Remembering the great dishwasher caper
- Laura Moore: Housebroken
- September 10, 2024
- 776
This world is made up of two kinds of people — those who do their own home repairs and those who don’t.
The latter are less mechanically inclined but perhaps wiser. They have looked reality in the face and called the proper professional. Taller Half is very mechanically minded and very confident he could handle most repairs our house might need.
That man spent small fortunes on specialized tools that were used only once. He did enjoy some early successes over the years with a few repairs our various houses needed, and that only served to reinforce his repair confidence.
The real problem began with the dishwasher incident. Our house was not a young dwelling, built before the advent of built-in dishwashers. After we had lived there a few months, the decision was made to put our portable model under the counter.
Seemingly a simple job requiring only a few hours of work, it took many more than a “few” hours, but by the end of the next day, the dishwasher was under the counter and ready
to go. But it didn’t. It sat there under the counter looking great and quietly burned out its motor.
New motors for older dishwashers are not cheap. At this point Taller Half agreed with me to call in the professionals. The motor was replaced, wiring and plumbing checked, and the second motor died. Taller Half was secretly relieved because he felt no longer at fault
for the death of the first motor.
On day four the solution was found — a ground fault was the culprit. When safely grounded, the dishwasher was functional, and we were ecstatic. However, Taller Half’s confidence in his fix-it abilities was shaken, though not doused completely. With more enthusiasm than skill, he had caused a painful dent in our budget.
DIY overconfidence is not easily controlled. That house was to survive several more do-it-yourself projects until we made it so very happy: We moved!