Your recent repair? - 2021 to ?

[Finance Dave]

Replaced the driver side axle in my son's car, as the CV boot failed. The CV boot kit was only $25 dollars cheaper than the complete axle, so it was a no brainer to go for the complete axle. A job that should have taken 45 minutes took 3+ hours and a trip to the autozone, but I built that slop into the project.

Issues:
- control arm cotter pin broke pulling it out. After futzing trying to push the remnants out I finally drilled it out. If I had done that right away it would have saved my 30 minutes.
- No 22 mm box wrench. I could have sworn I had one, as I did the other side last year. That was the trip to autozone.
- Getting the control arm bolt out was a puzzle

All and all, cost me about $55 (42 for driver shaft, 13 for wrench). I enjoyed the experience, the key being that I allotted a whole day for the job

I used to be an auto tech...replaced hundreds of those. Side cuts with leverage easily removes cotter pins. Need an air hammer ball joint spreader to get control arm bolt separation. I used to be able to do one of those in 20 minutes but that was on a lift.

https://youtu.be/dOlcNTAgp-Q

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

Replaced a leaking cartridge in our shower/tub combo. Easy-peasy, even including the requisite TWO trips to the hardware store, which stretched the job out to 75 minutes.

Edit: I should say that the 75 minutes included: deciding I wanted to do this, taking off the knob to explore and find out what brand I had, watch a few youtubes, wade through a number of eerily similar, poorly written pages on the differences between the Moen 1200 and 1225 cartridges, two trips to hardware store (the second to swap out a 1225 for a 1200!), installation, cleaning the crud off of the crenellated knobs, and reinstall.

 

[zinger1457]

Replaced a leaking cartridge in our shower/tub combo. Easy-peasy, even including the requisite TWO trips to the hardware store, which stretched the job out to 75 minutes.

I've had to do it twice with 20 year old Moen fixtures, the cartridges didn't come out easy for me, needed to buy a special tool that screws into the end of the cartridge and a lot of tugging.

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

I've had to do it twice with 20 year old Moen fixtures, the cartridges didn't come out easy for me, needed to buy a special tool that screws into the end of the cartridge and a lot of tugging.

Interesting!

Mine was at least 23 years old (how long we have been in the house!), and probably a lot older, and it came right out. Phew!

 

[NW-Bound]

Replaced a leaking cartridge in our shower/tub combo. Easy-peasy, even including the requisite TWO trips to the hardware store, which stretched the job out to 75 minutes.

Edit: I should say that the 75 minutes included: deciding I wanted to do this, taking off the knob to explore and find out what brand I had, watch a few youtubes, wade through a number of eerily similar, poorly written pages on the differences between the Moen 1200 and 1225 cartridges, two trips to hardware store (the second to swap out a 1225 for a 1200!), installation, cleaning the crud off of the crenellated knobs, and reinstall.

I had to guess what "crenellated" meant, looked it up on the Web, and I was right.

I had to replace a valve cartridge in my shower stall once. The house was only 10-year-old then, yet that cartridge was already discontinued by Moen. It was a good thing I found a distributor still having some in stock, so bought two to have a spare.

PS. I don't remember how I tracked down the number of that cartridge. Darn, my memory is getting poorer everyday.

 

[NW-Bound]

Finished installing vinyl plank flooring for the kitchen. The old laminate planks were ruined by repeated water leaks from the fridge ice maker. Thought about calling the insurance, but then there's the deductible and the hassle of dealing with a subcontractor, so I did the job myself.

This time, I go with Lifeproof solid-core planks from Home Depot. The joints fit together so tight that water may not seep through. The old laminate planks have a very tough surface, but the backing is like a fiberboard, and that wicks water like crazy.

I hope this floor will last, because I am getting old and do not look forward to having to do this again.

By the way, the darn fridge leaked because the plastic tubing of its plumbing cracked due to the heat. I pushed the fridge back toward the wall too close, and that must have trapped some heat back there. So, this time I left a 2" gap from the wall.

 

[Sunset]

I had to guess what "crenellated" meant, looked it up on the Web, and I was right.

I had to replace a valve cartridge in my shower stall once. The house was only 10-year-old then, yet that cartridge was already discontinued by Moen. It was a good thing I found a distributor still having some in stock, so bought two to have a spare.

PS. I don't remember how I tracked down the number of that cartridge. Darn, my memory is getting poorer everyday.

Is that how Moen gets around their lifetime warranty and avoid free replacement

 

[zinger1457]

Is that how Moen gets around their lifetime warranty and avoid free replacement

Moen was good about replacing my cartridges, the first one I bought locally because I had guest over and didn't want to wait but had them send me one out anyway, ended up using that one a year later and they sent me out another one so have a spare on hand in case it happens again.

 

[ncbill]

Finished installing vinyl plank flooring for the kitchen. The old laminate planks were ruined by repeated water leaks from the fridge ice maker. Thought about calling the insurance, but then there's the deductible and the hassle of dealing with a subcontractor, so I did the job myself.

This time, I go with Lifeproof solid-core planks from Home Depot. The joints fit together so tight that water may not seep through. The old laminate planks have a very tough surface, but the backing is like a fiberboard, and that wicks water like crazy.

I hope this floor will last, because I am getting old and do not look forward to having to do this again.

By the way, the darn fridge leaked because the plastic tubing of its plumbing cracked due to the heat. I pushed the fridge back toward the wall too close, and that must have trapped some heat back there. So, this time I left a 2" gap from the wall.

Made sure when I bought a fridge for our current place to get the copper line kit instead of plastic. Also use copper line for the dishwasher.

Neighbor up the street had the plastic line to the fridge (rental) fail between tenants...ended up replacing a good chunk of the ground floor.

 

[NW-Bound]

Made sure when I bought a fridge for our current place to get the copper line kit instead of plastic. Also use copper line for the dishwasher.

Neighbor up the street had the plastic line to the fridge (rental) fail between tenants...ended up replacing a good chunk of the ground floor.

I have a 1/4" copper line running from the RO filter under the kitchen sink, going over the ceiling, and down to the fridge across the kitchen. I installed that myself.

The plastic tubing is part of the fridge. It runs from the solenoid valve to the ice maker.

Another polyethylene tube runs from another solenoid valve to the water dispenser on the fridge door. That one broke quite a few years ago, also from the heat.

PS. Don't know if this is how modern fridges are built, but this one has the condenser coil at the bottom of the unit, instead of in the back. Due to its location, they cannot rely on convection and have to use a fan to move air across the coil. Air enters at the front under the doors, goes through the coil, and exits to the rear. It's the trapped heat when the unit is back against the wall that cracked the tubing.

The trapped heat must also cause the fridge to have poor efficiency. I blew compressed air through the coil and blew out a lot of dust. I now monitor the electricity usage with a Kill-A-Watt device to see how much electricity is used compared to earlier.

 

[JP.mpls]

Was getting dampness on the tile around my upstairs toilet.
The toilet was very old, and extra low. I bought an Am. Standard at Home Depot, and started to install it.
The damn toilet flange was broken right off, and I'm assuming the damn previous owner tried to hold the toilet down with wood screws.
Cut off the flange, and used a repair flange that slides inside. New toilet is working great.
I bought a second toilet for my other bathroom, and it was the same damn problem. I knew what to do this time.
Feeling very good about both setups, now that they are fixed up nice.
It is kind of fun whining about the previous owners incompetence while drinking a victory beer.
Take care,. JP

 

[JP.mpls]

Finished installing vinyl plank flooring for the kitchen. The old laminate planks were ruined by repeated water leaks from the fridge ice maker. Thought about calling the insurance, but then there's the deductible and the hassle of dealing with a subcontractor, so I did the job myself.

This time, I go with Lifeproof solid-core planks from Home Depot. The joints fit together so tight that water may not seep through. The old laminate planks have a very tough surface, but the backing is like a fiberboard, and that wicks water like crazy.

I hope this floor will last, because I am getting old and do not look forward to having to do this again.

By the way, the darn fridge leaked because the plastic tubing of its plumbing cracked due to the heat. I pushed the fridge back toward the wall too close, and that must have trapped some heat back there. So, this time I left a 2" gap from the wall.

NW Bound, I just installed a new fridge. Used a 10' flex metal water line from Home Depot for about $12. Just like the flex lines to the faucet and toilet. Worked great.
Maybe your fridge is further away from the water source.
Good luck,. JP

 

[NW-Bound]

NW Bound, I just installed a new fridge. Used a 10' flex metal water line from Home Depot for about $12. Just like the flex lines to the faucet and toilet. Worked great.
Maybe your fridge is further away from the water source.
Good luck,. JP

As explained earlier, the long run from the RO filter to the fridge is 1/4" copper. I do not use the built-in water outlet in the wall at the back of the fridge, because it's just tap water.

I do have a metal braided water line going from the end of the copper line to the fridge. I think this is what you described. I need the flexibility of the braided line in order to move the fridge to/from its niche.

The polyethylene lines that cracked are part of the fridge, and can only be replaced with identical tubing.

 

[Walt34]

Water, water everywhere....

This must be the week for leaking icemaker water lines. I went downstairs and immediately saw dripping water on the shop floor and knew right away what it was because I'd replaced that line before. This time there were two leaks, one pinhole leak in the hard plastic line right near the solenoid valve, and unknown to me at the time, another leak on the other side of the valve.

So after I replaced the line with the pinhole leak DW fortunately suggested leaving the refrigerator pulled out from the wall and leaving a rag near the solenoid valve in case it still leaked. This is spite of my smug assurances that it was unnecessary. Thirty minutes later the rag was wet. D'oh, I hate when that happens! It turns out the leak on the icemaker side of the solenoid valve drained into the condensate pan where it was being quickly evaporated by the heat from the condenser and fan. But it would have gotten worse eventually.

Fortunately no trips to the hardware stores were necessary since I already had everything on hand from previous events.

And I did enjoy my early dinner of crow. Sort of.

 

[NW-Bound]

^^^ After this last leak that put the kitchen laminate floor into an unlivable state, I thought about not connecting water to the fridge, and going back to making ice with ice trays like we did 50 years ago.

But, but, but living in the SW with 120F summer days when I consume a huge amount of ice, not having that ice readily at my disposal would be a major setback to my lifestyle. And already having few desires in life how can I deny myself this little luxury?

The leak more than ruined the floor. It sprayed water onto the drywall, and caused a rotted spot which I had to patch up. The water dripped along the wall, got past the baseboard molding, and ultimately seeped under the floating laminate floor. By the time I noticed that the floor planks were buckling, a lot of damage had been done. My home is built on a concrete slab, so there's no subfloor to get ruined.

This time, I want to be sure that any future leak would not go under the floating floor, but to cause water to flow out on the surface toward the front where I would detect it. When replacing the baseboard molding, I used caulk to seal it against the vinyl floor. This is done for the 3 baseboard pieces along the U-shaped niche where the fridge sits.

Then, I taped a sheet of plastic along the lower part of the wall to protect the drywall, and to keep the water from seeping down behind the baseboard molding.

Will see if that is going to work.

By the way, because the ruined tubing was part of the fridge, it only leaked when the fridge turned on its solenoid valve to refill the ice tray. And that's why it took a long time for the leak to be discovered. Initially, only a bit of water got out for each ice making cycle. The little bit of water initially dried up in between ice making cycles. But it then got worse and worse with time.

 

[Souschef]

The first thing we did when we got our new fridge was to remove the icemaker and ice basket as they took up too much room in the freezer. I had asked the installer to do it, but he said it was "wired in". So, after he left I removed the 2 screws holding it and unplugged it.
We have a 20 pound icemaker in our garage, and a small ice basket in our freezer. I have to refill it every day or so, but that is not a big deal. We also use bottled water in the icemaker, as our local water is very hard.

 

[NW-Bound]

^^^ There are small portable ice makers that are amazingly inexpensive. I thought about buying one to have in my RV, because the cooling power of the built-in propane fridge is so puny.

I read that ice cubes made by these machines tend to be wet. It's because their storage compartment is not chilled. When you collect the ice cubes and put it in the freezer, they will refreeze and stick together.

The above will not be a problem in my RV, because I will consume the ice cubes as soon as they are produced, but wonder if that is a drawback for home use.

 

[Souschef]

^^^ There are small portable ice makers that are amazingly inexpensive. I thought about buying one to have in my RV, because the cooling power of the built-in propane fridge is so puny.

I read that ice cubes made by these machines tend to be wet. It's because their storage compartment is not chilled. When you collect the ice cubes and put it in the freezer, they will refreeze and stick together.

The above will not be a problem in my RV, because I will consume the ice cubes as soon as they are produced, but wonder if that is a drawback for home use.

The one I have was given to me by a neighbor who used it in his RV. It is not a problem at home.

 

[Telly]

By the way, the darn fridge leaked because the plastic tubing of its plumbing cracked due to the heat. I pushed the fridge back toward the wall too close, and that must have trapped some heat back there. So, this time I left a 2" gap from the wall.

I put 2 short scraps of 2x4 laying down on their 3 1/2" faces between back of refrig and baseboard. That way, a space is always guaranteed no matter what!

PS. Don't know if this is how modern fridges are built, but this one has the condenser coil at the bottom of the unit, instead of in the back. Due to its location, they cannot rely on convection and have to use a fan to move air across the coil. Air enters at the front under the doors, goes through the coil, and exits to the rear. It's the trapped heat when the unit is back against the wall that cracked the tubing.

The trapped heat must also cause the fridge to have poor efficiency. I blew compressed air through the coil and blew out a lot of dust. I now monitor the electricity usage with a Kill-A-Watt device to see how much electricity is used compared to earlier.

All of our Whirlpools, and Kenmore made by Whirlpool have been like that. Popping off the grill in front and vacuuming was easy... but not on the latest, which is a Whirlpool Gold high efficiency side-by-side, now about 10 years old I think. It says the coils do not need to be cleaned... yeah. They are positioned in this one as front to back banks of angled coils, like a sawtooth pattern. I can only vac the front bank, and maybe another bank in, before it's too deep to pull through with a vac. I have thought about using compressed air, but I wonder how much of a mess that will make.

As for air spacing around the fridge, the back is about 4" (3.5" + baseboard thickness), the top is ~1" below a cabinet (I trimmed down the face flange of cabinet when I installed this fridge, and doubled the flange behind the cut-down one). One side has 1" clearance, and the other side is open to walkway, and the house rule is nothing is to be placed on the floor next to the side rear of fridge, to guaranty easy airflow out from condenser fan blowing out the back near there.

 

[Music Lover]

I put 2 short scraps of 2x4 laying down on their 3 1/2" faces between back of refrig and baseboard. That way, a space is always guaranteed no matter what!

Our fridge already sticks out past the cabinets a few inches. A few more would look horrible.

 

[ncbill]

I have a 1/4" copper line running from the RO filter under the kitchen sink, going over the ceiling, and down to the fridge across the kitchen. I installed that myself.

The plastic tubing is part of the fridge. It runs from the solenoid valve to the ice maker.

Another polyethylene tube runs from another solenoid valve to the water dispenser on the fridge door. That one broke quite a few years ago, also from the heat.

PS. Don't know if this is how modern fridges are built, but this one has the condenser coil at the bottom of the unit, instead of in the back. Due to its location, they cannot rely on convection and have to use a fan to move air across the coil. Air enters at the front under the doors, goes through the coil, and exits to the rear. It's the trapped heat when the unit is back against the wall that cracked the tubing.

The trapped heat must also cause the fridge to have poor efficiency. I blew compressed air through the coil and blew out a lot of dust. I now monitor the electricity usage with a Kill-A-Watt device to see how much electricity is used compared to earlier.

IIRC, the water lines running from the fill valve to the icemaker & water dispenser are internal on my ancient side-by-side Kenmore (Whirlpool) fridge...that fill valve is the only part I've had to replace (~$40) in over 25 years of owning it.

 

[ncbill]

^^^ There are small portable ice makers that are amazingly inexpensive. I thought about buying one to have in my RV, because the cooling power of the built-in propane fridge is so puny.

I read that ice cubes made by these machines tend to be wet. It's because their storage compartment is not chilled. When you collect the ice cubes and put it in the freezer, they will refreeze and stick together.

The above will not be a problem in my RV, because I will consume the ice cubes as soon as they are produced, but wonder if that is a drawback for home use.

The Opal is the countertop ice-maker to get:

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/ge-pro...-wifi-stainless-steel/6408648.p?skuId=6408648

It continuously makes small nugget "wet ice" & any melt from unused ice is simply made back into ice.

 

[NW-Bound]

It just occurred to me that there may be better tubing material than the common polyethylene. Indeed, a quick look on Amazon shows availability of 1/4" tubing in teflon ($40 for 10 ft length), and silicone ($10 for 10 ft).

Both teflon and silicone are good to 500F, but I wonder if silicone is too soft, and may not seal well when used with push-on connectors that are used in my fridge.

 

[GreenEggs]

I've been fixing small engines lately. Replaced the carbs on a Honda mower & a Mantis tiller. After about 15-20 minutes the drive cable end broke on the mower so that took another 30 minutes & $18. I can't get over how cheap the Chinese carbs are on eBay, under $10 w/ free shipping.
The chainsaw wouldn't start and all it required was a new spark plug. I think that's was one of the cheapest & easiest repairs I've ever done. Wish everything was so easy.

Our water heater developed a leak which probably only required tightening or a fitting. But, I made the mistake of messing with the outlet nipple & destroyed it & never was able to remove it... So, now we have a brand new water heater. That was probably a 15-minute job that turned into a night without hot water and a full day spent buying and installing the new one. The old one was from 2008, so I'm telling myself that we probably needed to replace it soon anyway. ("Soon" is a relative term.)

Does putting slime in a couple of tires count as a "repair"? I repaired the wheelbarrow tire and fixed a slow leak on the tractor. $10 and about 15 minutes.

I'm in the middle of repairing our sprinkler system. I've got zero experience & there seems to be a number of issues to work through. Mainly replacing, adjusting, and relocating a few heads. But there's also a big leak in the control valve box.
It seems relatively simple, but a lot of turning the zones on & off and checking to see if I made it better or not.

Is there a thread about the things we've broken lately? I'm sure that would be an entertaining thread. LOL

 

[Sunset]

I had a canoe we hadn't used in a few years.
The strut across the middle had rotted off, so I cut a piece of wood to fit, painted it white, and screwed it on.
While screwing it on, I first drilled the holes in the wood so it wouldn't split, and drilled right into my finger that was holding the wood underneath

Boy did it bleed....
Three days later I sold the canoe on craigslist.

My finger is almost healed, pretty sure my fingerprint is different now.