That little old lady who watched me fix her dryer for an hour

She stood right behind me the whole time narrating every move I made. When I finally pulled out a crushed soda can from the vent hose she goes 'see, I told you it was that diet pepsi causing trouble.' Now I always check the vent first before anything else on a no heat call. Anyone else have a customer who turned out to be right about the dumbest thing?

3 comments

3 Comments

emery_white23d ago

Take the vent hose off before you even say hi to the customer. Trust me, its 90% a clog from lint, a dead mouse, or a dumb soda can. Saved me so much time now I just bring a shop vac in with me from the truck.

the_emery23d agoTop Commenter

90% a clog from lint, a dead mouse, or a dumb soda can" - that's pretty much the holy trinity of dryer vent problems right there, @emery_white. I'd add "spider webs so thick they could hold a small bird" to that list, but you nailed it. I started pulling the vent hose off before my standard hello too after the third time I found a crushed Mountain Dew can wedged in there. Customers always look at me weird when I just walk in carrying the shop vac like it's part of my outfit, but they stop complaining when the dryer starts working again. Honestly, it's the one thing I don't even bother explaining to the homeowner anymore - just fix it and move on. Keep doing what you're doing, that's a solid shortcut.

mila_murphy2123d ago

Wait, you're telling me you actually find dead mice in there? That's both disgusting and impressive at the same time. I switched to the same method after I spent 20 minutes explaining to a lady why her dryer was loud, only to pull out a crushed Sprite can and a handful of lint. The shop vac trick is genius because you can just suck out whatever mess you find without having to touch it or sweep it up later. I keep my shop vac in the truck too now, right next to a headlamp so I can actually see what I'm dealing with back there.