How to Fix a Water Leak in a Washing Machine

One of the last things that you likely want to see is water coming from your washing machine and to not know why or where it is coming from. Repairmen are expensive, so take a deep breath and look it over yourself first. Odds are that it could very well just be a simple water leak that you can fix yourself.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Offset screwdriver
• New washers
• Box wrench or deep socket

1. 
    
   Look at valves and nuts first!

   Tighten the nuts. Check the valves too. There are many types--usually washing machine valves are plastic knobs that take 1/4 turn or several turns to close.

2. Remove the handle by removing the first nut. Tighten the packing nut underneath. Put the handle back on.

3. Sweat the valve with the packing nut backed out. Loosen packing nut before sweating. Remove handle before sweating.

4. Remove drain cap, if equipped. Sweat ball valves when closed and sweat seat type valves when open. Let valve cool before re-tightening packing nut.

Tips & Warnings

• The valve looks like a screw vs. a nut. There is a rubber washer underneath the screw.
• You can probably get away with using an offset screwdriver.
• Under the screw, you will likely find a nut that can be tightened with a box wrench or deep socket.