Blog 3681 – 12.03.2025

Completing A Difficult Task

There is great satisfaction in completing a difficult task. Yesterday, we had a new washing machine delivered to our home, but the delivery crew was unable to install it because the faucets were both stuck and they said that they could not risk breaking the pipes. They suggested that I contact a plumber to replace the faucets then call them back to take away the old machine and install the new one.

Our across the street neighbor is a professional plumbing so I asked his wife to ask him to make a referral. She said she would. In the meantime I gave the task some thought and gathered what tools I have collected over the years to tackle the job myself. I tried vise grips, pipe wrenches, all to no avail, trying my best to get the hose connections to loosen. I sawed the hoses off to relieve the residual pressure catching the water in a bucket below. I even tried WD40 on the connections but they were stuck.

Lastly, after turning off the water to the house, I took two large adjustable wrenches and removed the water valves. I then took them to a nearby hardware store and bought to new replacements valves. I had teflon tape from previous plumbing repair jobs and after taping the threads on the new valves I threaded them on taking care to tighten them a couple of extra turns after they got tight. Using two wrenches one as a backup and the other to loosen and or tighten the valves prevented stress on the small copper pipes.

As most always there was one additional difficulty to overcome that I forgot to mention. One of the new valves that I bought, thinking they were identical had a larger male thread so I had to make an additional trip to the hardware store to exchange it for the correct one.

Using my piano dolly I maneuver the old machine out onto the driveway near the house and then put the new machine in place and hooked it up. Then when I turned the water back on and opened the valves, the cold water valve was leaking. I turned the valve off and tightened it another half turn.

After cleaning up the big mess that I had made I called the installation crew and asked them to come remove the old washing machine. They have not done that yet, but we just washed our first load of clothes. There is a great satisfaction in completing a difficult task and in avoiding a big plumber bill too I might add.

Your friend and fellow traveler,

David James White