Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Laundry
Sunday Night – domestic day – my laundry has piled up and needs to be done. My Italian washer/spinner combo decides to have an episode on me. The main breaker (not the circuit with the machine, but the entire apartment!) keeps tripping as I try to do my first load of wash. It plunges me into darkness.
First let me explain where my breaker box is --- above the kitchen sink. Even for me to reach it, I have to lean against a metal sink (that has water near it) and flip a door and flip the breaker in the pitch black. Now, China runs 220 volts vs the 110 in the US (220, 240 – what’s the difference?). My washing machine is in the kitchen and is connected the same pipes as my sink. If something is wrong with the machine, I really don’t want to get fried. I put on my thickest sneakers, put plastic baggies on my hands and felt for the breaker to flip. The lights came back on and I started the machine again…10 minutes later, it tripped the breaker again.
My washing machine is a front loader. So I flipped the breaker again, popped the door of my machine open and promptly flooded my kitchen with soapy water. And proceeded to finish the load by hand in my bathtub.
I hope it is fixed by the time I get back…I really do not want to do that exercise ever again on a Sunday night.
First let me explain where my breaker box is --- above the kitchen sink. Even for me to reach it, I have to lean against a metal sink (that has water near it) and flip a door and flip the breaker in the pitch black. Now, China runs 220 volts vs the 110 in the US (220, 240 – what’s the difference?). My washing machine is in the kitchen and is connected the same pipes as my sink. If something is wrong with the machine, I really don’t want to get fried. I put on my thickest sneakers, put plastic baggies on my hands and felt for the breaker to flip. The lights came back on and I started the machine again…10 minutes later, it tripped the breaker again.
My washing machine is a front loader. So I flipped the breaker again, popped the door of my machine open and promptly flooded my kitchen with soapy water. And proceeded to finish the load by hand in my bathtub.
I hope it is fixed by the time I get back…I really do not want to do that exercise ever again on a Sunday night.
