Well, it finally happened, our first bump in the road with our kitchen renovation.
The plan for Sunday was for the HH to remove the compact washer and dryer unit so he could remove the old linoleum and update the flooring with tile.
We figured it would be best to get that project out of the way before sanding the floors so we wouldn’t have to risk scratching up the floor in the hallway by doing it at a later date. {The HH has decided we are keeping the washer/dryer until it keels over.}
So what does a normal person do when they are about to remove a major appliance?
They unplug it. Right?
Well, we’re not exactly sure what happened, but when the HH unplugged the washer/dryer, there was a giant surge of electricity and the light in the hallway suddenly got brighter, the kiln shut off, the radon air machine stopped running and all the outlets in the kitchen went all wonky {I think he said all the GSI’s tripped}.
So he then went out to the garage to check the circuit breaker and there was a heavy electrical smell and that’s when he realized the garage door openers were fried {they were from the 80’s} and well… lucky us, we now have a major electrical problem on our hands.
So we called the electrician. But, because this is Maine and he’s a one man show, he’s up north and won’t be back in town until early May. 🙂 Luckily though he gave us the number of another electrician.
So the HH called him, explained everything and yada yada yada he had never heard of anything like that ever happening and said to call the electric company and to have them come out and make sure everything was okay with the power lines and the line to our house.
The power company came out… all is well on their end.
And so now we are waiting for the electrician guy to call us back so he can {hopefully} come out and troubleshoot/fix whatever it is that needs to be done.
I was also supposed to paint on Sunday but the day was pretty much wasted on freaking out and phone calls so I didn’t get to it until yesterday.
Seriously, how is it possible simply unplugging a washer/dryer would zap the garage door openers, the kiln and the radon air mitigation system {everything else is working}?
I painted 4 coats of white paint over the blue yesterday and it STILL needs at least one more coat of paint!
View from the kitchen.
Today is going to be a better day though, right? Electrican guy is going to call us back and he’ll come out and fix everything… and we can get back on schedule.
That’s the plan anyway.
Tuesday. Let’s do this!
~Mavis
Lissa says
I’m assuming that the W/D are just fine and dandy though 🙁
Sorry for the bad luck surge
Mel says
That’s so odd. I wonder if something was loose in the wall and unplugging the unit tripped something?
Christie says
Oh no, I’m so sorry. Hopefully the electrician comes today. We are facing similar challenges with plumbing. We tore out the shower stall in the guest bath but the old shower pan drain was off center. Now we’re having to reframe the space and move the drain to accommodate the new shower pan with the center drain. Plumbing is always tricky so fingers crossed it works! The plumber is coming tomorrow to install the new fixtures, so that’s the back up plan with the drain too.
Lynne says
My lights got wonky some months back, but I was lucky. The electrician I called suggested it might be the power company, and it turned out that the problem was at their end. They somehow fried the timer on my lawn sprinklers in doing whatever they did to fix it, but I was so relieved I got power back in my house. I’ve tried my hand at most home projects, but I do NOT touch electricity. It scares me. I hope today goes as smoothly as you envision!
If you have more dark walls to paint white, a good primer would probably cut back on the coats of paint you have to apply.
The picture of Lucy assessing the situation is wonderful. Puts everything in perspective
Daria says
Kilz will cover up almost anything!
Peg says
Totally unrelated question. Mavis, where is it you buy your t-shirts? Did some searching, didn’t easily or quickly find the post you made (in the fall maybe?). Land’s End, LL Bean, Eddie Bauer?
Mavis Butterfield says
Gap modern tee crew neck. I wear a medium.
Cheryl says
There was a power surge through our entire borough a few weeks ago. Freezers, stoves, breakers, and power surgers where all fried. The electric company said it wasn’t their fault and nothing they could do.
Margo says
An electrical problem is scary. Hope the electrician can get it all up and running soon. A trick a painter taught me years ago is if you want to paint something light over something dark, paint it a lighter shade of grey first then your light colored paint.
Ramona says
Few years back at our previous house we woke up to a pop and smelled smoke. Went to living room and saw the receiver for the satellite T.V. was smoking. Checked everything, called the TV people to see why their equipment fried. They replaced receiver but that had nothing to do with the problem as we later found out. Had an electrician come out he checked the electrical panel, surge suppresser, etc. said he couldn’t find anything. For quite sometime once in a while I would smell something like burning plastic smell. It came from area where we had a small TV, sometimes the cord felt a little warm. I think I had also noticed something going on when the furnace came on. Called the furnace guy. Something had come loose in our furnace and it was not grounding properly. He explained it better than I am. I guess the current had been traveling to other places in the house, receivers, TV, and so on. Got furnace fixed and no more smelling plastic burning or things almost catching fire. Even before that happened I have always worried about electrical things in houses.
Lori N says
Mavis, my hubby says take the cover off the box that the w/d was plugged into. Likely has a loose wire in it. That will trip all the ground fault breakers. Be sure to turn OFF the power BEFORE you check it.
Brianna says
Yes or they daisy chained that electrical box in with something else. Our last house had scary electrical in it from a DIYer and we found cut extension cords in a wall and live wires in the attic insulation. I shocked myself twice when the electric was ‘off’ only to find out the switch I was replacing was daisy chained. Any other time I changed out an outlet (they were old and racking plastic) or light switch, I just turned off the whole power to the house and triple checked with a voltmeter. We did hire a few electricians for the house to fix the electrical and rewire, but even they shook their heads and had several interesting first time moments. Something about electricity with a house, but once it gets scary, then it always hangs in the back of your mind on what could have happened or what you might have missed. Anyhow, we spent well over $10k having the 1990s built house completely rewired and adding grounds, as many were nonexistent. Scary stuff and leave it to the professionals.
Teri says
Oh No!
Hope it is not too expensive of a fix.
Deb says
in anotherbplace I had, during a snowstorm, lost power and had a power surge. which took out my furnace. The electrician suggested filing a claim. He asked me my deductible and wrote out a quote for $500 more (my deductible). Insurance co paid all but the $500 of quote. He told me what we pay for insurance should really cover everything.
Marie says
My HH is a retired electrician. He always had great DIY stories at dinner. Taking into account what you have shared previously about the history of your house, it sounds like it was a summer place. What summer place does not have a WD ? (Think lugging home sheets, towels, dirty clothes after each visit)? So the previous owner purchased what the small space would accommodate, plugged it in and viola problem solved (for them). However, plug in combos draw a huge amount of electricity.
Think rural setting, volunteer fire dept, delayed response time, installation was not permitted via your county (therefore insurance will not cover the loss) – you get the idea.
This is going to be a rough one. Suggest removing the entire WD unit. Time will pass, floors refinished and you will most certainly have a leak when the washer unit gives out. It will. It’s centrally located and the flood will not be pretty. (Again, not permitted so insurance will not pay out=all of your money and work will go down the drain?). Bite the bullet, return the space to a closet and create a laundry room. $$$$ It’s all about getting what you really want for your forever home.
Or…..do I hear an island calling?
sandyf says
Marie! Such GREAT advice. The WD may not be worth the savings, and I say find a used or scratch and dent new pair to temporally place in the barn/or basement until the new laundry room is done. I just got the fancy LG pair from Costco and wow are they nice. They even sing me a song when they are done. Home ownership-good times.
J says
I always wondered about how people can have appliances especially washers outside or in I heated buildings. Does that work?
Electricity and plumbing are mysterious and scary to me.
J says
Unheated buildings- oops
Lindsey says
We bought a house once and I hated taking a bath because I felt like I was getting zapped with electricity. Our habit had been to take a four mile walk and then when we got home he would fix dinner and I would take a bath. I kept calling him saying he had to feel the water, but by the time he came in, there was no zapping going on. Well, one day he really needed to take a bath so I fixed dinner and suddenly he yelled that he was getting zapped. I turned off the stove and went to check…no zapping by the time I got there. I went back to cooking and he yelled that he was getting zapped and he got out of the tub. We called an electrician and it turned out the previous owners had grounded the stove to the bathroom; I have no idea how you even do that. But the reason my husband never felt the zapping when I called him in was because he would turn off the stove before coming into the bathroom, so as a result there was no current being used so no zapping.
Nekey says
Oh my goodness! How strange. I am so glad that you figured out what was happening.
Richelle says
Good reminder to make Make sure your smoke detectors are working and have planned exit route, just in case. (Which everyone should have anyway.)
LindaT says
I read all the comments and I was depressed. I can’t imagine how you feel given that this just occurred. This is your dream house. Everything will work out okay. You and your husband are both intelligent people. Start asking around about electricians if this one doesn’t call back. Neighbors in small towns in Maine know who to call. Setbacks are usually just temporary. I’ll say a prayer tonight that the situation improves quickly.
Gigi says
You had a short. Like someone mentioned, probably in the back box. When the electrician comes, ask to install a surge suppressor at the panel. This will save money in the long run. Every house we’ve owned, we’ve put one in. We’re both electrical engineers.
debbie in alaska says
I second this, I am a VP at a utility company. I have a whole home surge protector and surge protectors on all my major electronics. Utility companies are not liable for damage unless it was due to negligence on their part (like knowing there is an issue and not foxing it or not following industry standards etc) — acts of nature, equipment failure (end of life) and surges caused by outages etc are not covered. So power protection is something every homeowner should be well versed in. I agree it sounds like there was some kind of short — I am surprised if more than just the washer and dryer is on that circuit.
Nadia says
We had something similar happen to us, and the electric company said it wasn’t on their end. Our electrician found the problem, our grounding rod had come loose on the top of the house, and everytime we touched a light switch we were zapped. It kept frying our computers and we couldn’t figure out why. Felt funny in the shower, and the electrician said were were immensely blessed, because we could have been fried in the shower. Had to get the ground rod refastened to the roof securely. Fixed the problem. Hope it’s an easy fix.
Donna says
Ugh! So sorry you’re going through this. Praying for a speedy and inexpensive resolution!