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Two Stories
Aug. 1st, 2020 11:02 pmA few years ago, we bought a nice new Samsung refrigerator with an ice maker that keeps a reservoir in the door. This is handy, because it takes up less space in the freezer compartment overall.
Except that there's an endemic problem that causes the ice makers to fail and freeze up. Oops. After a lot of reading on the subject, it looks like the problem is that the silicone gasket that seals the door bin to the rest of the system leaks humid air back into the ice maker. That freezes up and the thing stops working.
After a bit of analysis, Gretchen and I figured that we could stuff the inside of the gasket with enough pipe cleaners to get a good seal. Of course, you still have to figure out how to get the ice maker to unfreeze, but I was hoping that sublimation would save the day.
Eventually, it did. I went to poke around in the ice maker and pried loose a big chunk of ice from the business end. It slid back and forth on a rail and I wasn't able to pry it loose, so I sent Gretchen to beat on it. And the chunk was dislodged and removed from the ice maker. A few hours later, we had ice.
This was good, because in pandemic summer, you want things that you can't find. Apparently due to the aluminum can shortage (Did you know that there was an aluminum can shortage? Neither did I.), less popular beverage flavors have become unobtainium. This includes my usual Caffeine Free Diet Pepsi that I keep around the house. I can get Diet Pepsi (and do), but I would rather not be drinking a lot of caffeine in the evening.
Of course, I also love lemonade. Except I can't have sugared lemonade, because that would be even worse for me than the caffeine. There are canned light lemonades that I like, but they fall into the "less popular flavor" category and have *also* become unobtanium.
*grumble*
Gretchen to the rescue! She has purchased a silly number of canisters of Crystal Light Lemonade in handy single-pitcher pouches. Just add 8 cups of water and refrigerate.
Or pour over a whole bunch of ice from the now-working ice maker.
I am drinking a *lot* of lemonade.
Ah...
Except that there's an endemic problem that causes the ice makers to fail and freeze up. Oops. After a lot of reading on the subject, it looks like the problem is that the silicone gasket that seals the door bin to the rest of the system leaks humid air back into the ice maker. That freezes up and the thing stops working.
After a bit of analysis, Gretchen and I figured that we could stuff the inside of the gasket with enough pipe cleaners to get a good seal. Of course, you still have to figure out how to get the ice maker to unfreeze, but I was hoping that sublimation would save the day.
Eventually, it did. I went to poke around in the ice maker and pried loose a big chunk of ice from the business end. It slid back and forth on a rail and I wasn't able to pry it loose, so I sent Gretchen to beat on it. And the chunk was dislodged and removed from the ice maker. A few hours later, we had ice.
This was good, because in pandemic summer, you want things that you can't find. Apparently due to the aluminum can shortage (Did you know that there was an aluminum can shortage? Neither did I.), less popular beverage flavors have become unobtainium. This includes my usual Caffeine Free Diet Pepsi that I keep around the house. I can get Diet Pepsi (and do), but I would rather not be drinking a lot of caffeine in the evening.
Of course, I also love lemonade. Except I can't have sugared lemonade, because that would be even worse for me than the caffeine. There are canned light lemonades that I like, but they fall into the "less popular flavor" category and have *also* become unobtanium.
*grumble*
Gretchen to the rescue! She has purchased a silly number of canisters of Crystal Light Lemonade in handy single-pitcher pouches. Just add 8 cups of water and refrigerate.
Or pour over a whole bunch of ice from the now-working ice maker.
I am drinking a *lot* of lemonade.
Ah...