I wanna hear three cheers for this old lady! After being without my clothes dryer since I moved in November, I decided something needed to be done before the weather gets hot and humid. I surely don't want to have wet clothes hanging indoors in warm weather. The first thing I did was call a local appliance parts and service company to get some prices. The cost of the part was quoted at $15, and the cost of having a repairman come out and fix the dryer was $125. No question as to what I was going to do! I bought the part.
When I began to remove the old part, the nuts wouldn't come loose, so I blasted them with WD-40 and when that didn't work, I tried PB Blaster. Nothing. I didn't have nut drivers, so I was using pliers to try and loosen the nuts. I finally gave up and went to K-Mart and bought a nut driver set that cost me about $25.
When I came home, I blasted the nuts again and then tried the nut driver and after a while, they came loose. One of the wires had burnt off, so I used one of those connectors that you heat with a lighter til the plastic and metal melts and fuses the wire to the connector. I began to reattach all the wires to the new terminal block, but then discovered one nut was gone. I went to my tool box and found a couple of nuts and tried them, but they were either too small or too big. So off I went again, this time to the hardware store. I bought new connectors that were heavy duty because I was worried the one I had attached might not be heavy enough. I also searched for brass nuts. I felt incredibly stupid having to ask how you found the right size (I had one from the dryer with me). Turned out it was simple to get the right ones.
I came home and attached the new connector and began to reassemble everything. I then attached the dryer vent, plugged in the dryer, put in some towels, and turned it on. Then I waited to see if anything caught fire. So far, all seems ok and I finally have a dryer again.
I decided that if my brothers all all good at doing this kind of stuff and if intelligence runs in families, then there isn't any reason that I can't learn to do what they can do, within reason. You must remember that I do not enjoy doing mechanical things. However, without a husband or boyfriend or willing friend who wants nothing in return (if you know what I mean), getting things fixed is a real problem for women who cannot afford to pay a man to come and fix something.
Incidentally, was my work worth the $85 I saved doing it myself? You bet your sweet bippee it was. From now on, I demand to make as much money as a man makes! Even those without degrees make a lot more than I do, so I want some equality here.
Needless to say, I am quite proud of myself. And I have a nut driver set ready for the next project.
