doafy (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} doafy) wrote,@ 2009-07-13 10:21:00 |
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When things go wrong
Right now, the following things are not working in my house: doorbell, clothes dryer, garbage disposal.
In the rest of my life, I do pretty well when things break down. Something happens to the car, and you take it in and get it fixed. No big deal. But things in my house breaking send me into a paralyzed sort of panic. I'm always convinced that they're indicative of some much larger, systemic problem, even when they're probably not. Because of that, I'm kind of terrified to try to fix anything on my own. I could probably do the doorbell in ten minutes, but I'm not confident about it. The dryer I definitely couldn't fix, but I don't mind hanging the laundry. I kind of actually prefer it. The disposal, however, is kind of important. It went out last night when Lance decided to run whole head's worth of lettuce down it. Naturally, the drain stopped up. We plunged and plunged, and finally resorted to drano, which looked like it wasn't going to work until we seriously considered taking apart the U-bend. Then the drain miraculously cleared. However, it looks like we overloaded the disposal. It worked while things were stopped up, but the minute it cleared, it stopped working. Now you flip the switch, and all we get is a hum. We've both tried hitting the reset button, but to no avail.
I'm guessing this means we'll need a new disposal. Right now we've got a trap in the drain opening so that food won't wash down, and we'll probably be fine with that for a while. But it stresses me out to know that something isn't working in the house that should be. And that we'll probably have to find someone to come fix or replace it. I wish I had a good, dependable handyman that I could just call to come and take care of things. I know they exist, but finding a good one is the difficult part.
UPDATE! Lance fixed the disposal! It turns out it was just really jammed, and wiggling the flywheel loose with an Alin wrench was all it needed. As much as it being broken bummed me out, it being fixed elates me. I keep walking through the kitchen thinking, "This WORKS now!" Yay!
Right now, the following things are not working in my house: doorbell, clothes dryer, garbage disposal.
In the rest of my life, I do pretty well when things break down. Something happens to the car, and you take it in and get it fixed. No big deal. But things in my house breaking send me into a paralyzed sort of panic. I'm always convinced that they're indicative of some much larger, systemic problem, even when they're probably not. Because of that, I'm kind of terrified to try to fix anything on my own. I could probably do the doorbell in ten minutes, but I'm not confident about it. The dryer I definitely couldn't fix, but I don't mind hanging the laundry. I kind of actually prefer it. The disposal, however, is kind of important. It went out last night when Lance decided to run whole head's worth of lettuce down it. Naturally, the drain stopped up. We plunged and plunged, and finally resorted to drano, which looked like it wasn't going to work until we seriously considered taking apart the U-bend. Then the drain miraculously cleared. However, it looks like we overloaded the disposal. It worked while things were stopped up, but the minute it cleared, it stopped working. Now you flip the switch, and all we get is a hum. We've both tried hitting the reset button, but to no avail.
I'm guessing this means we'll need a new disposal. Right now we've got a trap in the drain opening so that food won't wash down, and we'll probably be fine with that for a while. But it stresses me out to know that something isn't working in the house that should be. And that we'll probably have to find someone to come fix or replace it. I wish I had a good, dependable handyman that I could just call to come and take care of things. I know they exist, but finding a good one is the difficult part.
UPDATE! Lance fixed the disposal! It turns out it was just really jammed, and wiggling the flywheel loose with an Alin wrench was all it needed. As much as it being broken bummed me out, it being fixed elates me. I keep walking through the kitchen thinking, "This WORKS now!" Yay!
