Saving Quarters

You may recall the fiasco that we went through recently with the dryer we ordered. If not, here is the short version of the story:

My wife ordered an electric dryer. We could not use the 220 plug. We called to return it. We waited over a month for them to finally come and get it. Between the original call to return it and the time it was finally picked up were countless phone calls and emails to find out what was going on. Once the refund happened, we immediately ordered a gas dryer (which was what we had in the first place). The dryer was delivered yesterday.

So there should be no more issues, right? Wrong! I get the following text from my wife while I am at work:

” The dryer people can’t hook up the dryer because we have the wrong gas line? They say we need a plumber to do it!”

I called her right away. Apparently, they are not allowed to hook up a dryer to a copper gas line. So they dropped it off and left. I called my father in law and said, “All I need to do is get one of those yellow gas line hoses and connect it to the dryer and the gas line, right?” He said that should fix it.

The hose comes with adapters that you can use to connect it to the dryer and the line. I get home and sure enough, one end connects to the dryer. When I get up to the gas line, I see right away that the hose is to big to connect. I grab one of the adapters, it is too big. They were all too big.

Rather than run all the way back to the big box hardware store, I stopped at the Gilroy’s right in town. I walked in and explained what I was looking for. The employee starts to ask me questions. I told him that my father in law and I had put a shut off valve at the end of the gas line and the adapters were too big to fit it.

He did his best to try to understand what I was asking for. He said he wished he could see what I was talking about. I told him I had taken a picture of it and showed him.

He said, “Oh, wow. You can’t do that. That is illegal. That is for water lines.” So now, I am really frustrated. He goes and he pulls out a couple fittings. He asks if I know how to flare the pipe. I gave him a blank stare. I have no idea what he means.

He took me in the back and grabs a piece of pipe and this “flarer” tool. He shows me how you put it on the end of the pipe and turn this handle to make the end flare.

It doesn’t look hard to do, so I got to buy one of those tools. He says, “Listen, I’m gonna let you take our flare tool home to do the job. If you have any concerns or issues, call me and I’ll come over to help you. I’m not going to leave you hanging.” I was taken aback by his generosity. All I had to buy was a tube of sealer and a couple adapters and I should be good to go.

I get home, finagle the flare took on the edge of the pipe (after cutting off the shut off valve). I do what he said and Bingo, the end of the line is flared. I slapped on some of the sealer and began screwing everything back together. I poured some soapy water over it to see if there was a leak and there was a small one. After a couple cranks with a wrench, I checked again and was happy to see there was no leak.

I think I had more trouble trying to get that vent hose on the back than hooking up the gas line.

After everything was all set, I threw my scrubs in the dryer to de-wrinkle them. I pulled them out after 10 minutes and was happy to feel that they were warm. The dryer is working!!

I am so happy that I do not need to waste quarters at the laundromat anymore!!