Washing Your Dryer

GOOD FOR OFFICE MAX

Cal Kimberly: ‘I recently received the ‘POSTCARD’ saying I didn’t send in the correct things (and I had called them before sending and followed their instructions). I took the postcard back to Office Max where I purchased and the manager quickly gave me the rebate from their cash register. I think we should remember the store is our representative.’

GOOD FOR THE CABLE GUY

Jim Maloney: ‘With regard to his cable company non-TiVo DVR, Cyrus Ginwala writes: ‘Aside from the ability to record and watch two different live programs simultaneously, it is inferior to TiVo in every way.’ He says this as though being able to record two things at once is no big deal. But this is a huge advantage over TiVo. And he failed to mention that not only can you record two programs at once, but while so doing you can watch something you have already recorded. How else would I have been able to watch American Idol, The West Wing and the finale of Project Runway last night without this feature? While I fully admit the cable DVRs have limitations and TiVo has far superior software, the manufacturers of the cable DVRs (Scientific Atlanta in my case) are listening to our complaints and modifying software accordingly. The cable companies rushed into this without fully testing the service and have paid a price with bad press, but it’s only a matter of time before the cable DVRs are every bit as good as TiVo. At that time, who would want to deal with two separate programming guides (TiVo and the one from the cable company)? Also, my DVR service is ten bucks a month with no equipment to buy.’

Scott Obeck: ‘I recently had to switch cable service providers (to Cablevision from Time Warner) and my new service will not allow me to watch a previously recorded show while recording two other live shows (in fact, I have a friend that has a service that records up to six shows at once). The fact that TiVo only records one show at a time would keep me from ever purchasing one.’

WASH YOUR DRYER

Thanks to John Ebert for this, which someone sent him. I tried it, as John did (see below), and it seemed to work:

I had a wonderful morning. The heating unit went out of my dryer! Why does everything seem to fall apart this time of year!??? The guy that fixes things went in to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean. We always clean the lint from the filter after every load of clothes. He told us that he wanted to show us something. He took the filter over to the sink and ran hot water over it. Now, this thing is like a mesh – I’m sure you know what your dryer’s lint filter looks like – WELL……the hot water just laid on top of the mesh!!! It didn’t go through it at all!!! He told us that a film forms over that mesh and that’s what burns out the heating unit. You can’t SEE the film, but it’s there. He said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very long time (and to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out and wash it with hot soapy water and an old toothbrush (or something) at least every six months. He said that doubles the life of the dryer!

John concludes: ‘I went to the dryer and tested my screen by running water on it. The water collected a little but ran though the screen. I was ready to put it back in the dryer since the water ran through it but, I thought, what the heck – it won’t hurt to wash it while I had it out. Warm soap water and a nylon brush and I had it done in 30 seconds. I then ran the water over the screen and what a difference! The water just gushed through with no puddling at all and this time I was running the water at a faster rate. That repairman knew what he was talking about.’