Annoying Appliances

We have had our share of annoying appliances lately, including
1) an oven that suddenly took twice as long to bake things,
2) a dishwasher that quit spraying water, and
3) a freezer that either was on all the time or off all the time.


Now the oven problem was fixed quite easily (if it really is fixed, that is). The problem began when I was baking a pair of apple crisps--one for a family in the ward, and one for us. I was using a foil pan to be given away, and didn't know it had a tiny hole in it which allowed that sugary apple juice to drip into the oven. Soon came the burning smell and smoke. I cleaned up what I could in the hot oven, but then the oven took twice as long to bake anything. I finally put in an oven thermometer to test the temperature, and it was only getting up to 250 degrees, even though it thought it was heating to 350. It is a self-cleaning oven, so I tried that. It worked. (So the heating elements were okay). Then I tried baking something again. Again, it said it was fully heated for 350 when it was only reading 230 on the thermometer. I turned it off and tried again. Same thing. I turned it off and this time set it to 400. It continued heating past 250, and upwards. Then I set it at 350 and it worked perfectly. My conjecture: some water got in the thermostat when I did the "hurry clean" and hopefully now it is all cleaned out. We'll see! Otherwise, we'll have to change the thermostat.


2) We were without a dishwasher for nearly two months as Kevin tried to fix the old one (well, it wasn't quite 7 years old, so it wasn't old.) There was a small plastic part in the water pump that had broken. He called around--that part wasn't available. You had to order the entire pump/motor for $250. So over a couple of weeks, he tried different things--gluing it with Monster glue, etc. It would work for about half the cycle, then, kaput! Finally, we just got a new dishwasher--not the same brand, but it is the same dishwasher (apparently, one company makes them for several brands, Amana, Kenmore, and so on). Cost? $275. So for just $25 more, we have new racks and everything. Our old racks were beginning to get rusty tips. It fit the spot well, and for those of you who have used our old one, this one has a handle that actually works well. And the pump has been redesigned so it doesn't have that little plastic part to break.


This did have its positive side though. Alice and Elizabeth got to have the experience of doing dishes by hand. And now that the dishwasher is working again, I find that I liked having all the dishes done and put away. It is a longer process now when if I need a certain pot or bowl, I look first in its normal place, then I look in the dishwasher (because somehow, they never get put away until the next day).



3) The freezer story goes like this. One Saturday morning as Kevin and I went out into the garage to leave for the Nauvoo Temple, we found the freezer door had swung open (the night before) and ice cream goo was oozing across the floor along with other melted waters. We had to leave, so all we could do was do a 5-minute clean-up, close the door, and defrost it another time.
A week later, Alice helped me with the unloading of all the frozen items. It was a nice day, so we used the garden hose to spray water and cut through the built-up ice. That is MUCH faster than any other method for getting rid of the ice (this is a 30-year-old freezer). Then we dried it out, organized everything as we put it back, and congratulated ourselves on the fastest-ever defrosting job! The only problem was, for the next several days, it seemed that the freezer was always running, and the ice cream was rock-hard. The control was frozen! So I used a blow-dryer on the control, and within a minute, it was free and moveable. But then, after a day or two, I realized I never heard it running. Sure enough, it was getting warmer inside! Again, the control was frozen. Out came the blow-dryer, and this time, I used it long enough to dry the water out of the control, not just thaw it. So now it is working properly again, and we always lock the door to avoid the unintended thaws. (I guess there is a lot to be said for a chest-type freezer!)