Breakdowns and Crashes

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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. 

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

…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.

 

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.

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.