Inconvenient Obsolescene

On Friday, I started off a load of washing, same as I’ve done countless times before.  Only this time, it started making some seriously bad noises mid-cycle – similar to what you’d expect from putting in just a pair of steel toe-capped boots and letting them bounce around inside the machine.  (I’ve heard the noise a pair of trainers makes in this sort of situation, and it was worse than that, hence the “boots” analogy)

Once everything had finished, I checked it all out – the clothes hadn’t been properly cleaned, and the drum itself was making Very Bad Noises when rotated.  Yes, it was entirely and comprehensively stuffed.  Bugger.

Mind you, I can’t complain. It’s lasted me nearly 14 years, and done… 4 moves, I think. All told, it’s generally been excellent all the way through (And weirdly, it looks like the last one died in much the same way as this one) with the exception of the fact that when it kicked off at top-speed spin in this house, it would trip the fuse board.  Turn it down by 200rpm and everything was fine from then on.

Anyway, it’s a bit inconvenient – I could’ve done without forking out for a new machine just when I’m about to move, but there we go, that’s Sod’s Law for you.  But it’s still been fine.  I ordered a replacement on Friday evening, to be delivered today (I could’ve had it quicker, but the delivery charge was ridiculous, so sod that, it’s only a couple of days)

It arrived this afternoon, in the planned delivery slot. The two guys came in, disconnected the old one, took that out, brought the new one in, connected it and tested it, all in far less than half an hour.  And I know, it’s their job, they should be good at it – but it was nice, because they were good at it. Entirely pleasant, just got on with the job and did it.

And now it’s done its first full load, which has all gone through perfectly. And it is *so* bloody quiet (and energy efficient – an A rating these days makes for a really impressive bit of kit!) that I even had to nip out and check it was running, even the energy monitor I have wasn’t showing anywhere near the load of the old one.  (And it turns out that ‘it’s so quiet I had to check it was working’ is also something I wrote about last time!)

If it lasts me as well as the one that’s just died did, I’ll be thoroughly happy with that.