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Having just researched this, it's probably the defrost timer or the thermostat that's causing the problems. There should be testing instructions taped to the bottom of your fridge or inside the back by the compressor. You can find the part at appliance supply stores. If it's a flat sheet of metal, just cut a new one and drill some new screw holes. Surely you can straighten it back out, though. Maybe track down a machinist or an autobody shop and ask for some help?
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Jun 23, 2009 13:30
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Esthar posted:an A/C unit in my house is making odd noises and spitting water out of the back fins. any ideas what could cause this? Clogged drain plug? It sounds like your unit is full of condensation and it's not able to drain out. Check and see if there's a drainage hole somewhere around the underside or back of the unit. If it has a plug in it (I know mine was shipped with one installed) then pull it out. Has it been particularly humid recently?
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Jun 23, 2009 15:06
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Kirea posted:Just wondering if anyone could tell me what the purpose of these pieces are. My roomate's mom saw them at a thrift store apparently and thought they looked cool. Indeed they do, but we've been debating their purpose. Weird headboards? Heavy duty easel? other? Those little knobby things on it all turn about a half turn. I think they have something to do with spinning yarn. They kinda look like fancy niddy noddies but without being able to see exactly what pieces move and what don't I'm not sure. Try posting in the knitting thread and see if anyone there can give you a better idea.
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Jun 23, 2009 16:40
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Vaporware posted:Having just researched this, it's probably the defrost timer or the thermostat that's causing the problems. There should be testing instructions taped to the bottom of your fridge or inside the back by the compressor. You can find the part at appliance supply stores. Oh I'm pretty sure its the defrost timer. Well I just was thinking that if I don't really need that flat piece of metal, just gently caress it I'll leave it off. Its more of a pain to take it off then was needed anyways.
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Jun 23, 2009 17:53
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I was under the impression it was needed to "focus" the airflow across the coils. I have no idea tho.
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Jun 23, 2009 17:55
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Is RG59 cable sufficient for a cable modem (I don't know if it matters but my bandwidth is 15MBPS down 1.5MBPS up). I'm trying to set up a different area of the house for my office and just noticed that the cable run to the jack I'm trying to use is RG59 vice RG6 which I have in the rest of my house. The internet seems pretty wishy washy on whether it will work alright or not.
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Jun 24, 2009 03:56
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belt posted:Is RG59 cable sufficient for a cable modem
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Jun 24, 2009 05:14
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Is there any reason I shouldn't caulk the expansion/crack lines cut into the floor of my garage? Obviously wouldn't use "caulk" but something designed for concrete.
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Jun 27, 2009 16:15
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I have a central AC unit that's probably a decade old; it was here when I bought the house so I don't know exactly how old it is. Starting today I noticed the thing was having trouble cooling the house down. I normally keep it set to 75; it's been blowing for the past hour solid and the inside thermometer says it's 80; it's 93 outside right now, and it's past sunset. Are there any obvious problems I can look for in either the inside unit or the outside unit before I call an HVAC company? This is the first time I've had problems with this thing and I don't know where to begin or how much it's going to cost me.
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Jun 28, 2009 03:16
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IMJack posted:This is the first time I've had problems with this thing and I don't know where to begin or how much it's going to cost me.
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Jun 28, 2009 03:47
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Fire Storm posted:Clean the filter, check to see if the condenser is iced up at the furnace, clean the outdoor unit. That's what I would check first at least. How is the air coming out of the vents? Hot/room temp/cold? I cleaned the filter this morning. The condenser is cool to the touch but I don't see any ice forming on its case. The air coming out of the vents is cooler than room temperature. I'll be sure to clean up the area around the outside unit tomorrow morning. Thanks.
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Jun 28, 2009 04:10
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Fire Storm posted:Clean the filter, check to see if the condenser is iced up at the furnace, clean the outdoor unit. That's what I would check first at least. How is the air coming out of the vents? Hot/room temp/cold? I'm having the same problem as this guy, so I figured I'd piggyback this one. The copper tube going into something (I believe this is the condenser) directly above the furnace...a few inches before it goes inside (the part above the furnace)where I can't get access to, it has some condensation. And then right where it goes into the part above the furnace, ice is on there. It melts away really quick so it's not like a huge brick of ice, just a sheet. The air coming out of the vents is cooler than room temp, but it's hardly making a dent in the overall lowering of the temp at my house. It's dropped a degree so far in the last hour which I know can't be right (and it's getting cooler outside since it's nighttime, so that's helping). Also, where the copper tubing is above the furnace, I hear something that sounds like either a pipe that is leaking or just water passing through it...I'm not really sure. It's similar to if you took an aerosol can and put a small pinhole in it and contents were escaping. However, running my hand over the tubing, I can't locate any leaks, unless it is inside the condensor above the furnace which I can't get access to.
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Jun 28, 2009 04:30
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JD Brickmeister posted:Is there any reason I shouldn't caulk the expansion/crack lines cut into the floor of my garage? Obviously wouldn't use "caulk" but something designed for concrete. There are products designed for exactly that purpose, unless you've got serious subsidence & movement in the slab it'll do no harm. If you have, you'll fall down the crack & never post again. We may never know 
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Jun 28, 2009 17:22
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IMJack posted:Are there any obvious problems I can look for in either the inside unit or the outside unit before I call an HVAC company? This is the first time I've had problems with this thing and I don't know where to begin or how much it's going to cost me. Sure there are obvious things to check. On the thermostat, turn the fan to on, wait a few seconds and go to the condenser outside. Look to see if the fan is spinning. One more thing you can check is the capacitors. Follow the electrical tubing from the condenser to the box on the side of your house. That box is a switch, and there are a few designs for these. Some don't have the arm to flip, but rather a bridge to pull out. Either way, turn off the power. Get yourself a 1/4" ratchet and take the corner panel off your condenser. Inside will be 1 or 2 capacitors. They're about the side of a soda can, possibly somewhat flattened. Look to see if any are leaking or "bulging" on the ends.
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Jun 28, 2009 17:42
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If it's a decade old, the pipes are getting cold, you can hear fluid gurgling past your expansion valve, the outside unit is clean and its fan is spinning, call the HVAC company and get a new refrigerant charge put in. It's probably leaked out. Most people get a HVAC pre-start service every year that includes all of the above, and most HVAC companies charge $50-100 to do it. You can do all except recharging yourself, and that's really all the cost there is.
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Jun 28, 2009 18:02
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nwin posted:And then right where it goes into the part above the furnace, ice is on there. It melts away really quick so it's not like a huge brick of ice, just a sheet.
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Jun 28, 2009 19:17
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I don't think this is worth it's own thread, but I couldn't find it anywhere else. I recently got a hanging copper wine rack (http://oenophilia.com/catalogue_details.asp?ProductID=325) that I would rather have in a nice patina than the standard copper, but I don't want to wait the 10 years or so. Google searches tell me there is a number of methods that may or may not work to add patina to copper, and I wanted to know if goons had experience in the field. I don't know if the copper is coated in anything that would prevent the natural corrosion, so I think step 1 should be figuring that out, but I don't know how to do that either. I am an engineer with plenty of chem lab experience, etc, so I am very comfortable with whatever potentially involved processes will work the best, I just want the best results that I can enjoy for years without them rubbing off, being horribly uneven, or whatever else may go wrong.
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Jun 29, 2009 02:14
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Just buy some copper patina acid. You wipe it on with a rag and it takes about a day, I think. There are a couple colors like black and green.
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Jun 29, 2009 13:27
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Please bear in mind that Verdigris (copper patina) is toxic, and can be absorbed through the skin if handled enough. If you manage to fake the patina you're after, consider sealing the surface with a sturdy clear varnish.
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Jun 29, 2009 16:58
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I just got a free old heavy duty tiller with no motor but everything else. I have a 5hp honda motor that has a horizontal shaft. I'd like to use it for the tiller, but I'd either have to make up my own manifold to rotate the carb and do something with the gas tank. But I was wondering if I could just keep it horizontal shaft, and weld up a mount so it hangs off the side a little and find some kind of 90* gear box that I could weld/bolt to the frame and then just put the pulley on the vertical section of that. Do they make such a thing or am I just making things harder than they have to be?
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Jun 29, 2009 21:29
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ease posted:I just got a free old heavy duty tiller with no motor but everything else. I have a 5hp honda motor that has a horizontal shaft. I'd like to use it for the tiller, but I'd either have to make up my own manifold to rotate the carb and do something with the gas tank. You're making things too hard. Find an engine that will fit, or get another tiller. Out of curiosity, what kind of tiller is it?
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Jun 29, 2009 21:41
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ease posted:I just got a free old heavy duty tiller with no motor but everything else. I have a 5hp honda motor that has a horizontal shaft. I'd like to use it for the tiller, but I'd either have to make up my own manifold to rotate the carb and do something with the gas tank. You also can't just rotate the motor because oil will now be in the wrong place. Find a free rusted out lawnmower off craigslist and take the engine off of it.
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Jun 29, 2009 22:41
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blindjoe posted:You also can't just rotate the motor because oil will now be in the wrong place. Find a free rusted out lawnmower off craigslist and take the engine off of it. I wanted to convert a vertical shaft to horizontal (standard go-kart stuff) and it's really tricky. Building a new sump, etc. Most people suggest using a pair of pulleys and a V-belt to get the rotation, or just finding a motor with the correct shaft orientation.
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Jun 30, 2009 01:44
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Richard Noggin posted:You're making things too hard. Find an engine that will fit, or get another tiller. Out of curiosity, what kind of tiller is it? Ahh but I want a honda tiller damnit. Maybe I can find a vertical shaft out someones cheap craigslist honda mower. It's actually a really old Agway. No idea who really made it but it looks like it's from the 60's or 70's and solid as you can get. Whole thing is made out of really thick plate. Second question is what kinda HP is too much? I definitely want a 5hp but wonder if I need anymore? Doubt you could really overpower this thing. Gear case and tines are pretty loving beefy. It says 3.5 on it so I'm guessing it's original motor was on the smallish size. ease fucked around with this message at 02:25 on Jun 30, 2009 |
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Jun 30, 2009 02:23
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ease posted:Ahh but I want a honda tiller damnit. Maybe I can find a vertical shaft out someones cheap craigslist honda mower. It's actually a really old Agway. No idea who really made it but it looks like it's from the 60's or 70's and solid as you can get. Whole thing is made out of really thick plate. I wouldn't go over 9hp. I used a 9hp tiller and if you hit anything, the engine is so powerful it will just rip itself out of your hands. Smaller motors will bog and hesitate. I'd say 5-7, with 6.5 being a really common lawnmower size.
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Jun 30, 2009 02:45
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In the spirit of all the air conditioner questions, I have one of my own. I got a new programmable thermostat as a gift, and can't figure out how to wire this sucker up. I thought the wires would just sort of obviously go to the right places, but boy was I wrong. Here's some pictures: Old thermostat:  New thermostat:  For the life of me I can't figure this thing out. Any help? Danger Mahoney fucked around with this message at 21:52 on Jun 30, 2009 |
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Jun 30, 2009 21:31
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Danger Mahoney posted:programmable thermostat This page has an overview of the typical wire colors and terminal designations. It's helped me a lot in the past. The installation manual probably says what color wire should go to each labeled terminal, but if you don't have the same colors as it names, I've also gotten good results from googling something like "thermostat brand model number a b c etc..." where a, b, c, etc are the colors of the wire coming out of my wall. Someone had always posted the same question somewhere before. 
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Jun 30, 2009 22:33
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alucinor posted:This page has an overview of the typical wire colors and terminal designations. It's helped me a lot in the past. My trouble comes from whoever built this house using nonstandard wire colors. That, and I can't figure out what the E and X are supposed to be. Or what the W3 is. I am hopeless. 
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Jun 30, 2009 23:18
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ease posted:Ahh but I want a honda tiller damnit. Maybe I can find a vertical shaft out someones cheap craigslist honda mower. It's actually a really old Agway. No idea who really made it but it looks like it's from the 60's or 70's and solid as you can get. Whole thing is made out of really thick plate. Can't help you with the Honduh, but keep your eyes open for a Troy Bilt PTO Horse. My dad bought one new in 1984 for his landscape business, used it often, and finally gave it to me a year ago after he got a new one because this one didn't want to stay running. I slapped a new carb on it, and it purrs like the day he bought it. Very powerful, all steel construction.
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Jul 1, 2009 03:05
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Danger Mahoney posted:My trouble comes from whoever built this house using nonstandard wire colors. Does your thermostat book have a technical assistance/customer support number you can call? I put in a Honeywell thermostat, and it had a pretty comprehensive color coding chart. It also said that if the chart doesn't cover the configuration you have to call them for help.
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Jul 1, 2009 04:33
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babyeatingpsychopath posted:If it's a decade old, the pipes are getting cold, you can hear fluid gurgling past your expansion valve, the outside unit is clean and its fan is spinning, call the HVAC company and get a new refrigerant charge put in. It's probably leaked out. Most people get a HVAC pre-start service every year that includes all of the above, and most HVAC companies charge $50-100 to do it. You can do all except recharging yourself, and that's really all the cost there is. I called up my landlord and told them the situation...here was their reply: He admitted not knowing much about how AC's work but he wanted to make sure we knew what was the problem before he goes shelling out all kinds of cash for troubleshooting, so he wanted to wait till we had a really hot day and see if 1) The AC just takes a while to get cold (a few hours he said) 2) He thinks that if it's already cool out, the AC won't do anything. 3) He thinks if it's too humid, then the AC won't perform as well. This is all basically because I told him air was coming out of the vents that was slightly cooler than room temp. Now, I don't know much about this either, but I'm pretty sure he's confusing AC Units with Evaporative coolers. If it's too humid or cold already, from my experience, they won't do anything, right? I've had central AC all my life (mostly living in Arizona, where there is no humidity), and I had it in one other place here in Cape Cod. From my experience, if it's 60 out and I turn the AC to 55, it will crank out cold air to get to 55. Anyways, today's high is 73, but pretty humid, and I just turned it on 30 minutes ago. I'm going to leave it on for a few hours, and then I'll give him a call saying it needs a recharge or something else, because I'm pretty sure the AC isn't going to start miraculously working. The hell with waiting until it's 90 outside to realize 'oh poo poo, it does need recharged'. Anyone else have any other advice? edit: This condo was built in the 80's I think and it's a Trane a/c unit that is outside. They haven't had anyone living in here in at least 2 years and who knows the last time the AC was serviced. nwin fucked around with this message at 19:09 on Jul 1, 2009 |
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Jul 1, 2009 17:41
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ease posted:Ahh but I want a honda tiller damnit. Maybe I can find a vertical shaft out someones cheap craigslist honda mower. It's actually a really old Agway. No idea who really made it but it looks like it's from the 60's or 70's and solid as you can get. Whole thing is made out of really thick plate. There is no "too much HP" just too heavy and too expensive. If your tiller hits something that would require more HP, the belts will just slip the motor over powers the tines. 3.5 hp is about as small as you can go, so just find a motor and put it on. Don't worry about what brand or anything, just use it first and find out if you want to bother making it "nice" with a honda motor. Who knows, there might be a reason the people gave it to you instead of fixing it.
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Jul 3, 2009 00:45
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So I was trying to change the door handle on my front door. This went REALLY loving WELL. The long and the short of it is that the lock has been changed, but I managed to gently caress up both my original door handle, AND my new one, AND put the screws for the door jambs in and out so many times that they no longer thread in -- they just sort of push in and out. Is there some kind of filler I can put into there so that I can put screws in again, or do I have to replace the whole door?
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Jul 3, 2009 08:33
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Wuhao posted:So I was trying to change the door handle on my front door. This went REALLY loving WELL. The long and the short of it is that the lock has been changed, but I managed to gently caress up both my original door handle, AND my new one, AND put the screws for the door jambs in and out so many times that they no longer thread in -- they just sort of push in and out. A really easy solution for helping screws stick in a hole is to stick some toothpicks or a Q-tip in the hole (cut the ends off of the Q-tip).
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Jul 3, 2009 13:04
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emanonii posted:A really easy solution for helping screws stick in a hole is to stick some toothpicks or a Q-tip in the hole (cut the ends off of the Q-tip). Yup. I usually coat a wooden match in wood glue, jam it in the hole and break it off.
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Jul 3, 2009 15:19
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Wait, is this the latchplate for the deadbolt? You're supposed to use the long screws for those and screw them all the way through the doobjamb into the framing. I'd use either wooden toothpicks or a wooden golf tee glued in place. The latter is nice in that you can use a hammer to wedge it into place.
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Jul 3, 2009 17:52
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emanonii posted:A really easy solution for helping screws stick in a hole is to stick some toothpicks or a Q-tip in the hole (cut the ends off of the Q-tip). Neat, idea, I will try that, thanks Question: Very old house I've moved into. The front door doesn't latch against the strike plate anymore because the door latch is now too low. I can't move the plate down any because it sits in a recessed cut area in the door jamb. Door's hinges are tight and there doesn't appear to be any play. Any ideas? The wind keeps on whipping the door open, quite annoying dwoloz fucked around with this message at 01:31 on Jul 5, 2009 |
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Jul 4, 2009 23:24
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Have you tried pulling upwards on the knob when you close the door? Every old door I've ever had trouble latching would catch if I pulled up on the knob as I pushed it closed.
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Jul 5, 2009 00:32
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dwoloz posted:Neat, idea, I will try that, thanks Get yourself some cardboard, the non-corrugated kind, like from a cereal or soda can box. Unscrew the bottom hinge from the jamb, then cut yourself 5 or 6 spacers from the cardboard to fit that gap where the hinge was. It's usually easier to cut one to fit, then use it as a template. Once you got a few of these together, you should be able to fit them in between the hinge plate and the doobjamb. This should tilt out the bottom of the door enough, raising the latch high enough to catch. Add or remove spacers as necessary. You may have to adjust this in the winter, as the temperature change could make your house settle enough to make the latch not catch again. kid sinister fucked around with this message at 02:08 on Jul 5, 2009 |
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Jul 5, 2009 02:05
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kid sinister posted:Wait, is this the latchplate for the deadbolt? You're supposed to use the long screws for those and screw them all the way through the doobjamb into the framing. Nah, it's just the plate surrounding the door latch. Thankfully, the installation of the new deadbolt went just fine, but the door handle itself is where I got sloppy. Thanks so much for the tips!
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Jul 5, 2009 03:31
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