9:00 AM, Thursday: I\u2019ve already washed up. Breakfast is over. It\u2019s now time to tackle that list I made last night. What list? The one that says things like:
\n\u2022 Order parts for the \u201941 Buick
\n\u2022 Wash the Ridgeline
\n\u2022 Go to McDonald\u2019s for a morning coffee
\n\u2022 Study for the A+ certification exam
\n\u2022 Submit two more job applications<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t a bad list, but then my wife interrupted with the most feared statement of all, \u201cThe toilet is clogged. It won\u2019t go down.\u201d Of course this was not just a statement of fact; it was indeed the first in a series of mini disasters that all required a response from me. So I immediately got the plumber\u2019s helper (aka plunger, aka force pump) out of the garage and repaired the stubborn water closet. From that point on the day went pretty well until about 3:00 PM when I noticed that the garage door was closed only 4\/5 of the way. That job took a little longer. The pesky electric eye had to be bent back into place and secured before complete function was restored. I was feeling pretty good at this point with a score of 2-for-2. The good feeling lasted until about 9:00 PM at which time the clarion voice of my spouse once again brought me to attention. It seems that the clothes that were spinning around in the dryer for 2 hours never did dry. Wish I had known about it at 8:00.<\/p>\n
At this point I decided that the dryer could wait until the next day. I had something more important to do; drink a couple of beers and watch an instant movie on Netflix. I knew that the dryer was not going to be a 5 minute fix. The next morning found me taking apart the electric clothes dryer with a nut driver in one hand and an exploded drawing of the unit in the other. I cleaned out massive amounts of lint and attempted to cut myself on the aluminum vent hose that never wants to fit over either the dryer or vent outlets. The multimeter told me that the heating element, fuse, and thermostat were all good. What was left? After reading various labels stuck to the back of the dryer and reading a chapter from \u201cHow to Repair Small Appliances\u201d I realized that the tub motor and the heating\u00a0element of the Kenmore Super Dryer were supplied individually by \u00a0separate branches of the 230 volt feed. A quick test of each branch of the supply confirmed that one read 115 volts while the other showed nothing. Problem solved. A quick trip to Home Depot (I spend too much time in that place) to secure a dual 30 amp circuit breaker to replace the burnt out one that I removed and all was well. The dryer now roared like a BSA campfire.<\/p>\n
Somewhere during these adventures I posted a lament about my dryer woes on Twitter. Wouldn\u2019t you guess that I landed a new \u201cFollower\u201d, a national appliance repair shop that posted a tweet inviting me to give them a call for a quick fix. It was fun to \u201cRetweet\u201d that I had repaired the dryer myself. They responded with a \u201cThat a boy\u201d and \u201cYou all stop back here next time.\u201d I might just do that.<\/p>\n