I just told Vince . . let’s pack our stuff (but I didn’t say “stuff”) and get out of here before dark! I meant . . move to MO and never come back.
When I was fixing our late lunch/dinner, I started hearing a buzzing sound in the kitchen. I listened to the fridge, the dishwasher . . all the electrical appliances. Couldn’t figure it out so I called Vince to come listen. He thought it might be a breaker so he flipped off all the breakers. The buzzing stopped. He called the electrician and told him we have a bad breaker . . can you come check it out.
I was thinking . . of course it stopped when you flipped the breakers — the power to everything was off!
We’ve been sitting in the living room for a couple of hours and I told him . . something is starting to smell weird and it’s making me nervous. He got up and walked towards the kitchen and said “It smells electrical.” I unplugged the pressure cookers, the toaster, the mixer, the coffee pot, the steamer – every single small thing. I happened to stop by the stove and I said “I think the sound is coming from here!” Vince noticed the button for the stove vent hood was kinda between on and off. He flipped it over to “on” and it didn’t come on but the light on the vent hood still worked. I climbed up on my stool to reach the cabinet above the vent hood and when I opened, it . . that’s where the smell was coming from. It was a big, honking plug and I wasn’t going to touch it. I didn’t want to get electrocuted! So Vince climbed up and unplugged it. The buzzing stopped!
Looks like we’ll be buying a new vent hood! That’s better than a lot of things it could have been. Vince can replace that so at least it won’t be expensive. Now we can call the electrician and tell him we don’t need him.
Go ahead and tell me your vent hood is 50 years old and still working. We put this one in when we bought the house because there was a microwave over the stove and I do not like a microwave over the stove.
We sat down and were laughing about it. Vince said “Well, they say things come in threes so hopefully that’s the last thing to go wrong.” I said “Except that was about #15 for the past 30 days. We’re definitely due for things to stop breaking around here. Every time I turn something on – washer, dryer, a/c . . I hold my breath til I see if it’s going to work.
Sara Fridley says
I’m a firm believer that appliances have sympathy pains – with each other. Once one of them starts to die, then all the rest start feeling sick too. We replaced every single appliance in our house about 18 months ago. My husband about had a heart attack at the cost. But every one of them had things that just didn’t work right anymore. But they were original to the house when it was built in 1996 by the previous owner, so I guess it was time.
Judy Laquidara says
You know what’s going to happen now . . they’re all going to go out at about the same time again. It’s crazy that everything seems to be breaking around here. The water heater hasn’t been changed yet (don’t ask!), and the Co detector has gone off a couple of times in the last two weeks; the gate opener stopped working again and we’ve ordered a new one; the solar panels still aren’t fixed – inverters may be here next week. It’s crazy.
Rebecca in SoCal says
I think you have gremlins!
Judy Laquidara says
Really! Obviously, garlic doesn’t keep gremlins away!
pat says
Judy it could happen in any state.
Judy Laquidara says
Yes, but when there have literally been a dozen things break in the last month, that’s kinda weird.
Phyllis says
My vent hood is 43 years old, as is my stove. They are both the lovely avocado green. Would love to replace them (even though green is my favorite color) but for some reason, the builder picked our appliances and they are not standard size. Always thought the stove was small and when we starter looking into replacing them, they are smaller than standard size. That size is no longer available, and I really don’t want to rework cabinets and redo counters, but will have to at some point.
Judy Laquidara says
Oh, that could be an expensive fix but that’s amazing that they’ve lasted 43 years. I hope they last forever because the new ones, at least in our experience, don’t last that long.
Nelle Coursey says
I know the feeling very well! Always when it rains, it pours! Hopefully this is the last one you have to go through! And just think, with everything new you don’t have to worry about replacing those items any time soon. And you do want to get your money’s worth out of the new repairs!!
Donna says
I know how you feel. We were on the edge of a tornado in March. We finally got the roof replaced in April. A week or so later the heat pmp went out and had to be replaced. Even my little 2 slice toaster has had to be replaced a couple weeks ago. You know that old saying that when it rains, it pours.
Judy Laquidara says
I hope those were your three things and you’re done for a while. We seem to be getting the three things for us and everyone else.
Amy in PA says
We have an old vent hood that’s at least 50 years old too! It’s a big silver beast but it’s got a cool vintage look like a classic car. Still works great!
Judy Laquidara says
I knew someone was going to tell me they have one that’s 50 years old and still works! 🙂
Good for you! My guess is that they don’t make them like that any more.
Joyce says
My washer and my refrigerator are both 20 years old, so I know they’re living on borrowed time! Come to think about it, my water heater is 17 years old. I better start saving more money to be prepared…
Judy Laquidara says
I think the water where we’ve lived has played a part in the early demise of the washer and water heaters. These days, we almost need to start saving for the replacement when we buy the new one.