Your recent repair? 2013 - 2020

[ERD50]

My old Econoline (1966) had the battery inside, but it was in a vented box, similar to that used on RVs. My 1965 VW had the battery under the rear seat, but there were so many rust holes that it was ventilated - that is until I hit a big bump and the battery went through the floor.

OMG! I almost forgot, I owned one of that vintage (forget the exact year), an Illinois Bell auction sale, a few hundred bucks I think. I remember the engine compartment hood in side, but I forget where the battery was. I recall the choke was a pull knob right in the middle front of that engine compartment.

The carb was always giving me problems, and sometimes I'd need to pull the choke a bit just to keep it running. Makes you appreciate fuel injection and computer controls!

Does this bring back any memories:

He claims the in-line 6 had a lot of power, I don't remember that. I recall barely keeping 55 mph in a headwind! Had to work that Three-On-A-Tree!

-ERD50

 

[Koolau]

Every car I have seen with the battery under the rear seat or in the trunk still had a positive stud in the engine compartment just for jump starting.
I'm pretty sure yours has one also.

I'm sure you're right - I just have no idea where it is. It could be in the manual, but I didn't get that far. I could tell the battery was weak, so that was my focus. Just for future reference, I'm sure I SHOULD figure out how to jump it without trying to do it at the battery (a bad idea in general - and even worse inside the cabin - think Hindenburg.)

 

[Hermit]

OMG! I almost forgot, I owned one of that vintage (forget the exact year), an Illinois Bell auction sale, a few hundred bucks I think. I remember the engine compartment hood in side, but I forget where the battery was. I recall the choke was a pull knob right in the middle front of that engine compartment.

The carb was always giving me problems, and sometimes I'd need to pull the choke a bit just to keep it running. Makes you appreciate fuel injection and computer controls!

He claims the in-line 6 had a lot of power, I don't remember that. I recall barely keeping 55 mph in a headwind! Had to work that Three-On-A-Tree!

-ERD50

I had one of those. It was a pickup model.

 

[Koolau]

He claims the in-line 6 had a lot of power, I don't remember that. I recall barely keeping 55 mph in a headwind! Had to work that Three-On-A-Tree!

-ERD50

Can't speak for the Ford "big six" but I drove a 1966 big six (250 CI) Chevy pickup truck for a summer j*b. I did a route which took me to the next state over. On the way home (empty) I was always running late so I'd do 105 indicated on a few lonely stretches of 2 lane. Not wise, I'm sure, but that truck just loved to go fast. YMMV

 

[BrianB]

We have an arm-rest 12 volt electric cooler in our camper van. It looks like the image below from Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000YS9P54/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Besides being a comfortable place to rest our elbows, it keeps some pop & water cold for long trips, reducing the number of times we have to open the large cooler so things keep longer there.
Two weeks ago it stopped working. The fan was spinning, the power light was on, but the inside wasn't cold and the fan wasn't blowing warm air. I opened it up and checked the components on the small circuit board (two diodes and two resistors). All working. Checked the Peltier element and it was open.
Found replacement Peltier elements, thermal grease and some shrink tube on Ebay for under $20 total. Opened it up today, cleaned & re-greased the contact surfaces, put in a new element and reassembled everything and it works. Yippee!
So I learned some things, got a feeling of accomplishment, and impressed my DW all in one day!

 

[Music Lover]

Replaced the steering shaft and some other related parts on my riding mower...at a cost of $61 for the parts and a two hours of labour.

 

[John Galt III]

Was doing some vacuuming with my ancient Eureka upright. It was making some knocking sound, which I assumed was some bearing wearing out. Oh well, it's old. Just for kicks, I opened it up and found a huge amount of hair wrapped around every possible part. Spent 15 minutes tearing out strands of hair and throwing it out. Also noticed the rubber belt was cracked in several places. Harvested a newer (used) belt from my stash and installed it. Fired up the old beast. Now it has more suction, and the knocking sound is gone!! Very satisfying.

 

[LOL!]

So I finally found a time to replace an outdoor faucet today with my son's "help." On the old one, the shaft was stripped making it difficult make sure it was fully closed, so we tended not to use that faucet.

Nothing remarkable about the replacement, but my college-age son hasn't done many fix-it projects around the house, so I thought he needed some practice.

What is remarkable is that I used a tool I inherited from my dad when he died in the '90s that I thought I would never use: It was a flathead screwdriver socket for a half-inch drive. I knew exactly where it was in an old tool box. Whenever I saw it, I always thought: I will never use this socket. But today, we needed to remove grounding wires attached to the pipe by a clamp held with large machine screws that had rusted quite a bit. A large flathead screwdriver just didn't have the leverage to get things going, but the ratchet+socket provided the leverage.

I don't know if my son got anything out of this, but probably so. I expect in another 40 years, he will get to use that same socket after he inherits it from me.

I expect lots of folks have some old inherited tools they haven't used yet.

 

[ERD50]

...

I don't know if my son got anything out of this, but probably so. I expect in another 40 years, he will get to use that same socket after he inherits it from me.
...

I think the lessons my kids got out of helping me on these projects was - rent! Or hire someone!

Though I did buy a tool kit for each kid when they went off to college, and they did help out when something in the room or someone's car needed a tweak.

-ERD50

 

[sengsational]

Checked the Peltier element and it was open.
Found replacement Peltier elements, thermal grease and some shrink tube on Ebay for under $20 total.

That's a good fix. I've been doing less and less of that kind of diagnostic/fix work lately because, first of all, buying a new one is sometimes very cheap, and second, I'm often not convinced enough of finding a smoking gun to spend money on parts. Before you bought parts, did you have any reinforcement from from youtube or other Internet research to suggest that Peltiers often fail open and that the rest of the unit wasn't fried?

 

[BrianB]

Seng, yes I did check out a few Youtube videos, but none seemed to be really useful for what I needed to do. The $20 that I spent was half for shrink tube & heat sink compound (which I needed anyway), and half for the Peltier element. I got 5 elements for $11 instead of one for $6 so I have spares if it fails again.

A new cooler would be $40 to $60, and if you read reviews they all tend to fail in a year or two. I like this one (a discontinued model) so I'm hoping to keep it working for a few more years.

It was a gamble - some of my previous diagnostic & repair projects haven't turned out so well!

Edit to add: A Peltier is just two dissimilar metals forming a junction - single (like a thermocouple) or multiple (like the 1.5 x 1.5 inch "elements" this cooler used). They should measure very low resistance when measured with a DC ohmeter, so when I measured infinite resistance I was pretty sure I had found the problem.

 

[Hermit]

I replaced the vinyl seal on the garage door. Looked like a chipmunk got stranded in the garage and was looking for a way out. It chewed the seal almost the entire length of the door, but that didn't help because the door sits on the floor. This problem has a familiar ring to it, but I couldn't find the other thread. I have metal garage doors and Hardie (concrete) siding so not much danger of chewing a hole.

 

[Souschef]

My next project is getting a 23 Ton GE switch running again. I volunteer at a railroad society, and we got one as a donation.
One of the main reasons I want to get it running, is I WANT to drive it!

 

[ERD50]

My next project is getting a 23 Ton GE switch running again. I volunteer at a railroad society, and we got one as a donation.
One of the main reasons I want to get it running, is I WANT to drive it!

Tell us more! That's a diesel I assume? What year, HP?
-ERD50

 

[Souschef]

Tell us more! That's a diesel I assume? What year, HP?
-ERD50

The switcher is from 1941, but they replaced the diesel in the mid 70's. I have the original manual, plus the manual for the new diesel. It is a Cummins NHC-250 225 HP, and there are parts readily available for it.
We have to make a presentation to the RR Society board about our plans. I am volunteering to cover the costs for fuel. oil. filters, parts, etc.

 

[samclem]

Seng, yes I did check out a few Youtube videos, but none seemed to be really useful for what I needed to do. The $20 that I spent was half for shrink tube & heat sink compound (which I needed anyway), and half for the Peltier element. I got 5 elements for $11 instead of one for $6 so I have spares if it fails again.

A new cooler would be $40 to $60, and if you read reviews they all tend to fail in a year or two. I like this one (a discontinued model) so I'm hoping to keep it working for a few more years.

It was a gamble - some of my previous diagnostic & repair projects haven't turned out so well!

Edit to add: A Peltier is just two dissimilar metals forming a junction - single (like a thermocouple) or multiple (like the 1.5 x 1.5 inch "elements" this cooler used). They should measure very low resistance when measured with a DC ohmeter, so when I measured infinite resistance I was pretty sure I had found the problem.

I've been thinking about using Peltier modules to build a little freezer (e.g. to freeze a gallon or so of water) powered by a 100W solar panel. I've heard they are only effective up to a difference of about 50 deg F across the junction, but that the modules can be stacked to get a higher difference (e.g. 95 deg F outside temp and 25 deg F inside the freezer). My next step is to find some charts by manufacturers regarding the expected coefficient of performance in a stacked configuration like this. It would take about 500 watt hours of cooling to convert 1 gal of 70 deg F water to ice , and these Peltier junctions aren't reputed to be especially efficient, so I'm guessing a 100W solar panel probably will only be able to freeze about a quart or two at best per day. It might turn out that a small compressor freezer does the job better--they apparently have a much higher COP than these Peltier coolers.

 

[ERD50]

I've been thinking about using Peltier modules to build a little freezer (e.g. to freeze a gallon or so of water) powered by a 100W solar panel. I've heard they are only effective up to a difference of about 50 deg F across the junction, but that the modules can be stacked to get a higher difference (e.g. 95 deg F outside temp and 25 deg F inside the freezer). My next step is to find some charts by manufacturers regarding the expected coefficient of performance in a stacked configuration like this. It would take about 500 watt hours of cooling to convert 1 gal of 70 deg F water to ice , and these Peltier junctions aren't reputed to be especially efficient, so I'm guessing a 100W solar panel probably will only be able to freeze about a quart or two at best per day. It might turn out that a small compressor freezer does the job better--they apparently have a much higher COP than these Peltier coolers.

The Peltiers are not efficient, and it isn't easy to get them to work well. You need lots of heatsinks, lost of thermal conductivity, and probably a a fan on the heat sink.

They are compact and no moving parts (until you add the fan and/or pumps), but that's about it. I bought a small one to play with for $5-$10 on ebay years ago. Pretty amazing, apply 12 V DC and almost instantly one side gets hot, the other cold! But in another second, the hot and cold sides conduct through the junction, and the whole thing just starts getting warm, same as a resistance heater.

That's why it needs really good thermal management to draw the heat out one side and the cold out the other, or it just takes the path through the junction. It isn't simple.

I'll see if I can find a link, someone sells on, the "Ice Probe" or something? Designed for water coolers, and it was supposed to build up ice all night to get through a day of use, Also for keeping aquariums cool.

Ahh, my memory is not sooo bad:

https://www.amazon.com/IceProbe-Thermoelectric-Aquarium-Chiller/dp/B001JSVLBO

-ERD50

 

[Sunset]

We came back from holidays, and the dishwasher didn't work anymore.
It ran if I poured water into it, so I knew it was a water supply issue.

I had used a flood safe connecting line, and somehow it triggered, so I shut off the water for a minute and turned it back on, then it worked.

Now this has me thinking since the dishwasher does a lousy job (new dishwasher) that maybe this flood safe connecting line restricts the flow of water enough to affect the dishwasher ?

 

[Cobra9777]

Our Polaris 280 pool cleaner had been dead in the water for a few days. I pulled it up and immediately noticed the rear wheel was very wobbly and not making contact with the middle wheel that drives it. I also knew the tires needed replacing; they're about 12 years old. So I took it to my shop, disassembled everything, and 5 of the 8 wheel bearings were either missing completely or fell apart when I disassembled everything. A few other parts needed replacing as well.

I checked some online pricing... usual tradeoff of OEM vs 3rd party, plus only one of the parts was available on Prime 2-day shipping. So, I reluctantly headed down to the local pool store and got the parts I needed. Surprisingly, the clerk gave me a nice discount that almost met the online price, and these were Polaris OEM parts.

Got home, reassembled everything, readjusted wheel location for the fresh tire tread, and back in the water we go. Turned the pump on and... NOTHING!! It's still not moving at all. At that point I noticed only a small amount of water pressure at the cleaner. It didn't take long to discover that the pressure relief valve where the hose attaches to the sidewall of the pool had blown off and all the water pressure was escaping at that point.

Back to the pool store, picked up a new pressure relief valve, and now we are back in business. The real issue was always the valve, but with new bearings and fresh tires, the cleaner is running faster and cleaning much better. So I'm glad I took the time for that and didn't just change out the valve.

 

[aja8888]

Our Polaris 280 pool cleaner had been dead in the water for a few days. I pulled it up and immediately noticed the rear wheel was very wobbly and not making contact with the middle wheel that drives it. I also knew the tires needed replacing; they're about 12 years old. So I took it to my shop, disassembled everything, and 5 of the 8 wheel bearings were either missing completely or fell apart when I disassembled everything. A few other parts needed replacing as well.

I checked some online pricing... usual tradeoff of OEM vs 3rd party, plus only one of the parts was available on Prime 2-day shipping. So, I reluctantly headed down to the local pool store and got the parts I needed. Surprisingly, the clerk gave me a nice discount that almost met the online price, and these were Polaris OEM parts.

Got home, reassembled everything, readjusted wheel location for the fresh tire tread, and back in the water we go. Turned the pump on and... NOTHING!! It's still not moving at all. At that point I noticed only a small amount of water pressure at the cleaner. It didn't take long to discover that the pressure relief valve where the hose attaches to the sidewall of the pool had blown off and all the water pressure was escaping at that point.

Back to the pool store, picked up a new pressure relief valve, and now we are back in business. The real issue was always the valve, but with new bearings and fresh tires, the cleaner is running faster and cleaning much better. So I'm glad I took the time for that and didn't just change out the valve.

Nice job, and it's best to rebuild the whole unit once its apart.

 

[Cobra9777]

Nice job, and it's best to rebuild the whole unit once its apart.

I thought about that. There's a complete rebuild kit for about $200. It includes all the parts I replaced (at about $85) plus a lot more that typically fail with age. But I inspected everything as best I could and the other parts look fine, no obvious wear on the gears, etc. Plus I'm getting sort-of good at tearing this thing apart; this was the 3rd time. So it'll help keep me entertained in retirement.

 

[travelover]

............Now this has me thinking since the dishwasher does a lousy job (new dishwasher) that maybe this flood safe connecting line restricts the flow of water enough to affect the dishwasher ?

My dishwasher was doing a lousy job then started moaning when the pump was running. Turned out the inlet screen was mostly plugged and the moaning was cavitation.

 

[samclem]

The Peltiers are not efficient, and it isn't easy to get them to work well. You need lots of heatsinks, lost of thermal conductivity, and probably a a fan on the heat sink.

Thanks, and I see what you mean, especially about the low efficiency. Just a quick crunching of the numbers indicates I'd be way better off with a regular compressor than with the Peltier systems. Even after losses from the inverter, I could run a tiny chest freezer for many hours per day using a 100-120W solar panel (with a battery assist for starting current), and that same solar panel would perform a lot more cooling than I could achieve with the Peltier setup. Sure, no startup surge so no battery needed for the Peltiers, but the battery serves other uses in my envisioned setup, so it's not a factor in this application.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

Borrowed a 22 foot little big ladder from a neighbor, and had to put down a flap on the dryer vent. It was stuck in the up/open position because i was shooting the garden hose at it to clean out some lint stuck on the exhaust screen. Amazing I didnt fall off the ladder ,I didnt get hurt, I didnt break the item i was trying to fix. I do weigh 12 pounds more than the ladder limit. If this continues I might pursue a handyman second career. OK maybe not.

 

[grasshopper]

Hottest week we have had in years, so I decided to replace the track in our sliding door. 20 years 4 dogs in & out just wore the SS rail covering on the track. Did half the job in the evening 76 degrees at the time, and the other half with the door out in the morning cool but getting some pre monsoon humidity in. $32 from Home Depot did the job shipped to mi casa. A lot easier than You Tube showed.