Washer and Dryer

So.... I started developing the idea for this blog 2 months ago, but I really haven't made the time to actually post anything about my recent move, handymanning, new job, or culinary exploits. I'll try to catch everybody up, and I'll try to stay in chronological order (maybe).

We'll start with "The Washer and Dryer." The last time I moved, the moving company hooked up my W&D. Since I was paying for the move myself this time, and went with the "K-Mart" of moving companies, I was responsible for the appliances....

The Washer: I highly recommend the nylon pipe tape that can be wrapped around the threads on the end of a plumbing pipe, joint, or faucet. It is $1.97 at Wal-Mart. If this isn't used, water could (very quickly and unexpectedly) spray all over your laundry room. Also, make sure you put the waste water hose from the washer into the drain before running a load of clothes (again, to prevent water from unexpectedly going all over the laundry room).

I also recommend cleaning all the gross caked on fabric softener and detergent goo that accumulates on the washer at least once every ten years. The washer hasn't looked this good since the summer before I started medical school.


The Dryer: So, the big deal with the dryer is that the plug was not compatible with the outlet. When I moved out of my apartment in Little Rock to my house (I loved that house) in Tennessee, the mover guy charged me extra for a dryer cord because the outlet at the house had holes for a 4-prong plug (the dryer originally had a 3-prong plug). When I bought the house in Arkadelphia, I did have the foresight to check what kind of outlet there was - a three prong. So, I made sure to buy a new plug (not a new dryer cord), just the plug from Home Depot. Well, apparently "just the plug" is designed for use by rocket scientists (and probably electricians) - lot of cutting, splicing, stripping and bending of wires involved.

So, the internet says you can buy a whole new dryer cord, which you can at your local Sears for less than 17 dollars. It actually comes with instructions. You just have to take the back panel off the dryer, detach the old cord, and then attach the new cord (with a 3-prong plug). Of course, this is very easy, if you don't continue to drop each of the screws and bolts which hold the cord in place to the electrical connection, and your #1 Canine Handyman Helper doesn't try to eat the screws and bolts as they fall to the floor.

Of course it's even easier if after losing those screws and bolts (I really don't think Travis ate them), a home improvement store is open on Sunday afternoon in your town, so you don't have to drive 40 minutes to a Home Depot for the second time in less than 24 hours. By the way, while you have the back panel off of the dryer, go ahead and clean out all of that 10-year old lint that has accumulated (magically) in there.

After installing your new 3-prong dryer cord, it's time to make sure the dryer works. Place the plug snugly in the outlet and start the dryer - Wait, I recommend 2 things prior to checking if the dryer works: #1 hook up the lint-vent-pipe-conduit-thing (so the lint actually goes outside - not in a dusty, puffy flurry in the laundry room), #2 actually take the old lint-vent-pipe-conduit-thing out of the dryer (where you conveniently stored it for the move).


So the dryer works, but then I thought, hey I bet that lint-vent-pipe-conduit-thing (lvpct) is probably 10 years old, maybe I need a new one. Well the internet says that the kind of lvpct I had was the worst you could possibly have. Apparently dryers spontaneously combust if they come within ten feet of a plastic lvpct. This very much scared me. Not wanting to set my house on fire, or more importantly not wanting to run from my blazing house at night in my underwear, I went to Wal-Mart, and for less than $10 I bought a new metallic one which internet lvpct-fire guy says is the smart thing to do.


Now I do totally recognize that I had that plastic lvpct on my dryer for 10 years without a fire, but as they say "better Safe than Traipsing around your neighborhood at midnight in palm tree boxers while your house burns down."