Another day in paradise...

Zeldman

Zeldman

Touchdown! Greaser!
Joined
Jun 13, 2014
Messages
17,784
Location
high desert NM
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Display name:
Billy
The dryer quit working a few days ago. It sounded like the electric motor locked up, and the drum was locked tight as well. Also there had been a smell coming from it. Not a burnt electrical smell, but more like a faint smell of lunch meat spoiling in the refrigerator.

I finally got a man to look at it. He pulled it apart, and said, ''I'm done''.

Turned out a snake had gotten in the dryer, into the motor and pulley and met his demise.

Since the dryer is less than 3 years old and came with a 10 year warranty, I asked if he could just get everything replaced. After many, many, many calls and several hours of waiting on hold, the Maytag man finally answered.

Dead snake in the dryer? No sir, that is not covered.

Ok, how about returning my money for a defective dryer?

Wait one minute, sir.

No I am not going to wait. Been doing that for days now.

Ok, we can replace the motor since it stopped working.

How many months will that take.??

We have a motor that is only 96 miles away. We can get that to you in 14 days.

14 days, wow..... 130 years ago that is how long it took to walk that distance. Can you ship it USPS instead?

Actually, yes. It will take 3 days.

Thank you, and how is the weather in India this time of year?

I am sorry sir, I cannot give out my location. Thank you for calling the Maytag warranty line. Have a good day.

So, we will see if it makes it here by Tuesday. And it will only cost me $136.87 to get my dryer fixed under a 10 year warranty.
 
"smell of deli meat"

I accidentally barbecued a lizard once.. I open the door lit the grill, and shut it

I usually keep the grill very clean but I honestly smelled something that was reminiscent of barbecue chicken

I didn't think much of it but 5 minutes later when I open the grill lo and behold there was a crispy little guy in there. I felt pretty bad, but I told myself that he was probably already dead since he didn't scurry away when I first open the door
 
I haven't informed the wife yet.

Anyone here like to volunteer to tell my wife about the snake and how it got in.??
 
Same happened with Samsung brand new washer.
Took them 3 months to find a replacement.
Best Buy and Samsung kept blaming each other on who dropped the ball
 
Dear wife, dryer stopped working. Replacement part on its way.
Love you.
Me
 
Zeldman said:
Yep.

Vent with screen ordered as well.
Click to expand...

I use these:

d1cbff71-b74f-4493-9be0-619ec8455340_1.8c6b2d5c1182175ecfa95c42ff412803.jpeg


Never had any animal get past it. It has a piston inside that moves up when the air starts flowing. Then it settles down again when the air stops.

Rich
 
I woke up to water on the kitchen floor. It was the great dishwasher flood of 2020. All cleaned up and water valve on wall for dishwasher is shut - it appears that the fill valve failed.... Open
 
RJM62 said:
I use these:

d1cbff71-b74f-4493-9be0-619ec8455340_1.8c6b2d5c1182175ecfa95c42ff412803.jpeg


Never had any animal get past it. It has a piston inside that moves up when the air starts flowing. Then it settles down again when the air stops.

Rich
Click to expand...

I'll look into that. We also have chipmunks in the area.
 
Zeldman said:
I'll look into that. We also have chipmunks in the area.
Click to expand...

Yeah, here too.

squished.jpg

That's what prompted me to install the new vent. There was no damage to the machine, per se; but removing the carcass was no fun, and it took a while to rid the machine of the smell.

vent.jpg

Rich
 
To be fair, is it really the responsibility of the manufacturer to cover damage caused to their product. Surely the motor didnt fail during the warranty period due to "normal use"?

Glad that they covered it, but could you really blame them if they said that they wouldn't?
 
Warranties are for manufactures defects, not damage caused by critters. They covered it, but didn’t have to. You were lucky. Sorry, I work in the service industry and have to deal with customers that occasionally ask me to fix things for free after flooding or some sort of accident that is not anything even close to a defect. I don’t like to work for free nor have my warranty ratios / claims jacked up by non-warranty issues.

I also agree with not telling the other half. That would open up a can of worms...errrr, snakes?
 
Doctor Bob said:
Warranties are for manufactures defects, not damage caused by critters. They covered it, but didn’t have to. You were lucky. Sorry, I work in the service industry and have to deal with customers that occasionally ask me to fix things for free after flooding or some sort of accident that is not anything even close to a defect. I don’t like to work for free nor have my warranty ratios / claims jacked up by non-warranty issues.

I also agree with not telling the other half. That would open up a can of worms...errrr, snakes?
Click to expand...

Yes, for obvious reasons, manufacturers can't be held responsible for wildlife damage except in the case of something that was specifically marketed as being resistant to such damage (such as a rodent-proof dryer vent). But I've had a few cases where credit card issuers issued warranties that far exceeded what the manufacturers provided. American Express Platinum, for example, used to reimburse cardholders for purchases that they simply didn't like back in the day. You could buy a shirt, decide you didn't like it, and get a refund.

Nowadays, the best credit card-issued warranty I've used has been the one included with USAA Signature Visa. Some time after the rodent fiasco above, I bought a GE dryer that had a defective thermostat that would malfunction intermittently. GE duly sent a "factory-authorized" company to fix it -- twice -- but they failed to solve the problem. When the dryer went out of warranty and was still having the same problem, I called USAA Visa.

USAA told me I could either buy the parts and fix it myself, or take it to any shop I wanted and have it fixed. If I chose the latter, the mechanic could bill USAA, or I could pay the mechanic and be reimbursed. I wound up doing both. I bought the part, and upon finding that the replacement procedure was more of a bother than I wanted to do myself, loaded the dryer on the trailer and took it to an independent shop. I paid him out-of-pocket, uploaded the receipts to USAA, and received a check in the mail five days later.

If that benefit is included with the card OP used to buy the dryer, I wouldn't be surprised if the credit card issuer had a much more relaxed policy regarding reimbursement than the manufacturer regarding warranty repairs. Stories like the one I just posted are good advertising for card issuers.

Rich
 
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RJM62 said:
Nowadays, the best credit card-issued warranty I've used has been the one included with USAA Signature Visa.
Click to expand...

Hang on to that. All the other cards have mostly killed that feature and the few left are using companies that all get horrid reviews.

Citi used to have that feature and a really good travel insurance feature. Both dead for over a year now.

Just a little notice mailed to you that most people throw away to announce the death of most of their perks.

But especially with the travel thing it happened industry wide. Looking around online it appears the industry shift away from the warranty extensions that actually were meaningful is also mostly complete.
 
denverpilot said:
Hang on to that. All the other cards have mostly killed that feature and the few left are using companies that all get horrid reviews.

Citi used to have that feature and a really good travel insurance feature. Both dead for over a year now.

Just a little notice mailed to you that most people throw away to announce the death of most of their perks.

But especially with the travel thing it happened industry wide. Looking around online it appears the industry shift away from the warranty extensions that actually were meaningful is also mostly complete.
Click to expand...

USAA is a good outfit. I know some really old-timers who say that the customer service quality has fallen off, but I've found them to be excellent at everything they do. They even texted me during a prolonged blackout in my ZIP Code a few years ago to remind me that spoiled food was covered under my policy. They've also called or texted me after every major storm since I've been insured with them to inquire as to any losses I might have experienced.

Rich
 
I have heard snakes in a plane before
 
Ever have a dishwasher try to burn down your home?

14666.jpeg
 
I have performed multiple internal repairs on my 19 year old Maytag (top load) washer, but none on the dryer except for replacing the cycle selector knob. However, both of those appliances were produced before the Whirlpool takeover, so I’m not sure how quality has changed since that time.

I’ve also made multiple repairs to my 16 year old Bosch dishwasher, including replacing the water inlet solenoid (twice... once stuck open, once stuck closed), the circulation pump, and the tub gasket—the last two required almost complete disassembly of the dishwasher. My wife has a tendency to push too many buttons to start the cycle, and push them too hard, so one of the plastic button backer pieces which was molded as part of the front control cover broke off; conveniently, that part is no longer available, and comparable parts for related Bosch dishwashers are ridiculously expensive (for a piece of plastic). Luckily, I was able to cannibalize an identical part from a blank button space on the cover, and ABS cement appears to have fixed things (for now). Recently, the lid to the rinse aid compartment won’t stay closed, but we don’t use rinse aid anyway (we use Finish tablets). Of note, we have tried other detergents and some of them just don’t work well in this dishwasher (i.e. dishes come out dirty).

The dryer vent that Rich mentioned above does work. I purchased it to seal out cold backdrafts in the winter, which it does, but it closes completely when the dryer is not in use and appears that it would be incredibly difficult for any animal to defeat. I was able to find two comparable designs—one from Lambro (made from uv-treated ABS) and one from Heartland (apparently made from nylon). I have the Lambro one, and spray-painted it the same color as the house. The Heartland one may be slightly better quality, and Heartland also offers a low-cfm version for bath fans and range hoods. Lint buildup has not been a problem—though some minor accumulation does occur, in about a year of use it has not impacted performance.
 
[QUOTE="Zeldman, post: 2927185, member: 19531"
Turned out a snake had gotten in the dryer, into the motor and pulley and met his demise.[/QUOTE]

Well... do the taste like chicken :D
 
Ventucky Red said:
Well... do the taste like chicken :D
Click to expand...

I went to the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup in Sweetwater, TX oncemany years ago. They had fried rattlesnake for 2 bucks a plate. And it was quite tasty done cajun style.

There was a representative of the ASPCA there making sure they killed the rattle snake correctly.

I was wondering.... how do you kill a rattle snake wrong.??
 
Zeldman said:
I went to the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup in Sweetwater, TX oncemany years ago. They had fried rattlesnake for 2 bucks a plate. And it was quite tasty done cajun style.

There was a representative of the ASPCA there making sure they killed the rattle snake correctly.

I was wondering.... how do you kill a rattle snake wrong.??
Click to expand...

Well... They're reptiles, so I suppose they can retain consciousness for quite some time after decapitation. Probably the only humane method that wouldn't render the meat inedible would be instantaneous destruction of the brain, as with a firearm or mallet.

Rich
 
RJM62 said:
I use these:

d1cbff71-b74f-4493-9be0-619ec8455340_1.8c6b2d5c1182175ecfa95c42ff412803.jpeg


Never had any animal get past it. It has a piston inside that moves up when the air starts flowing. Then it settles down again when the air stops.

Rich
Click to expand...


Looks good. How does it do with the lint that gets past the filter in the drier? I have to clean that out of the critter screen outside the house now and then, and it's time to do that, and replace the filter as it is falling apart. This would be an excellent time to try something different.
 
Ghery said:
Looks good. How does it do with the lint that gets past the filter in the drier? I have to clean that out of the critter screen outside the house now and then, and it's time to do that, and replace the filter as it is falling apart. This would be an excellent time to try something different.
Click to expand...

I've had no lint buildup at all. But it's a pretty short duct and all rigid tubing, so there's plenty of flow at the vent. Also, the vent contains no filter at all, so there's really nothing to clog.

Rich
 
Tarheelpilot said:
This is why my dishwasher now has a switch. I can just turn it off if it does weird stuff.
Click to expand...

In this case root cause was the fine mesh screen in the sump being gunked up preventing enough water from circulating and quenching the element.
 
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