Your recent repair? - 2021 to ?

[Jerry1]

I just discovered a future repair. Fortunately, it’s not something I will be able to handle. My one year old fiberglass pool has a crack and it’s leaking. Thankfully it has a lifetime warranty, but now I have to deal with the pool builder again. My sincere hope is that he subs his repair work to someone else. We’ll see how the first visit goes and if not we’ll, I’ll call the manufacturer and see if someone else can do the repair. The pool builder actually seemed to know what he was doing, but he was an arrogant ass and I’d just as well not have him on my property again. Though I am glad I didn’t read him the riot act as I wanted to when he finished the pool. This should be fun. Glad I got through the season before I realized what was happening.

 

[skyking1]

I replaced a cracked quick connect coolant fitting to the heater core on the company provided truck.

 

[Sunset]

Roughly $250-$300 a day after taxes. I have to go get a COVID test 2 days before, and get fitted for clothes, but they pay me a bit for that time to. If it is driven in the shoot, I am the one driving it. So far out of 4 shoots, I got to drive it in 2. Was really fun, and kind of unorganized/chaotic, but fun. I'll let on what the production is when it has aired, probably won't be until Jan '22 I am told.

Back in city for a shoot tomorrow if the Ida rain doesn't screw things up.

I guess I can't say I'm retired anymore huh? LOL

I'm impressed, a genuine movie STAR

 

[sengsational]

The project isn't "done", but the system is running, just with 2 stages of pre-filtering instead of 3. I'll add back the 3rd stage when I get the new part. Hopefully my RO membrane will survive a few days of less pure water. And if it doesn't, I'll go with the recommendation of buying a whole new system...BTD!

Done now. New 3rd stage went in without issue. I'm waiting a few days until we've used it a bit (let things settle), before I take a dissolved solids reading. I've been doing those for the last 7 years and it's been flat. I understood, from back nearer the install date, that if the dissolved solids went up, it was time to change the first three filters, but it never went up, so same old filters in place.

 

[Trailwalker]

Our basement dehumidifier had stopped continuously draining and was filling up the reservoir, which needed to be emptied twice per day. Took off the drain hose and blasted it with water to clean it out. Interesting chunks came out. Then I fed weed wacker string through the hole in the back of the dehumidifier that the drain hose attaches to. That opened up the floodgates inside the dehumidifier. Cleaned up the concrete floor and put everything back together. It's continuously draining again. Definitely cheaper than buying a new dehumidifier. Will probably want to repeat that more often now that I know what happens. Dehumidifier is three years old and operates continuously during the summer months.

 

[Walt34]

Our basement dehumidifier had stopped continuously draining and was filling up the reservoir, which needed to be emptied twice per day. Took off the drain hose and blasted it with water to clean it out. Interesting chunks came out.

Decades ago when I was working on refrigeration & A/C stuff dehumidifiers were included in the stuff I serviced and this was a common occurrence. Either just plain dust & dirt or mold can be the cause of the blockage. On mine I make a point to twice a season during the summer months to unscrew the drain hose and blast it with hot water from the utility sink in the basement.

Going back to my working days, calls for this would often come within a year of purchase and people were expecting it to be covered under the warranty. Nope. If it didn't come with the dehumidifier it's not covered and that's a normal maintenance item anyway, as is explained in the user manual if they'd bothered to read it.

 

[stephenson]

Son visiting - pulled up on the Moon shower diverter in the guest bathroom - black seal pops out and washes down the drain.

Carefully unscrewed the drain and found the seal resting on the cross pieces where the cover screws into the assembly. Yay!!!

Released the Allen screw holding the diverter assembly onto the copper pipe, then disassembled slide connected to the pull-up, RTV'd the perimeter of the seal and slipped it back into the assembly.

Wait an hour and reinstalled all.

So - question is WHY and HOW would the seal pop out of the indented area where it was seated?

 

[John Galt III]

I feel like posting a good experience I had at Lowe's yesterday. I was there looking for a washer for my outdoor hose, which was leaking from a cracked washer. I expected to find a bin of single washers, each one priced above $1. Happily, what they had was a bag of 10 washers for $1.38 (for all 10). 14 cents each! Just like the good old days, lol.

 

[gotlost33]

Stepped in a puddle of water in front of the refrigerator the other morning after returning from a few weeks of travel (glad we shut the water off). Worst part was getting the fridge out far enough to access the plumbing connections in back, wall on one side and fairly tight enclosure space on the other along with a bit of a bump from the tile starting in front of the unit - ended up just taking most items out of the fridge (and disposing of a few old ones) to lighten it up. Pretty quick to find the source valve that had a bunch of calcification built up at a connection, toughest part was finding the correct replacement item number and Amazon had it here 2 days later for $25...glad I didn't call the repair service like DW wanted.

We've had a bit of a water hammer in the fridge water supply line since we moved in 2 years ago, so that may have contributed a bit. There is a surge arrester on the line already but perhaps it has passed its useful life...replacement is on the way so hopefully we'll have it resolved this week.

 

[NateW]

Originally Posted by sengsational. What kind of money do you make by parking it in a movie scene, or having someone drive it through a movie scene? Just curious

Roughly $250-$300 a day after taxes. I have to go get a COVID test 2 days before, and get fitted for clothes, but they pay me a bit for that time to. If it is driven in the shoot, I am the one driving it. So far out of 4 shoots, I got to drive it in 2. Was really fun, and kind of unorganized/chaotic, but fun. I'll let on what the production is when it has aired, probably won't be until Jan '22 I am told.


Back in city for a shoot tomorrow if the Ida rain doesn't screw things up.


I guess I can't say I'm retired anymore huh? LOL

I love your '57 Beetle. You did a very nice restoration. I hope to own one some day (many, many years ago I had an all original '56 Beetle with sunroof and unfortunately, sold it). That is really neat that your classic VW is appearing in a movie. Do let us know when the time is right and I'll watch the movie.

My first car, '64 Beetle, almost appeared in a movie. About 1978 my friend noticed an ad in the "want ads" in the Washington Post seeking older well kept cars for background traffic in a major motion picture. I replied to the ad and was selected. My dad, friend who saw the ad, and I drove my Bug to the filming location. I got $50 plus we all got a catered lunch for the day for driving in front of the cameras in a couple of locations in Washington DC. The only "modification" made for filming was to rubber band paper 1968 license plates over the plates on the car. The movie was "Hiding in Plain Sight" with James Cann. I took my Polaroid camera (remember those, pictures on the spot), and got a picture of Mr. Cann, who autographed it.

When the movie came out, me and several of my friends went to see it and disappointingly we did not see my car. The locations where we drove and some of the cars I saw there were in the movie, though. Mine must have ended up on the cutting room floor.

 

[NateW]

Son visiting - pulled up on the Moon shower diverter in the guest bathroom - black seal pops out and washes down the drain.

Carefully unscrewed the drain and found the seal resting on the cross pieces where the cover screws into the assembly. Yay!!!...

So - question is WHY and HOW would the seal pop out of the indented area where it was seated?

I would guess seal shrinkage due to age.

 

[freedomatlast]

Replaced the water heater at DD's house. They chose a model with a lifetime tank warranty. Turns out this is a commercial model with a plastic tank. Directions said to use solderless connections so the top of the tank where the fittings enter the tank won't melt from the heat of the soldering process. I'm glad I broke tradition and actually read the directions for once. Thank goodness for pipe thread and shark bites.

 

[stephenson]

I would guess seal shrinkage due to age.

Perhaps, but this is odd looking and the original looked perfect.

To get the seal with sides to slip out would require a lot of water, or the face getting stuck on the diverter ... anyway, used some RTV only on the sides to hold it in better.

 

[Souschef]

I noticed there was a small stream of water coming out of one of my drip irrigation valves. Fortunately, I had ordered one because of another problem and used the valve from the new one for a past problem.
I disassembled both of them and found the gasket on the old one had slipped somehow. I put the gasket from the new valve in and tightened the screws, and the problem was solved.
Swapping the valves out would have been a real mess.

 

[mountainsoft]

I recently installed a ductless air conditioner and ran the refrigerant lines along the bottom of our wall. Unfortunately, this left our outdoor water faucet in an awkward location. So I moved it about three feet to the right in a more convenient location. Simple job other than having to make four trips down into the crawlspace, pulling down insulation, working with PEX pipe for the first time, and patching the hole left by the old faucet.

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

I recently installed a ductless air conditioner and ran the refrigerant lines along the bottom of our wall. Unfortunately, this left our outdoor water faucet in an awkward location. So I moved it about three feet to the right in a more convenient location. Simple job other than having to make four trips down into the crawlspace, pulling down insulation, working with PEX pipe for the first time, and patching the hole left by the old faucet.

Wow, you cannot even tell where the patch was! Nice job.

(Oh, the advantages of having built your own home. Most would have just left the bib where it was!)

 

[mountainsoft]

Wow, you cannot even tell where the patch was! Nice job.

(Oh, the advantages of having built your own home. Most would have just left the bib where it was!)

You can see the little square patch if you look close. It did turn out better than I thought it would though. I can see it because I'm picky, but most people probably wouldn't notice.

Ironically, I just replaced that faucet in July because parts were no longer available to fix the old faucet. So I've made quite a few trips under the house the last few months.

 

[NateW]

This summer we purchased a house in the country that uses propane for heat, cooking and the gas fireplace, supplied by a 500 gallon buried tank. I connected our propane grill to the house propane supply. No more expensive 15 pound grill propane tanks! I used soft copper pipe, flared the tubing and installed a Tee fitting in the fireplace gas line under the deck and ran the new line to where we use the grill. I terminated the line with a gas valve and adapter to accept a rubber propane appliance hose and connected the hose to the grill. I leak checked all connections. The gas regulator for the house provides the correct gas pressure for the grill, 11 inches water column. All I have left to do is caulk around the gas line where it goes through the deck and deck railing.

 

[sengsational]

^ Nice on the propane project!



Today's minor project was to mix up a gallon zip lock with mortar mix and repoint missing mortar in my front and garage brick steps. The pictures of the propane project were nice...I didn't take any pictures myself. I'd been looking at the missing mortar for years and "some day" finally happened!

 

[Sunset]

This summer we purchased a house in the country that uses propane for heat, cooking and the gas fireplace, supplied by a 500 gallon buried tank. I connected our propane grill to the house propane supply. No more expensive 15 pound grill propane tanks! I used soft copper pipe, flared the tubing and installed a Tee fitting in the fireplace gas line under the deck and ran the new line to where we use the grill. I terminated the line with a gas valve and adapter to accept a rubber propane appliance hose and connected the hose to the grill. I leak checked all connections. The gas regulator for the house provides the correct gas pressure for the grill, 11 inches water column. All I have left to do is caulk around the gas line where it goes through the deck and deck railing.

Nice
Now you are all set to add propane heater and outdoor fireplace.
Maybe run the extra connections under the deck and have them pop up at the right spot via a 2" hole with a grommet in the hole .

 

[NateW]

Excellent idea Sunset. I'll add it to my project list.

The half inch OD copper tubing, fittings, and pipe hangers were about $65. I already had the flaring tool and thread sealant for the few threaded fittings I used (no sealer is used on flare fittings). The gas cut-off valve was salvaged from an earlier project of replacing a propane water heater with an (electric) heat pump one. I was going to buy a new valve, but Lowes had none in stock (I am finding a lot of things to be out of stock lately).

I calculated the price of propane when you exchange one of the 15 pound BBQ tanks (current cost is $20/tank). It comes to about $6.25 a gallon. We just had our first propane fill at $1.75 a gallon (new customer discount price). Next one will be higher, but it sure won't approach $6+ a gallon.

 

[Sunset]

My story of passing up the opportunity to fix something.

Our 25 yr old side by side fridge stopped making ice.
I pulled out the ice container, and looked at it, and tapped with my fingers on various parts.
Didn't see anything loose, so closed the door and washed my hands. As I walked by the fridge I noticed a FLOOD in front of the fridge, water pouring out.

The ice maker was pouring water out at quite a rapid rate. I bolted down the stairs and shut off the water to the fridge.
After cleaning up the mess, and looking online, I can see the part that is probably gone bad (water inlet) is ~$50.
Since the fridge is 25 yrs old, I decided to just buy another fridge.

The delivery date for the new fridge is supposed to be 60 days from now, so I'm glad our fridge is working as a basic fridge/freezer !

I bought an Amana 24.5 cu ft side-by-side with the water/ice in the door. It was $977 on sale plus delivery.

 

[ERD50]

.... The ice maker was pouring water out at quite a rapid rate. I bolted down the stairs and shut off the water to the fridge. ....

Thanks. This made me realize I didn't know where (or if) the shutoff for the fridge water supply was.

Was easy to find, now I'll put a hang tag there so it can be found in an emergency.

-ERD50

 

[Sunset]

The water pouring out of the freezer, was a huge amount.

In the past I've had the drainage tube block and a bit of water dribbled out in front of the fridge. This was very different and shocked me as I've never thought of a fridge as a water leak source.

Had I gone upstairs after closing the freezer door instead of washing my hands at the kitchen sink, I would have had water over the entire kitchen and dining area in 10 minutes.

I'm going to put one of those water detector chirpy things by the new fridge.

 

[djsander]

Patching stucco and will continue for a few more days. We figure if we can get 5-10 years with a bit of a Jackson Pollock look fixing cracks and holes then we can better plan on the spend for a complete restucco.