This was why, in the end, I removed a grate from the top of the refrigerator and climbed up with the vacuum to remove dust from the condenser coils.
“Why is my computer dead?” my husband asked.
“I turned off the circuit breaker so I don’t electrocute myself while I’m trying to, um, help your food stay fresh longer,” I said.
I didn’t mention how we would eliminate an average of 150 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions in six months.
“Interesting,” he said. “But don’t really big electrical appliances sometimes have capacitors that store power that they can discharge accidentally if you hit the wrong thing with a metal vacuum hose?”
CarbonRally didn’t mention anything about capacitors. I climbed down and put the vacuum away. Then I hung all his underwear outside to dry.
