My New Name

     I will no longer go by my former name.  From now on, please refer to me as The Queen of Google.

    I know you want me to explain.  And, I am dying to do just that!

    This weekend I noticed our refrigerator was making a high pitched clicking/buzzing noise.  I had never heard it before.  A little red flag went up, but unless I have liquid running out of my freezer or something,  I can pretty much ignore things like that.

     It really didn't even bother me when Paul came up for bed Sunday night and said that the food in the freezer was thawing out.  It didn't bother me because a) what am I supposed to do about it and 11 pm? and b) he said he thought there was a box keeping the door ajar.

     The big red flag came at 8 am when he called me from about an hour away to let me know that the ice cream in the freezer was liquid, the chicken was thawed out and there was water on the floor.

    It was then that I thought, "Hmm... maybe I should do something."  (I am kinda bright like that.)

     So, I was home and Paul and 90 minutes away for the day.  I had some decisions to make.

     First, I thought, "Do I want to call and pay someone $85 -just to come out- and then tell me, 'Sorry Miss, there is nothing we can do, you need a new refrigerator?'"

     Sometimes repairs only cost a little less than a new one.  It's true.  They don't make things like they used to.

     I decided to do some research.  I googled refrigerator buzzing.  

     After a second of searching, I noticed a web site where you could ask appliance guys questions and you only had to pay if you thought they had given you an adequate answer.  On the site, there was a bunch of testimonials about the appliance guys.  $9 sounded a lot better than $85 dollars.  I figured I didn't have much to lose.

     So, I wrote my question:

     My refrigerator is making a buzzing/clicking noise.  What could it be?

     I had a response from appliance guy Tom in a matter of seconds.  He asked me:

     Is it still making the noise?  And, how often is it making the noise.

     I responded:

     About once every 10 or 15 minutes.

     Again, I had an immediate response.  He said:

     It sounds like you need a new relay overload.  It is on the side of the compressor.

     So, I asked him:

     How much is this type of repair?

      His immediate response:

     About $50 if you do it yourself.  If someone else does it... add $100.

      I thought his response was adequate so clicked on the button to pay him.

     I got off the computer, went to the phonebook, found a store that sold refrigerator parts and I called them.  I gave them the model # for the refrigerator and told him the part I needed.  He looked it up, told me they had it in stock and that it was $33.

      Feeling really cool, I got off the phone and texted Paul one of my favorite lines from a movie.  

      Have you ever seen City Slickers (really funny movie!)?  There are 2 ice cream guys in the movie.  I think they are suppose to be like Ben & Jerry.  They claim that they can name the perfect ice cream to end any meal.  So, they tell Billy Crystal to name a meal.  He says, "How do you know you're right?"  And, they respond, "400 ice cream parlors in 48 states!  WHOO!"

      So, Billy Crystal says, "Beans and Franks."  

      The ice cream guys say in a disgusted tone of voice, "Scoop of chocolate, scoop of vanilla.  Don't waste my time."

     My text to Paul: Scoop of chocolate, scoop of vanilla.  Don't waste my time.

     I clean out the freezer, tell Paul to get the part on his way home and I wait.

      He gets the part and arrives home.

     He gets the backing off, we clean the coils and everything else with the vacuum and begin looking for the part.

     We find it.  Make sure it's the right part.  I pull the part off because my hands are smaller.

      ONE HOUR LATER......

     We plug the frig in and wait.

      No noise.

      We wait some more.

     The liquid I left in the bottom of the frig starts to freeze and we start doing the Snoopy Dance while singing. "We fixed our refrigerator!  We fixed our refrigerator!"

      Scoop of chocolate, scoop of vanilla!

      We fixed our refrigerator for $42 plus a bit of tax!

      Just so you know, this is not the first thing I have fixed by googling.  Once our gas fireplace wouldn't light.  So, I googled.  They suggest scrubbing the igniter with a toothbrush.  I grabbed Jackson's (just kidding!).  I got an old tooth brush, scrubbed and then vacuumed the igniter and 

Hallelujah!  Hallelujah, Hallelujah!

      The moral of the story is:  you should google everything.  And, if it's an appliance problem, go to www.justanswers.com ask a question and pay your nine bucks... before paying an $80 trip charge.

Yours Truly,

The Queen of Google

P.S.  You're Welcome!

      

     The mess I have to clean up after replacing the relay overload on the refrigerator (I feel so cool saying that.)  And, we don't usually have that much pop setting around.  We had a family birthday party this weekend to celebrate Birthday Month.  14 kids and 9 adults........um boy!