Sunday, June 12, 2011

The saga of the stove

My old Flair, just before I took a crowbar to it, to get it the hell out.  She had a much cooler console design than the new one, but she didn't work well anymore and had to go. 
I had been e-mailing back and forth with this woman in St. Helens for months- since the beginning of November.  

I and for a while I didn't hear anything, finally I said "are you still wanting to sell you Flair?" and she said she did, and was in a big hurry.  Rolf and Freyja and I drove out there Friday night to make sure it was all she said it was.  It was, and we knew we had to have it.  We called our Friend Mark, who is like a super genius with MacGyver  like skills.  

Mark and Rolf headed out to get the Flair at 10:00am.  At 11:45, Rolf called to see who the hell could come out and help them, since the thing weighed a lot more than  300 pounds and they couldn't get it down the lady's stairs.
 
I had no one.  My brother is no longer in town, and our friend John, that usually helps in such cases is out of town. 

I called Rolf back to tell him to leave it. Forget it, just come home.  Apparently the lady was complaining about  his check, she wanted cash.  She was being no help at all, but in between the time Rolf phoned me and when he went back to check, Mark had rigged up some kind of ramp and they were able to load the Flair and were on the road.  

"Get us some help to unload it when we arrive. Hire someone! " 

Were his final words, before his phone went dead. 
So I went on Craigslist and started calling folks that haul stuff.  I reached two people, one hung up from me mid call, and the other agreed to come. 

When they showed up My husband and I looked at each other with serious doubt.  They were a couple of hardcore tweakers, and the older one looked like he maybe weighed 125# soaking wet, hardly the burly dudes we would need.  Neither had teeth and the skinny one smelled so bad, I had to hold my breath.  

I showed them the Flair and explained that there was a new one on the way, and that this old one had to get gone before we could install it.  I also told them that it was chock full of copper wire and that if they would haul it off, it was theirs!

These two fellows wasted no time wrestling the old Flair out of the built in and onto their hand truck.  It was amazing.  

What they discovered much to our horror, was that the old Flair was not plugged in, but rather WIRED directly into a junction box, behind the cupboard, which had been built up around the Flair, sometime in 1961 when the unit was installed! YIKES, I said and started to cry, but Al, the stinky fellow told me to turn off the breakers and proceeded to use bold cutters to dismantle, the old wiring.  

By this time Mark M and Rolf were back and I told them what was happening. Mark is an electrical engineer and Rolf  has  a doctorate Chemistry so naturally I thought they would have something to add, but they both agreed that the stinky guy's work was first rate and sound.

They all worked together to get the old Flair outside and into the get away truck, and then they all worked together to get the new Flair inside (which involved Al taking my sliding glass patio door apart in like ten seconds and then putting it all back together again) and wired up and ready to cook. 

I gave them the metal stand that the new Flair came with, since ours has a built in cupboard.  They asked me if they could haul away our old jogging stroller for scrap metal and I said, "you surely can, and if you like take that old gas grill too!"  I paid them the $100 we had agree to on the phone, and I felt a little like a heel, because they worked long and hard on this.  

They were really sweet guys, and I promised to talk up their service on Craigslist.  

They got a ton of awesome scrap metal from me, so I suppose we are square.

The new Flair with it's original turquoise stand

It  came with a rotisserie and roasting pans

The dog checking out the space left when the stove was pulled out.

I should have selected a less baggy and more flattering outfit for demolition day!

Installing the new machine!


My poor claustrophobic husband is the only one small enough to fit behind the stove to install the metal fire box plate.

a few moments later Mark flips me off- he is over my photos! What you can't see, is Mark M wiring the stove from the back, as Rolf and Mark hold it up.  Tired ARMS!! all around.

Freyja putting everything back on the counters.

Cooking our first dinner in the new Flair!

She works like a dream!

1 comment:

  1. OMFG - fantastic!! New range! New range!

    Seriously exciting. Having personally observed the quality of the results you made with with that old dog of a range that you had (if Ripley will excuse the term) for so very very long, I'm slavering at the idea of what you'll be able to make with something that actually works! Wheee!

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