Faulty Wiring

So one of the perks of my job is that I get to live in this nice little apartment on campus. It was just supplied with a nice little washer/dryer unit in the kitchen over the summer. So about once a week I do a little laundry. Last week was one of those times. It was Thursday night, I remember this because I got really sick on Wednesday and was still icky on Thursday, so I thought laundry would be a harmless chore I could get out of the way. And so I put a load in the washer and set out to watch some Thursday night TV.

I heard a funny noise, but thought it was just the Downey ball falling to the bottom of the tub. A few minutes later I heard what sounded like a ripping noise. So I ran over to the machine, thinking something got caught and it was tearing. Midnight was staring at the machine like it was a monster. I tried to lift the washer lid, forgetting for the moment that I needed to turn it off before I could do that. Just as I remembered, I saw that the wall behind the machine was glowing and flickering. Thank God I'm a natural born Hall Director. I think I cursed as I slammed the washer button off. In the next split second I thought "Shit, I don't have a fire extinguisher" and was already planning on getting my ass out of the apartment and to the nearest pull station when I smelled the smoke and saw the flickering was gone.

The smoke was coming from the dryer, so I opened it up and unleashed more smoke. I found that the lint trap was scorched but otherwise everything was fine. I pulled the machine out as far as I could and couldn't see where there was any fire at all. And I was just trying to wrap my head around the fact that my washer caught my dryer on fire, and couldn't figure it out. I also rather enjoyed that the smoke detectors that are so sensitive they go off when ladies or gentlemen take too long of a shower or flat iron their hair did not go off when there was an actual fire in the room. Maybe mine are defective. I also pointed out to our environmental safety guy in facilities that we don't have fire extinguishers in our apartments. It took him a few days, but he did finally get back to me telling me that my boss would need to get them. Yay for fire safety at Mo West!

I made it clear to maintenance that neither was my dryer on or running nor was the washer overloaded. Had I not done that who knows if it would have gotten fixed. I'm just a grown woman, I can't possibly know how to do laundry ;) Anyway, because the maintenance guys that actually do the work in the buildings are great, they got on it right away, and determined that there was a fire. It burned through the dryer vent hose and the electrical cord. They called in the service repair person who didn't know what was wrong with it either. They finally figured out that it really was some faulty wiring with the receptacle. I don't know what that means. Paul told me, but I still didn't get it. I may know how to do laundry, but I don't know jack about electricity (besides the fact that you shouldn't put out a fire like that with water.)

And thankfully Paul and Robin were able to get it fixed in time for me to do up all the rest of my laundry before I travelled home this week. All I have to say is that my guardian angel was looking out for me yet again. He's got to be the hardest working angel in heaven, that is for sure.