I've seen this before

We all have certain hobbies or professions, skills, things that we 'know how to do'. Some have many, others only a couple. Imagine how much you don't know, for instance, about the intricacies of antique clock works, how a refrigerator really works, or even your car.

Some of your neighbors have spent a lifetime gathering knowledge about these things, building upon a body of knowledge simply by doing. Piling experience after experience on top of basic knowledge until they have practically 'seen it all.'

My peripatetic mind draws from quite a few minor skill sets, and an experience at the used appliance store showed me how easily 'things we know' can lead one astray.

Last year I replaced the wheezing washer/dryer set in my new condo with a used all-in-one unit, freeing up much needed storage space at the expense of washer capacity. The unit never really worked all that well, and got worse. The issue was that the dryer would not dry a load of laundry. Three long, noisy cycles and the clothes were still damp. Heaven forbid that the warm, wet load should be left sitting too long, or you had to re-wash the moldy smelling mess, and the vicious cycle began again.

The interim solution was a wooden folding drying rack in the bedroom, on which the damp clothes fresh from the initial drying cycle were draped until truly dry. This worked, but was almost as inconvenient as the monotonous hours-long dryer marathons.

So, what was the problem? I had installed the unit myself, so knew the new vent hose was OK. I had cleaned the bird's nest out of the vent cap, and used the vacuum cleaner to test for good air flow. The dryer was actually heating, and the drum turning of course. Hmmm...must be a problem with the thermostat?, no, even a full timed run resulted in a steaming lump of linens.

This unit was purchased from a local shop that turned out to be disreputable, so no help there. In fact, I was actually strongly considering going into hock for a shiny new unit when I happened across a capable looking appliance store near my new work.

I love exploring new neighborhoods, and found this store right next to the incredibly workmanlike luggage repair shop that is now fixing the strap on a beautiful piece of leather luggage, broken by a porter in Manila.

So, I wandered in and shared my tale of woe and intrigue with Dale, clearly a long-time veteran of all things 'domestic appliance.' As I feared, there was no simple "I've seen that before" from Dale. He agreed that if there is heat, tumbling, and a clear vent, then drying should be taking place. Something was missing here, and just before I walked out the door one final question cleared everything up.

You see, my last boat had a little diesel engine that was so small and basic that it didn't have some accessories that you'd expect, such as a seawater strainer, normally used to keep eel grass and other flotsam out of the engine cooling system. Every one of my previous engines had had this supposedly vital piece, and every boat maintenance course covers them as 'mission critical'.

That this bulletproof little unit didn't bother with a strainer was very odd to me at first, but I got used to the simplicity, and took that little nugget of knowledge with me. The trouble is that I brought it into this dryer conundrum. After all, "I've seen this before", right?

Just as I was leaving Dale I explained that this dryer was similarly so basic that it didn't even have a lint trap. His brow furrowed, his head cocked to the side, and after a harrumph said that that was impossible. He led me over to a similar unit and pointed out a trap of a design and in a location that I had never seen before.

Eureka!

I came home and pulled out two pounds of accumulated lint going back to the previous owner no doubt, enough to knit a blanket I swear. We finally have a dryer. Full load of towels dry in one short cycle. Amazing.

Lesson? When faced with an intractable problem question your most basic assumptions. Just because you've 'seen this before' in another discipline doesn't mean that it transfers over.

No seawater strainer on a Yanmar 1GM?, odd, but OK. No lint trap on a Whirlpool ThinTwin?
Impossible.