Your recent repair? - 2021 to ?

[JoeWras]

UV lights on the wires inside the wall
Sounds like a made up sales pitch to me.

Yes, the AC companies have learned their dirty tricks from the auto dealers.

The UV lights thing is usually inside the cabinet. I think Sanstar perhaps just didn't state it right, but Sanstar is a rock star in my book for saying NO to this crap, and understanding it was bogus.

UV lights are common in large commercial chilled water air handlers. They help prevent microbial growth. This is not necessary for home units. It is an up-sell.

I like reading construction forums and subreddits. HVAC techs are extremely depressed by being forced into being sales reps. The theme comes up time and time again.

There are a bunch of sales consulting companies out there advising HVAC, plumbing and electrical contractors. This is the change we are seeing. They turn everyone into sales drones. Many companies have consolidated to big names, but even the independents are loosely tied to a network like NexStar. See this website: https://www.nexstarnetwork.com/ Happy people all clapping and cheering. Hmmm.

Example from Reddit. I can't link it since the title is vulgar. It is on r/HVAC from 7 days ago.

I started this trade about three years ago with a Nexstar company. It’s the largest HVAC company in my area and paid their apprentices the best. For a while I was blue pilled to believe what I was doing was actually good work. Recently my eyes have been opened a little more to how shady some of these businesses practices were.

[...]

About a month or so ago I had a sit down meeting with my managers about my numbers being low. They had decided I needed to find a plan to start increasing them. They wanted me to focus on selling UV lights. I had told them I wasn’t comfortable selling things as aggressively as they wanted me to. They came back with the usual antics like “you aren’t selling them, your helping the customer be more comfortable in their homes”. Regardless the conversation ended with me giving them a firm no about selling so much. Due to my lack of ability to be a sleazy sales tech they handed me all the return trips from other techs. This usually leaves me to deal with a mess because the previous techs didn’t go through proper diagnostics process. Because I’m the one actually doing the work the extra time spent fixing mistakes counts against me.

 

[MC Rider]

Finally contorted myself under the kitchen sink to fix the loose faucet. Discovered I did not need the basin wrench. It had 2 phillips head screws that had to be tightened from below. One had fallen out and was found in the cabinet. I could not get it started back into the hole with my left hand, but DW could. Tightened them both real good and hope to not have to do that again anytime soon.

Then we attached the mirror to the dresser which little job has been waiting too long.

Then removed the second of 2 awnings, caulked the screw holes and along the window top edges and sides of 2 windows. That was a bit tiring.

Three bites out of the elephant today.

 

[Surewhitey]

After 7 years of having my free Weber grill, I thought I should buy a new one... Looking at a $550 model @Sam's, but decided to replace the burners and flavorizor covers for a whopping $50. Also forced me to do a deep clean.

 

[Qs Laptop]

After 7 years of having my free Weber grill, I thought I should buy a new one... Looking at a $550 model @Sam's, but decided to replace the burners and flavorizor covers for a whopping $50. Also forced me to do a deep clean.

Nice work. That is not a fun chore.

 

[skyking1]

We re-wired the pigtail and adapter for the 16K trailer today. It had a loose wire that made a dead short for the running lights.

 

[JoeWras]

After 7 years of having my free Weber grill, I thought I should buy a new one... Looking at a $550 model @Sam's, but decided to replace the burners and flavorizor covers for a whopping $50. Also forced me to do a deep clean.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Where did you source those parts for a total of $50?

I presume they were clone parts? Nothing wrong with that, just asking. I'm thinking of getting the clone parts because the Weber price is BS.

$55 just for the bars. Clones can be had for $20 or $30. I see you have the slightly smaller model which has Weber branded bars slightly less expensive, but still expensive.

(You can see I bought 5 years ago. They last me exactly 5 years.)

 

[Time2]

We have sliding glass door that we use a lot. It had become harder and harder to slide. A year or more ago, I cleaned the track and spayed some WD-40 in from the sides. That improved it a little for a while. Yesterday, I engaged a neighbor to help me lift it out of the track. The bearings on the wheels were pretty well worn. I seems the adjuster parts were missing! We could not figure out how it was supposed to work. I looked at modifying it with adjustors sold at Lowes, but they were all to wide to fit in the door. So I just bought new wheels and installed them. Oh man, what a difference the new wheels made, I should have did this 5 years ago.
Youtube was no help on this repair, doors from the early 70s!



btw, the WD-40 caused a lot of dirt to build up where I sprayed it. It would have been better to have removed the door and oiled just the bearing. But that was to much trouble.

 

[Surewhitey]

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Where did you source those parts for a total of $50?

I presume they were clone parts? Nothing wrong with that, just asking. I'm thinking of getting the clone parts because the Weber price is BS.

$55 just for the bars. Clones can be had for $20 or $30. I see you have the slightly smaller model which has Weber branded bars slightly less expensive, but still expensive.

(You can see I bought 5 years ago. They last me exactly 5 years.)

Thanks for making me look. Down 20% for Amazon day...yep, clone, but working just fine. It's a mess cleaning the whole thing, but I only do it every few years... Just wear gloves.

 

[Surewhitey]

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Where did you source those parts for a total of $50?

I presume they were clone parts? Nothing wrong with that, just asking. I'm thinking of getting the clone parts because the Weber price is BS.

$55 just for the bars. Clones can be had for $20 or $30. I see you have the slightly smaller model which has Weber branded bars slightly less expensive, but still expensive.

(You can see I bought 5 years ago. They last me exactly 5 years.)

Yeah, clone. The burners & flavorizor bars combo is $38 on Amazon day (should have waited). They fit perfectly & cleaning is good once done, cast iron grate looked new... Back to grillin'.

 

[MC Rider]

.......btw, the WD-40 caused a lot of dirt to build up where I sprayed it. It would have been better to have removed the door and oiled just the bearing. But that was to much trouble.

Try silicone spray lube. Cleaner and super slippery.

 

[Affinity4Investing]

Try silicone spray lube. Cleaner and super slippery.

+1. I've had good success w/this: https://www.homedepot.com/p/3-IN-ONE-11-oz-Garage-Door-Lube-with-Smart-Straw-Spray-100584/202319356

 

[JoeWras]

Yeah, clone. The burners & flavorizor bars combo is $38 on Amazon day (should have waited). They fit perfectly & cleaning is good once done, cast iron grate looked new... Back to grillin'.

I decided to get a set of clone flavorizer bars on this Big Prime day or whatever it is.

I love the Weber corp having grown up in their back yard. But "Made in America" for these kinds of parts is futile. Weber now makes many of their low end grills completely overseas, and sources a lot of parts from overseas even though final assembly is in the USA. So for parts like this, I'm not worried about putting an American out of work if I don't buy their over-priced, poorly designed replacement parts.

 

[brett]

De-installed a dishwasher.

New one gets delivered tomorrow aftermoon, old one gets taken away, new one gets installed (hopefully)

I will make Thai food in the morning. Spouse is going away for a few weeks and she want her Thai food hit before she goes on Saturday.

 

[CardsFan]

Sharkbite to the rescue

Before leaving for a trip 2 weeks ago DW notices a small leak in the (unfinished) basement, coming from a hot water line (copper) to the kitchen. Couldn't just shut off the water, as we had a dog sitter coming to stay at the house.

Used some "Super Glue E-Z Fuse Tape" for a quick fix. Slowed the leak to a drop every 5 minutes or so. Figured this would last until we got back and had a plumber fix it.

Got home and figured I would try slow it even more before we leave tomorrow for a wedding. Unwrapped the tape, cleaned the spot better, re-wrapped, and it was even worse. I probably remove some of the corrosion products that were plugging the leak. Then tried JB Weld. Nope.

OK, now I am down to the last 24 hours before we leave again.

I remembered using a Sharkbite valve under the bathroom sink last time I changed out the vanity, and started looking for one of these.

Lo and behold Sharkbite makes an 18" flexible hose. $22. Just got through connecting it, and all looks good. And this should be a more or less permanent fix

 

[Sunset]

Replaced a screen in the frame, the screen spline that holds the screen in the frame was so rotted, it just crumbled and I had to scrape along the channel a few times to break it all out.
Put new screen one with new spline, and the view out the window looks nicer.

Now I just have to do all the other windows

 

[ERD50]

...
Lo and behold Sharkbite makes an 18" flexible hose. $22. Just got through connecting it, and all looks good. And this should be a more or less permanent fix

Interesting. For $22 I'm thinking of picking up a 1/2" one and a 3/4" one just to keep on hand for emergencies.

-ERD50

 

[ERD50]

Will need a few weeks to know for sure if this was a repair or not, but...

I've been noticing a garbage smell (not sewer gas smell) from one drain of the double kitchen sink, the one we just stack dishes in to dry (no garbage disposal and we don't want one). Checked underneath, no leaks. Figured just not much water going down that trap, so I ran water. Smell came back in a few days, so I stepped it up by pouring some detergent in the drains followed by a full sink of HOT tap water, pulling the plugs to get a strong draining action. Then vinegar/rinse, some bleach cleaner/rinse.

Smell came back in a week. So I pulled apart the traps. The dish drainer side had quite a bit of stinky slime/crud built up on it, so I cleaned that all out, dunk/clean in hot soapy water, spray with bleach cleaner to take out odors, then on the the wash sink side. Well, that had a toothpick in it, which caught all sorts of stuff (looked like hair - must be sweet corn silk?).

Got that all cleaned up, back together, and ran hot rinse water through both again.

So we will see. But I guess trapping all that gunk just let odors seep through the traps? Or the gunk just flows back/forth from one to the other. At any rate, we'll make a point of running water on the dish drain side more often, to keep the water in that trap fresher.

-ERD50

 

[Music Lover]

Interesting. For $22 I'm thinking of picking up a 1/2" one and a 3/4" one just to keep on hand for emergencies.

-ERD50

The connectors are good, but a Sharkbite with a shutoff should also be kept on hand for emergencies. Not all leaks are conveniently in the middle of a pipe.

 

[braumeister]

we'll make a point of running water on the dish drain side more often, to keep the water in that trap fresher.

I once had a plumber tell me the best thing I could do for routine maintenance was to occasionally run a lot of very hot water down the kitchen sink drain. That was 30 years ago and haven't had a problem since, so it was probably good advice.

 

[thatguy]

I'm fixing 2 Bunn coffee makers. One is a A10 commercial style one. It's leaking water and has a blown thermal fuse. I replaced the thermal fuse with one I had on hand but than it leaked water. Ordered a gasket from Amazon, than, after a week, they gave me a shipping date a month away, So I canceled the order and ordered one from a eBay seller. I've picked up a couple spare Bunn coffee makers either at garage sales or found at cheap clearance prices. So I brought up a spare from the basement and we used it a few weeks until it blew a thermal fuse. So with 2 failed coffee makers it was time to start fixing them. Ordered the fuse for that one from a ebay seller. So until I get one of these Bunns fixed we're using a vintage Farberware Superfast 12 cup electric percolator.
Wife gets up first in the morning and makes the coffee, but until I get one of the pour over automatic drip coffee maker fixed, I prep the percolator the night before so all she has to do is plug it in. Occasionally if I'm up early I might make the morning coffee but I don't sleep like a normal person and my hours are sporadic.

 

[John Galt III]

Thought about replacing one of the burner elements on my stove. Girl friend mentioned it takes too long to heat up. I put it on high, and it only some parts coil turned red. Aha! Must be wearing out, since all the coil is not red. Just for kicks I did the same test on a seldom-used back burner of the same size, and the same portions of the coil got red. no better, no worse. So, I am just going to leave well enough alone for now. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

[Kwirk]

only some parts coil turned red

I know less than nothing about stove coils but what comes to my mind is that you may have lost one leg of a 240v connection. Just a thought, probably off base.

 

[Jeffman52]

Drive cable on my Husqvarna 4WD push mower. Its a nice little mower that I have had for about 6 years but after about 3 years the drive is always needing some maintenance. Pulleys, belts, and drive gears on each wheel. Most recently it was the cable from the handle to the gear box. A fairly easy replacement after I figured out I was working to hard and found that I could remove the plastic back and find the cable attaching to the drive box right under it.

 

[John Galt III]

I know less than nothing about stove coils but what comes to my mind is that you may have lost one leg of a 240v connection. Just a thought, probably off base.

Here's the interesting thing about how the coil gets red, oh high setting. The coil is like a record album, just one big spiral from beginning to end. The first several inches of the coil gets red (outer area), then the inner several inches remain black, then the final several inches get red (inner area).

The stretch in the middle stays black, meaning what? Don't know. I assume the entire coil got red when it was brand new. Don't know.

 

[John Galt III]

Will need a few weeks to know for sure if this was a repair or not, but...

I've been noticing a garbage smell (not sewer gas smell) from one drain of the double kitchen sink, the one we just stack dishes in to dry (no garbage disposal and we don't want one). Checked underneath, no leaks. Figured just not much water going down that trap, so I ran water. Smell came back in a few days, so I stepped it up by pouring some detergent in the drains followed by a full sink of HOT tap water, pulling the plugs to get a strong draining action. Then vinegar/rinse, some bleach cleaner/rinse.

Smell came back in a week. So I pulled apart the traps. The dish drainer side had quite a bit of stinky slime/crud built up on it, so I cleaned that all out, dunk/clean in hot soapy water, spray with bleach cleaner to take out odors, then on the the wash sink side. Well, that had a toothpick in it, which caught all sorts of stuff (looked like hair - must be sweet corn silk?).

Got that all cleaned up, back together, and ran hot rinse water through both again.

So we will see. But I guess trapping all that gunk just let odors seep through the traps? Or the gunk just flows back/forth from one to the other. At any rate, we'll make a point of running water on the dish drain side more often, to keep the water in that trap fresher.

-ERD50

Never hurts to clean the gunk out now and then. I have to clean my kitchen sink drain trap out every year or so, when it gets too slow.