Here's an idea I came up with a few years back. We've all worked on washers in those flimsy plastic leak catch pans that were already damaged from installation or routine customer use. There are sturdier versions of those catch pans but most are cheap plastic with a lip around the perimeter that is about 2-3 inches high. Placing the device I came up with over that front lip allows you to pull the washer forward in the pan and set the front of the washer down on this "lip protector". You can also stand on this protector and it provides great protection for the lip.
It's made of 3" schedule 40 PVC pipe available at Lowe's or Home Depot in 3 or 4' lengths for about $5.
I cut it about 26 or 27inches long then lay a carpenters level or something that's about 2 1/2 to 3 inches wide along the LENGTH of the pvc pipe and mark two lines on each side. Cut along those lines (lengthwise) with a jig saw with a fine tooth blade and you've now got your very own "Lip Protector"
Photos show it in use under a washer but without the plastic catch pan, sorry I didn't have a catch pan in my garage.
Hope this simple device serves other techs as well as it does me.
John Nason
Discount Appliance Repair
Dover, Delaware
