Clogged air tube

Our washer over-filled spilling water all over the laundry room and kitchen. And I'm not talking a little water . . . I'm talking, "find someone with a wet-dry vac and get the mops" kind of water.

I used to work in the parts department at Sears way back when. I sold belts and nuts and blades and things. Over my several years there, I learned a few things about appliances and have a general idea of how things work and what might cause problems.

So when we turned the washer on and it basically sat in the "fill" mode without moving forward, my mind went back to Sears and said, "The timer is shot."

I called the local service guy to come down and take a look at it. And it turns out that it wasn't the timer after all.

It turns out that there's this tube that runs from the bottom of the tub to a solenoid. As the water fills, it goes up the tube and pushes air to the top. That air then kicks on the solenoid which causes the water to shut off which then kicks the timer into gear. That air tube got clogged with hard water junk over the past 5-1/2 years, preventing the water to push the air to the solenoid, causing the water to keep pouring into the washer and out onto our floor.

So the repairman cleared the tube, told me to run vinegar through the machine every now and then, and it now works just fine. Thank God.

I washed a couple of loads of towels that we used to mop up the floor and . . . no problem. So our unclogged air tube seems to be doing the trick.