We got home Friday night and discovered our refrigerator had died. The ice cream in the freezer had melted and the temp in the refrigerator part was up in the fifties.
We both did some research on refrigerators online looking at various sites. We were limited in the size we could get. The old one was a 10 cu. ft. model and the area it was in was built around it so the new one couldn't be much bigger. Finally we decided we'd get a small dorm frig as they are cheap. Saw one online at Menard's for $120 that was 4.6 cu. ft. and decided to run down and get it. When we were there looking at what they had in stock I spotted a 11 cu.ft. model on sale. Turned out the display model was the only one left in white. Got another $10 knocked off the price and decided to buy it.
When I got it home, needed to change the doors around. I have been changing the swing on refrigerators for over 30 years. Anywho, what should have been a 10-15 minute job took over 1 1/2hrs!! Most miserable fucking job I've ever done when it comes to changing the doors around. Instead of having the same screws or bolts for both the hinge hardware and to plug the extra holes, they had screws with shallow star and a couple stripped out. Then when I went to change things on the bottom (hinge plate and support) the hole for the support didn't seem to have threads as I couldn't get it to start, it just spun and didn't go anywhere. Went looking for my tap and die sets. Turned out to fuck with me even more the threads weren't metric like just about every fucking thing these days, they were SAE. As I have both metric and SAE sets I was able to find the right tap and tapped the hole and finally got the stud installed and was able to screw the foot on. For the stripped screws I cut a slot across with a hacksaw and used a straight screwdriver to remove and install in the other hole. Then to add insult to injury, when I changed the stops on the doors, there wasn't a hole for the screw on the other side. Had to drill a pilot hole for the screw.
Turns out it was probably built in the USA, but it sure as hell isn't up what I think of as USA standards!!!!!!
I hope it works better than my experience with changing the doors.
I have never tackled a thirty minute job that didn't turn out to be three hours. And, i have never hired someone to do a job (plumbing etc. don't get me started) that i was satisfied with the results.
ReplyDeleteMakes me want to believe that there is a Goddess who gits her kicks from watching men frustrate themselves.
the Ol'Buzzard
That was a poor time for the old one to go south. American threads, go figure. I guess they make damn good fridges in China, for the Chinese, not us.
ReplyDeleteActually, I have a apartment size fridge that was made in China, it's about 20 years old now so guess I got my moneys worth.
I also have a Dometic fridge out of a camper, it's rolling up on 40 years old and still works great.
ReplyDeleteI figured you Yoopers were asshole deep in snow by now. Have you has any?
ReplyDeleteRon
Sarge, from what I saw online, they had a few inches of snow the other week while we were in Tejas. No snow now, it was in the upper 50s today. Need to dig the spuds before the ground is covered.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Ol'Buzzard. Every 30 minute job I ever started took at least four hours because I had to rebuild something. Good you had the tools and know how but after enough years, I guess both sort of accumulate.
ReplyDelete