In which I am irritable and full of frustrated appliance research

[zdashamber]

What's smart. Is it smart for your washer's brand and name to have no relation to its model number and manufacturer? Is it smart to have no manual or support on the web? Is it smart to have the water faucets and dryer vent 10 feet away from the gas faucet? Is it smart to have a double-barrelled laundry sink where the only water inlets are demanded by the washer?

No. These things are not smart.

So, I'm a bit frustrated. I guess the building code is that you can't buy dryer gas lines longer than 6 feet... But up to 14 is ok for connecting your gas grill, so I've maybe got an answer there. I bet there are various people planning to phone me right now to talk about how the building code is sacrosanct and I'm going to blow myself up Oh My God... I'm not in the mood. If it's a stupid idea I will determine that on my own.

It is extremely annoying to be in a place where I don't think anyone has ever had a decent washer dryer setup, trying to create a decent washer/dryer setup. All y'all who moved into places with washers already thought out can be fucking thankful.

On the plus side, I found a really great website of a guy who seems to be the hack-it-together handyman kind of person we all could be with the appropriate tools. Here's his thing about moving a gas line. I considered it briefly, and decided that was even more dangerous and expensive and ass-painy.

Anyway, he's got other neat articles, like the article by which I found his site, where he's got a play-by-play of what actually goes into ducting; or his rant about slab foundations; or his suggestion that power tools are somewhat scary but men are socialized to not be wimps while women aren't, which, word, right now I'm getting furious just thinking about the times people have suggested that I ought to be afraid of some BS thing that everyone else (being the males) is supposed to just deal with, but then, I'm in a rare mood today and need a bunch of Advil and some time spent filing my nails.

Anyway, I'd say "now that the economy has tanked, you can learn to fix your own stuff here" but I'd love this website even if the economy was awesome.

It is so frustrating to need to do stuff and have no real idea how and a bunch of failed internet searches leading to barely any information. Like, the gas line. What's that called? Dryer gas line? No. Flexible gas pipe? No. After wandering around two hardware stores and taking photos, the answer is apparently "gas connector" for inside stuff, and then, thanks to some forum, I managed to use "gas connector" and "grill" to get "gas hose" for the outdoor stuff.

Does Google seem shittier to the rest of y'all this year?

Anyway. There's a length of boingy shiny ducting, and it's got baling wire things on the ends, but how the fuck are those supposed to tighten it to the collars of the dryer and the outside vent? Apparently anything boingy is going to collect lint and clog and burn, so the point is moot, but still, fuck.

Why don't I have washer hoses? I guess they're liable to burst? Why am I supposed to replace every hose, both gas and water, every time I move the washer and dryer? Why is searching the internet like looking through books at the library all of a sudden? Fuck this I'm going to I Can Has Cheezeburger.

No, more questions. Why even have laundry sinks? Am I supposed to be unscrewing the washer hoses in between uses? Fuck that. Why are the Y-connectors in the garden hose section? Am I going to have to make those sinks drain by fishing out clogs with bits of wire and my own manicured fingers?

Why can't I find anything, or anyone, in OSH? Rassenfraggenmurgenfurger.

Mark this on my list of Things To Teach in Life Skills Class. "How to hook up a washer and dryer." I suppose other people call their friends in these situations and learn? I don't know. I suppose I could call the landlord to send the slow fixer guy, but I don't feel that will get things done the way I want them, if at all.

But the actual acquisition of the washer and dryer was nice. I hope they work. Eventually.

Comments

[badgerbag.livejournal.com]

plumbers or whatever! not motivated to put the how-to on the internet since it's their job. secret and sacred mysteries! too complicated and variable, maybe?

that is a really really cool site, anyway!

i would still call someone off laborfair.com who has the tools and experience to move the gas line for me and watch how they did it - if it were my gas line.

i got taught how to deal with electrical and phone wiring, but never plumbing or gas!

[badgerbag.livejournal.com]

oh , and p.s. i always felt pissed the same way about fixing computers and the BS of it. i would whip apart someone's pc and stuff in an ethernet card or some ram and they would act like i was about to cave in the roof over our heads. wtf !!!???? this just happened at my work a few months ago. no one in the whole company has the ovaries to unscrew two screws and stick a card in a slot? why!!! why the mystery!

[zdashamber.livejournal.com]

For the computer stuff, I actually watched someone open my roommate's computer and change things around inside it in the dorms at Berkeley. He dropped a screw which closed a circuit when the computer went on again. So, that was valuable because 1. so useful to see what it's physically like and 2. hah! I can hardly do worse!

Also computer people are more likely to put up play by play how-tos with photos on the internet.

[presterjon.livejournal.com]

Not to be the guy that tells you building codes are sacrosanct, but some things make sense. Laundry sinks for instance aren't just about having a sink nearby. They are about overflow and solve two common problems. The first is that the amount of water voided by most washers is too much of a flow for pipes. Especially pipes in older homes and especially pipes that aren't vented properly. Secondly washers tend to let off fuzz and lint which clog pipes.
The whole point of a large laundry sick is to be large enough to hold the entire water contents of your washer. I can say from experience that the alternative is much more trouble.

If you are actually looking for advice give me specifics and I can help out. I have done all of these tasks including natural gas piping.

[zdashamber.livejournal.com]

The laundry sink info is interesting. The one easiest to put the washer drain into drains very slowly with just the water I ran to test my hypothesis that one faucet was for hot and one was for cold. I'm planning to pry up the metal cross covering the drain hole and see what I can fish out, since the hot sink drain works fine (though it has no metal cross, just a gaping hole) and they seem to connect in a Y beneath the sink. Should I then get some sort of screen to filter out wet lint to keep it from going down the pipe and clogging it?

Why would there be two sinks instead of one sink? Is one for putting buckets boots etc and the other for catching washer drain volume?

When you put metal duct together for a dryer, do you tape the connections to seal them, or just rely on friction to keep them together?

[presterjon.livejournal.com]

"I'm planning to pry up the metal cross covering the drain hole and see what I can fish out"
Spend ten-15 bucks on a plumbers snake. Get a cheap one. They all work the same and homeowners use them like once a year, so no sense in getting a $50 one. It means you will be quickly and easily effective in the fishing out process, right past the elbow in the pipe. Don't waste time and money with expensive and often useless chemicals. They are a money waste for people who can't be bothered with using a snake to haul gross stuff out of a drain.
http://www.acehardware.com/search/index.jsp?kwCatId=&kw=plumbing%20snake&origkw=plumbing%20snake&sr=1

"Should I then get some sort of screen to filter out wet lint to keep it from going down the pipe and clogging it?"

Personal preference. Once a year when the sink slows down I get out the plumbing snake. Other people buy lint traps like this one.
http://www.greatestsale.com/Lil-Apple-Drain-Saver-Washing-Machine-Lint-Trap-lint-trap-Products-432179.html

"Why would there be two sinks instead of one sink? Is one for putting buckets boots etc and the other for catching washer drain volume?"

No reason that I know of. I have a single large washtub in my laundry room and have no desire for another basin. I seem to see them in older homes, maybe its bygone laundry technique.

"When you put metal duct together for a dryer, do you tape the connections to seal them, or just rely on friction to keep them together?"

The main thing you are doing right is metal ducting! Never use the accordian pipe even though its way easier. Make as few bends or turns in it as possible as bends and turns collect lint. Everybody says that lint collection is a fire hazard and maybe it is but I have never heard of anyone I have ever known with a dryer fire.

What i have had happen is enough of a collection of lint that clothes take longer to dry. Sometimes people get a new dryer when what they really needed was a longhandled brush. It is also hard to clean pipes with lots of turns.

But back to the topic of connecting the joints. I never can get the damned galvanized piping to hold together on its own, though professionals can. If you are renting, duct tape is fine since it will not dry out and split for several years and it won't be your problem. If you own or if you really worry about such things (I don't) you can splurge on hi-heat rated tape like this:
http://www.thetapedepot.com/cart/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&category_id=57&flypage=shop.flypage&manufacturer_id=0&page=shop.product_details&product_id=5027&gclid=CIae3tSppZcCFQ7aDAodbiidJA

[towhomdoihum.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a royal pain in the ass! My only advice is to ask your questions on a DIY forum, where helpful people somehow get something out of answering questions from those less experienced. I've done this before for less crucial things, but it's worth a shot even for this, I'd say.

Here's the Home Improvement - Inside board from DIY network:
http://boards.diynetwork.com/eve/forums/a/frm/f/9221916776

And typing 'diy forum' into a google search box yields at least 3-4 more such places.

[towhomdoihum.livejournal.com]

Also, the people who supplied you your appliances might be more helpful than you would think. Have you asked them?

[zdashamber.livejournal.com]

They are random householders from Craigslist. They've been sweeties already to help me move the washer and dryer into my house...

[a2macgeek.livejournal.com]

I had some similar issues when I bought my house - the gas pipe and the dryer vent were about 15-20 feet apart. The previous owner had use copper flex pipe and tapped into the black gas piping with it. He also had a really long length of vent ducting coming out of the dryer. When my appliances were delivered, they actually refused to hook up the dryer because of the length of copper flex piping used (which it turns out was also *kinked*). I wound up hiring someone to run the black pipe out further (basically, we changed out an elbow joint for a t-joint and added some pipe on), and then used a very short flexible pipe to cover the distance from the wall to the dryer. I also put a cabinet in between the washer and the dryer to get the dryer closer to the vent, so I could shorten the vent ducting. The cabinet turns out to be a handy place to keep detergent, fabric softener, etc.