the quest for dry clothes
I am on a quest. A quest for dry clothes.
I have my power problem fixed. Kind of. Now I have a problem with an outlet that worked before the last round of maintenance on the circuit breaker panel and now does not work. As I was writing this, I remembered that this outlet has its' own ground. In my old house, most of the outlets are not 3 prong grounded. This one is, and remembering electricity, I went and measured for voltage line to ground instead of line to neutral. The hot is hot. The neutral is open. That's an easy thing to fix tomorrow.
That will make the washer wash clothes again without the aid of an extension cord.
The dryer though now tumbles clothes but the light has burned out in the thing. Hey that lightbulb has been through a lot lately. Time for a new one. Also time for a new overheat sensor. Apparently I broke the one already in the dryer when I changed out the squirrel cage. I was trying to be careful and I failed.
This dryer is killing me. The new motor is nice and quiet though. And there's a possibility that some super glue will allow me to temp repair the thermostat.
This quest started a week ago. Because I wanted dry clothes, I figured out what was wrong with the dryer. I took the dryer apart and sure enough, the squirrel cage was bad.
I've had someone on my mind a lot lately and was thinking about her last Saturday. Because I was, I didn't pay attention to how I put the dryer back together. Because I didn't pay attention, I shorted out the door switch. Because I fried the door switch I had to change it and the existing wire terminals on the wires were the wrong size and I had to crimp a new end on two of the wires using the terminal that came with the dryer switch which was too small to hold the two wires properly.
I also decided to try and pig putty the old blower wheel in place. Because I didn't have it centered, the repair was not effective. Because the door switch shorted out, the breaker should have popped and didn't but some stuff started happening in the electrical panel. Because of that, the breaker for the stove downstairs burned out and didn't pop, causing the stove to go out at the same time I was working on the dryer. Because I crimped two wires that were too big for the terminal that came with the new switch, they pulled out at the same time the stove quit working downstairs. Because I was thinking of said person from Saturday I didn't have the mind to realize the two issues were completely unrelated.
Because I couldn't get the stove to work, I got frustrated. Because I got frustrated that EVERYTHING was falling apart, I didn't think properly. Because I didn't think properly, I forgot to just check the breakers and see if they were working and shut off the main, in a vain attempt to recycle the power and see if that worked. Because I did that, the one side of the main finally failed for good.
Because I couldn't reset that, I called an electrician. Because I called an electrician, I now have a new and proper 200 amp meter base and panel that meets the electrical code. Because I have a new and properly installed panel, the lights in my house are noticeably brighter, because whatever was acting as a resistor and dropping the voltage has now been replaced. Because of that, the chances of an electrical fire have been reduced.
Because I decided to write this blog post, and wrote about the neutral, I solved that problem. Tomorrow I will fix the dryer or get the part on order and hang up the wet clothes I washed when I got home from work after I re-wash them.
I was hoping to buy myself a newer (albeit still used) front loader washer and dryer with some of the money that went toward the power panel. That went up in smoke (literally) last Saturday.
There's a lot of stuff in there and if you followed the whole thing to this point, there's a lesson in there. You just have to read Romans 8:28-29 to see it.
There's an old saying I was reminded of when I heard it on the radio tonight. A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.
All I wanted was dry clothes.
First world problems....
I have my power problem fixed. Kind of. Now I have a problem with an outlet that worked before the last round of maintenance on the circuit breaker panel and now does not work. As I was writing this, I remembered that this outlet has its' own ground. In my old house, most of the outlets are not 3 prong grounded. This one is, and remembering electricity, I went and measured for voltage line to ground instead of line to neutral. The hot is hot. The neutral is open. That's an easy thing to fix tomorrow.
That will make the washer wash clothes again without the aid of an extension cord.
The dryer though now tumbles clothes but the light has burned out in the thing. Hey that lightbulb has been through a lot lately. Time for a new one. Also time for a new overheat sensor. Apparently I broke the one already in the dryer when I changed out the squirrel cage. I was trying to be careful and I failed.
This dryer is killing me. The new motor is nice and quiet though. And there's a possibility that some super glue will allow me to temp repair the thermostat.
This quest started a week ago. Because I wanted dry clothes, I figured out what was wrong with the dryer. I took the dryer apart and sure enough, the squirrel cage was bad.
I've had someone on my mind a lot lately and was thinking about her last Saturday. Because I was, I didn't pay attention to how I put the dryer back together. Because I didn't pay attention, I shorted out the door switch. Because I fried the door switch I had to change it and the existing wire terminals on the wires were the wrong size and I had to crimp a new end on two of the wires using the terminal that came with the dryer switch which was too small to hold the two wires properly.
I also decided to try and pig putty the old blower wheel in place. Because I didn't have it centered, the repair was not effective. Because the door switch shorted out, the breaker should have popped and didn't but some stuff started happening in the electrical panel. Because of that, the breaker for the stove downstairs burned out and didn't pop, causing the stove to go out at the same time I was working on the dryer. Because I crimped two wires that were too big for the terminal that came with the new switch, they pulled out at the same time the stove quit working downstairs. Because I was thinking of said person from Saturday I didn't have the mind to realize the two issues were completely unrelated.
Because I couldn't get the stove to work, I got frustrated. Because I got frustrated that EVERYTHING was falling apart, I didn't think properly. Because I didn't think properly, I forgot to just check the breakers and see if they were working and shut off the main, in a vain attempt to recycle the power and see if that worked. Because I did that, the one side of the main finally failed for good.
Because I couldn't reset that, I called an electrician. Because I called an electrician, I now have a new and proper 200 amp meter base and panel that meets the electrical code. Because I have a new and properly installed panel, the lights in my house are noticeably brighter, because whatever was acting as a resistor and dropping the voltage has now been replaced. Because of that, the chances of an electrical fire have been reduced.
Because I decided to write this blog post, and wrote about the neutral, I solved that problem. Tomorrow I will fix the dryer or get the part on order and hang up the wet clothes I washed when I got home from work after I re-wash them.
I was hoping to buy myself a newer (albeit still used) front loader washer and dryer with some of the money that went toward the power panel. That went up in smoke (literally) last Saturday.
There's a lot of stuff in there and if you followed the whole thing to this point, there's a lesson in there. You just have to read Romans 8:28-29 to see it.
There's an old saying I was reminded of when I heard it on the radio tonight. A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.
All I wanted was dry clothes.
First world problems....
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