This past week our dryer stopped working. Our dryer came with our house and is easily 30 years old, thought probably older. We had repaired it before, but this time around, my father in-law, my wife and I could not salvage it. We might have been able to jury rig something, but it probably wouldn’t hold for that long. It was time to replace the dryer.

We found a basic washer and dryer set at Lowe’s and were able to get next-day delivery at no extra cost which was nice. The delivery crew was even awesome enough to bring them down into our basement saving my father in-law and me the hassle. Yes we did tip them, I appreciated not having to figure out how to get them down the stairs without hurting ourselves, especially after the adventure it was to get our old ones up those same stairs.

But that was only the start of the task, both the washer and dryer had to be hooked up. This was the fulfilling part. The plumbing around the washer has been lousy since we bought the house, but it’s worked so we haven’t touched it. Messing with it wasn’t on my list of things I really wanted to do, but since I was already going to have to get in there, seemed as good a time as any.

I didn’t go so far as to re-pipe the entire segment, although I would still love to at some point in time, but I replaced some old gate or globe valves (I’m not sure which one they were, but I don’t like either) with some easier ball valves, and shortened the length of hanging pipes.

I then wired up the dryer. It was my first time working with a 220V line, but thankfully it was relatively simple and straightforward.

I turned the breaker back on, re-opened up the water valves and checked to see what happened. The dryer ran, the breaker didn’t flip, so all looked good there. The water started flowing again and no leaks or drips reared their heads so it looked good for the washer as well. Looking at it, I felt good about the time spent.

I’m not sure if this is something that other homeowners feel, but it felt good after doing all the work and admiring my handiwork. There’s a sense of accomplishment I feel when being able to do these tasks around the house myself.

Much of this stems from the help I’ve received from my Dad, my father in-law and a few others. They’ve taught me quite a bit about the basics of plumbing, electrical work, and other maintenance tasks. For all of that I’m eternally grateful. It’s saved my wife and I a fair amount of money to not have to always call a professional when we can fix or install things ourselves. The proud sense of accomplishment is just a nice bonus.