pennywise and pound foolish. Since I expect that washer to last at least 12-15 years, it has a stainless steel tub. I'll cut corners and take gently used in a lot of things, but nothing with a motor.
But here's a cockamamie idea that I recommend (for legal reasons) against others using: I don't know exactly when that ice ball might happen until the exit pipe starts to overflow. That's why in winter I always make sure to observe the first emptying. But when it does happen, of course the exit pipe is full almost to the top. My latest scheme, until I can get the heat tape and/or a non-claustrophobic contractor, is - ta da! - a simple little immersion heater. The kind travelers use to heat water in a coffee cup. Drop that little sucker into the pipe and hold it there until the water heats up enough to melt the ice jam. Necessity being the mother of invention and all that.
I'd rather not even use baking soda and vinegar if possible, because this was the first house in the area to have indoor plumbing; my plumbing's connected to a city main over 2 blocks away. In the center of the street in front of the house, there's what amounts to a buried cesspool, and one other house is attached to it. If there was any way to persuade them to pay for their own connection to the city main that I hope runs along the street, I would; I'd even pay them a modest sum to defray the cost. But the people who live in that other house are not the sort to oblige. Let's leave it at that.
The only reason I'd love to entice them away is because a lot of people don't treat cesspools/septic systems well. When I bought this place, one of the first things I had to do was have a town crew locate stuff for me, and the neighbor who lived there then did pay for half the cost of a pump out. Who knows when if ever it had been cleaned in the 80 or so years it has probably been there. Maybe there'll never be another problem since I feed it yeast every single month. But if the other people are over there pouring grease down the drain and who knows what else, I can't be sure.
It could be worse, of course. Town fathers told me a lot of plumbing runs under someone else's house! due to the patchwork gradual development around here.
Proof positive that it takes a crazy person to love old houses. When I first had an electrician out here, he laughed and said nothing in my house was straight or level anymore. But not to worry, it'll be the last one in town to fall down too.
= new reply since forum marked as read