what consumes 80% of my free time

Have I told you about Thor yet?

How do I explain Thor and his presence in my life? Well, Thor is a ventless washer/dryer one barrel unit that my friend Steve and his boyfriend Kib gave to me and my other. They moved away from NYC to a place where washers and dryers are standard appliances with apartments (which is everywhere outside of NYC). Ergo, Thor was given to my other and I. Thoughtful.

The instructions that come with Thor explained how much clothing (by weight and fabric) can be washed or dried at anytime, that compartment 1 is for power detergents only and that compartment 2 is for liquid detergents only, and a long list of troubleshooting ideas. It does not tell you how the machine, once it is hooked up to a standard faucet, extracts and discards water nor does it tell you how to set up the dryer function of the machine.

So... after 2 weeks of admiring Thor (we weren't sure if we had the right faucet attachments and we needed some padding to help absorb shaking) we sat infront of Thor with our instructions trying to figure out the basics. After 90 minutes and some tightening of the hoses to prevent leaks, we hooked up hoses to the faucet, loaded in some dirty laundry, put liquid detergent in compartment 2 only, and started the machine.

It was magic. We watched it for spilling and other unforeseen problems. For 10 minutes, nothing.

The dryer... that was a different story. 3 hours, 3 HOURS and not a single sock had dried at all. I took out a pillow case and let it dry in the bathroom and it was dry in no time. My first thought, the next day when I took my wet laundry to the laundrymat to use a dryer, was how much would it cost to ship that piece of crap back to its original owner.

Alas, my other found some more troubleshooting ideas on the manufacturer's website that we're going to try this weekend. Hopefully, we will make it work and it won't be at a lost. I like the idea of my own washer and dryer but I like the idea of a working one better. I'll keep you updated.