Your recent repair? 2013 - 2020

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by travelover I'm still checking out everything on my new to me Casita camping trailer. Yesterday I found the Parallax converter was dead. The circuit board had a soldered in fuse and when I bypassed it with a jumper, it shot sparks and smoke. I'd hoped it was just a loose capacitor or something easy to diagnose for a non-electronically technical person, but no joy. I found that Progressive Dynamics sells a slide in retrofit for the power supply that is also a multi stage smart charger, so Bezos is sending that tomorrow.

Smart charger is far superior to the stock charger in topping off the battery.

I replaced the one in my motorhome, even though it was still working.

But it is built for lead-acid batteries, and would overcharge and ruin the LiFePO4 batteries I recently installed.

[travelover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound Smart charger is far superior to the stock charger in topping off the battery. I replaced the one in my motorhome, even though it was still working. But it is built for lead-acid batteries, and would overcharge and ruin the LiFePO4 batteries I recently installed.

I think PD now has lithium compatible chargers. https://www.progressivedyn.com/speci...d9100l-series/

[John Galt III]

Still struggling with leaking french door. I can't make it leak by spraying water onto my patches, but as soon a rain comes with a north wind, it leaks again. Something about the wind pushing water through an entry point or two.

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by travelover I think PD now has lithium compatible chargers. https://www.progressivedyn.com/speci...d9100l-series/

I was not aware of that.

The linked page says that the ordinary charger will undercharge the LiFePO4. Yes, and no.

The normal mode output voltage is only 13.6V which is indeed low at 3.4V/cell.

The boost mode and equalization modes output 14.4V or 3.6V/cell, which is still safe but at the max, and too high for battery longevity.

The charger is still installed, but not switched on unless I need it. In use, I rely mostly on the solar panel with a Morningstar controller which is fully customizable.

[Cobra9777]

My Porter Cable 6-gal air compressor started leaking air. It would not leak until tank pressure exceeded about 60 psi. But after that, it was leaking so fast, the pump ran continuously just to maintain about 70-80 psi. The leak appeared to be coming from under the plastic pump housing in the area where the piston is. I disassembled everything hoping to find something simple like a loose hose connection, but found nothing obviously wrong.

Went to the internet/YouTube and quickly determined that it was most likely a failed check valve. The check valve is mounted where the pump output hose enters the tank. It's supposed to allow compressed air into the tank but not back out. Apparently, at 60 psi, mine was letting air flow backwards where it escaped at the piston.

No good online options. Prices were high, non-OEM parts, and long shipping times. Turns out we have a Porter Cable service center about 15-20 minutes away. I called and they had the part in stock for $19. Brought it home and installation was simple. It took a lot longer to reassemble the pump/motor assembly. Only issue was I did not have a replacement crimp-style clamp when reinstalling the hose onto the check valve. So I just improvised a standard worm-gear style hose clamp, which worked fine. Compressor is now holding 120 psi with no leaks.

[ckelly78z]

I just picked up two Cub Cadet garden tractors (1250, and a 129) for next to nothing. These both have the really stout cast iron motor, with the HD cast iron hydrostatic rear end that need some adjustment, and a new relief valve to operate properly. The better one will end up for my daughter.

[sengsational]

This is a pretty light-weight repair when I see what some of you guys are capable of, but I but a new carburetor on my mower,

detailed here

, for those of you who are very, very bored, or otherwise inclined to watch mower repair videos.


In the fall, I'd taken the cup off the carb and let the fuel drain out...maybe an o-ring fell out without me noticing, or maybe some seal just rotted out over the winter, but when I poured fuel in, it just started dribbling out of the overflow hose that's positioned inside the air filter. I checked, and the float valve was stopping the flow, so that wasn't it. But rather than fiddle with it, I ordered a replacement carb (for only $10, delivered) and put it on.

[kgtest]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freedom56 I don't know if this qualifies as a repair, but I just removed heavy calcium build-up from my pool tiles with a $30 abrasive blaster from harbor freight. I paid $850 to do this work in 2013 and the quote this year was $1350 so I decided to try to do the work myself. The results were amazing. I posted a video on YouTube to demonstrate how it was done. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0G7M561cZFo&t=1s

Beautiful pool, nice work! When's the pool party?


Thanks for paying it fwd. A good youtube video is worth its price.

[travelover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sengsational ........ I ordered a replacement carb (for only $10, delivered) and put it on.

These cheap Chinese carburetors are a real game changer. Ethanol in the gas plays havoc on carburetors and OEM carburetors are so expensive that a lot of good iron goes to the junk yard. I was delighted to fix a Mantis tiller with a new $10 carburetor.

[johnsope]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freedom56 I don't know if this qualifies as a repair, but I just removed heavy calcium build-up from my pool tiles with a $30 abrasive blaster from harbor freight. I paid $850 to do this work in 2013 and the quote this year was $1350 so I decided to try to do the work myself. The results were amazing. I posted a video on YouTube to demonstrate how it was done. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0G7M561cZFo&t=1s

kgtest, Many Thanks for sharing this calcium cleaning method for swimming pools. A quick question, if you just take the water down a few inches below the calcium line per your suggestion without emptying the pool, how do you recover or remove the glass beads from the bottom of the pool? Would they block up or possibly damage the filter/pump or in ground cleaning system?


Peter

[sdtech]

Put up black walnut shelving, and cookbooks appeared on it before I even put the tools away.

[Freedom56]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound I did acid wash on my pool before, after watching it done the 1st time. The pool looked superb after the job. I don't remember how many acid washes I did after that, but the pool had to be resurfaced when the plaster became pitted. Perhaps it was after the 4th time. I have not done an acid wash on the new plaster since it was done more than 10 years ago, and it has a lot of stain now. I think I will try sanding it when I empty the pool for the tile sandblasting. It may not look as good as acid washing, but should cause much less damage.

Depending on the type of stain, muriatic won't help. i found that some stains require absorbic acid (vitamin C) to remove. In any case, my plaster was in good shape except for a few stains which I managed to remove with absorbic acid.

[Freedom56]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kgtest Beautiful pool, nice work! When's the pool party? Thanks for paying it fwd. A good youtube video is worth its price.

Thanks.... The pool was built in 2005 and I did the design. Our yard was geometric and when we went for quotes, most came back with kidney shaped pools that really didn't appeal to us. We wanted something different and I wanted a pool where I could swim laps. Plus there was no basis to compare quotes. So I sketched the design you see with Visio and we sent it out for quotes.

I finished re-grouting the tiles last week and cleaning up the plaster. It took 45 hours to refill this pool. I added 12 bags of salt, few pounds of cyanuric, 48oz of phosfree, and baking soda, and replaced my salt cell. The water is balanced now and the pool looks great. I'm testing the water regularly to make sure things are stable. The pool parties will start after we return from our 2 month trip Europe.

[Freedom56]

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnsope kgtest, Many Thanks for sharing this calcium cleaning method for swimming pools. A quick question, if you just take the water down a few inches below the calcium line per your suggestion without emptying the pool, how do you recover or remove the glass beads from the bottom of the pool? Would they block up or possibly damage the filter/pump or in ground cleaning system? Peter

You can recover the beads with an external vacuum (battery powered) or you can empty the pool and sweep up the media. In my case, I started with the pool below the tile line and emptied the pool while I was bead blasting. After the pool was empty, I swept up the beads and did the touch up cleaning. I had a two day weather window to do this job otherwise I would have emptied the pool completely before starting. The people I hired in the past did it the same way I did as they are on a time schedule.

[John Galt III]

Just a rant-like update. I got a hose up on the second story deck, and sprayed water all over and around the window above the french door. A couple minutes of spraying each time, and sprayed it 3 different times, about 5 minutes apart. This produced no leaking at the leak spot, which I guess is a good thing. Desperate to actually cause a leak, I sprayed water directly into a rotted area of the door, where water has entered the house during north wind rain. Guess what, no water came into the house, even when I sprayed it right into the rotted area (There is actually a hole there that can let water in). Well, at least it's more data for the equation. I then sprayed the entire left side of the door (there are 2 separate panes, one non-moving on the left and the actual door on the right). Did this about a minute at a time, three times. Again, no water came in at the leak spot. Seems like good news in a way, but doesn't identify how water is getting in during rain. I will have to wait until I get a decent North wind on a dry day, and spray it again.

[Sunset]

Water leaks can be tricky.
Any chance it's really a roof leak and the water is running down inside the wall until it comes out at the joint to the window ?

[Ronstar]

My controlled burn got out of control and melted vinyl siding on my workshop. Luckily I saved some siding when I built it 20 years ago. Cut out the old siding, and installed the new siding in its place

[John Galt III]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunset Water leaks can be tricky. Any chance it's really a roof leak and the water is running down inside the wall until it comes out at the joint to the window ?

Yes, it's possible, I guess. Roof is only about 5 years old. It only leaks when there is a North wind, and I guess a North wind could force the water under the shingles into the part of the roof that leaks. No sign of water damage on the upper floor (above the french door) window or ceiling or wall, though.

[Mr._Graybeard]

IMO, flashing is a prime suspect when a newish roof is leaking.

[always_learning]

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Galt III Just a rant-like update. I got a hose up on the second story deck, and sprayed water all over and around the window above the french door. A couple minutes of spraying each time, and sprayed it 3 different times, about 5 minutes apart. This produced no leaking at the leak spot, which I guess is a good thing. Desperate to actually cause a leak, I sprayed water directly into a rotted area of the door, where water has entered the house during north wind rain. Guess what, no water came into the house, even when I sprayed it right into the rotted area (There is actually a hole there that can let water in). Well, at least it's more data for the equation. I then sprayed the entire left side of the door (there are 2 separate panes, one non-moving on the left and the actual door on the right). Did this about a minute at a time, three times. Again, no water came in at the leak spot. Seems like good news in a way, but doesn't identify how water is getting in during rain. I will have to wait until I get a decent North wind on a dry day, and spray it again.

Ugh. I was so hoping you had solved the problem! We have had buckets of rain so far this year and I was just thinking about your puzzle the other day.

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Galt III Yes, it's possible, I guess. Roof is only about 5 years old. It only leaks when there is a North wind, and I guess a North wind could force the water under the shingles into the part of the roof that leaks. No sign of water damage on the upper floor (above the french door) window or ceiling or wall, though.

Is there anything to the side of the French doors, then? Another window? Maybe the north wind is somehow causing the rain to get in and go sideways along the top of the sliders and down? Sort of like if the rain found a channel that it follows?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr._Graybeard IMO, flashing is a prime suspect when a newish roof is leaking.

Yeah. That and those vent pipes for bathroom fans. I actually just saw seals for those in Home Depot the other day. I never know those were a thing.

Our other house had *five* layers of flashing around the chimney. We never knew it until we had the roof replaced and they mentioned it and only used one. Turned out water came in and the leak appeared in the room downstairs and one room over from the fireplace. The roofers put another layer of flashing and all was well.

So, what's on your roof? Anything that might be causing the leak up there? I can't remember if you mentioned it ... did the leak start before or after the roof was redone?