Cayman
Recycles dryer sheets
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2015
- Messages
- 445
Mountainsoft - that is no small feat. Nice job
Latest repair might be my digital multimeter. I bought it one year ago at Harbor Freight. It's a Centec 61593. I got it for theMicrofarads it can test on capacitors.
I used it successfully a few months ago to test some capacitors.
Just tried it yesterday and the microfarads read zero on 2 different capacitors. I was expecting a non-zero result on one of them.
The voltage testing still works, and also the ohms.
Could the capacitance part of it go bad while the rest still works?
I checked the 9 volt battery with another tester and it read 9.1 volts, so it is OK.
As I move the selector into the capacitance zone, the numbers bounce all around on the screen, then settle down to zero, as they should. I then touch the probes firmly to the terminals of the cap, and the reading stays at zero. Same thing for both capacitors.
A zero reading in capacitance across the capacitor terminals implies a shorted out capacitor, I think. I know one of the capacitors was reading 5 microfarads last time I checked it. Now zero.
The instruction manual says you can remove the back of the meter to look at any fuses that might be there. I tried to do that but the screws seem to be cemented in. Got a good bite with a small phillipshead, but the screws aren't budging. A note on the back of the unit says there are no customer-serviceable parts inside, though.
Clues welcomed!
I have the same meter, was able to use it to troubleshoot our RV AC to find the bad capacitor. Last time I used to test voltage on my truck battery the meter was dead. Replaced the 9v battery as it was too low, I think I saw the fuses inside when I changed the battery. Like someone else said make sure you short out the capacitor beforehand when testing caps.
Hey, I had one of those same type of switches fail in my old Tappan microwave. I bypassed it temporarily so the microwave would still work but went ahead and ordered a new Toshiba microwave because the old one was from 1992 and lower powered. But I might go ahead and order a couple switches and fix the old one for backup.My recent (following the refrigerator freezer rebirth) was repairing a really nice Kitchenaid combo convection/microwave.
Despite Black and Decker making it near impossible, I was able to get the "bread drier oven" (aka toaster oven) working-ish again. I call it a bread drier because over time, it seemed to take longer and longer to toast bread. It's a big toaster oven and it always bugged me that it has huge elements, far from the bread. But at least when new, if you were patient, you'd get toast. But it started turning off the elements before the bread toasted. The way it works is the thermostat goes up to 450 and after that is the toast setting. But the thermostat was cutting off too soon.
They had one way metal tab in slot connections, so almost impossible to wrangle apart. They had star screws (just two of about 16, so designed to keep people from fixing the thing). Those don't slow me down. They glued on the knob, so you can't replace replace the thermostat switch without breaking it.
Anyway, I was able to "recalibrate" the thermostat (bent it) so the thing toasts again.
If it wasn't such a good plate warmer, I would have thrown it out.
I changed the lock and deadbolt set for a co-worker a week ago.
Her husband had pancreatic cancer, only 4 months from diagnosis until he was gone this week.
I said I can do anything you need and that was her ask. It was falling out of the door. He was right there in the living room in a hospital bed, I have been there way too much lately with my own family and focused on the task and got it done quickly and hopefully, quietly.
Toilet in the main bathroom had developed an anemic flush. We have very hard water so suspected either scale buildup or (OMG I hope not) a blocked vent pipe.
Rather than climb up on the roof in winter here in Soviet Canuckistan I decided to investigate the descaling first instead of the vent pipe. Shut off the water supply, shop vacced out all the water in the toilet and stuck a wire coathanger into the siphon jet.. yup, mineral buildup. Thank goodness !
DW has cleaning strength vinegar (10%) so filled up the toilet with that via the filler tube. Let sit overnight. Voila.. next morning it was working great.
Going to remind myself somehow to do that twice a year going forward.
The TP roll under the sink was severely soggy (weighed a pound) and so had a spontaneous leak. It was the hose between the hot cutoff and the faucet. More specifically, the crimp between the hose and the fitting.
I ordered a new hose ($5 off Amazon) and replaced it.
The new hose said "replace every 5 years"! Ain't nobody got time for that! I have been thinking about water/moisture alarms. They're cheap, but you gotta keep working batteries in them, I suppose. This cheap bathroom cabinet is particle board and swelled up a bit, but not bad enough to replace.
Yeah. In the old days, we cut the main before leaving, but now she's got drip watering for outdoors and a visiting neighbor for indoors, so "can't" do that anymore. It was just a drip, but those add-up.Good thing you weren't on a trip
... The hard part was installing it while laying on the ribs of the metal roof, pushing into my ribs. The metal ribs won. I still have to add one more piece, but I'll climb back on the roof tomorrow when I'm fresh again.
Too late, but I got 6 for $36 on Amazon. They come with the 9 volt battery and they'll chirp when the battery is low. I hope the battery lasts a good while.I have been thinking about water/moisture alarms. They're cheap, but you gotta keep working batteries in them, I suppose..