Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Are they made to break together?

Last week my washing machine stopped working. Just stopped. It did not quit or die, it just stopped. Something happened and it tripped the circuit breaker - although I did not realize that that was what had happened at the time. DH got home from work and I said, "The washer is broke." It took him all of a minute to realize that the circuit breaker had "tripped." It is one of those plugs with a "reset" button and he pushed it for me. Washer's fixed. Good.

Yesterday the dryer stopped working. This time it was not a circuit breaker, though. They were purchased as a pair some eleven years ago. They both have to act up at the same time? They are made to break together? Yes, the washer wasn't really broken - but why, after so many years of use did it decide to "trip the circuit" or whatever the heck it did? Do I think, then, that it is a coincidence that since the washer "acted up" last week now the dryer thinks it has to "act up," too? I think not. They were made to "break" together!

DH, who is incredibly adept at fixing things that break - I often say that if he can't fix it - it can't be fixed - tried to fix the dryer yesterday. It does not work. He doesn't know what is wrong with it and said, "You're going to have to call someone." Sure. Like I have a copy of yellow pages here, or something, that I can just open up to "dryer repair" and find someone to come to the house to fix it.

I decided, on a whim, that I would call our maintenance number. When a burner on our cook top broke the maintenance company for our housing compound would not fix it, so I did not expect that they would come to repair our dryer, either. Wrong. Policy has been changed and the maintenance company NOW repairs residents personal appliances. Thank you thank you thank you. The dryer repairman will be here this afternoon. Good thing, too. I have a load in the dryer that is not dry, and another load in the washer that needs dried.

3 comments:

  1. Wow! 11 years! that has to be some kind of record for modern appliances. 7 years is usually the max. Hope it can be fixed.

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  2. Seven years? I had no idea. I was counting on 20!

    Dryer got carted off. It will be back on Sunday or Monday, fixed. We pay for parts. Not a bad deal.

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  3. Yes Sabra they are designed to fail together. There is a network chip embedded in the power supplies that communicate through the power lines that plug into your wall-mounted receptacles. They count the minutes of on-time then induce a failure when the set time is reached. This way you’re forced to shell out a predictable amount of $$/lifetime for such modern conveniences. If you don’t like it, go wash your clothes in the nearest river with a rock.
    Just kidding! Quality home appliances like these should have a service lifetime of around fifteen years. The circuit breaker (CB) tripping could have been caused by too much stuff in the washer, or some other condition which caused an extra large mechanical load on the motor. When the motor tried to spin the extra-big load, this caused extra-big electric current to flow through the motor. This is exactly what the CB is to guard against. Too much current can cause a fire. The CB did its job.

    The drier is another story. Cannot get a grip on the problem from the data supplied. Too many possible problems to hazard a guess. You’re at the mercy of the on-site techs. Your DH should be very familiar with this type of situation with aircraft. You can use a machine quite well, but depend on others who may not be able to use it as well as you but can fix it in less time. And of course, time is cash.
    Good luck, and don’t forget the fabric softener!

    Oh and hey,
    HAPPY 21st ANIVERSERY
    &
    Happy (how-ever-many-eth) Birthday!

    ReplyDelete

 
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