So last weekend (not this past weekend, the weekend before) our 35-year-old Tappan dishwasher gave up the ghost. Everything worked but the pump motor, hilarity thus ensuing. Since the door gasket was bad anyway, we'd been planning on replacing it, but were holding off because of the almighty dollar, lack thereof. So we hied ourselves off to Home Despot (for which we had two $100 gift cards, courtesy of American Express Membership Rewards) to buy us a new one. And I wanted it installed, because I'll be damned if I'm going to crawl around under that sink and mess with this shit.*
The installers came on Wednesday and immediately discovered a problem. Back in the Olden Days, when Dad and I installed this dishwasher to begin with, nobody installed dishwashers using these fancy-pants 3/8" compression fitting hoses. We did it the old fashioned way -- cut the hot water line to the sink faucet, install a tee, use a 1/2" x 3/8" sweat reducer and run 3/8" type L copper down to the inlet valve, and use a 3/8" compression x 1/2" NPT fitting to attach to the inlet valve. Old school.
So of course, these guys ain't plumbers, they're just installers, sorry, sir, but you need to install a 3/8" compression fitting up there and then we'll reschedule and come back. Which didn't really surprise me but as savvy as the salesman seemed to be,** he hadn't thought it would be a problem. OK, no biggie, guys, I'll get the fitting installed and we'll see you next week.
I ran out and bought a 1/2" x 3/8" compression 1/4 turn valve (thinking, if you have to turn off the dishwasher for some reason, no reason to have to turn off the hot water to the sink, too) and started to get ready to cut the line and install it. First thing I did was turn off the 52-year-old supply valve, which was a job in itself because it hadn't been turned off since, well, probably the day we installed the dishwasher 35 years ago.
This did not go well. The packing had rotted out of the valve stem and water started going everywhere, except when I had the valve shut all the way down. Damn it. So I stopped right there and left it for a couple of days, because I didn't have time to mess with a more in-depth repair during the week. I ran back to the hardware yesterday and picked up some graphite packing, and today I crawled under the sink and started to pull the valve stem out of the valve to be repaired.
Damn thing would NOT come out.
So I finally said, fuck it, wrapped some packing around the exposed valve stem, and tightened the cap back down, told Sally to turn the main valve back on, and voila, it didn't leak.
Shut it off, cut the dishwasher feed line, installed the new valve, turned the water back on, no leaks.
Yay me. Now come install my fucking dishwasher, motherfuckers.
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* I really need to learn not to make such sweeping statements. That one was on a par with, "What else could go wrong?", or "It could be worse."
** And he was. Kid was scary smart. Herron student. I was impressed.
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