A Tale of Two Dryers

Warning: This is a long post. I put it here mostly for me. You are welcome to read it, but feel free to skip it if it gets too boring. On a Monday, we took out our washer and dryer in order to put in the new floor. On thursday, it was back in, and I ran a small load of laundry. It was fine. On Friday I threw a load in but forgot to dry it, so I tossed it in the dryer Saturday, but it didn't dry. And didn't dry. I hung that up to dry (it was blankets) and tossed in the next load of clothes. It didn't dry. It wasn't even warm. And, it was Saturday. Why do things always break on Saturday? On Monday, we called a new appliance repair guy (ours apparently no longer services this area) and he came out. He couldn't figure out what would be wrong with the dryer, but thought it might be the element. He said we were only getting half the power, thus it wouldn't heat. So, he ordered a new element, and in the mean time, we couldn't do laundry because the dryer didn't work. The part came in and he came Thursday. He put it in. Same problem. So, he came to the conclusion that the only other thing it could be is the control panel. And, that would be over $400, even if he gave discounts on it. Well, that is when you say, "I guess it is time for a new dryer" because, really, who wants to pay for a part that costs as much as a new dryer. I was getting desperate to do laundry, so I went out that day and bought a new dryer.(As if buying 6 appliances for the kitchen wasn't enough!!) I got it from the people who sold us our kitchen appliances. They were great, sold me a floor model, it was just what I needed, and I saved a few hundred dollars, and I could take it home that day. Awesome. That night, our appliance installer (Klint) called to see if he could come that evening, so I said sure, and could he please also install our new dryer. He came, installed the dryer, turned it on, and guess what. No heat. Really? At this point, I could almost see the realization form before my eyes: "I didn't need to buy a new dryer. It was never the dryer in the first place" I wanted to cry. Or throw up. The appliance repair guy had never checked the outlet to see if that was the problem, despite knowing we had been remodeling. It turns out - it was the breaker. It was only sending half the power. Klint tried to fix it, but the breaker was bad, and the wiring was really all messed up, and loose. So, I called Tim. Tim came the next morning (this was Halloween), and sure enough, it was the breaker. We think it got bumped when he was putting in a new breaker for our cooktop, and because the wires were loose, it messed it up somehow. He put in a new one, tested the power at the breaker, tested the power at the outlet, tested the power running through the cord (because they had gotten the cord from our old dryer). All was well. We turned the dryer on. No heat. At this point, I was really ready to lose it. I had already missed the school Halloween parade because of this, and now I was wondering if I could even go to O's party to help. I called Klint from the night before. He came out to take a look at it and couldn't figure it out. He checked the power sources too. They were fine. Tim and I had already messed with it. I called the people I bought the dryer from, and they called their appliance repair guy to come out, but told me it would be Monday. I wanted to cry. It had been almost 2 weeks since we did laundry. We had run an emergency load at my in-laws, but that was it. Well, the appliance repair people called to confirm Monday's appointment and I told them I had gone so long without a dryer and they said, "Oh, well, let's see what we can do" This company is called Doyle's, by the way, in case you live around here and want a good appliance repair service. I got home from helping at O's party just as Doyle's called and asked if they could come. The guy checked the dryer and said, yet again, that it was only getting half the power. He checked the breaker, and showed me that instead of 220 volts, it was reading 8-9 volts. It makes no sense at all because it had been fine the day before. He pulled the breaker out, put it in a different slot, and it worked (which also makes no sense). Finally, the dryer worked. On Friday and Saturday, as part of the 10 loads of laundry I ran, the dryer tripped the breaker 4 times. We could just reset it and keep going, but it still meant that we had a problem. So, yet again, Tim came out (this was Monday this week) and took a look at the breaker. And, we finally figured out the problem. Six or seven years ago, we had a projector installed in our downstairs. The people who set it up said we didn't have enough breakers, so they took the breaker attached to the A/C and doubled it up with the dryer's breaker, and made a new one for the projector. They apparently didn't attach it well, and you really shouldn't double up breakers, but I guess people do it. So, Tim rearranged the breaker box, moving things so there would be a spot for a new breaker, and now the A/C and dryer are separate again. And, knock on wood, I now have a working dryer. So, it took two dryers, 10 days, 7 service calls, 4 repair guys, 2 breakers, and a lot of frustration from the time it broke to the time it was fixed. It is a bummer I had gone out to buy a new dryer. Being a floor model, I couldn't return it. Plus, after all that work installing it and getting it working, I was really afraid to move anything back or touch anything once it got working properly. So, we found a good home for the old dryer, and are getting used to the new one. I just never realized how grateful I am for a dryer. It is such a first world problem - I sometimes felt like a big baby complaining about having no dryer when people wash their clothes in a stream, and hang them to dry. In the end, it has worked out okay. Not my favorite situation, but it is over. I hope. I really really hope.