Tighten the screws!

My family might be the only family that likes to lean on cupboard doors when they open them. This causes the crews for the hinges to work loose. Every few months I go around the house and tighten the screws. For the ones that are really bad? I take a wooden match stick, remove the ignition portion, and then break the wooden match stick off into the screw hole. That will allow the screw to have a tight fit.

Linda's Christmas Present Part 4

I have decided to use the Utilitech LED Tape Light (also sold under the name of Good Earth Lighting) to light Linda's new cabinet. However, the tape lights come with a two inch connecting wire and I need a two foot connecting wire.

Disclaimer: do not do electrical work of you are not comfortable with it. Always use a professional. This blog neither proves not denies that a professional electrician did this work.

The first thing I did was trim off the paper tag.

The next step was to cut the cable in half.

Then separate the two halves of the wire.

Strip back the rubber coating by quarter of an inch.

The wire in the connector is 22 gauge. While 22 wire is the best, you can use anywhere from 18 to 22 gauge wire to make your extension. I couldn't find any 22 gauge wire so I bought 20 gauge. It would be best to get stranded wire to get a better bond with the adapter's wire. Unfortunately, I could only find solid wire, which is fine, just not ideal.

I cut the length I needs for the extension and stripped the wire.

I then paired the wires so that the adapter wire with the black line tied into the red colored cable, and the adapter wire without the black line tied into the white cable.

Next, secure the connection with solder.

It would be good to complete the connection with some shrink wrap. I didn't have any do I used electrical tape. I wrapped the red wire, then the white wire, then wired them together. The goal is to make sure the metal parts of the red wire do not touch the white wire or else it will cause a short.

Do the same with the other end of the cable. Make sure the red wire connects to the adapt we'd wire with the black wire. When finished, plug the cable into the LED tape light to see if it works.

Barometer Repair

When you own a house you have to become handy doing many different things. We have an antique barometer that came from Linda's Godmother's house. We hang it on a wall and people have a tendency to knock it off the wall when they pass by it.

When that happens? It is time for repair and reassembly.

Survived Walmart Black Friday

This was the third year I have participated in the Walmart Black Friday... Uhm... Black Thursday event.

I had always heard that Walmart was crazy on Black Thursday so three years ago I attended so I could witness the break down of humanity. Instead, what I saw was how Walmart expertly manages the chaos of a mob. I was impressed with how they conducted the activities. Sure, there are some nuts and several fights, but those tend to be entertaining.

I avoid Walmart in cities on Black Friday - I can't imagine what those are like. Instead, I go to a Walmart way out in the country where people are more polite and more forgiving.

Walmart was packed this year, but not as packed as I had remembered from other years.

A good sense of humor is essential in these situations. Standing in a long line to get a product can be very stressful. The longest line I stood in was to get a 32" TV for under $100. The line snacked down one grocery isle, then back up the next, then down another isle and back, and then down a third isle! But it is worth it for such a cheap TV.

Most of the products sit in shrink wrapped pallets. At a specific time a Walmart employee cuts the shrink wrap and all the customers dive on the pallets to get their stuff.

The best organization comes from the guaranteed products. For one hour they guaranty anyone waiting for specially identified products will get one. Those are the best!

Overall I bought more than I anticipated, saved more than I planned, and had a good time.

Linda's Christmas Present Part 3

I have been trying the tape lights and am satisfied. The next step is to position the lights where I think I want them. Because I don't want to permanently attach the lights, I am using blue painter's tape. The painter's tape is weak enough to not cause damage, but strong enough to hold the lights in place.

I lit four of the eight doors and I think it looks good. Especially combined with strings of white Christmas lights laying on top of the cabinet 

Honeywell HE220A Whole House Humidifier Repair

Being a homeowner requires skill in many different areas. For today's problem, I became a furnace Repairman and a plumber.

I installed a Honeywell HE220A Whole House Humidifier 8 years ago to address regular winter illness my children were having due to a very dry house. I have to replace the humidifier filter at the start of winter. It is a metal filter designed to allow warm water to flow over it while the furnace blows hot air. The hot air causes the water to evaporate and blow throughout the house.

The amount of humidity distributed is controlled by a dial on the controller. The higher I turn the dial, the longer the water pours into the humidifier and the more humidity the house receives.  

A day after changing the filter, I returned to make sure everything was OK. I discovered that no water was moving through the humidifier! I checked hose coming out of the valve to make sure it wasn't clogged and I found the valve was not allowing water to flow through it.

The valve was not opening, so, I dug out the multimeter. The label on the valve said it was looking for 24vac (volts AC), so, I went looking for 24VAC throughout the electrical flow.



I also checked the transformer that feeds electricity from the main power to the controller. I found 24 voltz everywhere I tested.

The valve was getting 24 volts, but wasn't working. So, the problem must be the valve! But new valves were around $100! And if I paid to have someone install it for me? I would be several hundred dollars into the repair. The answer was DIY! I started by finding the saddle valve. The Saddle valve is where the humidifier's water pipe pierced the main water pipe in order to get a water supply. In my case, the saddle valve pierced the hot water pipe coming out of the hot water tank. That makes sense to me: I would want to spray hot water into my furnace, not cold water, because hot water would evaporate faster and wouldn't try to cool down the air flow. In theory, if you turn the saddle valve clockwise, it is supposed to shut off the water flow to the humidifier. Instead, when I turned clockwise the saddle valve started leaking and spraying water.

I couldn't shut off the water supply so I came up with another plan. First, I disconnected the water supply from the valve.

Next, I disconnected the drain hose from the bottom of the humidifier and I stuck the water pipe into the drain hose.

With the water disconnected, I was able to remove the valve. I made sure the control knob was in the OFF position before removing the wire nuts and disconnecting the valve electrically, and then I unscrewed the valve from the base of the humidifier.

With the valve removed, the next step was to disassemble it. The way these solenoid  valve (Kip U147112) is that a magnet manipulates a plunger. When the magnet is engaged, the plunger raises allowing water to flow. Then the magnet is not engaged, a spring pushes the plunger down to block the water flow. Sometimes those plungers can get stuck either open or closed. Or sometimes the plunger will leak, but that wasn't my problem. No water was passing through the valve.

I disassembled the valve but could not get the plunger off the solenoid. So, I cleaned everything I could access the best that I could and reassembled it.

I put everything back together with low expectations that I made any difference. But to my surprise? Water started flowing into the filter!





Apparently I was successful in getting the valve to open, but it wouldn't close now! So much water was coming through that it was overflowing into a bucket I had left out just in case. If the valve doesn't close, I would be supplying a nonstop flow of hot water all year long.










I immediately suspected I knew why the valve wasn't closing. I thought I didn't get the nut on the top of the valve tight enough, so, I tightened it up. That fixed it! The valve was now able to open and close.












However, my work still wasn't done.When the valve was open, the humidifier was overflowing and pouring water into my catch bucket. I traced the drain hose and found a sediment clog that was restricting the flow of water.

With the clog cleared, the water drained successfully. The humidifier is now working and I saved several hundred dollars in repairs!

Time for Lights

I use light timers for all out outside lights. After the fall time change I noticed the lights on the kid's fort were staying on past midnight!

I really don't need the neighbors complaining. Apparently the timer that controls the deck lights and fort lights had been changed to run most of the night!

Changing the time is easy. Simply turn the dial until the "current time" arrow is pointing at the current hour. Then push down the blocks around the dial for the hours you would like light, and pull the blocks up for the hours when there shouldn't be light.

I am sure my neighbors appreciate that I have now correctly set the timers.

Dogs

I often complain that owning a house isn't everything it is cracked up to be. It is a lot of work and is very expensive.

In that way, owning a house is like a dog. What did Mom and Dad say when you were a kid? Owning a dog is a lot of responsibility. It is a lot of work and very expensive. But you really really wanted the dog and ignored the warnings and found yourself walking a dog in the ten degree snow storm saying "Hurry up Dog and just take a crap already!"

And since we are on the topic of Dogs, let me point out that a disadvantage to renting is that it is unlikely you can have pets, especially a dog! But when you own the house, no one (other than the town ordinance, dog warden, and animal licensing) can tell you "No". 

Dogs are very handy. Not only do they provide companionship, they provide protection from the harmless guy passing by the house on his bicycle or the neighbor's cat passing through the back yard. They stand guard ready to offering a howling bark at any inopportune time of the day or night including Saturdays while trying to sleep in.

When someone is adjusting to the huge responsibilities of home ownership, the worse thing to do is to throw on the responsibilities of dog ownership too!

Our dog has been a perfect addition to our family. Labs are perfect animals with children. And while his bark has warned us about passing cars, it has also warned up about foxes, coyote, and other animals that have appeared in our yard thanks to country living. He is a lot of work. He has allergies and requires very expensive dog food. Recently we noticed a lump on his side so today we look him to the vet for a checkup. Apparently as dogs get old they develop fat deposits and that's all our dog had. $70 to tell us our dog is old and fat. 

Linda' Christmas Present Part 2

I have had my eye on LED Tape for a while but didn't have an application for it... Until now!

LED tape is a flexible plastic strip with amazingly bright white LEDs in them. The back side of the plastic strip has double faced tape so it can easily stick anywhere. The strip is fed by a thin power cord that runs to a power adapter.

The LED lights are crazy bright - almost too bright! The bulbs last almost forever, they use very little electricity, and generate almost no heat. In addition the tape light has a low profile, is flexible, and is easy to install.

I am testing the Utilitech LED Tape Light from Lowes. The product is sold under other names such as Good Earth Lighting Tape Light. These come in two lengths: 18 inch and 12 inch.

One can also buy tape light by the spool and cut it to length, but that requires the ability to do some custom wiring. Utilitech  has already taken the spool, cut it to length, and soldered connectors on it for the general consumer.

The spool tape says it can be used inside cabinets but the Utilitech manual says it can't. It is the same product, so, why not? An I have read reviews where people have installed Utilitech tape light inside cabinets.

A possible reason for not using a particular light within a cabinet is heat. I have heard of halogen puck lights used inside cabinets and they generate enough heat to fry an egg. The concern for heat is valid and warranted a heat test of the tape light.

As a test, I ran the 36 inches of tape light inside a cabinet for several hours with a thermometer. The thermometer went up only one degree. In addition, when I handled the tape light it was warm but absolutely not hot.

The supplier, Utilitech, says not to do it. But the tape light manufacturers say it is OK. I recommend following the guidelines in the manual and if you don't and feel comfortable with the risk? That is your call. I don't advise it, but this is America and people can do stupid things. I am comfortable with the risk so I will do some more testing and will be installing the tape light inside the cabinets.

Ravaged by Viruses

Today I put on my Computer Repair hat. My wife has complaining how slow her computer has become. When I looked at it, Norton was regularly reporting that it was blocking attacks. One of the attacks was trying to write to dvdupgrade.exe, which I found odd because she doesn't have a DVD player in her laptop.

I am very disappointed because (A) Microsoft says that Windows 8Defender eliminates   the need for a third party protector; and (B) I paid extra to have Norton. And it still got infected!

The system restores wouldn't go back far enough. So the next thing to do?

Factory reset. Once infected there is no way to fight the viruses. There is no way to know that very thing has been cleaned. The best course of action is to Nuke and Pave. Game Over. Start up fresh and new.

Luckily, I have her save all her data to The cloud, and all her apps (all two of them) can be easily reinstalled.

Fire extinguishers

I have a friend whose house burned down. Luckily he got out and his family was OK. Then, while rebuilding the house, a wood stove being used to keep the construction workers warm burnt the house down a second time. Then, several years later, a careless cigarette butt tossed next to a shed that sat alongside the new home burnt it a third time.

I didn't need to see his house burn three times to develop an appreciation for fire prevention. I have smoke detectors everywhere. And most rooms have fire extinguishers.

The purpose of the fire extinguisher isn't to put out a fire. The purpose is to make a path so we can get out of the house! When a house is on fire, poison gasses are released from furniture, paint, and other household items. The smoke can kill you in minutes. And fires can spread through a house in minutes. If there is a fire our main objective is to get out with our lives!

Cold draft

A cold draft is nice if you are drinking beer. It isn't nice when sitting in your house and you get a chill! Houses are designed to allow airflow. Effective exchange of air is important to stay healthy. However, if not done correctly it can lead to a cold draft running through the house.

I get a cold draft from the basement door and the laundry room door (that leads to the garage). I found an effective way to combat the draft.

These are styrofoam and cloth that wrap around the bottom of the door. This eliminates the draft! I put these on in the fall, then take them off in the spring. When I take them off I can wash them and put them away for the next coming year.

Water Spigot

Every spring I turn the water feeds to the outside spigots on. Every winter I bring the hoses inside and turn them off.

Turning them off in the winter is important to prevent them from freezing, bursting, and flooding the basement. It is important to shut the water off inside and turn the outside spigot wide open to allow for any thaw and freeze that might occur.

Hooks

I don't know who invented these hooks, but they are great! I attach a hook to any wall using a sticker. There are no holes, no finding a studd, no screwing around. I just attach it anywhere I want. And when I am done with it, I can detach it from the wall with no mess and no damage.

Unfortunately, they aren't very durable  and tend to break. But that is OK because they are very easy to replace.

Pressure

One of the joys living in the north? When the temperature changes, aluminum wheels loose their binding to the tire and the tire will lose pressure. This is worse when the temperature thrashes: hot days followed by cold days followed by hot days.

I often ask: does owning a house really meet the American Dream? Part of the American Dream is owning a car. Remember the slogan: it is not just your car, it is your freedom! Just as with owning a house, owning a car is a lot of work and very expensive.

Fall and Spring time mean careful monitoring of tire pressure due to drastic temperature changes.

Making this season worse - my wife's can has a tire with a slow leak. It looses around 5 pounds per day. I fill it to 40 pounds and wait for her to tell me when the van's dashboard complains about a low tire so I can do it again. This last time she waited until the tire was almost completely flat before saying anything!

I just need to keep filling the tire until the van's service appointment. The mechanic will take the tire off and put it in a tub of water and look for an air bubble coming out of the tire. When he finds it, he will insert a patch that will stop the leak, an then attack my wallet for the service.

Linda's Christmas Present

Christmas came a little early this year. Linda found some furniture and wanted it for the back of the living room for the holidays as her Christmas Present.

With some help of some friends and about seven hours work, the cabinets are installed. The set also came with a desk.

My next task is to add cabinet lights and figure an easy way to turn the lights on and off. Then Linda can start filling it with all kinds of decorations.

Renting versus home ownership

I have rented for 13 years of my adult life, and I have been a home owner for 13 years. I guess I became spoiled as a renter.

When renting one only needs to hang pictures, move furniture, and do house cleaning. Everything else is the Landlord's job (and if you get a good landlord, they do their job). When you own, all that work becomes yours to do. You take on all the risk of a leaky roof or bad hot water tank. All the taxes of home ownership aren't hidden in a rent check. One pays a kagillion dollars to the bank for the mortgage. The equity one builds is tiny compared to all the costs, taxes, an interest. If you miss a couple of mortgage payments, the bank can  take that away. Or miss some tax payments and the town takes the house. Insurance is crazy higher compared to renter's insurance.

Something I have heard often: "when you rent you don't have the freedom to make changes." When you own a house and want to make changes, it'll probably require a permit and an inspector. I don't know about inspectors in your area but mine want all the work done by professionals. That makes everything you want to do be very expensive.

But all this negativity aside? Home ownership is the American dream. A little house with a white picket fence and a yard. That's what we have been told anyways. And maybe that is the dream but it has been savaged by opportune vultures who all want a piece of your pie.

That is one of the focus of this blog: challenging the American Dream. My goal is to shed some reality onto the dream to show how the American dream is a lot of work and very expensive.

If you are thinking about buying a house - read my blog and go into the purchase with correct expectations. If you are already a home owner (or perhaps the bank technically owns the home and you are paying a mortgage, or, you are renting the house from the town via your taxes) then you can read and relate. Either way, I hope you enjoy my unique perspective.

Christmas Lights on the Fort

What do you do when you build your kids a fort in the back yard and then they grow up and never use it?

Light it up! From November through April every year the fort lights up from 5pm through 10pm. I am not sure whether or not the neighborhood appreciates it, but, none of them have complained! Besides, it looks really nice at night.

Today was the first lighting. In a few weeks I will add some more lights to replace some burnt out strings and better define the outline.

Deck furniture

It is a yearly cycle. In the spring I bring the deck furniture and hoses up from the basement. In the fall, I take it back down. I have been doing it this way for eleven years. Next year I hope to make it a little easier by having a shed!