0:03
Before you start your next do it yourself project. Listen to this, you got this is on the air you got this is hosted by ABT plumbing, electric heat and air owner, Andrew Twidwell and Rosalie Brown, with a helpful hand here are Andrew and Rosalie.
0:03
Hi, this is Andrew Twidwell, owner of ABT plumbing electric heat and air, once again with the show you got this. It’s a show of DIY do’s and don’ts. And I’m zooming in here with Rosalie Brown, my co host and producer of our show, because she actually finds all this content that we have, because I don’t know what to talk about. From one day to the next, it’s like what?
0:23
Yeah, don’t blame me. Don’t blame me because I There are there are times where it is a information desert. And I think about what can we talk about? Here’s the challenge. So when we first conceived of this idea, it was we’re all excited, like, yeah, to be so fun to talk every week about whatever. And then the thing is, you get into the whatever I get into these projects that I get, I get so excited about these things I see online, you know, me, I’m like, Oh, my gosh, but it’s stuff that is a little bit challenging to discuss, like over the airwaves because you can’t see, right. So it all these things I get excited about? And you’re like, Well, it’d be kind of hard to talk about that. I’m like, oh, so it is a bit of a challenge sometimes.
1:08
I mean, we’re in the four, year four, year four. So you know, we’ve got quite a few shows. So you know, and this is a weekly show. So yeah, there’s a couple 100 couple, three 400 of these things out there. So I can’t do the math really quick, because we’ve missed a few. But majority of time we’re here. So it’s hard to figure out topics for on a weekly basis on what to say about DIY on the radio that you can’t see
1:37
certain things that would end things that kind of also irrelevant. Yeah, things that kind of fall into our bailiwick. I mean, you know, the show is sponsored by abt plumbing, electric heat and air. So, you know, as much as I love the amazing, cool, like, bat houses, I get all excited about cinderblock, I get all excited about water features, you know, you gotta kind of like alright, well true, but is there a way to help someone save money on their electric bill? Is there a way to help someone like upkeep their you know, generator so that their investments go further things like that. So I do think that we can be helpful. It’s not that it’s just that there are some weeks where I’m going to desert looking for information. And so this week is one of those things thank you for recording early. I’m going to have an unexpected kind of houseful pre Thanksgiving. You’re, you’re doing some stuff. So you’re kind of in a in a interesting office for the moment. So we kind of both said, Alright, here’s a window of time. Can you do it? Yes. Okay, so what’s so the topic I came up with last week, we didn’t have time to cover so boom, this week, they benefit from a crazy schedule, the listeners benefit from this dazzling topic. But still related to Thanksgiving, you know, because my thought process I’m doing this big lead in so no one gets mad at me because I don’t know if this topic is gonna rattle. You got good stuff. I feel I feel like I could defend myself.
3:05
Stop right there. It’s all good. We were just saying that it’s been going on we’ve been doing this for four years. So it is difficult to come up with topics that relate to this. So we’ve got some really good stuff for you. But we do have a little bit more time here before we we get into the meat and potatoes of it. You got you got quite a quite a bit going on right now. And my wife’s going through some stuff right now because she’s trying to get Taylor Swift tickets. Oh yeah, that’s a whole big thing. It’s like my daughter and her been into her into her for 10 years. And it’s been kind of a thing they do together and you know, my daughter is going to be 24 this year or 2524 and and they are just so excited about it and it is such a trying to get tickets these days with this online stuff is not easy, right?
3:53
I do I do know I know about anything. Yeah, I my band is not Taylor Swift as you know, but I’ve been so been part of the Pearl Jam thing for a long time and a lot of old people are gonna be like Pearl Jam. I’m young, a lot of young people will be like Pearl Jam, but they’ve been around for a long time. And they have a similar situation they might not be as crazy or they could be as crazy as Taylor Swift Fan. So this concept of a ticket lottery is something that so people will literally pair up with someone across the country and they will say okay, be my ticket buddy. I’m gonna go in for this show. And if I get picked and grab two I mean it’s this whole like,
4:33
Drew like crazy because they had tickets for the her last show for both got canceled for COVID and she ended up having two tickets because they had this whole big thing she’s freaking out she had a buying some a couple on StubHub and then managed to get through and got her got her tickets and I’m like it is good to both shows when you guys oh yeah, that you have like a so now she now they’re like, up right there automatically. They’ve already magically got into the room. But now it’s literally crashed Ticketmaster this morning was supposed to start half an hour ago and it completely crashed the system. So now they another five hours in advance so they can figure out the technical part of it. It does not surprise me. No, she’s been watching on Twitter the whole whole morning because it’s been going on from the East Coast, just like you’re saying. Yeah. And it just keeps crashing all the sides. Well,
5:25
it’s it’s funny you say that because I have a niece who’s I want to say, I’m gonna apologize to Hannah and advanced but she’s probably 2425. And maybe a little older. She just graduated with a master’s recently, so I’m trying to get her age in there. But you know, once I reach a certain age, everyone’s just young. Okay, so, so my, my niece is, I think she’s, I’ve been seeing her tagged just nonstop on social media, because all of her little Swifty buddies, and my sister in LA, they’re all trying to, you know, maneuver and so this is tagged and her name is coming up here and there. And I’m like, ooh, these girls are out for tickets. So they’re going through some stuff I’m not I’m you mentioned I’m like literally in skeleton pajamas, a skeleton onesie, kind of hanging out here going. I don’t have any big deadlines this morning. I’m not I’m not stressed out. But these folks that want these tickets, they’re pulling out their hair pulling out there. I was more I’m gonna say this. And I won’t get into the topic of it. But the way I was watching election results is how I feel like these folks. It’s the same energy. Right? And so I’ve kind of gotten. Yeah, the roller coaster. So I’m, you know, most of the races have been called. So I’m off the roller coaster. But these folks are just starting the roller coaster. And I can tell you, I’ve been there, man. It’s tough. It’s really tough. But hopefully, they’re victorious. And they get their tickets, right? I mean,
6:58
good tickets. They always do. But she always managed to figure something but she’s she’s a she’s a she works at
7:06
your I gotta say your wife has got she’s like me with a with parking and airline tickets. Your wife is so funny because she’s got like that Janessa quoi she’s got that little sparkle about her that she somehow makes it work. She’s like legendary for that. I have that with airline tickets. Like for cheap, you know, cheap flights and for parking. Everything else in my life is a complete spaghetti on the wall. What sticks? What doesn’t, but yeah, buddy’s got a knack. So I am confident that next time we talk to you, you’re gonna be give me the thumbs up that the Swifties were vanished and they got their ticket. Yeah,
7:41
I’m not worried about him.
7:45
Oh, exciting. Exciting.
7:47
Yeah. All right, on that matter. So you did. So this the topic we’re talking about today? That wasn’t a great segue. But will this work right into it? Well, I
7:56
want to wait, let me let me finish my explanation. Because I was thinking I’ve been excited about Thanksgiving, which is silly that I’m excited about it. Because it’s just like, I’m having Thanksgiving like this week, and Thanksgiving is actually next week. But I’m excited about Thanksgiving, because the topic always makes me think if you have a house full of people, what are some things that happen, right, you typically are going to end up with, you know, a little bit more wear and tear on the plumbing so to speak, you’re gonna have more chances for issues in the bathroom, you’re gonna have more chances for but one of the appliances we don’t talk about very often is your washing machine. And let’s be honest, if you’ve got kids home from college, or you’ve got a house full of people, you know, or you have little kids for, for that matter, because they tend to go through more clothes, you’re gonna get a wear and tear on the washing machine. And I just feel like it’s the point that doesn’t get any love Andrew and that’s why I’ve presented it today. That’s my segue.
8:52
And it’s good. It’s a good one. So you know, you found this great article on six things, six signs, it is time to repair or replace your washing machine. And ironically, in the last, I guess, last month, I’ve gone through washer and dryer myself. So it’s like us is timely. Then we got properties. So I’ve gone through over the last course the last couple years, a couple of washing machines and a couple of dryers so and the course of my life, you know, we go through them a lot. So should you repair replace and this one isn’t actually on the list, but we’ve talked about it before. So I’m just going to I’m just going to say it once again, is if you do have a washing machine in your house or any place where there’s a potential for a flood, specifically if it’s upstairs or if it’s inside your house and say it shares the same floor plane as the rest of your home with hardwood floors and things like that. Do definitely put in braided stainless steel washing machine hoses. I can’t stress that enough. It’s one of the biggest water damage claims for insurance companies. his water washing machine hoses blowing because we use those old rubber ones that were old rubber ones are designed to stay constantly under pressure, you’re supposed to literally turn the water off every time you’re done using said washing machine, no one does that. So they tend to blow and cause a lot of water damage. And so I just want to remind everybody about that one, because that’s not on this list. But it’s one of the things that I see a lot. And I’ve seen the aftermath of said washing machine hoses bursting. And it’s, you know, 10s could be, you know, 1000s to 10s of 1000s of dollars worth of damage, water does a lot of damage really quickly. Anyway, here are some six times six signs that it’s time to repair or replace your washing machine, leaky washing machine tubs. So if you can kind of picture a normal washing machine has a top loading washing machine has basically a bucket that holds the water in it.
10:55
That’s the drum, right, that’s the drum
10:57
so it can leak. And I actually remember putting a hole in our washing machine with because I had washed my car hard bib overalls and I forgot to head screws. And um, this is you know, this is going back some time this is before I went to company I was working for working for somebody else. And we had two kids and it wasn’t making a lot of money. So we were pretty poor. And I forgot that I had left screws in there and it literally put a hole through the Plastic Drum. Some of the drums were plastic, some of them are metal, the newer ones tend to be plastic, I was able to fix it because I was we were poor and I had to get it going. So I took some JB weld and some plumbers buddy and not plumbers pipe, but epoxy putty essentially, and seal the hole and it worked. And it worked for another 10 years like that, or something like that I can finally died we replaced it. But in some cases of washing machine is leaking, it could be because the tub is cracked, a cracked tub is very expensive repair, then depending on how old the washer is, it might be more cost effective to just simply replace the washing machine. And suddenly tag on this really quick to the thing that I’ve learned over the years is we’ve got rentals. So you know, and we’ve supply washers and dryers for our rentals. And I’ve gotten to the point where I just buy used ones instead of fixing them because I can pick up a used washer dryer for 100 150 bucks. The last two washers, the washer and dryer that I just got in the last couple of months, I think I spent 250 on the on the set. So you can’t even buy anyone for that. And you can to be honest, you really can’t even it’s hard to get a technician out for under 100 bucks anymore. So if you’re in a situation where you know a tub or something, something that you’re not gonna be able to fix, you may want to just look and look on Craigslist or look on marketplace to find a new, a used one. Anyway, older washing machines as washers AZ are more prone to breaking down, they just get old appliances tend to last about 10 years. And this this is across the board, whether it’s a washer machine, a dryer, dishwasher, or garbage disposer, a furnace, a water heater, anything that’s on the outside of the wall, they’re generally designed to be you know, to die after about 10 years. Built in obsolescence, if you will. So if your washing machine is over 10 years old, and you’re starting it starting to break down more often you’re having to mess with it more often, you might want to just get a new one. Depending on how how much you use it though, like if you’re an older retired couple, and you’re not really using your washing machine often, because you’re only in the house maybe six months of the year and you stay someplace else the other time of the year, you can make a washer lasts a lot longer. But you know, if you’re got kids and stuff, you’re gonna be going through probably even faster. Number three a bad odor. Over time, some washing machines may develop a bad odor and this just doesn’t go away. It’s especially true in this front loading machines. The top loading the drain mechanism is literally on the bottom. So it drains out the entire tub where as the front loaders the drains not quite as conveniently located. So there may be some standing water and the smell is often result of mold and mildew camping out in the machine. If that’s the case, it may be impossible to get rid of the smell. And the mess best option could be to simply replace it. Um, you can try you know, some vinegar and baking soda kind of solutions and some citrus solutions to get rid of it. But you know, odors are hard. So I don’t know. That’s that’d be one of those things where you might think about just getting a new one. Well,
14:53
can I ask you real quick so on the mildew like so. Okay, so the smells and stuff depending on the your plants, you can do things like vinegar, and you know, like my drain, I’m always trying to put stuff down my drain and smell go away, right? But so but what you’re talking about is actually having milk like active mold, right, somewhere in there. So that’s so not to I’m no scientist, but So aren’t you kind of getting that onto your clothes when you use it in some fashion? Yeah, yeah, I would definitely want to look at getting rid of that sucker. Because we don’t I mean, it’s one mold. I don’t want to be over dramatic, but it’s like a silent killer. So like, I don’t, I don’t want that. I’m gonna go ahead and I’m gonna look at getting rid of
15:38
pet odor. That’s probably where it’s coming from. And we’ve also seen that, since we’re on the topic of mold, in odd spaces, we’ve also seen that in choosey tubs where some of the the Jets the tubes that are behind the tub that that feed the air to the jets in the water, the Jets, they’ll grow mold and and as well, because they’ll have some of the more cheaper ones, less expensive ones more affordable ones. The the tubes aren’t really installed properly, and they’ll have little dips and the low spots will sit in there and get funky. So yeah, it’s it’s a thing. Control Panel issues. This is one of the things is and this is he’s saying depending on the age of the washer, this can be repairable issue issue, replace the control panel on an older washing machine may be more cost effective than replacing the entire washer. newer machines tend to have a more complex control, which still should be able to repair but it may be more costly than it would be to replace the whole unit. And, you know, the weird thing about we can liken it to a car to rebuild a car out of the factory is more expensive than it is to build it the parts are more expensive. So like control panels, I know like on our on furnaces are ridiculously overpriced for what they are. And same for most appliances. It’s just a circuit board. But it’s not they don’t sell a lot of them. So the margins are pretty high. And it’s a very specialized item. So there’s a lot of a lot of product out there so they can be you know 50 I mean, we’ve got panels that go in our furnaces are five or 600 bucks, just for control panel. So really depends on the control panel, because I’m not an appliance guy or appliance person. But yeah, sometimes those things can be ridiculously expensive. And this one is pretty good excessive shakiness and noise. So if you’re what when your washing machine is running, and if it’s if it’s making a bunch of really loud noises, like dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah. It’s usually something simple. So on the majority of washing machines, they’ve got adjustable legs, and they simply unscrew. And sometimes when you install a washing machine, it could be completely level and completely fine but as it’s being used, they will come out of level and those legs can move if there’s not to stop that thing from screwing back up into the into the leg or that that legs going back up into the body of the of the washing machine. They can move so sometimes it’s simply just finding that high leg and screwing it down and it’s you know, righty tighty lefty loosey kind of thing unscrews in a counterclockwise fashion and I’ve seen that a lot so he was saying I mean this article st put something underneath it, but literally they are adjustable legs so just adjust the legs but it is a matter of getting on your back your belly with a flashlight and getting under there and messing with it it’s not a pleasant position to be in but you can definitely take care of that problem and I’ve seen I’ve seen some that are violent I’ve had some that are violent right I’m sure you have to wear like the whole house is shaking. And it’s like knocking up against the dryer
19:00
you’re wondering what they put in their body bag on money what is it?
19:10
Or is it just a quilt But even you know if it’s if it’s level it should be fine, right? Yeah, or sleeping bag. It should be fine and actually most washing machines are really heavy because they have counterbalances in them you open them up and you’ll find blocks of concrete that are bolted to the to the to the drum so it doesn’t bounce too much to sort of kind of give it some mass but that’s why I dryers so much lighter than my washing machine and lastly and we have time for this one uses too much water this is a tough one because it’s like how would you know if you’re using too much water I read this and I’m like you’re gonna have to be really spot on with knowing your water bill. But I’ll be honest, the the thing I’ve had I’ve had I’ve had had this conversation with people and I tend to be pretty green, I believe in low flow stuff. But water is really cheap compared to gas, so or electricity. So if you’ve got an inefficient system, don’t worry about the water so much as worried about heating that water, and then using it in the system in your washing machine. So if you wash machines using a lot of water and you use in your washing with warm or hot water, the energy it takes to heat that water is much more valuable than the water itself water, you know, we buy by your charge by the cubic, I think it’s a cubic yard, right? Three by three by three, by three. So it’s not like it’s like natural gas or propane, where it’s so much more expensive. So you know, if it is using a lot, you might want to look into buying something that’s a little bit more efficient. The Energy Star appliances are way more efficient. So if you’re, you know, if your family of five, or six or something like that, or four, you might want to think about getting a more efficient system, washing machine because it can save you some money. But again, if you just, you know, like my wife, and I, you know, we got a couple places to stay. And so it’s they’re not the amount of times that we use it. And you know, you know, like you were saying in the beginning, when you had little kids, you’re doing laundry every single day, just like you’re doing dishes every single day, when you’re older. Yeah, once a week, maybe.
21:28
And sometimes, like if you have enough clothes, and you’re out there like sweating and working out all the time, I don’t know, I don’t even know, I haven’t done to go a little longer. But I see your point. Your point is,
21:39
I’ve been known to buy a pack of underwear, so I’d have to do
21:43
you’re probably not alone, you’re probably not.
21:48
So those are some of the things that you can look for. You know, if you’ve got a washing machine that is on its way out. If it is dead, and you’re in a hurry, you know there are appliance places you’ve got in town, you got those flat, they’ve got appliances. But also check you know, if you’re not scared about buying a used appliance, and you can buy us appliances, and I’ve been really lucky knock on wood. With all the use ones that I’ve bought that last one that just our dryer that died. I bought using it last, I bought it as a set. And that lasted probably since we moved in that place to seven years. And it was used. So I can remember how old it was before that. So it was a really it was a clean system and somebody was just with my other house when I got the two of them might even be 10 years my gosh. But in any event so I’ve had some really good success with which is buying used. But it’s not to say that you’re gonna have success and buying used but a couple things you want to look for. One of the obvious thing is color. I mean, if it’s mustard or or avocado, you know, it’s probably 50 years old
23:00
as common vintage. Yeah, just Wantage.
23:06
The other thing that I’ve heard on appliances is up the top loading washing machines, they’re they’re not as efficient. But they tend to last a lot longer than the front front loaders. A lot fewer problems. And so that’s something that can be considered to consider but the top loaders take up a lot more space, you can’t fit them underneath the counter space. So you know, pros and cons. Any event, that’s your show. So this stuff is useful and helpful to you guys. And just let you know. We’ll remind everybody again this next week, but we’re going to be closed for Thanksgiving, our guys are going to be spending it with their families. And that’s I find somebody that really isn’t spending any time with their families. But right as of right now, we don’t have anybody available. But if you need help with plumbing, electrical heating and air you can reach us at and I forgot phone number 530-230-9092 Yep, you remember that? 53308092 you can also find us on the web at easy as abc.com or abt plumbing.com. And I’d like some Facebook. And with that, that’s our show. Thanks for listening. Talk to you later. Bye bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
24:06
Thanks, Andrew. Thanks, Rosalie. Now let’s get that project started. You got this. We’ll be back next Friday morning at nine o’clock on Cancio. Newstalk a 30
Transcribed by https://otter.ai