Tuesday, May 20, 2008

My Repairman

Last week, I proudly told you how I installed our new garbage disposal.

This week, our dishwasher backed up. The dishes came out all spotty and gritty. Plus there were a couple gallons of dirty water sitting at the bottom of the dishwasher.

SIGH. Everything goes at once. We decided to first check to see if the drain got clogged before going out and buying a new dishwasher. We looked and couldn't find the drain. So we did what any grown man does next.

"Hey dad, where do you find the drain on a dishwasher?"

My dad had me describe what was going on, where the water had pooled and the age & make of the dishwasher. We were discussing some options including how I might try to install it myself, when he said, "Didn't you just install a new disposal? Is this the first time you've run the dishwasher since then?"

After I confirmed it was, he indicated that he knew what the problem was.

"Steve, you don't read instruction manuals. You never have. As soon as you think you know what you are doing, you toss them aside."

That is totally true and I've had to backtrack many times when putting things together.

In every disposal, there is a dishwasher hook up. That intake pipe has a piece of plastic piece (the knockout) which needs to be removed so the water from the dishwasher can empty. I stopped reading the directions at step 5. That was in step 7.

Ten minutes later, the dishwasher was emptying properly.

I thanked my dad. "You just saved us over $600 in repair and replacement costs."

"No problem," He said. "Would you like to pay me by check or credit card?"

9 Comments:

Blogger Mrs. Chili said...

Hahahahahaha! I'm not laughing at you, really, but at the fact that your dad KNOWS that you'd stop reading the directions around step five.

You crack me up.

I'm knocking wood over here - neither our dishwasher nor our fridge got replaced in the kitchen remodel, and both are about 16 years old....

7:51 AM  
Blogger Lemon Gloria said...

Directions are so tedious. I'd have stopped at step 3. Congrats on getting to step 5. And glad your dad knows what he's doing!

5:20 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i think about how i save $80 every time i clean my own house and can thank my mom for teaching me to keep house.

11:37 PM  
Blogger Whit said...

Tell him you'll pay him in grandson visits. That should comfort it.

1:21 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yep...step 7 will get you every time. Personally I'm good for about 4 steps (putting our new grill together was surreal)
but for products where safety's involved - its best to push through and read thoroughly.

11:31 AM  
Blogger Peter said...

That is a terrific story
Thank for sharing

3:04 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

HA! That's something my dad would have said. About getting paid, I mean.

Except, of course, I am one of those extra anal fools who'll read through all the instructions and then rewrite them so they're grammatically correct and THEN install the disposal.

Yeah, my husband hates me sometimes.

6:57 PM  
Blogger Rich | Championable said...

It took me a long time to learn to RTFM, but I do, now. Craziness.

6:44 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

That's a great feeling. Personally, I despise plumbing. I'm always certain I'm going to come back later and find a huge leak under the sink.

10:50 AM  

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