Averting Disaster...

Well all the websites are back up with new hosts and everything seems to be back to normal. So I thought I would take a break from the computer and get caught up on some homeowner chores. I decided to vacuum out the dryer vent with the shop vac. It may not sound too exciting, but if you have ever had a dryer fire, (or want to avoid one), it is a necessary maintenance item. Well the dryer vent went fine, but while wiping down the back of the washer, I noticed one of the water filler hoses for the washer had a bulge in it about the size of a golf ball. It looked like if I touched it, it would burst. And to those of you who are not clear on the mechanics of a washing machine, when the hose bursts, the water flows and flows and flows and flows.

This happened to us once about 5 years ago when my wife called me at work and said the washer was overflowing and there was no way to turn it off. And our house was built in 1958, so to put a full size washer and dryer in, the water supply had to originate from behind the refrigerator. So while the water was running my wife could not move the refrigerator to get to the shutoff valves. I was miles away and couldn't leave, so by the time, she was able to find someone to shut it off, we had 2-3 inches of water in the family room. It took hours of shopvac and days with a fan to dry it up.

So to end this amazingly boring post, I want everyone to check their dryer vent and washing machine hoses right now. A bit of preventative maintenance may save you hundreds of dollars, or even your life...