Kenmore the Undrying

When I bought my house, the previous owner left behind all the appliances.

This was not stated in the contract, and was unexpected, but I wasn't gonna complain.

The washer was immediately replaced with the one we already had, and the dryer stayed. (Ok, it moved from one wall to another. There was no reason it should be venting under the deck) It ran perfectly, handling endless loads of laundry week after week (come on, I have 4 kids, there's gonna be a lot), until just a week ago.

It went from a dryer to a tumbler. Uselessly spinning wet laundry until the timer stopped. It was then that I realized just how much I love the internet.

A 3 minute search revealed the most common problems, and 2 minutes later with a multimeter I was able to determine that it was a blown thermal fuse, and Amazon Prime had a replacement within 36 hours.

In my youth, back in the 90's we all remember so nostalgically, that would have been impossible. Unless you were already a repairman, your best bet would have been to either own a copy of, or hit your local library or bookstore hoping they have a copy of a moderately comprehensive handyman repair guide. Having a friend that did this sort of thing all the time would be helpful, too. Once you went through the painstaking process of determining the problem, getting replacement parts was a pain. Who even sells them? You find some handyman repair shop and hope they have the part you need, or drive around various hardware stores, or dig out a parts catalog and keep your credit card ready. Don't hold your breath, shipping will take a week or two.

It might have been easier than that, I wouldn't know. I was a teenager then, and never owned any major appliances until after YouTube tutorials and Amazon. Look, all I'm saying it "heck yea internet"