Cash Positive

You know, I am starting to think that I might be one of the very rare people on the earth who are not necessarily saving time by owning appliances.

Last night, the dishwasher suffered a relapse. A few weeks ago it had stopped draining, and was filled with water that … well. Some of you might be eating. Let’s just say it was gross. (Use your imagination and know that you are probably falling short of the mark. ) Joe and I disconnected the hose from the pipe under the sink, cleaned it out and drained the thing into a bucket for about 9 loads, all of which were pretty much boiling water, baking soda and vinegar. Whatever was blocking the hose seemed to clear, and we were back in business, seemingly having fixed the thing with a minimum of money and upset, which was excellent, since we are usually so short on the former and long on the latter. (I’m glossing over the episode contained in that interval in which I emptied the bucket full of odious and fetid crap into the sink without thinking… and had the whole thing pour out of the hole in the pipe and into my cabinets. I don’t want to think of it, and besides, I’m not proud of how I behaved.)

That seemed to do enough penance for the thing, and life carried on with our dishwasher draining, which I really didn’t realize I was this emotionally attached to, but there you have it. (I’m a reasonably recent initiate to dishwashers. This is the first one I’ve ever had, and I constantly think of it as “the gift that keeps on giving”. Life changing piece of equipment.) It kept on working until last night, when Joe opened it and discovered it still full of steaming dish-slag, and we realized that it might take more than baking soda to lick this one. I got the screwdriver, thinking that maybe threatening it with tools might possibly get it to shape up, and then realized that really, I don’t know what I’m doing and I’d likely do more harm then good, and besides, Joe was going to fetch some sort of “enzyme stuff” that would likely fix it, and so I put down the screwdriver and backed away from the appliance.

This morning though, this morning I don’t know what came over me. I sat at my desk and I was so far away from fixing anything there, and the kids are so far away from being done either, and I looked at my inbox and my knitting and my writing and everything that needed doing and I snapped. I snapped and I thought “SOMETHING is going to come of today, damn it all” and I took up the screwdriver, and…

Dishapart6309

I disassembled the dishwasher. I didn’t take it all the way apart, thwarted by needing something a friend told me is called a “socket wrench”, and I can’t quite find the thingie that the repair website says has to come apart to be “cleared” but I did take a lot of screws out of that bastard, and I’m not taking no for an answer. I have a feeling I’m in over my head, and that I might not be fixing anything, and that a smarter woman would just look for another place to take repair money out of the budget, but I’m not a smarter woman. I’m me, and that’s all I’ve got.

There is a little good news though. While I’ve had it apart (and I’m not sure it will go properly back together) I did discover, down under that flying saucer part that won’t come out without the “socket wrench” a single, disgusting, bashed up PENNY, that may have been part of the problem, and certainly can’t have been doing the beast any favours. It was under the grate that is supposed to keep that sort of thing out, and I extracted it with a 4mm aluminum double pointed needle, and the aforementioned screwdriver.

I don’t know if that fixed it. I’d have to figure out how to properly reassemble the thing to know, and I was feeling a little down about it. Then I talked with Rachel H on the phone and I felt a lot better, ’cause as Rachel pointed out, so far today, I’ve turned a profit. I might not have solved my problem, but dudes I did make a penny!

I’m no appliance repair guy, but I’m totally in the black.