Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Breakdowns and Crashes

1a

Well, you know we couldn’t make it for four months without something breaking down.  Since last year we have had a intermittent problem with our Fisher Paykel washer.  Some items come out with a  dry soapy film on them.  We use Fresh Laundry Concentrate by Shaklee, something Marcia has used for many years.  She has had the washer for around ten years.  This has baffled us…until now.  Marcia finally discovered that the rinse cycle has stopped working.  We figure it was a intermittent problem, now it is constant.  It just does not fill with water….I am fairly sure the cold water intake valve, which has a solenoid switch, has given up the ghost.  It is connected to the hot water valve…and will cost around $75 to replace myself.  But that is a task for tomorrow, at least finding the part number and getting it ordered through Sears, which seems to be the best place to get parts for a Fisher Paykel.

1c

The washer and dryer and nicely hidden behind these French doors…except the washer was sticking out about 2” too far due to the dryer vent.  I found this “close to the wall” dryer vent at Lowes, which needed to be cut back just a bit to fit. 

1b

Now the doors close just fine.  Pretty easy fix for under $20.  By-the-way, we have Fisher Paykel because they have one of the best top loading dryers…yes, you heard that right, a top loading dryer.  Much easier on Marcia.

1d

The fluorescent light in our bedroom’s bathroom went out on us.  If you had it on too long, it would go dark….until it cooled down, normally overnight, and it would work again.  Well, I found it was cheaper to just buy a whole new unit than to find the proper ballast to replace.  This one does not hum…but it does keep our “over the air” channel 8 from working right.  Just so happens that the channel we watch the most I 8-2, which is “MeTv”…lots of old TV shows.

1e

A few weeks ago when it was real cold…our heat pump stopped working.  It sounded like the evaporator fan had stopped working, and indeed that was the case.  It was a small circuit board.  Well, we had to call him out again Monday when it was hot because the fan stopped working again.  It was another circuit board.  He told us that it seems that there is a lot of corrosion up there, probably due to being so close to the gulf.  He also said that this was a 20+ year old unit, used the old Freon which is being phased out by high taxes by the Feds, and it will need to replaced eventually…we just need to decide when.  Well, we decided the time is now since this last fix only lasted two days.  These old units can nickel and dime one to death.  Since it stopped working again, and needs to be replaced, it is time to do it now.  We certainly can’t trust leaving it set at 80 degrees while we are gone and expect it to last until we get back…and we don’t want to come back to a bunch of mold, which here in Florida is a good probability. 

1f

Thank goodness we have this portable air conditioning system.  It blows into the kitchen….

1g

…and through this hole between the kitchen and the dinning room/living room.  With temps around 80 degrees today, it is enough to keep us cool.  But it does create a lot of condensation, which that towel laying next to it is picking up.

2a  2b
2c

So what crashed?  It isn’t “what” it is “who”.  I went to the store to get some more water, only 63 cents per gallon this time, and decided that while I was out I would go give Skruffy and Bubba their daily dose of daddy Dave and Glucosamine Chondroitin with MSM.  So I called Marcia and told her of my plan….but I didn’t tell her my entire plan.  I was bringing a stowaway back with me because we can just drop her off later this evening when we head to church.  So what does our little baby do?  She crashes…first on my chair as I am reading blogs, and then on the sofa next to me as I write this blog.

2d

Of course, the little watch dog that she is, the slightest noise will awaken her senses….especially if daddy says “What’s that?” as he tried to get a good picture of her.  Stopped her from barking just time though…..that was a close one!

Note:  Skruffy is small enough to sneak into the condo in a large laundry bag...looks like a bag of clothes.  Unfortunately, Bubba is not so lucky, although he would be the ideal one to sneak in because he rarely barks.

8 comments:

  1. Oh my you have had your share of things breaking. Sure hope you get all this behind you soon and everything works smoothly. Poor Skruffy, having to be sneaked into the condo. Are you sure this condo is a thing you love??

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    Replies
    1. We rented out the condo was rental property to us before we moved in...it is a very safe area to keep all of our belongings. But there are other condos in the area which allow pets...but we need to stay here for another 14 months for IRS reasons due to it being rental property. Due to Marcia's MS, we really need to have a place we can fall back to quickly near the doctors she is use to dealing with. In reality, both of us would have stayed out on the road, which we will hit again in May...and our dogs will be with us again for that.

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  2. I just know Scruffy was thinking, "it's my lucky day!"

    Hope all the repairs are finished soon...when it rains, it pours!

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    Replies
    1. I think it was everyone's lucky day...except for Bubba that is. We will take them to a dog park again soon...he LOVES that.

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  3. Hope all gets working soon.

    Love that you had a stow away!! Very clever:)

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    Replies
    1. Wish I had my camera because Marcia's face just lite up like a Christmas tree.

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  4. Guess it your turn now. :- ( Hope everything gets fixed quickly! We're still in the middle of all of our repairs.

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  5. Yep. Everyone has to have their M&R turn. We knew about some of these before we left last year, but the Heat Pump was not expected nor wanted...that is something I cannot fix, and it will cost a bunch because the entire system has to be changed out due to the different Freon. But hey, it was over 20 years old...can't complain too much over that.

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