The Clothes Dryer

I do a lot of laundry, considering there are only two people here.

My husband can go through three changes of clothes in a day, working on the farm. In the winter, there are extras - insulated coveralls, jackets, thermal underwear. 

If I don't stay on top of it, stuff piles up.

Saturday is always change-the-bed day. However, the day after Christmas, I suggested we wait and change it on Sunday because I had not done the laundry for two days plus we'd each received new clothing. All of that needed to be washed.

I put my husband to work taking a few items from his closet. It's the rule - new clothes in, old clothes must come out.

I washed a load of clothes, hung them up. Turned around and loaded the dryer with a load of towels.

I turned the dial and there was nothing. It moved freely. This dial on this dryer had always been a bear to turn; even my husband found it difficult to move around the circle.

Now it moved and nothing happened.

I bought the dryer on February 21, 2019. It hadn't even hit two years yet.

"The dryer won't run," I yelled. He came in and twisted the dial. 

"The timer is broken," he said.

I went to the warranty drawer (yes, I am organized enough that I have a warranty drawer), and pulled out the file marked GE Dryer 2019. I had purchased a 3-year extended warranty through Lowes.

First I tried to call. I ended up somehow with GE, even though I'd called Lowe's, and was informed the one-year manufacturer's warranty had ended.

My husband took the phone from me and went through the menu options again, this time getting the correct place.

He was on the phone for over an hour. The customer service person, whom we shall call Miriam, did everything she could think of to keep from having to pay out on this warranty claim. She asked for non-existent numbers, non-existent invoices, etc., etc.

My husband, finally, had had it.

"Let me get this right. I'm sitting here with a receipt for a warranty I paid $130 for, and a receipt for a dryer that I paid for, and you're telling me because there isn't some number that you think I am supposed to have, that you're not going to service this dryer. Is that what you're telling me?" His voice was terse and his jaw was set.

But yes, that was what she was telling us. She would, however, set up an appointment with their factory repair people and someone would be in touch.

In the meantime, I had a load of wet towels to deal with. I have a clothes rack, so I put it up in the kitchen next to a space heater and eventually got the towels dry. They were stiff as a board, but they were dry.

My husband watched a video on how to fix the dryer at some point during the day.

Sunday night, as we were getting ready for bed, I had a thought. "You know, I've always turned that dial clockwise," I told my husband. "Maybe I should try turning it counterclockwise."

He laughed at me.

I went in to the laundry room and turned the dial counterclockwise. After a few turns, it started making the strange ticking sound it had always made when I turned it before. I stopped it on a drying cycle, and hit the start button.

It ran.

My husband cursed.

That wasn't the end of it, of course. Monday morning he rose at 5 a.m., because he had to feed. He threw a load of his thermal underwear in the washer and put it in the dryer.

I watched the timer. It went a little long, but it dried the clothes. He left to feed and I tossed another load in the washer. This time, the dryer didn't want to work as well. It stopped before the clothes were dry. I backed it up and started it again.

When my husband came back from feeding, I told him the dryer still wasn't working right. He called Tribles, which is a place that carries appliance parts, and told them what he needed.

They had a timer.

He went after it. I emptied out the laundry room so he'd have room to work. He came home, replaced the timer, and just like that, we were back in the laundry business.

We cancelled the appointment with the repair person.

I learned several things. First, I will never, ever buy the extended warranty from Lowes again. In all likelihood, I will never purchase another appliance from Lowes. Their customer service is simply awful.

Second, I had no idea how much my life revolved around doing the laundry. I hop up and down every 45 minutes to go wash something or dry something. I also like doing it.

Lastly, this thing of planned obsolescence that the manufacturers have going on simply is horrible for consumers. A $600 dryer should last me a very long time, not less than two years.