So, well, Lowe's... Lowe's...
After, on Wednesday, March 8th, ordering the new refrigerator on Mrs. Andrew's computer, using Mrs. Andrew's email address and my phone number, we waited with baited breath for confirmation that all things aligned correctly and we would be gifted with a bouncing baby refrigerator, or more likely and more better, a full size and non-bouncing refrigerator.
And we waited.
Finally, late in the evening of the 8th, a message appeared on my phone that, yes, indeedy, we ordered and paid for said refrigerator and... that's it. Though there was a link to a web address that was supposed to be updated and listing all the pertinent information on said order. Later in the night we got a 'Delivery scheduled March 10 from 8am to 8pm. Whooo, big help there, Lowe's.
Come the 9th, still no update on any delivery window other than 'Tomorrow all day so suck it.'
Late the 9th, like after 8pm, we finally get a delivery window. 4pm to 8 pm on Friday, the 10th. Whooo! Progress!
So move stuff to the other refrigerator, throw stuff away (like, oh, a stripped turkey breast carcass from two years ago, don't think I'll actually be boiling that down for stock, or the 'meat-ish' hot dogs that I just didn't want to ever try, things like that) and sort things to go into the cooler when the delivery people come to deliver the new refrigerator.
Ahhh, lots of time on Friday for all the things I need to do to finish the last little bits, no sweat, maybe 10 minutes of jumping around, no stress.
So Friday comes around, I wake up, go to do my morning constitutional, grab laptop and phone (what? you don't read or do things on your computer while constitutionalizing?) and head to the constitution room. Start constitutionaling, and get through the the opening and my phone is ringing. Who could this unknown number be? Suspecting that something was up, and that I might not have time for all of the contitutionalizing (ifn you know what I mean,) I answer the phone.
Lowe's Delivery is 25 minutes away. Uhhh... But I'm just getting to the good part, so to speak. Welp, guess I don't get to finish quite yet.
Head out of the constitution room, I get Mrs. Andrew situated (we live in kind of a studio apartment, kind of, sort of, eh, it works) and then quickly get Kegan the wonderdog out and peed and then do all the last minute things that needed to be done leisurely on the 10th that now require pronto and immediate and quick action, like finishing the emptying of the fridge in to the cooler and the sink (frozen stuffs into the cooler, jams and pickles into the sink (still in their jars, OAFS.) And then wait.
And wait. Hmmmm... The need to finish constitutionalizing is getting painful...
And wait. Hmmmm... The need to finish has dropped into download position.
And Delivery Boys show up. Finally. And both immediately balk at the door because they are scared of Kegan the wonderdog. Who is standing on the bed shaking like he's an epileptic because he's happy to see new people to meet and pet him. Make Kegan sit, hang onto his leash for the Delivery Boys' comfort and, gosh, old refrigerator gets hoisted out of the apartment (like literally hoisted, the DBs had shoulder-chest rigs that attached to a strap that went under the refrigerator and allowed them to carry said fridge easily.) New fridge comes in same way, gets plugged in, they go away.
Clear the way to the constitutional room and finish the morning constitutional. Nuff said about that.
Head back into the kitchen and look at the HUGE (in comparison to previous) refrigerator and gloat that I measured correctly (for once.) The hole for the refrigerator was measured at 32" wide by 66" tall and the new fridge dimensionally was supposed to be 30" wide and 65 5/8" tall and here I am looking at 1/2" on either side of the fridge and maybe 1/8-1/16" gap at the top. Fridge done growed in the truck I guess. But it fits. Whoohooo.
And then I spend the next 10 minutes removing most of the tape and plastic wrap inside of the fridge holding all the trays and drawers in place.
Then I adjust the shelves.
So far, so good.
And the light works. A very strong LED light. Bright light. BRIGHT LIGHT. Whoohoo.
Loading commences.
Old fridge/freezer was right at 16cuft. New fridge/freezer is 18.3cuft.
The new fridge looks about as empty with all the stuff in it like your typical mall looks anymore. Lots of empty space. LOTS. Huge, Big, Empty. Whoohooo.
Seriously, this will help so much. Back at the old house, I had a 24cuft fridge/freezer and was always out of space.
Here in the apartment I had the original apartment-furnished fridge which, at 16cuft, was just way too small, so I bought a separate, me-furnished 16cuft fridge. Which, between the two, with only wanting to go to Walmart and Sams once a month for cheap proteins and such, was barely enough space.
Now? Now? I have all the room I need, and won't be space constrained much. I mean, short of thumping a deer with the van and keeping the roadkill I will have all the freezer space needed.
Whoohoo.
Since this was so simple, Mrs. Andrew and I discussed replacing the apartment-furnished old used-new dishwasher with a new-new unit if the apartment-furnished one starts acting up. Which we will do.
Looks like if we ever move, we'll be moving with 2 fridges, a dishwasher, maybe a stove/oven combo.
But at least I have space for food now.
Seriously, given half a chance, a 30cuft fridge/freezer would be wonderful, with a backup 16cuft unit and a chest freezer. But that's for when I become financially flush and we move into our very own Furherbunker or equivalent. One can dream, right.
And now for a musical break.
Long time ago, I met a guy who went by the name of Jed Silverstar , in the SCA, did kind of rennfairish singing and music (which, in most cases, is to real medieval music what bad muzac is to real music) and, lo and behold, he had an album by the name of "Merlin's Song."
Of which the musical selections go from musical interpretations of the Dernyi books to a trilogy of Arthurian songs. One of which is "The Ballad of Bedivere."
Have you heard of these guys? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lFjnlf--Jw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOvsyamoEDg They've been around for over 20 years and have an extensive catalog.
ReplyDeleteNot yet. My go-to for medievalish music is Estampe. But I will give the above a listen.
DeleteGood to read that the new fridge was delivered, and it works and NOT dented/damaged.
ReplyDeleteOh, most definitely. I forgot to add that when I bought my first fridge, back in 1985, it took hours to cool down completely. The new one? Ice cold in 20 minutes. Crazy advances in fridge tech.
DeleteBeans, given the possibility for so many things going wrong, glad that everything went relatively well - except the delivery window (whereas, UPS/FedEx now send at least 3 e-mails; "Hey, We are dropping this off at time time", "Hey, we are on our way", and "Hey, we dropped it off").
ReplyDeleteProblem with UPS/FedEx is that they don't make noise when they deliver. So Kegan the wonderdog will bark 3 times if he hears the package being dropped at the door (we have a wooden ramp and it amplifies noise very well, and Kegan's my hearing-aid dog (bad hearing made worse by environmental sounds and factors) so he's doing his job. The sound of the delivery truck in the parking lot will wake him up from a sound sleep but he won't make noise until the package or the ramp makes noise. And he taught himself to do this.
DeleteRamp is just a 3/4" thick 4'x4' pressure treated plywood jacked up to door height by a pt 2x4. Works surprisingly well, almost holds the weight of a car...
Many electric utilities offer rebates for replacing older refrigerators. Check with yours, there may be $50 in it for you.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, not for tossing the apartment fridge back at the management company and buying my own. Management company will hose it out and use it in another unit because cheap skates. Dang it.
DeleteAnd, my local utilities? Because of the general government side forcing the city-owned utility to pay for everything gengov wants, the utility side is now $1.7 billion in debt. Unsustainable debt, mostly caused by the city commission forcing the utility to buy a bio-mass plant that the utility can't afford to turn on and use. Big scandal, so big the State Legislature and the Governor are getting involved. Utility went from highest-rated financially public-owned utility to junk-bond status in 10 years.
So all the nice programs are being shut off and cut off and meanwhile gengov is still spending like a drunken sailor on his first shore leave in a year.
Yay me. Go Gainesville. Wheeee...
Crusty Old TV Tech here. Good deal, at least it wasn't delivered with a bashed in compressor and massive dents all over. Sad state when we have to cross our fingers on deliveries anymore, and hope and say a few Hail Mary's that it will arrive as expected.
ReplyDeleteThe top 2 biggies that kill residential fridges are:
1. Stupid Engineering Mistakes (LG linear compressor, GE rotary compressor, aluminum glued to copper in evaporator, dumb defrost electronics, etc.)
2. Dirt on condenser
My advice...if you have a bottom condenser fridge, pull the access panel and blow/brush the dust bunnies off the condenser coils. It doesn't take much loss of heat exchange to raise the compressor discharge temps to compressor killing levels. Every 6 months in most cases is not too soon. If you have a rear-condenser (old fashioned but better!) fridge, every year or so, maybe longer should do. The days of 25 year fridges is gone, for both of the above reasons, but mostly #1.
Cleaning, aye. I do need to be better about moving the appliances and cleaning them quarterly.
DeleteAs much as I love LG and Samsung electric products, I have seen way too many of their appliances poop-the-bed. So I stick with old school US brands for the most part. And GE has sucked as an appliance brand for a long time.
I've found that the less 'special' and less extravagant models tend to last longer. 'Super-high-efficiency' equals 'will croak as soon as warranty expires.' And, really, looking at a normal function normal-energy efficient machine vs a HE machine, and you save... $20-30 dollars a year in electricity bills and a quarter of that in water bills. That's not enough gain in the HE machines to make up for the expense and having to run the HE machines twice or three times in order to get them to run as well as 'standard' appliances (kind of like HE toilets vs old school ones, how is flushing 2-4 times better than just once?)
Good news on the fridge.
ReplyDeleteWhy does the "The Ballad of Bedivere" make me so damned sad?
Thanks.
DeleteIt's meant to. But, just like in the correct movies (like "Excaliber." Knock it all you want but it was a very faithful adaptation of "Le Morte d'Artur") it is a somewhat hopeful and moral message. "Do your job, do it correctly, things will get better." His voice lended itself well to that song and the rest of the Arthur trilogy.
The song, "Merlin's Song," has the line "England weeps, for Arthur's gone..." Sadder than Bedivere.
Damn. Miss Jed. Miss Edward. Miss Taka. Miss so many who have passed beyond the vail. Growing old sucks. (insert sad morbid music...)
Congrats on the new-new fridge!! I never have enough storage space whether it's the fridge, the freezer, cupboards, or closets. Or bookshelves!! I'm very glad that from late fall through April, it's usually cool enough to put stuff into a cooler in my breezeway, especially during the holidays.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about all the extra bells and whistles the manufacturers try to sell. I just want my fridge to keep food at the proper temp, I certainly don't need it to talk to me, or track everything else going on in the house!! Self defrosting is ok, although I can deal without it.
But COTT is correct--run a vacuum over the coils when they start to get fuzzy, otherwise everything overheats, and the lifespan crumps. I was reminded of this fact when I had my kitty, who shed copiously for years. Those "dust bunnies" were huge when I had to move the fridge to get something that fell down behind it. It was pretty gross. So I put it on the calendar to pull it out and vac behind it every quarter. Much cheaper than having to come up with money for a new fridge!!
Suz
Just like cars and computers, appliances that are bare minimum or medium level of fit and trim are the best. Less things to go wrong, which means more robust against stupidity.
DeleteIt's why my washer and dryer are SpeedQueens. Commercial laundromat machines, basically, without the coinslot thingy. Friggin tanks.
I was worried that the other shoe would drop with something to the effect of the new fridge shorting out, or not getting cold, etc. Too much negative house stuff from you on my mind I guess. Glad it was something positive. Enjoy that new fridge smell!
ReplyDeleteNew fridge smell is good, but the light is sooo cool. A bright 'blue' LED and did I say bright? Wow, it's nice and bright. And blue.
DeleteYeah, I was waiting for the double-flying copulation to come visit me. So far it has stayed away. So far.