Do you ever just feel like if it isn't one thing, it's a dozen? I know my poor, sweet husband does!
Our washer/dryer machine has been giving us fits over the past week. Under normal circumstances (i.e., in a sticks and bricks house), that wouldn't be *such* a big deal.
But in an RV things are just a bit different. First of all, our machine is in our master bedroom closet. In the corner. Gals, I don't know about you, but I hang a LOT of my clothes. And the hanging space in our [only] closet is less than 4' long -- and Todd and I *share* it.
It's packed. And not just on the rod ... but on the precious premium floor space (read, storage space), too!
And in order to get to the washer/dryer, *everything* has to be removed from the closet. And put someplace else. In our RV. And we still have to be able to function. LOL! Life has been interesting, to say the least!
So Todd pulled everything out of the closet and pulled the machine out where he could look at it/work on it. He couldn't find anything so a repairman was called in. The repairman got delayed, but finally got to the RV ... at 8 p.m.! He couldn't find anything right off ... so he had to come back the next day. Finally they figured out that there was a loose wire somewhere and got it hooked back up.
Todd, being the smart man that he is, decided we should run some laundry through it, to make sure it was really fixed, before putting it back into the corner nook of the closet it occupies, and putting everything back into the closet. So over the weekend, we ran four or five loads . . . everything worked perfectly and we felt confident that it was truly fixed and proceeded to put things back into order. You have to understand ... in the living space of an RV, it's critical (at least to me) that things stay organized and de-cluttered. So having a whole closet's worth of clothes and shoes and "stowed things" spread throughout the rest of the RV's space is a little ... style-cramping! No, not style-cramping ... it's LIFE-cramping! Hahaha!
From the outside, you can see where the washer/dryer sits (on the left of the picture) and how much room that leaves for clothes. Harrumph. You can also see that it's not a deep closet, by any means!
Anyway, things were put back into order, we took a deep breath, and proceeded to go about daily business. Another couple of loads of laundry included. Tossed a load in, along with the soap and fabric softener, twisted the dial, and . . .
Nothing. *sigh*
So, everything AGAIN got pulled from the closet and the machine was pulled out and examined. The wire that was loose before wasn't loose this time ... it was the timer. The earliest we could get a new timer shipped to us was today. Todd ordered the timer and made an appointment for the repairman to come out Thursday to install it. And as he was putting the cover back on the machine, he heard a steady stream of water ... even though the machine was off. Aye yi yi!! A leaky gasket? A blown hose? This may have been the proverbial straw that broke the proverbial camel's back. You see, this is not the first run-in we've had with our machine ... it's actually the third or fourth we've had in less than three years (we didn't have it installed right away when we went full time). I've blogged about this before.
He called me on the phone (yes, I had escaped). Did we really want to keep sinking money into fixing a machine that insisted on breaking down on a regular basis? He'd done some Internet research and found what he believed to be the best RV/Marine combo machine out there. A Splendide 2100XC vented washer/dryer:
The Splendide® 2100 saves space, goes from wash to dry automatically, and has an oversized drum that accepts the bigger laundry loads.
It's been shipped.
I've been reading the user's manual and the quick start guide. I'm really excited! It looks so pretty and fancy . . .
. . . and it holds up to FIFTEEN pounds of laundry - that's pretty major for a combo machine! I've also been reading reviews by fulltime RVers. I think we're getting a premium machine. Look out dirty clothes! Plus, this machine is supposed to have a much quieter/smoother spin cycle. They boast you can even have it run while you're asleep. WOW! That's really big. Our current machine shakes the entire RV like an earthquake when it runs the spin cycle. Though I have to admit, I might miss my traveling wise men (see point four)!
Maybe life will get back to normal again someday soon. In the meantime, I think today may be another 'escape' day. Right?!
And I've been pondering . . . do I really need all the clothes that are were in my closet???
Tomorrow I get to co-host Favorite Things Thursday! I *so* hope you'll come back!
:)
