Smelly fridge and fuse popping toaster oven

After about a month the smell of the fridge and freezer became worse and one day the freezer was nice and warm like a summer day and not nasty and freezing like a winter night. So we got the janitor over who looked at it and hmm:ed and haa:ed and then phoned some freezer mechanics.

These two nice mechanics arrived the next morning and one of them promptly sat down in our armchair and started to gaze at the view (I don’t blame him) whilst the other mechanic started to empty the freezer and taking it apart. The mechanic who was preoccupied in the armchair asked the loved one to play him some music on the piano which the loved one did after giving them some coffee.
After about just 15 minutes the working mechanic said something like “Aha!” (but in Arabic) and out came his hand from the interior of the freezer. Clasped in his hand was a black melted lump of stuff with metal bits sticking out of it in various places. This lump was reeking of the same chloridic smell we had had in our house since we moved in.

“What is that?!” I asked.
“The engine!” the working mechanic said with a big smile.

The non-working mechanic took the piece in his hand and whistled but then continued to gaze at our beautiful view (still don’t blame him).

Five minutes later the working mechanic had got another engine and fixed the freezer.

Had this been in Sweden the mechanics would have come a week after booking them, looked at the freezer without looking at the view or talking to you and then ordering a new engine which would have taken another week to arrive…

That same day we decided to try our luck at fixing the fuse popping toaster oven.

This meant that we drove for an hour through terrible traffic, argued with the sales people at the shop and then drove for another hour through terrible traffic before finally parking smack bang in the middle of a street, in front of the traffic lights. (Strictly forbidden! But what to do? The parking situation is insane in Israel)

We then took the toaster oven into 3 holes in the walls (which were next to each other) before finally finding the right hole in the wall. (3 different shops, but all had the exact same name)

All of the shops were about the size of a shoe box and all were drowning in kitchen appliances and spare parts to these. Inside and outside the shops these objects just lay in a big mess.
There wasn’t the slightest bit of order anywhere and the men in the shops smoked and look disinterested. So I didn’t have much hope.

But since I was on parking ticket duty I stood outside in the rain looking miserably at our car.

After about half an hour the loved one emerged from having a lovely chat with the owner of the fixing store. He knew the mans entire life story and they even exchanged advice on women, music and coffee brands before the loved one had to run out after I frantically called him to tell him we were about to get a ticket.

(One nice thing about parking ticket people. IF you are in the vicinity of your car, they are not allowed to give you a ticket. They will ask you to move the car, which you will, of course do. But they will not hand you a ticket whilst you are moving the car. As they would in Sweden)

Anyway, in the car, I asked:

“So? What is the toaster oven's verdict?”
“Erhm…” the loved one said looking gslightly embarrassed. “Well we are going to plug it in, using an adapter which will mean that the third “spike” of the plug will not be connected…”
“You mean that we will plug it to the socket without it being earthed (jordad)?”
“Yes! Exactly!”
“Ok!” I replied slowly “You know there is a reason why kitchen appliances like ovens are earthed, right? It is for safety. So the house doesn’t burn down!”

The loved one looked a bit uncomfortable.

“Yes, I know! And I know it sounds silly but this is what we have to do”
“Ok, but WHY are we plugging it to the wall without it being earthed?” I asked completely lost.
“Well, the fixer man said that he thought that the wiring inside was damp… And that when we plugged it in and it being earthed, it fuses it self… So if we plug it in without the earth then the fuse won’t pop and then after two hours the toaster oven will be dried out and we can re-plug it, with the earth. And everything will be fine.”
“Seriously?!” I asked “It sounds utterly insane!” I said.

The loved one agreed with me.

But when we got home we plugged it in anyway – without the earth.
Let it stay on for 2 hours.
And it worked.

Now our toaster oven works perfectly and it is earthed.

Weird.