Discovered a magnet trick for retrieving lost screws in washing machines

Had a customer in Austin call about a clicking noise in their washer, pulled the drum and found a random screw wedged near the drain pump. Tried a pick and needle nose pliers for 20 minutes, zero luck. Anyone else use a telescoping magnet wand to fish out small debris before tearing the whole unit apart?

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2 Comments

cameronb522mo ago

Man, that magnet wand brings back a memory. I dropped a socket down into a friend's dryer vent once trying to loosen a clamp, and that thing fell straight into the blower housing. I spent an hour with a coat hanger and a flashlight before I remembered my kid had one of those magnetic pickup toys from a science kit. Fishing that socket out took like two minutes, but I bent the hanger so bad trying that it looked like a piece of modern art. Now I keep a cheap magnet stick in my toolbox right next to the hose clamps, just in case.

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david7392mo ago

Gotta disagree with you on keeping that magnet stick as a daily tool. I've used one for years and it's more hassle than it's worth half the time. The tip grabs every random screw or washer in the tray before you even get close to what you're after, and if you drop it into a tight spot, you're back to fishing with a hanger, just with a heavier thing stuck down there. Plus the magnets go weak after a while, especially if you bang them around in a toolbox. A decent telescoping claw picker has saved my butt way more often, and it doesn't pick up stray metal shavings that make you think you found the socket when it's just junk. To each their own, but I'll take the claw over the magnet any day.

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