The Mennobrarian

When appliances attack 2

02:57, Monday, February 25, 2008 .. Posted in Home Improvement .. 3 comments .. Link

On Saturday, my dryer started regurgitating its own parts. As a result, the normal howling noise it makes was elevated to a high pitched constant squeak that sent the dogs scurrying and put me in bed with a severe headache by early afternoon.

Then, the appliance repairman arrived, bright and early, while I was till clutching my coffee. After shooing him into the kitchen, I presented him with some sort of seal that came loose from the dryer innards and came out in the wash, literally. He looked alarmed.

I told him about the loud and constant noises the dryer makes while running, and then how we had replaced a stove part the company sent us on the one stove burner that won't light, which resulted in the burner working exactly once before giving up the ghost. The repairman walked over to the stove, turned on the burner, and it instantly ignited, just to make a fool out of me. Meanwhile, we had turned on the dryer to demonstrate the auditory assault we live with on wash days. Wouldn't you know that dryer would not make a peep? I was suddenly placed in the bizarre position of having to convince the repairman that my appliances really are broken, and then trying to figure out a way to make them act as they did before he got there. Fortunately, it didn't take long for the appliances to show their true colors, and while Mr. Fixit carefully diagnosed the stove, I ran into the bathroom to grab a few wet towels to throw in the dryer hoping to mimic a wet load of laundry. After about fifteen minutes, the dryer started screaming.
"Hhmph. Rear bearing sleeve," he mumbled, and turned back to the stove.

Hearing the repairman give my dryer's illness an actual name was a huge relief. He knew what was wrong with it, and knew the cure. I exhaled.

After inserting some sort of chip in the stove which fixed the burner, the nice man told me he would need to order a new seal to replace the one that the dryer spit out, and that since he would have to take the dryer all apart to insert the new one, he would come back next week to both replace the part and fix the howling. Hearing that he could solve our woes and seeing the sun on the horizon made me feel bold enough to make a non-standard request. As some of my readers may recall, I posted a while back about how all my appliances beep noisily and continuously, even though it may not be convenient for me to get to them and turn them off right at that moment. The washer and dryer are a big offender on this one. I asked him nicely (okay, I begged him and offered a cash incentive) if he could deprogram the washer and dryer so they would not beep maniacally at the end of a cycle. Like a good repairman, he explained that because they are electronically programmed at the factory, that there is no way it can be done, and even if it could, it would void the warranty which you do not want to do. But he did do something amazing.

He reached down, pressed a button, and told me I could just turn off the beeping sound.

Yes, just turn it off, by pushing this little button I see every day but have never touched. And for some reason, I missed the meaning of this button when reading the owner's manuals.

Yes, I felt like an idiot.