have turned on both the hot and cold water, and noticed that the temperature was too high.  Maybe it did all these things.  But notice it did, and rather than continue with just hot water, it stopped the wash and told me there was a problem.

Good washer!  Good washer!  Have a biscuit!!