Our dryer gradually stopped working. This time, we caved in and called the repair guy. Work is crazy busy, it has been raining a lot, and we had a bunch of wet sheets and clothes. And I had not experience with the dryer. (Had it been the summer vacation, then we could have probably made the attempt...
When I fixed the washing maching we ordered the part from Amazon.com and I fixed it myself. (We are now also watching the free films from the prime membership.) Total cost of the repair was under $100 for the part. Add in the prime membership, and it was less than $200 for the repair and a year's worth of videos.
This time, my wife called around for a while before she could find somebody that would come out on Monday. (The dryer broke on Thursday.) The Monday guy ended up with some space on the schedule and came Friday. So, we lucked out. They came, looked at the problem, replaced a $20 part, and gave us a bill for $200. Part + labor + service call charge.
The washing machine part was under $100 on Amazon put retails at places like Sears for around $200. It also looked like a more complex repair job. So, we would have been looking at $300-$400 for the second repair. And that would have come two months after the first repair, which would have been around $200. I think that series would have easily been enough to justify the purchase of a "low efficiency" dishwasher.
I guess this is what we get with the "iPod" generation. Stuff tends to be really cheap. Repair costs tend to be really high. So, instead of trying to get things to work better, we simply through them out and buy something new. Viva la waste. Ughh.
Showing posts with label dryer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dryer. Show all posts
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Saturday, December 08, 2012
If it can break...
Washing machine plastic pipe broke, then gasket broke. (See a couple recent blog posts.)
The dishwasher heating element broke. The dishwasher would start to go through a cycle, then stop with a flashing light. The manual didn't have much to say. However, after pulling off the service panel, I found the "secret" manual that described the code as meaning a "heating problem". I started looking for fixes online. Some described a jostled out element. So, I went to look, and lo and behold, there was a crack in the element. Amazon.com here we come. (Now why can't the dishwasher just be "dumb" and continue to wash without the element? Stupid smart machines.)
The laptop computer wont power up. It was acting flaky, and would need a few tries to finally get it to start. I finally pulled it open and found the vents were totally clogged. Cleaning these out greatly improved the fan performance. (Now we could leave it on without it turning in to an oven.) However, it did not do much to help the startup problem. It was especially bad on hibernation. The computer had recently complained about low disk space. I had finally connected the two and thought "hey, I should delete the hibernate file and just disable hibernation, and we could just leave it on." Alas, my wife shut the computer, and accidentally started the hibernation. It apparently went in to a deep sleep from which it will never recover. We decided to replace it with a chromebook for general use, and nettop for windows stuff.
Dental filling fell out. Again. These "front of teeth" feelings just do not stay in. It often seems to be after eating nuts or something then brushing my teeth. Off to the dentist. Again.
And the pipes clogged up. It seems a couple times each year we have to call the $15 sewer and drain guys out to snake the line. (It costs a lot more than $15... I think $15 is there "service fee". Then there is fuel surcharge and a fee to do the snaking. Adds up to somewhere around $90)
And the shower trap needs a good cleaning. The trap does prevent the gunk from getting stuck in the pipes. But, it still is a lot of work to clean out.
And the dryer is making weird sounds. Time to get a new one?
And I didn't mention the bikes. The triple has been to two bike shops to "tune up". It would be nice if the gears actually worked. (The high "hub gear" seems to work. Only it doesn't like to stay there, and I sometimes have to ride holding it in the gear. Not fun!) Neither seems to know much of what they were doing. The second one has not even returned my call. The Japanese bike has a flat. The attempts to repair it have not "taken". The bikes all need lights. The schwin, Trek and Giant bike are all in not-quite ridable condition. (Ugghh. Thank you bike doctor.)
The dishwasher heating element broke. The dishwasher would start to go through a cycle, then stop with a flashing light. The manual didn't have much to say. However, after pulling off the service panel, I found the "secret" manual that described the code as meaning a "heating problem". I started looking for fixes online. Some described a jostled out element. So, I went to look, and lo and behold, there was a crack in the element. Amazon.com here we come. (Now why can't the dishwasher just be "dumb" and continue to wash without the element? Stupid smart machines.)
The laptop computer wont power up. It was acting flaky, and would need a few tries to finally get it to start. I finally pulled it open and found the vents were totally clogged. Cleaning these out greatly improved the fan performance. (Now we could leave it on without it turning in to an oven.) However, it did not do much to help the startup problem. It was especially bad on hibernation. The computer had recently complained about low disk space. I had finally connected the two and thought "hey, I should delete the hibernate file and just disable hibernation, and we could just leave it on." Alas, my wife shut the computer, and accidentally started the hibernation. It apparently went in to a deep sleep from which it will never recover. We decided to replace it with a chromebook for general use, and nettop for windows stuff.
Dental filling fell out. Again. These "front of teeth" feelings just do not stay in. It often seems to be after eating nuts or something then brushing my teeth. Off to the dentist. Again.
And the pipes clogged up. It seems a couple times each year we have to call the $15 sewer and drain guys out to snake the line. (It costs a lot more than $15... I think $15 is there "service fee". Then there is fuel surcharge and a fee to do the snaking. Adds up to somewhere around $90)
And the shower trap needs a good cleaning. The trap does prevent the gunk from getting stuck in the pipes. But, it still is a lot of work to clean out.
And the dryer is making weird sounds. Time to get a new one?
And I didn't mention the bikes. The triple has been to two bike shops to "tune up". It would be nice if the gears actually worked. (The high "hub gear" seems to work. Only it doesn't like to stay there, and I sometimes have to ride holding it in the gear. Not fun!) Neither seems to know much of what they were doing. The second one has not even returned my call. The Japanese bike has a flat. The attempts to repair it have not "taken". The bikes all need lights. The schwin, Trek and Giant bike are all in not-quite ridable condition. (Ugghh. Thank you bike doctor.)
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