Well, last spring (and about `6 months before that) we had washer and dryer difficulties (see here and here) and ended up replacing them, one at a time. When the washer went, the delivery guy hooked it up, as usually expected. But when the dryer went bad just a very few months later, the COVID-19 pandemic was in full swing, and I had a hard time getting one DELIVERED, let alone INSTALLED. Because of That Knee That Hasn't Cooperated YET, I got the super-festive job of installing the new pigtail (the plate that came with it to keep the pigtail from being rubbed and frayed didn't fit correctly - FUN hammering it into an appropriate shape), while That Boy (I guess I should change that to "That Young Man") took care of the vent duct assembly.
ANYWAY... After all that hoo-haw getting the dryer and setting it up, one day in late December, after That Young Man used it, he complained that it wasn't drying his clothes. Long story short, not only was it not drying the clothes, it wouldn't even TRY. Oh it would turn on and the lights would flash, and you could choose a cycle and all the settings, but when you pushed START, there would be a click, and then nothing more. It would just sit there and flash its lights at you. No error code. No nothing.
So we had an eight-month-old dryer that wouldn't dry with a BIG load of wet clothes sitting in it. Oh, me.
I called the manufacturer (it was under warranty, thank you) JUST after customer service hours ended. All righty, then. So I hauled everything out of the dryer and headed to the laundromat. There's only one in our city, and, if I understand it, only two in the whole COUNTY! Good grief. There used to be another one in our city, but it's been closed for a few years.
Well.
I hadn't used a laundromat in DECADES. Luckily, I had a roll of quarters I'd been meaning to deposit at the bank, so I grabbed it, the laundry basket of wet clothes, and my knitting bag and headed into the cold, cold world outside.
I was pleasantly surprised. The last time I'd used a laundromat, it was a pretty seedy place - dirty floors, several machines with yellowed "Out of Order" signs on them, and a lot of questionable characters hanging around. This was different! Although not one of the new "hip" laundromats with a coffee bar, mobile charging stations, and counters with stools so you can work on your laptop, it was clean and comfortable, had plenty of machines, the clientele wasn't scary, and I only spent $1.75 on the dryer. Not bad! I made some progress on the sock I was knitting, too! A fun Friday evening at the laundromat.
Anyway, I called the manufacturer the next day, and the guy walked me through a couple of troubleshooting exercises (while his dog barked in the background - working from home). We got a couple of error codes. He was going to transfer me to a tech team but it was Saturday, and they don't work on the weekends. UGH.
Monday I called yet AGAIN, went through all the rigamarole of being on hold for a half hour, explaining my problem, and telling them I'd already talked to somebody there and I needed to talk to a technician, then being transferred over there. All this person did was set an appointment with a technician - when did I want it? Well, ASAP, obviously! Did I prefer morning or afternoon? YES! Whenever! Just send someone, please! How about 2 1/2 weeks from now? What?!?!?!?!?!? Is that the soonest available date? Yes. Well, then fine!
All I can say is that it was a good thing that that load I took to the laundromat was the very last load of dirty clothes - all the hampers were EMPTY. But try to organize your underwear for 2 1/2 weeks with no laundry service. OH MY!
We made it through, the technician came to look at it, and fixed it without needing any parts. SOMEONE (ahem - That Young Man! - cough!) had overloaded the dryer with either too many clothes, or with clothes that were too went and heavy, and the belt had slipped off the drum. The idler arm pulley was also misaligned with the drive pulley, which made it easier for the belt to come off. So he realigned the pulley, tightened its screws all the way, put the belt back where it belonged, put the drum back into the cabinet, closed up the panels, tightened all those screws, and voila! The dryer worked!
...And has been for a couple of weeks, now. It took a while to get caught back up with the mountains of laundry waiting for me, but as of right now, there's about a half load of whites in the hamper, and that's all. YAY!
I should have taken a picture of the dryer's innards when the technician had the drum removed from the cabinet. Now that so much of the control functions are run by electronics, the cabinet was pretty empty. There just aren't many parts any more, but oh, if that electronic control panel goes bad...OUCH! It's expensive! You'd probably be better off just replacing the whole thing.
Hopefully, that's the last of the appliance woes for a while.
Unless the refrigerator...!!!
