Epic Battle: Erin vs. Mr. Roper

If you remember, not too long ago my dryer stopped producing heat.  I changed out the heating element myself.  YAY!  Then I had a functioning dryer.  You can read all about it here.

p.s. If you didn't read my previous post, Mr. Roper is my dryer.

Well, Mr. Roper was a sneaky jerk.  I was two loads into doing my weekly laundry (which consists of about 5 loads).  I got busy and the laundry sat in there a while longer than it should have.  So, I go to *fluff* the laundry by running the dryer for another 10 minutes and nothing happens.  NOTHING!  It worked a couple hours ago.

I went to my favorite site to diagnose problems with my dryer.  Part Select.  Put in your model number, add your problem and it gives a list of things that could be wrong and with many of them, and sometimes a video on how to fix it.  YAY!

I'm going to go on and say that I really did not document this well.  If you watch the video clips that I place on this post, you can pretend that is me.  If you really want to believe it's me, in your head make him a woman who is swearing like a trucker.

So I did the diagnostic on my dryer.  I started with the start switch (even though it was unlikely that this could be the problem).  I mostly picked it because it didn't require a lot of work to get to.

Start switch from the inside of my dryer.

I am going to leave the explanations to the experts on how to remove and test it.



Looks easy doesn't it?  It ended up being my start switch.  The problem, NOT a single place in ALL of Houston carries the part, because this is the part that doesn't break.  Yeah...great!  I had to wait a week for it to come in the mail.

Finally, FINALLY it came.  I replaced it and my dryer worked.  IT WORKED...

FOR TWO FREAKING SECONDS!!!

I'm completely serious.  At this point, I think I had gone a little crazy.  Okay, maybe a little more than crazy.  Think crazy like Bill Murray in Caddyshack when dealing with the gopher.  The thoughts running through my mind definitely involved possibly blowing up the dryer.  The small rational section of my brain fought it's way forward and I decided to be logical and figure out what just broke.

I have a small confession.  The part that broke this time, well...it was already broken.  The door switch, you know the one that allows the light to turn on and off, that has been broken for years.  It was broken in such a way that the light just never turned on and my dryer would continue to run if the door was open.  Not a big deal.  Well, the jostling of the dryer starting back up was enough for this to go even more screwy.  It now thought that the door was open when in fact it was closed.

Door switch from the inside of my dryer.

Thankfully parts places actually carry the door switch.  What I'm really thankful for, it's easy to replace.  Again, I'll leave it up to the professionals to show you how easy this is. 



I now closed up the dryer, crossed my fingers and hoped like crazy that it would not just start, but continue to run.

It did.  Take that Mr. Roper!  I think I have come out on top in this battle once again.

Now, I have had a lot of people ask me why I just don't go and buy a new dryer.  Well, the dryer in the course of the last 9 years has had to be repaired four times.

Belt - $17
Heating Element - $66
Start Switch - $31
Door Switch - $20

$134 spent on fixing my dryer over the course of 9 years, plus the knowledge that I have gained is worth the dirty clothes laying around while waiting to fix it.  Also, I love that I have a dryer that can dry a load of jeans in an hour. 

My husband loves that I can do this so much he surprised me with a rose when he walked in the door after work.  How I love that man!

So, has anyone else tackled home appliance repair themselves or am I just crazy?

I Took On Mr. Roper

And I won!  Meet Mr. Roper.  He's my dryer.  He's old, but works hard...until he breaks.  So far, he is 9 years old and has had a belt replaced.  Mr. Roper decided to break down on me on my FIRST load of laundry after I had put off an extra week of not doing laundry.  Waiting for hubby to have time to fix it was NOT an option.  The kids would have worn dirty clothes the next day if I didn't get it fixed.

So, with my can do attitude, I pulled up Youtube and searched for a video on how to replace the heating element.  (I knew the heating element went out, because it was turning the load, but no heat was coming out).  And guess what?  I found one for the exact part number!

I spent less than 5 minutes watching this, then I was off to the Sears Parts store, picked up the new heating element for $66 and came home to tackle this on my own.

I unplugged the dryer, pulled it out and ewwww!  This is the back of my dryer.  I immediately vacuumed.  Then I detached the dryer vent.

Ahhh, much better.  I removed the black panel to get to the heating element.

Not much back there.  Not intimidated at all!  Especially because there are not that many wires.

I vacuumed the inside of the dryer, I swear I end up doing that every few years.  Anways, I located the heating element and detached the wires and removed it.

Yup, definitely the heating element.  That is one fried piece of equipment.  There shouldn't be any black, see.

Brand new heating element.  Nice and shiny!  Anyways, I installed it according to that awesome Youtube video and put everything back together and fixed the dryer vent.  It had a small hole in it near where it attached to the back of the dryer, so I shortened it by about 4 inches. 

All in all, totally worth it!  Start to finish, 45 minutes and $66.  It took so long partially because of a two year old attempting to help and needing to fix the vent.  I have a fully functioning dryer and had a mountain of clean, warm laundry to fold.  YAY! 

Disclaimer:  I am not a professional, just a girl with a can do attitude and refusal to pay someone to do something I can easily do myself.  If you are unsure of any type of home improvement, please consult a professional.  Repeat, I am not a professional!   

My House is Under Construction

Bang, bang, bzzzzzzz, bang, bang...I have a headache!  It's funny that when I am the one wielding the tools, the noise is calming.  It gives me peace.  When someone else is wielding them...it gives me a monster headache.  I only know this now that my house has been under construction for the last three days.  New siding and windows are being installed.  The paint won't be much different from what is currently on the house.  We are doing toasted almond and a darker brown for our trim color.  I really hate the current trim color.

My house...the work in progress.  When we moved in almost 4 years ago, the house needed some serious TLC.  My husband and I have been slowly tackling it.  We finally got a new fence in...after Hurricane Ike took out the last one.  (Yes, I am quite aware with how long ago that was)  We put in the new mailbox and post when we did the fence a little bit ago. 

The old mailbox was a travesty!  It was horrid and I jumped up and down for joy when Hurricane Ike blew my mailbox away.  Some neighbor promptly returned the ugly mailbox to our front yard.  Really?  Couldn't you have just saved me and thrown it away.  Seriously, someone put slats of wood around the outside of the mailbox...it was ugly!  Since it was functioning, we bungee corded it back onto the post and said we would get around to it.  I mean, who honestly wants to brave a hardware store after a hurricane.  Well, we finally replaced the old mailbox and our new mailbox and post is in.  I love it!

I now need to figure out what to do with the post.  Stain it?  Paint it?  Hang something from it?  It needs something, I'm just not sure what.  I am always taking suggestions.

Our house is slowly turning into a home that we love.  Turning a house into a home really takes a lot of work, love and memories.  

The things I love about our home:

• I brought my two baby boys home from the hospital to this home.
• We have the biggest and best tree in the whole neighborhood in our front yard!
• Our driveway is big enough to draw a chalk city for the cozy coupe cars to drive around and park two real cars at the same time.
• The master bedroom is HUGE!
• The garage is large enough to house all of our awesome power tools.
• I installed an entire closet system in our master closet...and I did an awesome job at it.
• We have the best next door neighbor in the whole wide world.
• And last but not least, this is the home my hubby and I started our civilian life in.  As much as we both love and respect the military, it was our time to move on.

I will post more photos of my house once the new siding and windows are up and the paint job has been completed.

Counter Top Hospital in Full Swing

Monday was a super rainy dreary Monday.  So the plan of letting the kids burn off energy at the park did NOT happen.  The kiddos did manage to stay busy long enough for me to open up the Counter Top Hospital (aka the spot where all the broken toys end up).  Instead of crafting or creating today, I was saving toys from becoming trash.  Now it was touch and go for a few, and a few didn't make it, but I managed to patch up most of them.

Guido came in with a broken arm.  He ALWAYS comes in with a broken arm, about once a month.  A nice thick glob of glue works...for now.  (Until Colton tries to eat his arm again)

Piggy truck came in with a dislocated wheel.  A little glue fixed that right up.

Squishy Race Car came in with a few gashes.  He was fixed up with a little glue too!  Ahhh, glue you are my best friend.

Tractor came in with a broken leg.  Lots of glue and a little accelerator and he was almost good as new.


The best part about Counter Top Hospital, most of the repairs just require some glue.  I like to use CA glue, because we also have an accelerator for it.  Be very careful with this stuff, there have been more than a few glued fingers in this house.  Good thing we also have the debonder to go with it.

Now last, but definitely not least, Green Blanket.  This is Maben's security blanket.   He came in for some stitches.

Poor Green Blanket, he sprouted another gash within hours of stitching up the first one.  He's already back at the hospital.  Another round of stitches and he will be okay...for a while.  He is getting old.

I am also sad to announce that Tractor has already broken his leg again and doesn't look like he is going to make it.  I tried.

So how was your Monday?