Orneriness

For the past several days we've been having fits with our fridge.

The fridge when it was new. in 2011.

I guess most people have problems with their refrigerator from time to time, but when ours starts giving us trouble, it means a lot of head scratching and trying different since because most repair people wouldn't have a clue how to fix it. Because it's a gas refrigerator, running on natural (wellhead) gas.

When we put in the free gas that was part of the deal for allowing a gas well on our property, we decided to convert as many appliances to gas as possible. So stove, dryer, hot water, heat and the fridge are now gas, and most of the time it's just lovely.

But there are those times.

Like when the gas suddenly goes off for no apparent reason--usually when it's dead cold. Most of the time it's an easy fix--just push down the plunger thingie on the regulator and then re-light all the pilots.

And like when the fridge acts up. Wellhead gas is not as clean as the gas you get through the pipelines, and it can cause some issues. Especially, apparently, with the refrigerator's heating element. It might sound odd that there is heat in a fridge, but the flame heats the gas that moves through some convoluted pipes and chills down. That's about as good as I can explain the process. It usually works like a dream and we love it that our fridge works when the electricity goes off.

But when it goes out or suddenly doesn't cool like it should, then we don't like it so much. Sometimes it's as easy as cleaning out the flue (yes, there's a flue on the fridge, weird I know). Other times it means moving the whole thing out and cleaning the condenser coils and whatever else is back there. Then there is cleaning the gas orifice itself.

And when all that fails, we found yet one more trick: laying the fridge on its side and then standing it back up again. Because sometimes a bubble can form in the condensed gas and block it from cooling as it should.

This time we ended up doing all of the above. None of it worked.

Getting by without refrigeration in winter isn't too difficult. A cooler on the porch will usually handle most of the important things.This past week we had quite a few days, though, when the temperatures stayed above 50. So that meant Plan B: freeze jugs of the emergency water we have stored away and using that in the cooler and the fridge.

The fridge is working again, kind of. With the jugs of ice it's down to about 47f in the bottom and it's freezing things in the top freezer compartment as it should. But it's not back to normal yet because the flame isn't acting as it should--going up and down when the thermostat is adjusted. It stays exactly the same no matter when temperature we set it at.

So Monday I called the number we had for repairs. A young-sounding man answered and listened to my tale of woe. He had Larry check a few things, then promised to call back.

Several hours later he was back on the phone. Our refrigerator is not a model he was familiar with so he had to do some calling and checking around himself. He came to the same conclusion we had: the thermostat is bad.

I was all ready with a credit card to pay for the part, but he said no, he'll mail the part and after we put it on and it's working correctly he'll send an invoice and we can mail a check. How old school is that? So kudos to this company for some really good customer service. I'll have to add their name here when I am sure what it is because they'd changed names since I last called four years ago).

We're managing fine with the ice jugs routine in the meantime. But it does make us wonder if this refrigerator is worth the savings in electricity. Maybe it's time to throw in the towel and go back to easy.

We like being independent but it's an awful lot of work and aggravation. And because we're not well off we can't just call repair people to come and fix stuff. Today, Larry's outside tracking down and repairing a leak in the water line from the well to the house. Fortunately it's sunny and not too cold. But we're getting a little old for things like lifting refrigerators. And lifting refrigerators and other such jobs is getting old too.

Maybe it's just plain orneriness that makes us cling to this lifestyle. Or maybe it's just plain being dumb. When all is fixed and running smoothly again, we'll have to look back and evaluate.

Right now, it just feels like aggravation.



Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

When Free Gas Isn't So Great...

is when it freezes off on the coldest day we've had this year. Woowee, it was cold in here when we got back from town. It's warmed up to a toasty 58.3 degrees in the kitchen. I had been thinking about taking out the big woodstove, but now? No way in the hot place would I do that now.

We're waiting on Doug the Well Tender to show up. I love winter and I love snow. I'm not much of a fan of a house with no heat though. Even the word fan is making me cold.

Thank goodness for the wood stove and fireplace! We'll be fine, we'll just be working a little harder until the gas is back on. Country life--it's full of surprises.

Now to put that monster pot of chili on the wood stove to heat. My poor Tappan isn't much help today.

The Gas Fridge

As promised, here are some photos of the new fridge. I did not think to take any yesterday while we were installing it--being sick makes you not think clearly. Basically, however, there is a gas line attached to the back instead of an electric cord. There is also a place for 4 batteries to run the lights. I'm pretty sure batteries are not cheaper than electricity for the lights, and there seems to be a place to hook an electrical cord for the lights but there was nothing in the instructions about that.

It looked big when we got it in place. It is shorter and wider than our last refrigerator, and has to sit firther out from the wall due to all the gas tubing stuff on the back of it.

All settled in with magnets and calendar!

The freezer compartment is really deep. It holds more than my old one.

See? Room to spare. The old one was crammed full and had the same things in it. (And yes, that's a book on top. I got it free at a yard sale because it had gotten wet. It's a bird book so how could I say no? You can save wet books by freeze-drying them. Just put them in the freezer for a week or so, take them out and let them thaw, then repeat the process until the book is dry. I did learn something in library school!)

The inside is big too, and the shelves are adjustable. I started with them set up like this, but that may change. The bins in the bottom are small--that's because the gas equipment is behind them, I suppose.

The refrigerated section holds more, too. It's very deep which is good and bad--things can get lost back there in the deeps.

I love this door! Three shelves and plenty of room. I am not too spoiled when it comes to refrigerators--I've always had fairly simple appliances with no bells and whistles. The last two had icemakers that we never used.

This little panel, located under the screen at the bottom of the fridge, is what is different from others you've seen. It lights pretty much like a hot water heater: turn the valve on the right to on, the second valve on the right to 3, then depress the ignitor on the far left which works with electronic ignition. In between is a "flame indicator" that shows green when the fridge is lit, red when it's off.

The complicated panel :) The main problem we had with the small gas refrigerator we had years ago was a tendency to build up carbon around the flame. We were using propane then. I am really hoping we don't run into that issue with this new appliance because it was a pain to relight--and if we're gone when it happens that could be a mess. I think part of the issue was where we had the little fridge and the fact that it was a camper fridge and not really meant for the heavy day-to-day use we gave it. This fridge is Amish-made, which is usually a sign of good quality.

Behind the fridge is bent piping that contains ammonia, water and hydrogen. You can read how it works here. The flame is about the size of a pilot light so it produces little heat, and uses very little gas. I wish I'd taken photos before we got this thing in place so you could see a little more.

It's all settled in now, I think--we'll see how it does over the next few days. So far, so good. And a nice little side benefit: I have a clean fridge! I sure wouldn't think of showing you the inside of the old one.

Ups and Downs and All Arounds

Goodness, it's been a strange week.

Saturday we took granddaughter Haley to Charleston so she could participate in the annual Capital City Challenge, the Charleston triathlon (bike, run, kayak). It was a beautiful day for the event and this year there were twice as many entrants as last year. Haley, however, was the youngest by far--no one else in the race was under 19 years old. So she won first place in her class, of course--but better than that, she improved her time from last year by about 30 minutes. So she was very happy about that. I have to admit to getting granny jitters to think of her out on the Great Kanawha River all alone in her kayak, but she did superbly. Why do I worry?

After the race I drove to Sutton in cerntral West Virginia to attend a meeting for a new project for West Virginia Writers. I had time to kill so of course I used it wisely--browsing in junk shops :) I got lucky, too, finding a Fenton glass bear for a dollar, lovely table linens, some dishes made in Paden City, West Virginia, and many other pieces of vintage glass. Most of these items will eventually be listed on my eBay auctions.

eBay has become a good little sideline over the past two months. I'm not making a fortune, but I am meeting my goal of paying for my phone, cell and satellite internet costs with some $$ left over. I'm learning a lot too as I research various glassware, learn what sells and what won't (hobnail milk glass-no one seems to want it. Aprons? everyone wants them!). I'm also still selling books on Amazon and while not as lucrative as eBay it is a lot easier to sell books, and so much easier to pack them. It's not the income producer that eBay is, however. Still, every little trickle of money is helpful. If you want to look at what's listed right now, check my sidebar link. My inventory is down a little because I can't list items until the computer is working again (insert frustrated sigh).

Sunday morning was devoted to reviewing stories for the Mothman Festival that afternoon. I had my set list but there were two new ones I wanted to tell and I needed to be sure I had them down well enough for performance. We drove to Point Pleasant that afternoon and enjoyed the sight of people dressed as Men in Black and Mothman after the storytelling. I was in the State Theater for the performance and was very pleased with the audience. Since this gig was finalized only a week before, it had little publicity but there weer 50 attentive people there to listen.

Mothman, some of you might know, was an apparition that scared many people in the Point Pleasant area in the 1960's. Described as a large, gray creature with red eyes and large wings, the creature was said to be able to fly 60 mph. Many people credited Mothman with some of the disasters and troubles that have occurred since the sighting, like the collapse of the Silver Bridge over the Ohio River. Many theories have been advanced as to what Mothman actually was, and there is a whole museum dedicated to the story in Point Pleasant.

My computer modem quit working Sunday morning, so that's been an interesting wrinkle in my usual routime. Since I place many listings to end on the weekends, it meant I had no way to verify and ship my orders. I worked on it for a while and concluded there was no hope, so Monday I called Hughesnet and ordered a new one. The tech on the phone offered a free replacement! How cool is that! So I sprung for expedited shipping and hope the thing will arrive today or tomrrow.

Without the computer, there was only one thing to do--use my new smartphone to look up what sold, pack and weigh the items, then head to the library to print shipping and labels. That's what I did. It was cumbersome and took more time than I wanted to spend, but the packages got shipped.

On the return trip home, we stopped to talk with a neighbor who is getting ready to build a new house. Larry has some block laying in his future, I think. While we were talking he asked us if we wanted the little log building on the property. You know what my answer was! So we have another project to work on over the winter.

(The log room we are currently working on is moving slowly ahead--the footer is ready and the block for the foundation will arrive this week. We plan to get the subfloor in place and the logs stacked before winter, but the way things are going we might not get that far before the ground gets too muddy to work.)

My cell phone rang as we were discussing the log building with our neighbor--it was the delivery truck with the gas refrigerator we've been waiting for. He had it ready to deliver--on a tractor trailer! Now if you've been reading my blog for a while you know there is no way a tractor trailer can get to my house, and really should not even try to get up Joe's Run. So Larry and the neighbor went out to meet the truck and brought the fridge home at last. I am not happy at all with Lehman's Hardware about this shipping service. We paid for delivery to our house, but it turned out to be a total hassle. word to the wise if you ever buy an appliance from them--they seem to be clueless about how to arrange a suitable delivery to a place in the country.

We finally settled down to dinner and then decided to watch a movie--a rare thing for me since I am usually busy with computer work in the evenings. Just as we got settled someone knocked on the door. Visitors! We spent the evening talking with them. It was a nice way to end the day.

Sometime in the night the electricity went off. I woke to a pitch black room. Expecting it to be back on shortly, I snuggled under the quilts to sleep some more. We woke at 8 am, late for us but it was dark and gloomy outside and there was still no electricity. I got up and called the power company--the power would not be back on until 2pm. That kind of messed up our plans to put in the new fridge, so we decided to take care of some business in town, mail more eBay packages and so forth. So that's where I am now, at the library printing labels, catching up on email and writing this blog.

This is only Tuesday. I wonder what other surprises we'll have this week. 

A Refrigerated Story

Yesterday we were in Kidron, Ohio, the heart of the Ohio Amish country, to visit Lehman's Hardware and buy a natural gas refrigerator. I have never been there before and I was totally surprised by what we saw. I knew there were Amish in that area and that Lehman's started out as a supply place for non-electric items for the Amish lifestyle. What I did not know was that the Amish community in that area is thriving! There seemed to be as many buggies and horses on the road as there were cars. We saw beautiful farms, new homes that had no electricity, Amish schools, horsedrawn plowing being done, Amish women mowing grass (one was a granny on a riding mower!). We even saw a wagon stuck in a ditch--evidently their load shifted. They had unhooked the horses and one man was hoofing it up the road to get help. We saw a woman in a buggy eating take-out food (fries); we heard people talking in a language we didn't understand but which I believe is called Pennsylvania German. It was eye-opening.and ear-opening.

I'd like to go back to explore the area a little more. I had thought it was all tourist hype, but instead found a thriving culture. And all only 2 hours from home.

As for that refrigerator--Lehman's offers several different sizes by two different companies. All are expensive. I tried to figure out which one was best through their online catalog and their paper catalog but I was not sure, and it was a lot of money to spend without being sure. So I knew we needed to visit in person. We found the store with little trouble--it's big and seems geared mainly to tourists although there is still plenty there for the Amish customers. But the parking lot was filled with cars, not buggies, and the atmosphere was that "commercial country," as I call it. We walked back to the appliance area and found the fridges, but what I had hoped for was to be able to compare the 15, 17 and 19 cubic foot models to really see what space was available. I'd called earlier in the week and left a message saying what I needed. I got a call-back message (not at the time I specified when I called so I missed the call) assuring me the fridges were on display.

Well, some of them were, but not the 17 cubic foot. I found a salesman and asked him if they had one. "Oh yes--at our other store." Other store? Who knew? He gave us basic directions and we set out for the other store. I wasn't too happy about having driven 2+ hours to find out I had to drive still more to see what I needed to see. The route was through beautiful country, though, so that was consolation.

We found the second store after a few wrong turns and indeed they had the models I needed to compare. the 17 cubic foot model (at $2099!) was the one I wanted. It's about the same size as the fridge we have now, with the nice feature of being able to hold gallon-size jugs on the door. I found a salesman and told him we were ready to order.

It turns out he had never placed an order for an out-of-state customer. But he was willing to figure it out and after several calls and a consultation with another staff person, we got going. Then the snag--we wanted it delivered to our house. Now, Lowe's, Home Depot and many other places have no problem with that. I was willing to pay their advertised delivery fee of $175. The problem? They weren't sure they could deliver to my house--and weren't sure if the fee would be $175.

Hunh? That was the amount listed on both website and catalog! "Yes," said the woman clerk, "but we don't really pay attention to that?" What!? Really? I was stunned--why advertise it if that's not the cost? We could have driven our truck up, of course, but decided that delivery was a better option and the cost seemed fair. Now we were being told that it was not a relevant fee? After more phone calls and discussion, it was determined that they could indeed deliver and for the stated price. Whew. I was not feeling like a happy camper by this point, although out clerk was as friendly and helpful as he could be throughout.

So the fridge is ordered and paid for and should arrive sometime next week. Getting it into the house should be interesting.

I should say that the second Lehman's was much more what I expected--a local hardware store with just about everything you can think of, even replacement racks for water-bath canners! I bought two because mine are rusted and pretty much done for. You could also buy shower curtains, eye hooks, hinges, lamp chimneys, canning jar rings, candy, paint and just about anything else you can imagine, but without so much of the tourist atmosphere. Many Amish customers were in and out while we were there. One man was getting a piece of glass cut--it's that kind of place. The other store may well offer all of the same merchandise and services, but it's BIG! I liked the smaller store much better--felt right at home.

Although getting the fridge was more hassle than I expected, I cannot say enough about the friendly staff--they're great. As a home canner, I loved being able to order canning jar lids in bulk this year; 354 lids so I never ran out. That was absolutely awesome. If you're planning to buy some major appliance, though, maybe more advance phone calls would simplify the process. I learned that lesson but in the end I am glad we went up there, and I am excited about the new refrigerator that will help lower our electric bill significantly.

Busy, Busy

Hard at it the past couple days: putting up elderberries and peaches and pickles, a few tomatoes. The elderberries are juiced and ready to make into juice and a cough syrup I want to try. There are also elderberries drying in the oven.

We visited our son last night and his peaches were ripe so after working on peaches most of the afternoon, I came home with over a bushel of more peaches. These are very small and will take a lot of time to work up, but they are delicious. Larry brought in another bucket of cucumbers this morning so pickling is in the forecast again.

Today I did no canning although I certainly had planned to. First we needed to do some catchup cleaning around here, getting laundry put away, etc. Then we worked on the hot water heater. We've been at this project off and on for months it seems. The dryer too. Both are gas and both will save us money because the gas is free and the electric isn't. I am happy to report that both are now working. Hurray! Next is to order the gas fridge--on the to-do list for tomorrow.

Beyond that I just nursed along a headache and muscle spasms in my shoulder and neck. Ouch. They're better now and I hope to see the end of them by tomorrow morning. Tonight is writer's group, so I'll sign off now and get myself ready to go.

See you tomorrow!

The Winner of the Coffee Test

A few weeks ago I wrote about my efforts to find a way to make good coffee without an electric drip pot.

We tried a Porcelier, a porcelain drip pot made in the 1930's-1940's, a big aluminum drip pot that makes 18 cups, a stainless steel drip pot because we wanted to be able to keep the coffee warm on the gas stove, and a plastic drip funnel with mesh filter.


The winner is: the Porcelier!

 

Here is the winning combination: 

•  Decaf Eight O'Clock beans: I had to order these on Amazon because I could not find decaf beans in our stores here. We went to decaf when my blood pressure got a little higher than normal and honestly I can't tell the difference.

• My old coffee grinder: I have an electric one but the goal is coffee without electricity. We used this one for years and it does a perfect job. 40-50 turns of the handle (less than a minute) and you have enough for a pot. The pre-packaged ground decaf was too fine to work properly with the Porcelier. The hand-cranked grinder can be adjusted and the coffee brews beautifully and fast.

• The Porcelier drip pot: This top part of the pot comes off. It has small drip holes in its bottom, and there is another interior lid. You put the coffee in, then put on the interior lid. This lid also has drip holes in it. Then you boil water in a kettle and pour it into the top section. The water filters down through the drip holes in the interior lid, through the coffee and out the bottom drip holes into the pot. 

We found the Porcelier at a local junk shop for $14.95, I think it was. The coffee has to be tasted to be believed. It is just delicious.

The only downside: now we make more coffee so we're spending more! Where a a 3-lb can would last a month or more, now we've used 3 bags of beans in less than a month. Ah me. I guess my next quest is a cheaper source of decaf coffee beans.

Remember the Tappan?

It's finally in! After weeks of work getting the gas line run for a half mile down the hill, installing odd things I've never heard of like drip tanks and all sorts of fittings, Larry finally has the gas in to the house and running. Best of all, he got my new old stove hooked up and operating!

Isn't it beautiful? This is a 1950 or 51 model Tappan Deluxe range (hmm, same model year as me!) and it has so many bells and whistles that we're still finding them. Like a timer that actually works, controls that light up with a beautiful red when they're turned on, even a place to put a room freshener. Who even knew they had room fresheners in the 50's?

When I first moved to this farm, I had a Tappan like this only not nearly so fancy. I loved that stove but it was propane and several things broke on it and I gave it up. I was sorry later because I could have found parts and had it fixed. Chalk that up to dumb youth. So when we found out we'd get free gas from our gas well, I knew what I wanted: another Tappan. Our son Aaron found this one on a porch near where he lives with a sign on it that said "$50.00." My good son bought it and gave it to me for Mother's Day. It's been sitting in a corner of my kitchen waiting to be hooked up.

I still have a lot of cleaning to do to get it back in shape. There's some grime, a little rust but overall I do not think this stove was used very much at all. The oven is spotless and so are the burners. (They're chrome!). It's a lot bigger than most ranges so Larry had some furniture moving to so to get it in.

This was inside one of the (chrome) drawers:

Yes, the original owner's manual in its original envelope. It has recipes for all kinds of things, and even a section on how to "can on your Tappan." A stove I can can on! I have missed that so badly with the electric ranges--I've been using a turkey fryer burner out on the porch because heavy canners will ruin most newer stoves. Now I can can in the house if I want to--although I think we're going to hook up the little utility stove Aaron got with the Tappan--it's rough but sturdy, and perfect for canning.

What an exciting evening. I think I'll go read my new owner's manual now.