Slow appliance death, chapter 3...or 4...I've lost count

[nlbarber]

There was this sound niggling at me as I fixed my breakfast this morning. I finally turned off Morning Edition to listen, and tracked it to the built-in clock on the oven. (Said oven is most certainly original equipment, which dates it to 1962.) Adjusting various knobs, gentle pressure on the face plate, not quite so gentle banging on faceplate have all failed to make any difference in the noise. It seems I will have to hear this soft waow waow waow waow until a) the clock dies completely or b) the kitchen renovation starts and the oven is ripped out.

On the good side, the high bidder said she would get back to me with some adjusted numbers by the end of the week, and then I'll make a decision. I'm leaning hard toward the other bidder, so High Bidder will have to really come down, plus make me reconsider some other factors, to get the job.

Also on the good side, I'll be in Denver next week (too far away to hear the waow waow waow waow ) for the second round of testing on the database for aggregated water-use data. And I'll go back to Denver the first week in April for the first round of testing on the database for site-specific data. Which hopefully puts me away from the waow waow waow waow for 2 of the 4 weeks until the probable start date for the remodeling.

Comments

[sunlizzard.livejournal.com]

Buh-buh-but..... If the waow waow waow waow involves Things Electrical, leaving it waow-ing while you're gone for a week might not be the best thing. If it sparks, shorts, arcs....

Perhaps you could look into completely disconnecting it before you go? Just a thought. Maybe overly cautious, but still.

[nlbarber]

My sound-effect transcription may not be precise...it actually sounds pretty mechanical, and is moderated (a little) when I hold the timer knob. It doesn't seem likely to spark. I hope.

There's no way to disconnect it shy of trying to pull the entire oven out of the wall and seeing if we can reach the plug behind the cabinet, so I hate to do that unless I decide to live without an oven until the renovation is over. Maybe I'll make my brother and/or sister-in-law come listen to it to see if they feel it might be a fire hazard. I'll also tell my niece, who'll be cat-sitting, to keep an eye on it and tell her parents if it starts looking sooty or if something smells weird.

[sunlizzard.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm. Yeah, that'd be a pain, trying to yank the entire unit out. However, electric ovens are usually on a dedicated circuit breaker because they pull so much juice in operation. How possible would it be just to throw the breaker that goes to the oven while you are gone? I would assume no one would be needing to use it during that time. Then when you get back, you know to keep a close eye on it, checking to make sure the timer mechanism isn't getting warm or smelling "burnt."

[nlbarber]

Oooo, good thought.

<checks>

And it is indeed on a dedicated circuit breaker, now flipped. No more waow waow waow waow! Now I just need to remember to flip it back on if I need to use the oven...

[sunlizzard.livejournal.com]

Ah! I'm so glad it was a simple solution, both to stop the irritating noise for now and to know that while you are gone, any risk of a serious problem is eliminated.

Give those gorgeous kitties of yours a good ear-scritching from their Auntie Kay. And happy travels for your Denver trips!

[filkferengi]

Does that mean you're out of town the 24th? Wine, Woman, and Song [cool Renfaire band; are you going this year?] has a concert that night.