Why the having the internet is frugal. Installment 1.

Fixing stuff

Last night I noticed my relatively new dishwasher wasn't working.  I pushed the start button and no water came rushing in.  Hmm, that is super annoying!  My DH said he would take a look and 45 minutes later there were tools and parts all over the kitchen floor, but it still wasn't working.

I then suggested looking up the manual online. So I went over and snapped a picture of the model and serial number with my phone, (saved to Evernote for future need) and Googled away.  On the GE site there was a troubleshooter with the problem   "Dishwasher won't fill." That sounded likely, so I watched the video, which had a part that looked nothing like what we could find.  They suggested "hitting it with a wooden spoon or similar tool."  Not kidding.

But there were other sites, including parts sites with exploded views of the dishwasher in all it's pieces and a description of each one. (Evernoted for future reference.)  I was able to find the overfill switch for our model and DH removed it, cleaned it out and returned it. There seemed no good way to "hit it" back into submission.   He then reassembled the dishwasher and it works now.  Yay!

While you can't believe everything you read on the internet, if you use some discernment and research a bit, there is so much useful and money saving information available...for free if you have access to the internet.

This same technique and be used to diagnose car problems, computer problems and even those symptoms you might be having that don't merit a trip to the ER, because you are not about to die from them in the next few hours.