I made plans to work from home for the afternoon so that I'd be here when the stove was delivered. I bolted as soon as my last meeting of the day wrapped up, hopped in Pearl and flew home. I needn't have hurried.
I called the mother as I approached the elevator to leave. No. Nothing on the stove yet. Good. I'll be home by 1 and I'll make it. I pulled in the driveway at 12:58. The stove was sitting on the porch.
As I feared, the in-home delivery and installation was not available in our area. My biggest fear though was that the stove would be left on the sidewalk or the edge of the driveway. And we don't own a dolly. So, we at least were spared that.
I went to my neighbor's who owns all the ladders but no one was home. I was sure he'd have a dolly. There was no one I could call (at that second anyway) so, I decided to take Ladybird and go buy one. I made it to the end of the alley. There stood my savior: Stan, Stan the Lawnmower Man. (The guy who fixes my mower; not to be confused with Lawnmower Man.)
I asked if he had a dolly I could borrow. "Sure," says Stan. "I have three. What kind do you need?" He even rolled it down to my house.
This all would have worked out great, save a few minor details.
First, the stove box was covered in plastic and then wrapped in at least three more layers of cardboard. We couldn't fit inside the door without removing the plastic and all of the cardboard layers around the actual item box. Mind you, I'm glad it was packed as well as it was. Really. But it was a pain in the butt to fight all of it off.
Second, our stoop is several inches off the porch. Thank God for the brickwork which raised the porch a few more inches! Even so, putting forth a true Herculean effort, the mother and I could NOT lift the stove into the door. It finally occurred to me to take the dolly, pull it toward me, lowering it as much as I could and then roll it to the edge, ideally pushing it into the hallway. That worked.
We no sooner got back into the house -- we had to walk around to the back because the stove was now blocking the front door -- and the rain started pouring. (While it poured -- and then repeated itself an hour or so later -- we didn't get the severe weather occuring all around us. They've reported a tornado in a neighboring county.)
We then wrestled it from inside the house back into the dolly and through the house to the kitchen. Getting it in the kitchen was the third detail. But finally, it was inside. Unboxing it was another challenge. It's still not completely unboxed and still sitting in the middle of the floor.
We've now realized that the stove does NOT have a power cord. We have to buy some kind of kit apparently. Having never seen a major appliance with no cord, this is new territory for me. I guess I'll be adding this to Lawrence's next list.
He comes back Saturday. We can make it without a stove 'til then.
The mother really likes the stove. "I hope that kitchen is going to look as good as I think it's going to look," says she.
Yeah. After one of the dolly's wheels rolling over her foot, her elbowing me in the eye, and both of us getting hands and arms smashed as we passed through doorways, I just hope we live to see it!
A non-professional,faux home improvement blog dedicated to the insane yet diligent do-it-yourselfer,thoroughly peppered with random views and thoughts from me
6 comments:
Make sure to take Tylenol tonight to help combat the muscle aches you're sure to have...
I think the cord thing with stoves is because there are (at least) two types, 3-pin (w/ separate ground wire) and 4-pin. 4-pin is the newer type, so your kitchen may not have it.
Doh! If you are ever in a pinch again, let me know. We have a furniture dolly, an appliance dolly and another plan old dolly that you are more than welcome to borrow anytime!
Did it come with a manual that says something illuminating about the cord?
A lot of manuals can be downloaded from manufacturer's web sites, I have been happy to find, maybe you know this already. Beats sending away $12.98 to some printing or "parts" place and waiting weeks.
Jean -- U bet I did! Not that it really helped. I was in some sorry shape Tuesday!
Gene -- Thank you! That explanation helped a lot and led me to a site that put my mind at ease. Turns out the cord is about $10 at Home Depot!
MG -- Thanks! Very good to know. You never know what I'll be trying to move!
KarenAnne -- We have the manual, but it doesn't offer an explanation WHY. (Gene did though.) Apparently, this is standard procedure now. Some law passed in the late '90s regarding wiring so the manufacturers just don't mess with cords anymore, though this wasn't the case when we bought the old stove circa 2003. Hoping this doesn't apply to the fridge! :-)
To get a little more technical, 240V circuits have 2 hot wires (normally black and red) and 1 neutral (white), so you'll have at least 3 wires. The older ones sometimes relied on the metal conduit for the ground. The new ones have a separate ground wire (bare or green).
At the plug end, the 3-prong plug just grounds to the outlet with a separate wire. The 4-prong plugs ground into the outlet and connect to the ground wire. That separate wire is a relative weak point, as is depending on the conduit for ground, so they updated the NEC (National Electrical Code) in 1996, but it took a while for it to get adopted nationwide. And many places grandfather in existing circuits, only requiring the update for new circuits.
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