What Do You Mean It’s Not Working????????

You know sometimes you think it’s working and it really is not.

I can hear you now. “Kevin are you crazy?” I just might be, but on this particular topic I am not.

I am talking about older equipment in your home. It could be a stove, furnace, air conditioner, smoke detector, oven, water heater, windows, electrical surge protector and the list goes on and on.

You see, as equipment gets old, it loses efficiency, costing you time and money.

I want to share what just happened in my home.

Over the week end, my lovely wife Dorie was doing some laundry.

I heard her turn on the clothes dryer, that my memory tells me is is only ten years old. Hey, it is still fairly new, so it must be working just fine. Wrong. She hits the start button and I hear a horrible rumbling grumbling sound. The drum doesn’t want to start turning. Reminded me of a car with a bad battery, that groans but finally gets the car started.

“Honey I think we might need a new dryer” she says. No way I am thinking.

So an hour later when the load is done drying, I offer to take the load from the dryer and put the load that is in the washer into the dryer.

I hit the start button and nothing but a whining sound and then silence. Again I try and nothing. I finally get it working and I make a call to a co-worker’s brother, who works as a appliance repair technician.

He asks me what the serial number of the dryer is and then politely proceeds to tell me that my 10 year old dryer is closer to 20 years old. I am stunned to think I was that far off on how long we had had this dryer.

I decide that I am not going to make a repair to a 20 year old dryer sitting next to a washer that was even older.

So off to Sears we go. I feel just like a customer that calls our company and remembers how much things cost “BACK THEN’ and am amazed at how much more expensive replacement units are now.

My first thought was to just replace the dryer since the washer was “STILL WORKING” Then a stroke of brilliance hit me and I decided to replace them both. The last thing I wanted to do was have the washer die in a couple of weeks and have to head back to Sears.

We bought both and I am so happy we did. These new machines are great.

The washer uses 1/2 the water that the old one did. It uses less soap, will automatically dispense Oxi-Clean, bleach, fabric softener, and has an agitator that is easier on the fabrics of the clothes.

This baby is going to save me money on cleaning products and cut my water, gas and electric bills. And when I pulled them out to put them in the dryer, this new machine had rinsed them better and wrung more of the water out of them. I was amazed.

The dyer has all kinds of bells and whistles. It even has a cycle that will steam the clothes and remove wrinkles if they get left in the dryer for an extended period of time. And did I mention that they are saving me money? Yes, instead of the hour that the old dryer took to dry a load, this new baby did it in 20 minutes. And they appear to come out with less wrinkles and static. Just Amazing.

Yes, folks, my old washer and dryer were working, but were they really working?

I now know that they were not.

My question to you is “What in your home might you be better off to replace even though IT IS STILL WORKING”? What in your home might you have, that is costing you money and time and wasting our precious natural resources?

If it is plumbing relating, of course I would love the opportunity to earn your business.

If you are in need of a referral for another home service, give me a call. After almost 35 years, I think I know somebody that does everything.

Kevin Shaw is president of Kevin Shaw Plumbing, Inc, serving the San Gabriel Valley since 1982. With over 30 years of in the field experience, Kevin has the skills and know how to fix most any plumbing problem and makes it a priority to stay abreast of the latest needs in customer satisfaction as well as technical advances. He has served as the President of the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors (PHCC) of the Greater Los Angeles Area, and the California State Board of PHCC. He is also a member of the distinguished organization Nexstar Network and a founding member of Service Roundtable, both of which are trade organizations that train and equip contractors to meet their customer’s plumbing, heating & cooling needs.

For questions, please contact info@kevinshawplumbing.com or call 626-359-1864. You may also visit the company’s website at www.KevinShawPlumbing.com for more helpful tips and homeowner articles and general information. You may also send any questions or comments to: 224 E. Foothill Blvd., Monrovia, CA 91016

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If you would like more information about plumbing problems in the San Gabriel Valley, please call us at 626.359.1864 or fill out our online request form.