Tl,dr: working around the house, made a silly assumption that caused me another half days work, but all ended well.

So a little over a month ago I noticed there was a leak in our kitchen. Our click lock faux wood floor was squishy, you could hear the water underneath. This has happened before as the plumbing in our Levitt house is near 70 years old and will spring leaks due to the copper pipes corroding. I do have plans to rip it all out and lay in fresh… someday. Soon hopefully.

Anyway I crawl under the sink and I can see a small drip. I’ve been fixing small drips like this from left to right… this is further down to the right. I was waiting for a good time to rip into this and yesterday the stars all converged.

Easiest was to the leak was to pull the dishwasher to get real good access. I do this, ID the leak 100% and fix it. The odd thing was the leak was so slight, about one drop in 10 minutes, maybe half an hour. It didn’t seem to be enough water to be noticed. But task done and I slide the dishwasher back, only to notice there is a puddle where the dishwasher was sitting.

Ahhh… two leaks. Occam’s razor be dammed. I flip it on it’s back and see the inlet hose is dripping once every two seconds. THAT is enough water to cause the flood, but not even a quarter turn tighter and the leak is gone gone. So I slide the thing back in, plug it in, and nothing. No lights.

The washer is a very good Kitchen Aid only a few months old. So quiet you have to strain to know it’s working. But no lights on the touch panel. Plug it in and out a few times, the lights go on finally, but soon turn off.

OK, Saturday night, I decide to run to the store to get a new cord as the one on it isn’t a good fit in the tiny space I have. Also grab a doosiwich for the fill line so it isn’t so kinked either. Neither a problem at present but since I am in there I’m going to bullet proof the thing.

This morning I get the hose thing in and rewire the plug. Stick the new plug into the wall and PRESTO, the START light is on. Shrug why changing a good cord worked but I’m guessing there is a tilt switch to stop the machine if it ever fell over, and I had it on it’s back to get to the good stuff on the bottom. I slide it back in and… hey, where did my RUN light go?

Once again the machine has no lights. I pull it out, replug and plug again. Nothing. Then I finally start to think and I press the NORMAL wash cycle button.

BINK, on it comes. Damn thing had all the lights off because I hadn’t told it to do anything yet. I seriously stood there and laughed at my own stupidity.

Plugged it in, slid it back, filled two days of dirty dishes into it, and ran it just fine.

Mission accomplished.

 

This has happened before as the plumbing in our Levitt house is near 70 years old and will spring leaks due to the copper pipes corroding.

I have not heard that term used in decades. While I did not grow up in a true Levitt House in Levitown NY 11756 I grew up a few small towns over in a similar house, a Cape Cod in Uniondale NY 11553. It was really nice to hear the term used after so many years. Our Levitt house was built in 1953 making it 64 years old. When I get back to NY I always drive past the old homestead with memories of mom, dad and the four children.

Thanks for using the term....
Ron