The End of the Line.

 So I wrote about my previous trials with my dryer. The many, MANY times the machine has broken down, and my subsequent need to learn to fix it myself. Dryer Troubles have seemed to haunt me for the past year, but finally, a couple of weeks ago, I thought my troubles were over. *Sigh* I was wrong. So sadly wrong. 

A couple of weeks ago I went to hit the dryer button, and heard that horrible, yet all too familiar sound, that loud groaning my dryer makes when it's on the fritz. It's been a few months, so I just sighed heavily and shut the door and determined to come back to it later in the day. An hour later I mentioned it to my friend on the phone. She paused for a moment and then asked me a crazy question. You want mine? Really? Yes, oh YES, I replied. I knew she had been talking about getting a new set to replace the brand new set she had just bought. To say she was not pleased with her brand new set would be an understatement. Maybe things would go better for me? She was pleased to pass it on, and had already arranged for a new one to be delivered that very day, before I even finished the five minute drive to her house. But first, before I could make that drive, I had to get the old dryer out. This required some work. I had to move the fridge, and the washer before I could move the old dryer out. Both were in the pathway to the dryer's space. 

That done, I had to unhook and unplug the old one. Cart it out. Also. New car. Would I be able to make it fit in the back for the ride back to my house? If I put the second row passenger seat down, maybe. 

So I drove over, myself and my 81 year old home health lady. Got to my friend's house. She already had it on a dolly. All we had to do was get it out of her house without hitting any of her freshly painted doors or walls, or scratch the floor. Verrrry carefully we dollied it out the door and down the sidewalk. I made the two older ladies wait until I lifted, and then had them help me push it in. I had no plans to take any old ladies to the hospital today, if I could help it. They are tough and stubborn old women, but I insisted. Nobody was getting hurt on my watch. I went to put down the seats, and realized I had forgotten there was a toddler car seat strapped in there. And there was no getting that out. My daughter had installed it, and it was immoveable. I could not put down that seat to get the space we needed, which was only an inch or two. The hatch door would almost close, but not quite. We pushed and pulled and twisted and finally were able, just barely, to squeeze the new dryer in the back of my car and get the door shut. We high fived each other and carried on. Back at the house we had no problem getting it inside. Off the car, back onto the dolly, and up the ramp on the deck that my neighbor so kindly built for us last year. In the house and into place. Hooked up and ready to go. 

I was so happy to have my dryer troubles come to an end...so I thought. 

I had no issues for about two weeks. 

Then I started smelling something.

It was right outside my bedroom. upstairs. It smelled moldy, or mildewy. I looked at all the walls. I called a plumber. Fifty bucks later, he left with no results. I could spend all your money trying to find some hidden leak he said or you can just wait to see where it shows up. I agreed with that. I didn't want him to spend all my money. So I sent him on his way with just a service call fee. And still I smelled it. But not always. Only sometimes. It was just weird that the place I smelled it was just outside my room, right over the second floor stair landing. I thought maybe it was the attic. I went up there. There was no smell up there. The plumber had suggested my siding was leaking...but I just had all that replaced last summer. I tried to forget about it and carry on. But every morning my nose reminded me that something mysterious and unpleasant was going on somewhere within my house. 

Then I noticed one day that the clothes weren't drying. They were steaming. But not drying. And the computer panel on the dryer was all steamed up. I thought at first that someone had found a steam setting I didn't know about. I fiddled with it. Couldn't seem to fix it. And I didn't see anything in the manual about a steam setting. My friend had not mentioned anything about that, either. And now it was taking two and three hours to dry the clothes, and the towels had to be air dried. Clearly something was wrong. 

Then last night I realized I was standing in a puddle of water, as I surveyed the soggy mess of the laundry room. The dryer panel was steamed up again. The clothes were wet. So I did what I should have done in the first place. I googled it. 

And in an instant everything became clear. 

There must be a stoppage in my dryer vent line. 

I went outside to survey the outlet, where the PVC dryer line terminates. The dryer was on, full blast, but there was no movement of the flaps on the small grate to indicate any air was coming out. Houston, we had found the problem.

It explained everything. The old dryer that kept breaking down. Of course! It was working too hard, because no air was getting out! It's a wonder my house didn't burn down! The smell, that mildewy smell...when I thought about it, I realized the staircase landing, right outside my bedroom is DIRECTLY OVER THE DRYER BELOW! The reason I didn't smell it always, was because I wasn't always doing laundry! 

So I called somebody to come blow it out. 

 They came out yesterday and gave me a price and said they would be back today. 

Today I woke up with a miserable head cold. I stayed in bed, thankful that I would not have to be the one down there under the house, wrestling with pounds of wet moldy lint. 

Eventually I had to get up, though, and go get my BabyGrands as I call my grandkids, from school. While I was gone the dryer blower out people came to my house. The Mr. was here to take care of them. I was just so glad it would be over with. Finally. It was a slow drive home. It was raining and I wasn't feeling my best. I pulled up with the girls and quickly entered the house, eager to find out how things went. The Mr. told me all was done. They had finished and left. I turned on the dryer, full blast again, and went outside. Problem. No movement from the air gasket. Nothing moving. I reached down and stuck my fingers in and encountered a very large wet mass. I quickly jerked my fingers back. GROSS! I lifted the lowest plastic flap of the three and peered inside. There was a solid mass of lint packed right up to the end of the grate. They had blown it out, all right, but hadn't removed the grate at the end. They had just blown all that junk to the end of the line and left it there. I stuck my finger in as far as it would go and still didn't reach through. Ugh. 

I went back inside. I couldn't deal with it right now. My first priority was the girls. We sat inside and played puzzles and games for a couple of hours, but I have to say my mind was wandering. I was wondering what kind of tool I was going to have to find or make, to get all that junk out. It was too late to call the people back. I didn't want to wait until tomorrow. And as soon as the girls' dad arrived, the Mr. and I were outside. Armed with two screwdrivers and a bent hanger, he held the flashlight while I started digging it out. Down on my knees on the wet ground, nose running, sicker than a dog, I persevered, there at the end of the dryer line, until it was finally all out. 

And now I hope I really HAVE reached the end of the line, the end of my "Tumble Dry Troubles" The end of my long dryer saga. I am very thankful my friend gave me her old new dryer. If she hadn't, I would have just fixed the old one, again (and again and again and again) and carried on, oblivious to the fact that there was a huge blockage of old lint in the line. And to be smart, I have ordered a tool, a very long tool, to clean that out from time to time.