Lint

A few weeks ago I had someone out to "fix" my washer dryer.  He had an injury so he couldn't move it himself to get access.  I am sympathetic to anyone who is recovering from ill health, but in this case I was a bit annoyed as the reason I got someone in rather than having a first look myself was mostly so I didn't have to extract the machine myself (and so their insurance covered any damage caused doing it!).  Anyway, he took the lid off, pressed the interior button to reset a thermal cutout, took the money, and left.  I did ask him "what caused it to trip" but he seemed vague on possible causes and muttered darkly about hours of work and expensive main control boards...   It worked briefly afterwards, then funnily enough stopped again.  

Shambles.

Today I got a different engineer out, who brought spare parts based on my description of the problem - "it's probably lint buildup" he said.  He was here less time than the other engineer was, but in that time he opened up the machine to a far deeper level, used a special tool (of his own making) to pull out a large pile of lint which was nearly blocking the air hose, and replaced the thermal cutout "to be on the safe side" as they get more sensitive over time.  The machine now seems to be working, and I'm hopeful that given the problem was found and fixed this time it will keep working.

So that's 13 years worth of lint removed - hopefully it will now go for a few more years now...

(pound coin for size)