Surprise! Something didn’t go wrong for a change!
Last month I figured I was $650 or so in the hole, but that was wrong because I’d forgotten to enter the $225 bill for the oven repair. So January actually ended about $875 in the red. {sigh}
Hoping to recover sometime before the utility bills heat up in lockstep with the weather (according to NASA, temps are supposed to go up about 2 degrees in these parts, which would give us 118- to 120-degree days this summer), I’m pinching every penny this month.
Yesterday I went to turn the heat on under a pan and…nothing. The burner would not light. The other three burners were OK, but this one: dead.
Well, of course it’s the front right-hand burner, the one I use the most. So I figure I’m going to have to call the appliance repair guy again. That’ll be another $250, no doubt.
But since he’s such a nice appliance repair guy, I decide I’d better clean the filthy stove, which I haven’t felt well enough to do since I came down with the present epizootic two weeks ago. It’s extravagantly greasy and dirty.
So last night I put the burner grates in the dishwasher. Soaked the small parts in dish detergent and hot water. Cleaned the shiny parts with white paste for cleaning glass stovetops.
This morning I put the thing back together, admiring how shiny and beautiful it looked. Wondered if the issue was in the burner cap thingie instead of the burner itself. So switched those thingies back and forth, turned on the switch, and…voilà! On it came!
Saved!
I can’t call this a DIY repair, because I didn’t try to fix anything. Apparently whatever was the matter cleared out when I soaked the burner cap thingie and then let it air-dry.
Hallelujah!
Only 20 more days of austerity this month. If nothing else happens, the budget will recover a little. That’ll leave one more month to recover before the utility bills start to rise again. w00t!
Congrats on saving the money! I figure that even if you didn’t do any of those DIY tips, you’re still coming out ahead. 🙂
Many of my acquaintances have stoves with one non-functioning burner. I wouldn’t bother fixing it anyway–but good to hear it fixed itself.
Yes, I’m with frugalscholar. So glad it is fixed! But if one of my burners went out I would just figure I still have three that work and would not bother calling a repairman. And if it were truly $250 to fix one burner it might be smart to save up another $250 or so (making do with 3 burners in the meantime) and just buy an new stove? Our very excellent stove we bought 4 years ago was around $600 or so. Anyway, YAY for accidental do-it-yourself repairs!
@ frugalscholar and deedee: Yeah, the same thought occurred to me: if it costs as much to get the stove fixed as the (much more expensive!!!) oven fixed, then one might be better off simply to buy a new stove. The GE Profile looks a great deal like this old Jenn-Air…apparently costs around $900. Am very pleased the thing “fixed itself,” as it were. We’ll be keeping the stove spic & span after this!