Stupid Landlord

Warning: Rant Ahead, read at your own risk.

So my fridge and kitchen sink have been leaking since May. I called the landlord in May and he came over a week later and put caulk around the leaking pipe under the sink. He told me the fridge wasn't a big deal unless it got worse. The sink stopped leaking for about a week, then I did dishes one day and flooded my kitchen thanks to the leaking pipe. Called the landlord again and he 'didn't have time' so I took matters into my own hands and fixed the pipe myself. It still leaks but not nearly as bad.

So now it's January, 7 1/2 months since I moved in, and he STILL hasn't come to check on the fridge. It's been progressively getting worse since May and no matter how many phone calls I make he still won't come fix it. Well today I opened the fridge to get some milk for my cereal and was met with a small wave of water pouring onto my kitchen floor. I threw a bunch of towels down, called the landlord AGAIN, got another stupid excuse-("it's Saturday, I don't work on Saturday's")-and went to work without breakfast. At work I got a phone call from the landlord saying he would try to look at the fridge before Friday. I came home from work at 12:30 and decided to vacuum out the dust that had gathered behind and under the fridge. I thought that maybe all of the dust was keeping the fridge from working properly and possible the fridge wasn't getting cold enough, hence the flood this morning. So I unplugged and pulled out the fridge. Let me tell you, it was not pretty.

First off, the last time this fridge was checked or professionally cleaned was 1992. But wait, it gets better. Instead of metal plateing attached to the back of the fridge where the wires and motor are, there was a piece of corrugated cardboard with holes punched in it where the screws were supposed to be. There's 10 holes on the fridge for the screws to go, but there's only 4 screws. So I unscrewed the cardboard and found a puddle of water underneath the motor, a PVC pipe that drained directly under the motor, and enough dust to make a sweater. In addition to the metal plateing being non-existant, there was no drain pan. So basically my fridge was a giant fire hazard. I vacuumed it out as best as I could, sopped up the water, and replaced the lovely cardboard backing with the 4 screws. Then I moved onto the front of the fridge. Big mistake!

I attached the little hose thingy to the vacuum cleaner and shoved it underneath the fridge to clean off the coils. Not 30 seconds after I shoved it under there, the vacuum cleaner clogged. Apparently 15 years of dust can take it's toll on a vacuum cleaner. So unclog the vacuum cleaner, attempt to clean underneath the fridge, and then realize that there's water coming from underneath the fridge. So I pull the fridge back out and the wonderful PVC pipe drain is draining onto the floor. I must've bumped it when I was cleaning back there. So I moved it, mopped the floor-(which was covered with brown water), and pushed the fridge back into place. Then I decided to clean the inside of the fridge and freezer. Got that done in no time because I clean it regularly. Then I noticed that there's 2 screws in the way back of the freezer. Being me I unscrewed them, pulled out the plastic piece that they were holding down, and found 3 inches of moldy ice underneath the bottom of the freezer. I grabbed a screw driver and went to work on it.

After digging through the iceberg in my freezer, I pulled off the cover to the fan in the freezer and Lord help me if I didn't gag. There was black mold EVERYWHERE. I tackled that, which was disgusting, and put the freezer back together. I put all of the food back in the fridge and freezer and cleaned up the mess I made. The whole cleaning deal took me 3 hours. Needless to say, I'm a little ticked off with the landlord. And to top it all off, the stupid fridge is STILL LEAKING!