what did you do today? (2008-2015) (closed)

[REWahoo]

Hope you turned on your faucets and let the water run a while before drinking or brushing your teeth...

 

[Walt34]

Yucky rainy day so I might as well go to work later.

Tomorrow take DW out for dinner for her birthday to what is billed as a high-class restaurant. I guess this means I'll have to wear leather shoes.

 

[REWahoo]

Tomorrow take DW out for dinner for her birthday to what is billed as a high-class restaurant. I guess this means I'll have to wear [-]leather shoes[/-] pants.

FIFY...

 

[ls99]

Yesterday, I had a plumber come to find out why my hot water pressure was almost gone. I have lived in this house 12 years with a non-working water softener that we had installed when we built the house. We had no idea how it worked and my husband had no interest in it....so it just sat there for 12 years. Some way or another it was affecting my hot water pressure. The plumber bypassed the water softener and now I have hot water again. So relieved it wasn't anything major and was happy to pay the $50 service call.

The plumber thought the water softener was completely broken. So, at some point I would like to get a new unit and learn how it works. Something to budget for now.

Oh, contaminated dihydrogen monoxide. Very bad

 

[ls99]

Yucky rainy day so I might as well go to work later.

Tomorrow take DW out for dinner for her birthday to what is billed as a high-class restaurant. I guess this means I'll have to wear leather shoes.

Shirt, tie, dinner jacket and a buttonier for good measure. And a $20 for Maitre D'establishment.

 

[Nords]

Yesterday, I had a plumber come to find out why my hot water pressure was almost gone. I have lived in this house 12 years with a non-working water softener that we had installed when we built the house. We had no idea how it worked and my husband had no interest in it....so it just sat there for 12 years. Some way or another it was affecting my hot water pressure. The plumber bypassed the water softener and now I have hot water again. So relieved it wasn't anything major and was happy to pay the $50 service call.
The plumber thought the water softener was completely broken. So, at some point I would like to get a new unit and learn how it works. Something to budget for now.

Thanks REWahoo.... I might get some water softener stuff for the washing machine, but, I really would like a whole house one. I didn't know there were "beads" involved with this process. I only knew about the salt and mine wasn't working right for 12 years. It was funny after the plumber bypassed the water softener, the first time I flushed one toilet, the refilled tank water was BLACK. After a few more flushes, it finally cleared. I have no idea what that was.

Oh, boy, plumbing fun!

I'm not sure why you lost hot water pressure and not cold water pressure as well. It's possible that the water conditioner is only tied into the water heater, although I can't imagine why someone would want soft hot water and not soft cold water. You might want to check the piping arrangement to make sure the water conditioner is tied into the house's water supply from the street, not just to the outlet from the water heater.

The black stuff is what professional plumbers describe by the technical term of "rust". (In the nuclear power industry the term is "crud".) It came from at least one of two places. If there was bypass piping already installed around the water conditioner (as there should have been) then it must've been really really rusty inside. Or, if the water pressure was low for a long time (months) then rust could've built up on your home's water piping because the flow was slower. When the water pressure went up then so did the flow rate, and the brisk scrubbing action of the faster-flowing water cleaned out your pipes.

You should see what nuclear reactor piping looks like after a month or so of low flow followed by a short period of brisk flow. You'd expect reactor coolant to look clear (like regular pure water), not black.

The resin in the tanks is supposed to last about 10 years. Our rental home has a tankload going on 14 years but I'm going to have to ask the tenant how their water pressure is doing.

You can buy a whole-house water conditioner at Home Depot or Sears (or maybe Lowes) for about $500-$700. It might go on sale with the other appliances or over the holidays.

You could also try to replace the resin tank (home of "the beads") on the existing water conditioner. Guys like M_Paquette, Gumby, and myself think resin swaps are lots of fun, but you may feel otherwise. A 12-year-old system would probably require a visit from a professional plumbing company, and the first thing they'd try to do would be to upsell you a new water conditioner. (Rightfully so if the controller valve is the part that's broke.) So unless you have a hard-core nuke plumber neighbor I'd skip this step.

I'd be astounded if the new water conditioner fit right in where the old was. When you buy the new water conditioner, you want a plumber who can modify the existing connections (to the old water conditioner) to work with the new one. It's not rocket science but it's tedious.

Your budget will need to include approx $5/month for a 40-pound bag of water conditioner salt.

 

[M Paquette]

The black stuff is what professional plumbers describe by the technical term of "rust". (In the nuclear power industry the term is "crud".) It came from at least one of two places. If there was bypass piping already installed around the water conditioner (as there should have been) then it must've been really really rusty inside. Or, if the water pressure was low for a long time (months) then rust could've built up on your home's water piping because the flow was slower. When the water pressure went up then so did the flow rate, and the brisk scrubbing action of the faster-flowing water cleaned out your pipes.

You should see what nuclear reactor piping looks like after a month or so of low flow followed by a short period of brisk flow. You'd expect reactor coolant to look clear (like regular pure water), not black.

A CRUD burst! Joy! Have the ELT draw a sample...

Fortunately, home conditioner resin swaps are easier than the nuke version. No funny looking coveralls or health physics lectures beforehand, and no pesky RADCON considerations. The bad news is that around here at least, it costs about as much as getting a new system. :-(

 

[Finance Dave]

I'm in a 4-hour conference call, and about 50% of the meeting has nothing to do with me...so I can post occasionally.

P.S. Since I got over 500 posts today, I know am "Full time employment: Posting here" status.

 

[TromboneAl]

I'm in a 4-hour conference call, and about 50% of the meeting has nothing to do with me...so I can post occasionally.

P.S. Since I got over 500 posts today, I know am "Full time employment: Posting here" status.

Warning most people are worse at multitasking than they think.

I've gotten in the habit of looking things up in imdb on my iPod touch while watching a movie. The other day I did it while watching an Italian movie with subtitles. It was a minute before I realized that multitasking does not work in this situation.

 

[happy2bretired]

No black teeth from black cruddy dihydrogen monoxide... Yes, there is a bypass around the water softener and the cold water was affected too, just not as much. I did put up with it for about a month, but, it was getting really bad and I couldn't take a shower any longer with that luke warm water...

The plumbing company that I use also does my heating and air conditioning work and they have always treated me well. They work with a local water conditioning company for what they install....so some day, probably next year. I'm kinda hoping for the model that tells me when it's low on salt and needs to be repaired since I can't seem to tell.

 

[HFWR]

Regenerated a cryo pump, in between goofing off...

Cryopump - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Regeneration of a cryopump is the process of evaporating the trapped gases. This can be done at room temperature and pressure, or the process can be made more complete by exposure to vacuum and faster by elevated temperatures. Best practice is to heat the whole chamber under vacuum to the highest temperature allowed by the materials, allow time for outgassing products to be exhausted by the mechanical pumps, and then cool and use the cryopump without breaking the vacuum.

 

[freebird5825]

Ok, everybody...get the smelling salts ready.

I went to WallyWorld today in search of a live christmas tree in a bucket. No dice. So I bought a 4' artificial one with prestrung multicolor lights for $25.
I also bought a new coffee maker, the glass-carafe-less kind where you press your cup up against a bar switch and fill the cup.
While I was there, I scored 2 good sized bags of tulip bulbs, a pastel mix and pure whites, for $4 each. It is still warm enough to get them planted out front. I will save a few for "forcing" indoors during the winter months.
I cringed at the price of Christmas cactus plants in 6" pots. I have several of my own in-house, so I will take some cuttings and start some new ones.
I also picked up a homemade blueberry pie with whipped cream topping. A lady bakes 4 fresh pies each week for the club where I do table bussing. I asked her to make me one, at a very reasonable price of $10. She uses fresh fruit, not the canned filling, and very little sugar added in her pies. The crust and whipped cream topping is also made from scratch.
I treated myself to a piece when I got home.
Her recipe for fresh peach pie is to die for...that will be my next order when we finish up the blueberry one.

 

[TromboneAl]

Went on a dark, dreary, almost rainy, windy 16 mile bike ride with Lena. The first colder ride of the season (50 degrees). Glad to be home.

 

[Dreamer]

Among other things I went to Kroger's and to the library. I borrowed 25 children's books to read to my DGD via iChat. I finished the 20 that I had borrowed previously last night and had to reread her a couple of them. She told me that we had already read that book yesterday. Everyday is yesterday when you are 3. I also borrowed 2 books for me, Work Less, Live More by Bob Clyatt (I requested my library to buy this book and have checked it out before and Living Large in Lean Times by Clark Howard. I have not read any of his stuff before, but hopefully I will enjoy it. I came home and made a big pot of Ham and Bean Soup. I ate a sandwich while it was cooking, but could not resist eating a small bowl when it was done. I will be making corn bread tomorrow night after work and it will be a yummy dinner. I always wonder what type of soup Khan had made when she posts. I am a soup person!

 

[Nords]

A CRUD burst! Joy! Have the ELT draw a sample...
Fortunately, home conditioner resin swaps are easier than the nuke version. No funny looking coveralls or health physics lectures beforehand, and no pesky RADCON considerations. The bad news is that around here at least, it costs about as much as getting a new system. :-(

I'll bet the crud bursts on your boat were spectacular! What was the radiation stay time at the sample sink?

But yeah, I find it hard to justify replacing a 14-year-old resin bed when the Ametek control valve is also that old. Much easier to buy a GE or Kenmore package and modify the plumbing connections. But I'm going to go on the current resin bed until the tenant moves out or starts complaining about mineral deposits.

I'm kinda hoping for the model that tells me when it's low on salt and needs to be repaired since I can't seem to tell.

Our Kenmore has an LCD panel that you program with the hardness of your water. (Obtained by testing with a conductivity meter or by reading the water-quality report of your water company.) Its internal flowmeter tells it when to regenerate the resin with the salt. Then you fill the tank with at least one 40-pound bag of salt, although they can usually hold five or six bags. If you use just one bag then you fill it once a month or whenever you happen to look into the tank and notice that there's no salt...

 

[happy2bretired]

Our Kenmore has an LCD panel that you program with the hardness of your water. (Obtained by testing with a conductivity meter or by reading the water-quality report of your water company.) Its internal flowmeter tells it when to regenerate the resin with the salt. Then you fill the tank with at least one 40-pound bag of salt, although they can usually hold five or six bags. If you use just one bag then you fill it once a month or whenever you happen to look into the tank and notice that there's no salt...

That's what I need. Aqua Systems is probably what I will go with, when the time comes.

Welcome to Aqua Systems | Water Softeners starting at $499

 

[Nords]

That's what I need. Aqua Systems is probably what I will go with, when the time comes.
Welcome to Aqua Systems | Water Softeners starting at $499

The tech has been dumbed down considerably in the last decade, and Aqua makes it sound considerably more complicated, difficult, & scary than it really is.

But if they have good warranty service then it's a good deal.

 

[pb4uski]

Since you are talking about water softeners, does anyone have any experience with descalers? Our new house has only slightly hard water and a septic system so I'm not keen on putting brine into the septic system that would happen with a water softener but would like something to reduce the vary minor scale build up we get. Seems some people swear by them and others swear at them.

The other alternative I am considering is to dig a dry well for the water softener brine so it doesn't go into the septic system.

 

[Nords]

The other alternative I am considering is to dig a dry well for the water softener brine so it doesn't go into the septic system.

I'm not sure what brine would do to a septic system, but you could just water the driveway or a gravel strip.

 

[REWahoo]

I'm not sure what brine would do to a septic system, but you could just water the driveway or a gravel strip.

The brine from our heavily-used softener has been going into our aerobic septic system for well over a decade without a problem. Not sure if that would be the case with a traditional system.

 

[Huston55]

It's Winston Churchill's birthday (well, it still is out around where Nords lives; 30 November). So, a quote; one of my favorites-

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts."

Seems to me it applies to almost everything...including FIRE.

Happy birthday Winston!

 

[davemartin88]

Bought a laptop from Dell on Monday that was supposed to ship on Tuesday. Received an email yesterday afternoon saying that they were sorry, but the item would arrive after 12/26. This happened to me the one other time I tried to buy from Dell so I sent them a note saying to cancel the order and told them of my first experience, said I wouldn't consider them for any future purchases. Note back said sorry, "stuff happens". I think it's a bait and switch to sell a more expensive unit. Ordered another laptop from Best Buy that will supposedly be at the store on Monday.

Later in the day, I received a note from Dell saying that since I had not given them permission to delay the shipment, the regulations from the FTC forced them to cancel my order, what a load of bull. There may be a regulation but the order was cancelled because they couldn't deliver. I wonder if there is some reporting requirement with this regulation that will now show the order in a category that seems less obvious than the fact that their service sucks? Oh well, wondered enough, time for more fun things to think about.

 

[pb4uski]

The brine from our heavily-used softener has been going into our aerobic septic system for well over a decade without a problem. Not sure if that would be the case with a traditional system.

Thanks. We have an engineered leach field and the manufacturer recommends that water softeners not be discharged into their system.

 

[Nords]

Spouse hired a housecleaner.

This housecleaner used to clean our house over a decade ago (during our working days) but left for the Mainland. Now she's back and looking for work, so she's cleaning our familyroom windows and dusting everything before it goes back to its previous location. There's at least five or six visits in that room alone before she'll run out of cleaning.

"Before" the housecleaner, spouse and I would've painted for a few hours and maybe done one or two other minor chores before taking the rest of the day off. But during the four hours that the housecleaner was here, spouse burst into a frenzy of accomplishment that left me exhausted. And we're paying her, too...

The good news is that the end of the housepainting is in sight, and the structural inspector signed off on the permit. Now we just need the engineer's signature for the "occupancy" certificate.

 

[RockyMtn]

Shoveled six inches of snow off the walk. First time this year. AAAAAAAAAAAGH! Time to book the tickets to Arizona.