It seems like almost every heat generating appliance decided to stop working as soon as it started getting cold.

First, the heat for my side of the duplex decided to stop working.  There were some frosty mornings where the temperature inside the house was 58° F.  I tried plugging in a space heater and that stopped working after a few minutes.  I swear I could hear it saying “It’s too early for winter… let me go back to sleep.”

Then the clothes dryer stopped working.  Well, the clothes dryer sits on top of the access panel for the crawl space under the house where the boiler is that heats the house.  It was a case of tackling both of those projects at the same time.

I am really fortunate that I know how to fix things. I feel bad for people that must resort to calling a repairman and paying inflated prices for things that aren’t very expensive.  The problem with house heat was a small switch that cost me $1.95 to replace.  I’m sure if a repairman was called, he would have replaced the larger unit the switch was contain in (probably $80), as well as charge $200 for the labor.

What’s more aggravating, is that this is the second switch that has failed.  There was an older one that had been replaced probably years ago lying in the dirt nearby.   It had the same thing wrong with it as the one I had replaced.  The way it’s wired, it’s designed to fail every 5 to 10 years.  The boiler manufacturer was too cheap to include another 5¢ part that would keep the switch from wearing out.  I added the 5¢ part to the circuit and all should be good.

By the way, I want to mention how much I hate the crawl space.  It’s all of the spider webs!  It’s like a scene from Arachnophobia, webs going every which way, some with an occasion dessicated bug hanging from them.  Fortunately it’s tall enough down there so I don’t have to crawl.  I have to walk hunched over like Igor and I usually don’t see the web until it’s in my mouth.

The problem with the clothes dryer was in the timer.  It’s 30 years old and just plain worn out.  I took it apart and fiddled with some of the contacts.  Hopefully that will keep it going for a couple of more years.  At least until I move out of this house.

All is now well in the world of heat generation and distribution.  While I’m not mentally ready for winter, the appliances are.