I was the recipient of some good repair juju earlier this week, and it feels like I need to express my thanks to the universe for how easy and cheap this turned out to be.
John was in the basement doing something manly and came up to ask me how to reset the water softener. It's a bit finicky, losing all of its programmed settings every time the electricity even flickers. It's always been my job to reset things (not difficult, especially because I have all the settings written down in the manual on the appropriate page), so I sighed, put down my knitting, and trudged down to the basement.
Except the water softener didn't have any power so simply resetting it wasn't an option. We do have hard water and mainly need the water softener because of our oil burner furnace. It provides both heat and hot water and there is some sort of magical, expensive heating element inside. If the heating element is exposed to hard water for any length of time, it gets coated in mineral scale, doesn't work, and needs to be replaced. I've never seen this mysterious part but we did have to replace it when we first moved in because the older woman that was living here hadn't been able to lift the 40-pound bags of salt to refill the water softener for a long time.
John went to get his multi-meter and I got to see how to test the electrical output from the end that plugged into the water softener. There was no output, so John figured that we could order a new power supply from Amazon for $21.98, have it in two days, and be back in business softening water.
So that's what we did, and it worked perfectly! I was even able to look it up on Amazon with the old part number and find just what we needed. I'm very grateful that this repair was only $21.98 and easy enough for me to do.
Here's wishing that you all experience good repair juju in whatever needs to be repaired in your lives!
Well done both of you! I really love when the fix is that easy as well! :)
ReplyDeletePhew! When it comes to major appliances, usually a fix isn't so simple or so cheap. I think it's time to go buy a lottery ticket or something because you clearly had good luck on your side!
ReplyDeleteOh, that is excellent repair juju in action! So glad you were able to find the fix so quickly and inexpensively. :-) We also have hard water (really, really hard water), and it wrecks so many things -- even WITH our water softener -- so I'm happy you were able to get things back in business before there is more damage.
ReplyDeleteOh yikes! I would have been absolutely NO help whatsoever, but I'm glad you had the repair juju working for you and it was an EASY fix. Well done you!
ReplyDeleteFantastic!! We, too, have a water softener; there is no way we could live without one here -- probably the hardest water on the planet in my little town. Anyway, YAY! Good juju was in the air because my washer repair was only $200 yesterday. The guy asked pertinent questions on the phone (like, what's the model number?) and brought the part he suspected he'd need to replace... VOILA!
ReplyDeleteHooray for you! I would have been calling a repair person!
ReplyDeleteIn all honesty, I was all set to call the water softener guy but John thought we should test it first. It was a simple enough fix once the part came that I was the one to plug it into the water softener so I told John I fixed it!
DeleteGood on you and John for figuring this out quickly and cheaply!
ReplyDeleteWell hurray. I didn't know one could order parts from Amazon but everything else is available so why not. I am also impressed by your knowledge of all the working parts. Thursday we had some good repair juju here. Our clothes dryer of 30 years wasn't working and making a clunking noise. We had a repair man out thinking he'd tell us either he couldn't fix it or it would be way to expensive. He had the part in his truck and fixed if for $200. Given the price of new dryers, we thought the repair was worth it.
ReplyDeleteCongrats, that is some luck. I've been debating on a replacement system lately :(
ReplyDeleteI love the quilt you have your shawl on above this post.
all the best,
joan