Saga of the Broken Dryer

I loved my old Admiral Dryer.  There was nothing not to love about it.

Eleven years we've had a relationship.  I expect to work and it has.  Mostly.

But then it didn't.  I bought parts online and replaced bad parts but it still scraped away when the drum turned.  Then the dilemma.  Do I buy more parts, when one bracket is $20 online plus shipping and takes days to arrive?

I checked into repair costs at appliance repair shops but when I found out an old dryer costs more to repair than a new dryer costs I decided against that option too.

I then began a search for a used dryer.  My search included craigslist and facebook marketplace.

Some of the used dryers I looked at had obviously been sitting out for some time.  "Sure, it works great but no, I don't have anywhere you can plug it in to check.  Take my word for it."  Sure thing buddy.  Not!!!

I finally went to the Habitat for Humanity Restore. It's a thrift store, that specializes in construction materials, appliances and tools of all sorts. Restores are run by a combo of paid staff and volunteers.  Their entire stock of goods for sale is donated by people who don't want the materials or items anymore. 

I got assured they test all the dryers before putting them on the floor to sell.  They get them donated by people who don't want them anymore.   Why do people usually not want a dryer, I thought to myself, cynically.  Because they don't work. And they don't want to take it to the dump because it costs money.

But Habitat folks reassured me they test them all to make sure they do work.

So I laid out cold cash, too much in my opinion, for a used dryer.   It had no feet on it either and no cord.  I have a cord however on my old dryer.

I went and bought some knobs at Lowes, that were not made for dryer feet but they'd work.  I laid the dryer on its side and screwed those in.  I pulled the old dryer out of the bathroom and took off the cord, which took some time, then I attached the cord onto the Habitat dryer I had laboriously maneuvered out of the car, into the garage, up the steps and into the house.

Then, it took me 40 minutes to wrestle the darn vent onto the back of the Habitat dryer.  What a pain.  I hate dryer vent tubes.  HATE THEM!

Then, excited, expectant, I turned the dryer on.

And this is how that went.....

I sent the video to a friend, who was disgusted and said she'd take me to get a new dryer tomorrow and I said OK and I'd pay her back, put it on my bill, because I still owe her on the loan for the car.  I was ready to do it though.   Until I sent the video to my younger brother.  He and his wife watched it together.  Then he called me with her in the background saying "we're getting you a dryer for Christmas".  And they did.  They called up Lowes, paid for it online, and I went and picked it up.

I sat there, dirty and worn out, with the new dryer in a cardboard box in the back of my car, crying.  It just made me so happy and relieved.

In the back of my mind, I was thinking, "This is way too easy, something will go wrong."

I'm not used to easy.

Then I uninstalled the screaming machine from Habitat.  I'll take it back tomorrow. I unplugged it. I took off the cord again. The three kittens left in the bathroom, including Copper, watched, not knowing what to think by now.

  I laboriously maneuvered the new dryer in the box out of the back of the car, into the garage, and shoved it up the steps and through the door into the house.  I ripped off the cardboard box from around it like a 3 year old rips wrapping paper off a present at Christmas.

I installed the cord to the back.  I laid it on its side and wrenched in the leveling legs.  I slid it past the Habitat screaming machine and through the door into the bathroom, where it took me 30 minutes to attach the damn vent tube.  I HATE THEM!

I plugged it in and turned it on.  Ahhhhhh, it purred like the kittens, who were now actually stress purring as they watched the third dryer today enter their space.  I threw some still wet cat beds into the dryer and cheered to myself when they came out dry ten minutes later.

I carelessly shoved the Habitat Screaming machine to the door to the garage, lowered it, step by step to the garage floor and slid it over beside the old Admiral.  Tomorrow I'll remove the knobs I bought for legs then slide it out to the back of the car, tip it into the back, push it the rest of the way in and go get my money back.  Maybe I'll tell them off for not really checking to see that they work and maybe I won't.

Then I'll stop at the recycle center and dump off the pieces that were the new dryer's cardboard box in the cardboard bin.   Then I'll come home and slide the old Admiral out of the garage, tip it into the back, push it in the rest of the way and head to the metal recycler where it will garner no doubt maybe a dollar in scrap value.

And finally then, yes indeed, the broken dryer saga will be history.

I hope.

Best Christmas present EVER!!