Go Mini’s Professional Moving Tip #3 – Moving a Washing Machine
Professional Moving Tips for the Do-It-Yourself-er
By Jim Carey – Go Mini’s of NY, NJ & CT
Serving Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Orange, Rockland, Ulster, Bergen, Fairfield and Litchfield
Our third in a series of professional moving tips for the do-it-yourself mover. If you have rented a portable storage container from Go Mini’s or anyone else, you are going to want to know how to best take care of your personal belongings. Refer to this blog as often as necessary to find the tips of all kinds. These are tips the pros would use too.
Tip #3 – Moving a washing machine – You must know these tips before you move one!
We chose the washing machine as a moving tip because moving a washing machine is a potential disaster. Don’t believe us? Movers move washing machines often enough and eventually get burned. And that’s why we have some very important tips for you. In this article, we will tell you the main problems and why they are so.
Problem #1 – Leaking valves
When you hook up a bran new washing machine, you connect your two water hoses from the hot and cold water valves to the hot and cold threaded stems on the back of the washing machine. Assuming this is done correctly, you open up the valves and – Voila! – your water supply is connected. You do not need to do anything with these hoses or valves. There is a good chance you will not touch them until you move or replace the washing machine with a new one. That’s fine, but understand that when you go to disconnect the hoses, the valves may not close for you and, even if they do at first, they may not stay closed. Here’s why. Your standard valve closes off the flow of water with a rubber “seat” inside. When the valve is new, the rubber is flexible and durable. But, over time, your water can corrode the “seat”. Hard mineral deposits can react with the rubber. Chlorinated water will dissolve the rubber. So when you close the valve, you may not have any rubber left to make the closed valve water tight.
Here is another warning! At first, the valves may hold water. But if the “seat” is corroded, a little bit of water pressure may break the seat and turn a drip into a steady flow. Now, if you were in the process of moving out of a house, imagine what could happen 24 or 48 hours after you left the house. The flood could start and will keep going. The problems are potentially disastrous. Imagine you are “down the road” to your new residence while the leak is beginning to reach all corners of the house; destroying carpet, walls or ceilings below. Sorry to scare anyone reading this, but the potential is very real. Bu there is a way to prevent it. Change the valve? No. The other valve is likely soldered onto a pipe and replacing the valve would require the expense of a plumber. The easiest way is to feel comfortable there will be no leak is to attach a threaded valve cap to the valve.
Just remove the hose from the valve. Put some teflon tape over the threads of the valve and firmly tighten a threaded valve cap. Now, if the valve will not hold water, the cap will.
Problem #2 – Never re-use those black hoses, which connect from the valve to the washing machine. Over time, the hoses can get brittle and crack. Solution? – Spend a few bucks and get new hoses.
Problem #3 – Another thing to think about is a conventional washing machine never fully drains all its water. So this means two things. It will be much heavier and will also leak water if you are carrying it on an angle. If possible, leave the washer open for a few days to let some of the water evaporate.
You can move a washing machine but you just need to be aware of the very real risks.
Go Mini’s portable storage containers make it easy to move and store your own items. Now you have professional advice for when you move your washing machine. Always check back to see the latest Professional Moving Tips for the do-it-yourself-er.
Go Mini’s of NY, NJ & CT is an authorized exclusive dealer for Go Mini’s Portable Storage Containers in the Metropolitan New York area serving the counties of Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Rockland, Orange, Ulster NY, Bergen NJ, Fairfield and Litchfield, CT. Call us at 866-Go Mini’s to help you move or store today.
This entry was posted on Thursday, March 11th, 2010 at 1:04 pm and is filed under Moving Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
