My dryer stopped working. Actually it’s been in slow decline for a while, but it had gotten to the point where I would have to run it through the full drying cycle four or five times before the clothes would be dry.
I decided to get a new dryer. Consumer Reports suggested that the feature most worth getting was a moisture sensor. It shuts the dryer off when the clothes are dry and saves you energy. (Cheaper models have a thermostat that sense only temperature.)
After going here, there, and yon, I went to the Sears Outlet store, and there it was: a beautiful Kenmore something-or-other with lots of bells and whistles (including a moisture sensor). And it was at a great price… a full 60% off. Woo hoo! I took it right home.
But once I got it home, there was a problem. Because it is a humongo capacity dryer, it was too big for my basement door. After taking the panel off the back of the dryer and taking the basement door off its hinges, it STILL didn’t fit.
I cut the door frame.
I have to give a shout-out to Denis, who helped wrangle the dryer into the house, and didn’t kill me in frustration when the machine didn’t fit. I am proud to say I hooked up the gas line all by myself. I’ve even dried some clothes, and the house hasn’t blown up. Yet.
Is there nothing you can’t do? In one blog article I see …
* knowing when you’re licked and starting fresh with a new appliance (four times in the cycle? That’s just wrong!)
* making a wise CR-based purchase (we used to subscribe to that for years and only bought what was recommended there. They never steered us wrong.)
* creatively seeking ways to force a square dryer through a rectangular doorway (variation on square peg in round hole), including modifications to the home itself!
* sharing credit for brains/brawn with house mate (a lesser person would not have bothered to mention that he couldn’t do all this single-handedly)
Congrats, sir!! May you have years of clothes-drying bliss now.
[Our dryer has the moisture sensor and it truly does help. I also love the “wrinkle guard” – up to 30 min. of cooler temp tumbling after the cycle ends – ‘cuz sometimes the cycle is so short (due to the moisture sensor?) that without it I would not notice it was over and warm clothes would pile up and get wrinkled until I got down there to rescue them. Ya’ gotta love the bells and whistles.]
Wow. I can even say that backwards – woW.
Ha! You cut the door frame! That slays me. Well done!
I have some even cheaper models you could have looked at, and Consumer Reports says they’re even more energy-efficient!
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/cleaning/small-space-solution-wallmounted-drying-racks-048035
Feel free to shoot me now.
Our dryer died last summer – it was right in the middle of the push to get ready for school, and we were also dealing with a burst power steering line/dead alternator in on of the cars that the mechanic was jacking us around over. We had a 2 minute discussion about whether to fix the motor of the dryer or buy a new unit. After realizing that it would take time to pick out a new one, schedule a delivery (cuz dryers don’t fit in compact cars), and deal with getting rid of the old one, we had the Maytag repair guy put in a new motor and we’ve started a new 10 years of drying bliss!
I hope one of the bells or whistles on your brand new, hi-tech machine alerts you when a sock is trying to escape.
Oh, so true!