On a day that we were watching our inquisitive 2 year old grandson, our downstairs neighbor knocked on our door and said she had water leaking from her ceiling. On examination, we noted that there was water on the floor around our front-loading washer. It was not running, so we opened the door and water gushed out.

:confused:

• What made it fill up with water, when neither of us had turned it on?
  
• How could we even open the door when it was full? (thought you weren't supposed to be able do that...)
  
• The grandbaby could have jiggled the knobs and made it fill up, we suppose, but why would water leak onto the floor prior to us opening the door?
  
• Can water back up on its own and fill the drum?
  

We are stumped.

Thanks for the info about the water valve. I'll order that part and give it a try.

Interestingly enough, there is more water in the drum today, even though I removed it all yesterday and turned off the water supply to the washer. Does that jive with a faulty water valve?