bluh

In this case, my Maytag Neptune washing machine. It’s leaking water. Just so the googles will find it, how about Maytag Neptune Washer Leak and Water leaking from Maytag Neptune front loading washer. There, I feel better about it. I also feel pretty good about diagnosing broken appliances while wearing just underwear.

This guy seems to leak water from two main places:

1. The inside door panel will leak like a sieve if you try to wash a rug in it, because a rug (fairly stiff) will scratch the everliving shit out of the door panel (relatively soft plastic). Don’t do this. If you do, it can be patched by hand-laying up a couple layers of fiberglass. We did this repair about 3 years ago with some generic autoparts store fiberglass cloth and JB Weld as the resin.
2. There is a circular diaphragm that acts as the seal betwixt the door frame and the drum frame. At the bottom of this is a drain hose to permit any water that falls in there to drain back into the drum. The interface of the seal and the hose is prone to cracking. Ours did and was patched about 3 years ago with JB Weld. Unfortunately this area is fairly highly stressed and the rigid epoxy doesn’t move with the rubber seal (I assume EPDM, nitrile or buna-n).

Here’s the leaker in question, showing the transition between the semi-circular diaphragm and the drain hose.

And a better shot, showing the water fairly well pouring out .

After this load of laundry is done (nothing like killing two birds with one stone – diagnosis and regular chores) I’ll let the joint dry and probably use one of the myriad more flexible sealers I have around the house. Black RTV, silicone caulk, latex caulk and Household Goop are all calling my name. I’m leaning toward the Goop, but we’ll see what I eventually wind up using.