The Dryer Saga Continued

Okay, the washer was hooked up, the dryer running but I hadn’t connected the vent.  Something that should have taken ten minutes at the most.  Ha!  Let the saga continue.

For those that don’t know, I live in a trailer.  My washer and dryer fit in the small hallway between the kitchen and bedroom.  I repeat; small hallway.  The outside vent pipe stuck out about four inches.  The dryer also had a pipe sticking out for the vent.  No big deal; line them up, push them together.  Voila! done, ready to dry.

Uh, no (picture head wag).  It took an act of congress to get the pipes lined up.  The wall pipe had to be trimmed, or it would make the dryer stick out two inches further than the washer.  Small hall, big girl.  Not gonna work.

I don’t know what kind of washer and dryer was supposed to go in that space but. . .  Suffice it to say, the washer was not getting any closer to that wall no matter how much I wiggled it.  Finally got the pipes lined up and head tilt.  Seriously???  Wall pipe, four inches off the floor.  Dryer pipe, three and a half.  The legs on the dryer were already as high as they would go.  That left two options. 

First option, wrestle the dryer up on half-inch blocks.  Which meant finding half-inch blocks—of any kind—I could use, having both pipes meet, push them together while keeping the dryer on the blocks and then leveling it once I got the pipes connected.  Way too much work for this girl.

Second option, vent hose.  No problem, slide it on one pipe then the other and we’re good to go.

Yeah, right (picture head hanging).  Remember the small hall.  Dryer vent hoses are long, and I didn’t want a vent hose snake behind the dryer.  Also because of the sticking out problem mentioned above, I was going to have to mush it against the wall.  So I cut about a foot and a half off and commenced to connecting.  Both ends of a vent hose are male connections so it will slide over the pipe.  The pipe coming out of the wall was also a male connection.  No surprise there.  Got the pliers and modified the wall pipe.  Finally wrestled the hose on the wall pipe and got it taped down.  Tried to slide the hose on the dryer.  Hum-m-m.  What do you know; the dryer had a male connection, also.  Applied the pliers again but couldn't get the hose on in that small space. 

Deep sigh.  Laid everything down, walked off and played on the computer.  Then, did the only thing I could do.  Turned the dryer so that the back faces the washer, did some major modifications on both pipes, connected the vent hose and taped ‘er down.  Yea! no air leaks.

It might look odd but it works and that’s the main thing.  I was ready for my first load of clothes. Or, so I thought.  That’s when the saga of the washer started.  Yep, to be continued.      

In case you missed the first installment:    The Dryer Saga