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Motronic
Nov 6, 2009

Permanent fix time.

Should be able to make something out of this:


Yeah, that should do just fine:

NOTE: take a look at this closely. It's 1/2 copper to 1/2" pex. Note how copper fittings go OUTSIDE of the pipe, leaving the inner diameter at 1/2" the entire way through. That's not the case with pex. At all. 1/2 pex is not a good solution for anything other than an icemaker or other low flow device, like what we're doing here. 3/4" pex is pretty much the minimum I'd consider using for any actual fixture like a sink, toilet, dishwasher, clothes washer, etc.

Remove and cut out the holes left from both saddle valves:


Can get this pipe to stop dripping no matter what I do - I mean, other than wait for it to drain and I'm not gonna do that. What to do?




Yeah, that worked just fine:


Not terribly proud of that soldering job, but I was in a tough spot in the crawl space and was too lazy to go get a second wet rag to wrap joints. You can see the slop as well as darker marks (which is burnt flux, a clear sign things were overheated). I'm no pro, so I'm not going to get into the finer points of soldering pipe but suffice it to say it's not how I did it. It's good enough, I wiped it down after it cooled sufficiently so it's not going to corrode. But go youtube yourself up some proper plumbers teaching you how to sweat pipe. It's actually pretty easy as long as you do all of the steps, even if you don't understand them. Like everything else, most of your success depends on prep work. My prep work was fine, but I was having a tough time with clearances and contorting myself into position. Plus a lot of joints close together and lack of an extra cloth to keep from doing stupid things.

Okay, water is back on in the house now. I have chunks of bread in the toilet in the downstairs powder room. At least we've got an isolated take off for the fridge.

Now on to the icemaker box. This is a 1/2" PEX to 1/4" FIP with a valve and water hammer arrester. I couldn't find an old work box so maybe I'll just cut a hole and mount it with the nailing flanges right on the sheetrock. Uh....maybe not. I need to trough anyway to drill through the sill plate......or I'd have to go back out to the barn and get one of those silly 4 foot long flexible bits. And then I'd need to figure out how much pex I can stuff in the cavity. Whatever.....let's just go for it:


I was able to turn the box 90 degrees to the nailing flanges were on the top and bottom, shove it in the wall and then turn it back:


That's much easier than the silly bit:


Shoved the the pex down there and attached/secured to the new take off in the crawl space:


And it's all together:


But how to hold this box where it belongs and patch the sheetrock? 1x3 of course. I cut about 8 inches that will got on either side of the box inside the wall so I'll be screwing through the drywall, the nailing flange of the box, and then the 1x3. It will be positioned like this inside of the wall:


Position the rest of the 1x3 to scab onto the existing drywall we're going to replace:


And done:


Notice every last one of those screws is countersunk with a dimple around it. That's not my mad sheetrock skills, it's a dimple bit and you really should go pick up a pack if you're going to do anything at all with sheetrock:


Fiberglass tape for the joints and a quick coat of mud:


This wall was/is unfinished but I still considered going back for a second coat. The bucket of mud I was using has dried out chunks in it so just that quick base coat was less fun that you'd imagine - I was scraping and sorting out chunks in the pan. So it's gonna stay like that. Whatever though, the wall is stabilized and sealed. If/when this kitchen is renoed or even painted that can be gone back over to a proper finish.

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kastein
Aug 31, 2011

Moderator at http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/and soon to be mod of AI. MAKE AI GREAT AGAIN. Motronic for VP.
Those dimple bits are great for occasional use until the edge of the cup gets a nick in it and starts scoring the poo poo out of the paper, which seriously reduces the strength of the drywall there.

The bread trick is amazing when it is needed. I usually try to just flex the pipe down at the end I'm working on and let it drain while I'm prepping all my parts, then flex it back up at the last minute and slap everything together.

I've heard it said that pex flows just as well as the same trade size copper because the corners are long sweeping bends and the surface friction of the inside of the pipe is much lower but I'm not sure I believe it. Also some plumbers will use the expansion tool and collars instead of the slip in fittings and crimp rings, which can help compensate a bit.

I like working with both honestly at this point. I like how copper looks and grounds more, but I'll probably do the next place in PEX TBH.

tangy yet delightful
Sep 13, 2005



Cool posting thanks unironically.

Motronic
Nov 6, 2009

kastein posted:

Those dimple bits are great for occasional use until the edge of the cup gets a nick in it and starts scoring the poo poo out of the paper, which seriously reduces the strength of the drywall there.

Yeah, that's why I said to get a pack. Like all bits, they should be thrown away early and often. Bits are consumables but most people don't realize that and suffer along.

kastein posted:

I've heard it said that pex flows just as well as the same trade size copper because the corners are long sweeping bends and the surface friction of the inside of the pipe is much lower but I'm not sure I believe it.

I think if you compare a pex home run from a manifold to an appliance with NO 90s or other fittings in between that might be true or close to it. Especially if you are comparing it to 1/2" copper with a bunch of 90s in it. And even more so when you compare it to something t'd off with other things on it as compared to a home run.

So yes, in a greenfield build with no compromises for the way pex is designed to be run I'm sure it's comparable. Reno work when patching into copper and often requiring 90s in the pex.......not so much.

kastein posted:

Also some plumbers will use the expansion tool and collars instead of the slip in fittings and crimp rings, which can help compensate a bit.

I like working with both honestly at this point. I like how copper looks and grounds more, but I'll probably do the next place in PEX TBH.

I didn't like the idea of expansion pex. The stuff I used to use was crimp ring - the old school solid ring where you put it on with a set of what were basically 36" bolt cutters with a die per size and then check with go/no-go gauges. It sucked for reno work. This oetiker clamp stuff is awesome. Ratchet crimpers that work every time, easy to get into places, and have a cut off tool.

I still don't trust any of it to have joints in walls. Which is course is never a thing in a places deigned/pipes for pex from the beginning and done properly. I'd be happy to to a new build/gut reno in pex at this point. Just having home runs to everything is quite compelling and I think we're far enough into the materials being used that the risk of "whoops, turns out chlorine above X level kills this stuff in 10 years" types of problems like we had with the early plastic tube.

I still can't feel good about expansion pex. Relying on the pipe itself to retain memory just seems like a problem to me. A problem created to solve the male-rather-than-female adapters reducing flow issue. I totally see why someone banging out an entire farm field of townhouses would pick that system, but I'm happy to upsize pipe and use crimp rings.

tangy yet delightful posted:

Cool posting thanks unironically.

I appreciate it. I expected most of this thread would just be my pic dump/procrastinating to put my tools away but it's good to know I'm not just posting into the void.

Edit; Foreshadowing:

Motronic fucked around with this message at 04:34 on Feb 21, 2022

kastein
Aug 31, 2011

Moderator at http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/and soon to be mod of AI. MAKE AI GREAT AGAIN. Motronic for VP.
Yeah I'm not super comfortable with expansion pex fittings either. I've only used crimp rings for that reason - the copper ones, I only found my PEX oetiker crimper a week or two ago, whoops :v:

I really want one of those compactors but the only time they show up locally in my price range they are miled the gently caress out, or I'm flat broke, or both.

spf3million
Sep 27, 2007

hit 'em with the rhythm

Motronic posted:

I appreciate it. I expected most of this thread would just be my pic dump/procrastinating to put my tools away but it's good to know I'm not just posting into the void.
Good stuff, I'm about to undertake a fridge relocation and associated ice maker water line install. Timely update.

B-Nasty
May 25, 2005

Looking at that pic, I can smell that Harbor Freight/Chinesium smell through my monitor. They must use some kind of strange used-wok oil or something to prevent rust, because almost every thing I've gotten there is greasy to the touch and has the same smell.

That said, I've never had any issues with HF stuff, especially the engines. Just change the oil after like 2 hours of runtime, and they've been as good as any other brand (besides maybe Honda.)

Motronic
Nov 6, 2009

B-Nasty posted:

Looking at that pic, I can smell that Harbor Freight/Chinesium smell through my monitor.

I test ran it today. It gave off that smell plus extra when it was idling for 10 minutes. Then the smoke started pouring off the exhaust when I throttled it up and I got another batch of "that smell". I don't know what it is, but it's a thing.

I let it sit outside for half hour to cool down before I put it back in the barn.

I also "installed" the wheel kit it should have come with:



8" wheels off the rack there with 6" long 5/8 bolts. Good enough to wheel it around.

Motronic fucked around with this message at 02:40 on Feb 22, 2022

Rectal Placenta
Feb 25, 2011
I converted my house to 100% pex and had some runs that required multiple tight 90's and really haven't seen a noticable pressure drop, but yeah, ymmv

Motronic
Nov 6, 2009

Rectal Placenta posted:

I converted my house to 100% pex and had some runs that required multiple tight 90's and really haven't seen a noticable pressure drop, but yeah, ymmv

I don't see how it would cause a pressure issue unless it's really really bad. The problem is volume.

Motronic
Nov 6, 2009

I was nearly out of oil early last week when it was still very cold out and got a delivery. Heater was running the whole time which is pretty suboptimal - the delivery will stir up junk form the bottom of the tank and now it's getting dragged through the system. It hadn't been firing well for a few months anyway, so it was time to get in there and service it.

This is a pretty standard (for here) Beckett style oil heater. Start out by turning it off. There should be a labeled switch with a red switch plate. I've got one next to the heater and one at the top of the stairs to the basement.

Next up, turn off the oil from the tank. Tank is the rusty thing on the right.


Nasty old filter is out. You can see the new filter and the gaskets it comes with. One of the tiny orange ones is for the bolts that holds the filter housing on, the tinier one is for a drain that this particular model oil filter housing doesn't have.

Note the takeout food container.......you're gonna have a bunch of oil in there and you really don't want it soaking into the floor unless you like your whole house smelling like diesel.

All of this got cleaned, replaced and snugged up. Lid on the takeout container, oil still off at the tank while we move on to the burner.



The igniter has two hold downs and as hinged to swing towards you:

The thing in the middle is the flame sensor or "eye". Looks good and clean, nothing to do there. Those springs on either side of it are what connect to the electrodes when the cover is closed. Need to take the fuel line off (to the left) and the nut that holds the electrode assembly in there and pop them out:


Okay, that all looks pretty bad. This thing has not been burning clean.

Unfortunately blurry picture of the electrodes and the nozzle (the black thing in the middle). None of this stuff should be this sooty.


Here's what you get in the new style igniter kits. Instead of different lengths you now just get this and cut off what you don't need:


As you can see, I need to take about an inch and a half off of each of the extension rods. I mark it and take them out to the barn and just lop the ends off with a pair of bolt cutters. Nothing needs to be exact here. They just need to be short enough to fit back in and long enough that those springs are touching them.


It's REALLY important to put the correct nozzle back on these things. I cleaned it up a bit just to double check that what I had written down was correct and that I have a replacement before I tool it out. This is a 1.35 gallon per hour 80 degree B pattern nozzle.



"B" series nozzles are a solid cone pattern. There are hollow cones and solid cones of various degrees and "thincknesses". I have no idea why any of them are used other than "that's what the firing chamber was designed for".

I must have one in here somewhere. Probably all the way at the bottom:


Yep, there it is:


You absolutely need to use two wrenches for this. If you don't you will ruin the electrode/nozzle assembly and it will probably take a week or so to get a replacement. I'm sure you already know how I learned this:


Old nozzle on the bottom. The filter stone looks like rear end:


New nozzle installed, now we need to put the electrodes back in. And they need to be in a VERY specific position:


You have to play a little 3-D tetris, but the tool that comes with most of the electrode kits makes this a lot easier, especially if your gun uses one of the becket standard spacings. This one does not, but the tool is still pretty helpful. I don't have enough hands to show you the right way to do this whole thing and take pictures at the same time.


While we're in here, there is another filter on the pump housing. I've almost never seen anyone change those, even the pros. I wasn't even aware there was a filter in that housing until a few years ago when I was ordering parts online and saw it listed......and I'm like "hey, I should buy some of those". All of these things are like a couple bucks a piece (nozzles, filters, etc) with the electrodes being like $20 or so. There no good reason not to change everything.

So, first time trying this. Looks like 4 bolts and pop it open. I correctly assumed there's be some fuel in there and had another catch contain ready when I split it:


New stuff on the bottom. Yeah, looks like that needed doing:


Assembly being the reverse of disassembly, etc....that's all buttoned up and now I've put the electrode assembly back in and tightened up the nut that holds it there. Note the grooved side is facing out. The nut for the fuel hose fits in there. That gets done up next:


Now we're all back together, igniter back where it belongs and a hose and catch container on the bleeder. This is a single line system so you have to get the air out of the lines or it won't run. Remember to turn the oil back on at the tank.


Set the thermostat so it will run, flip the power back on and crack the bleeder. It will run for 30-ish seconds even if it doesn't fire. Close the bleeder when it stops running. Depending on the controls on your particular furnace you may need to wait 30 or more seconds to re-start it. Do that, open the bleeder and keep going until there's no more bubbles in the line then close it and snug it back up.


Clean up, check for leaks while it's running, go outside and check your chimney to make sure it's burning clean (although you'd hear it from inside if it was burning that bad) and you're all done.

Not a full service, which would involve pulling the front and cleaning the tubes as well as air shutter adjustments, but I'm not doing that during the heating season. We'll save that job and post for the summertime service.

Motronic fucked around with this message at 23:49 on Feb 27, 2022

B-Nasty
May 25, 2005

Does your furnace nameplate actually call for a 1.35GPH? That's a big rear end nozzle, and swapping those into boilers/furnaces that don't really need them is a classic 'oil delivery guy' trick, for obvious incentives.

With those ThermoPrides, with that nozzle, those with the AFG burner are rated to like 150,000BTU, which is a beast of a furnace. ThermoPrides are awesome, BTW.

Motronic
Nov 6, 2009

B-Nasty posted:

Does your furnace nameplate actually call for a 1.35GPH? That's a big rear end nozzle, and swapping those into boilers/furnaces that don't really need them is a classic 'oil delivery guy' trick, for obvious incentives.

With those ThermoPrides, with that nozzle, those with the AFG burner are rated to like 150,000BTU, which is a beast of a furnace. ThermoPrides are awesome, BTW.

I'm replacing like for like and didn't question it since this place is over 4k square feet......

I don't think there is a plate on it that says what it should be but I do have a bunch of seemingly original paperwork. I'll take a look through it and see if it got upsides for no good reason at some point.

Motronic
Nov 6, 2009

Oh lol, if you want to hide something from me put it right in front of my face.



And, yes.....it's a beast.

B-Nasty
May 25, 2005

Nice, yeah, the OL20 is the 2nd largest BTU output one they make IIRC, for residential anyway. I have a highboy OH5 (.75GPH), and that thing makes the temp graph on my thermostat shoot upwards. I don't think it's ever run more than 45 minutes per cycle, even recovering from a -5F deficit in house temp.

Mine was put in by the elderly POs, who no doubt came from the era of dirt cheap oil. They needed to feel that 140F discharge air in their bones.

Motronic
Nov 6, 2009

Yeah, I don't know what the long term prospects of this thing looks like but there will probably be some sort of digging happening in the future for geothermal. Which I can do in parallel while I figure it out.

This causes a power problem (it's stupid easy to power an oil furnace as you know) but the potential solution for that is a whole other the post that involves a propane powered Ford 300-6.......

Motronic
Nov 6, 2009

In today's edition of what's broken, this time it wasn't Garys fault and just regular wear.

The water pressure was acting weird. Every once in a while it would be very low then come back. Then it got to no more water a couple of times. As someone who grew up with a well, your first thought is "poo poo, well ran dry, I need to pull it up/dig a deeper well, etc" panic. Fortunately not the case. After some diagnosis the $25 pressure switch was bad. It was more difficult to diagnose because the pressure gauge was also poo poo.

Overview of the old stuff, improperly grounded to the screws of the wire clamp (seriously, WTF, there are grounding screws right there on the switch itself, but I've seen this a LOT so I guess it's just a "well guy" thing):


Pressure tube looking a bit crusty. That couldn't have been helping anything, but that wasn't the real issue. This got cleaned out and flushed:


Zero pressure on this line right now, and it's still showing 15 PSI. And obviously had water in the gauge itself at some point, so this is garbage:


Everything cleaned up, ready for new parts:


And yay, properly grounded, everything is working again:


So what was the fault?


240v contactor on the top of the pressure switch. The left side contact literally fell out. So for at least a couple of weeks this was only making contact on that phase through part of the contactor body and the spring. And it still worked fine-ish if I smacked it every once in a while. Amazingly robust devices. This one was probably installed with the well in 1994.

Next up: plant sale at the local wildflower preserve. Continuing on with removing all of the lovely commercial nursery bushes and replacing with natives. I've got some work cut out for me this weekend and beyond:

Motronic
Nov 6, 2009

Check valve on the well is bad, so it needs to come up. It's also a 30 year old pump, so may as well just do the whole thing.

Spent a bunch of time with an underground utility locator an electrican buddy of mine borrowed from work trying to find it, thought it was right next to the carriageway (a circle thing off the driveway the Gary had put in). Nope. So I called the well company that's gonna do the work (who also drilled this well in 1969 and installed the pump in 1992) and he was pretty sure he found it with his fancy metal detector. He cautioned me to keep digging where I was and find the well line, cut it and stuff a fish tape in there until it stopped to double check the distance before I did anything else. So I did. And it's confirmed. The well is where I've painted the white dot, 3 feet down.



loving. Gary.

Beef Of Ages
Jan 11, 2003

Your dumb is leaking.

Motronic posted:


loving. Gary.

I lack words. That is.....a thing. :stare:

kastein
Aug 31, 2011

Moderator at http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/and soon to be mod of AI. MAKE AI GREAT AGAIN. Motronic for VP.
What the gently caress

gently caress you Gary that's some bullshit.

Suburban Dad
Jan 10, 2007


Well what's attached to a leash that it made itself?
The punchline is the way that you've been fuckin' yourself




Ouch.

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006
Gary knew.

Arsenic Lupin
Apr 12, 2012

This particularly rapid💨 unintelligible 😖patter💁 isn't generally heard🧏‍♂️, and if it is🤔, it doesn't matter💁.


Can everybody else tell me what you're seeing in this diagram?

in a well actually
Jan 26, 2011

dude, you gotta end it on the rhyme

Arsenic Lupin posted:

Can everybody else tell me what you're seeing in this diagram?

look for the dot on the driveway. That’s where the well is

Arsenic Lupin
Apr 12, 2012

This particularly rapid💨 unintelligible 😖patter💁 isn't generally heard🧏‍♂️, and if it is🤔, it doesn't matter💁.


Oh my God.

Vim Fuego
Jun 1, 2000

I LITERALLY SLEEP IN A RACING CAR. DO YOU?
p.s. ask me about my subscription mattress
Ultra Carp

H110Hawk posted:

Gary knew.

corgski
Feb 6, 2007

Silly goose, you're here forever.

loving gently caress.

Motronic
Nov 6, 2009

2-3 inches of rain coming in the next few days, so it was time to close the trench. The day I cut the well line to check distance I could only find plastic or galvanized 1" barbed fittings, so I threw one in temporarily. Also, when I was trying to get water out of the trench I grabbed the pump wiring with a tooth while it was all underwater. loving dumb, but that's me. So in the mean time I threw wagos on it.



Not exactly something you want to bury. So yesterday I stopped at Home Depot, Lowes, AND the good building supply place until I could find all the poo poo I needed. First up is a proper underground direct burial patch kit. You connect the wires, wrap it in mastic tape and then put a heat shrink sleeve over it:


(half of it has tape on it already)

And the finished product, with the heat shrink tubing over it. I shot the ends full of silicone and liberally applied around the sides. This isn't necessary if you have fully jacketed cable because the heat shrink will seal around it, but with individual wires I like to silicone it up so water doesn't migrate between them and get into the heat shrink.


Replaced the galvanized barbed fitting with a stainless steel one (I was looking for brass, couldn't find it and for some reason the good building supply place had stainless. WTF, but hey.....$7. Sold. Partially backfilled and marked properly:


And the trench is closed. And the stupid circular bed (that I though was where the well was) is gone too.


I'll let the next 3 days of rain take care of compacting that, top dress it with some more soil and thrown down some grass seed.

While I was out I got a circular saw and a diamond blade to cut the asphalt. I'm trying to find an 8" round Quazite box or similar to put in the driveway once the well is dug up and finding just about anything I look for has 6-8 week availability on the lids. Trying some local sources to see if I can get anything - even if it's too big - to install in the mean time.

The original problem of the check valve on the pump not working has "self corrected", so the pressure is off for an indeterminate amount of time. At least enough for me to not have to go out and do this in the rain. So I'm gonna take a few days to attempt to find everything else I may need before I start, as well as hope that my parts come i for the miniex because it's leaking diesel everywhere right now all for lack of a $60 part that will take me maybe 20 minutes to install.

kastein
Aug 31, 2011

Moderator at http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/and soon to be mod of AI. MAKE AI GREAT AGAIN. Motronic for VP.
To do the project you need to do, you must complete 3 side quests first

Any thoughts about just putting like a real manhole cover over the well? I bet you could build a pretty nice concrete footing and wall around it then put the manhole flange over that and be able to get to it any time with plenty of working room that way. And given that it's a driveway you could get away with, say, buying a used one at the scrapyard for scale weight pretty easily.

Motronic
Nov 6, 2009

kastein posted:

To do the project you need to do, you must complete 3 side quests first

lol, yes. It's exactly one of those projects.

kastein posted:

Any thoughts about just putting like a real manhole cover over the well? I bet you could build a pretty nice concrete footing and wall around it then put the manhole flange over that and be able to get to it any time with plenty of working room that way. And given that it's a driveway you could get away with, say, buying a used one at the scrapyard for scale weight pretty easily.

I just don't need that much space. And the bigger the cover the heavier/more difficult to work with (and support) it will be. This is going to end up with a 6" extended well casing that is below it. The well drillers use 8" circular boxes typically because you just don't need any more space than that to service a well for normal stuff (pulling a pump, etc). If you need more space than that you need A LOT more space and you're digging up everything anyway at that point. Or just slurry filling the thing to close it and drilling elsewhere.

If I can't find a box I want I'll ask them if they have any in stock - seems like something they may have. Because it's rough out there for this kind of thing right now. I'd love something small enough that only one tire could possibly end up on it at a time, including duals. It's just simplifies the scope of the problem. I'm already going to have to patch asphalt. May as well patch it back to the minimum space required.

Arsenic Lupin
Apr 12, 2012

This particularly rapid💨 unintelligible 😖patter💁 isn't generally heard🧏‍♂️, and if it is🤔, it doesn't matter💁.


Motronic posted:

lol, yes. It's exactly one of those projects.
My husband and I call those "sliding tiles puzzles" because you have to move A to get B to move but oh wait you should have moved C to get A out of the way.

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006
I was going to say lids are free and plentiful. Just go snag one that says GTE on it or something.

Epitope
Nov 27, 2006

Grimey Drawer
We hear that it would be more difficult for you. But have you considered that it would be cool?

Motronic
Nov 6, 2009

Guess I should throw this here. I'm doing some test spots for native wildflowers in place of grass.

This area is a narrow strip that's about 1/8 acre along the downslope of the property. It's got various shade levels and soil conditions. In the widest part it's very wet as it's graded to funnel water into a pipe that goes under my neighbors yard and back to the creek behind our houses. At least I think that's where it goes. I just try to keep all of the water coming down off of my yard going into that so it's not sheeting across his.

I "burnt down" all of the grass and weeds last fall with 2 applications of glyphosate.

Last month I box bladed - still a bit too wet to be messing with this but I put the ripper shanks down a few inches and the furrows should help dry it out:



Today before it started raining I york raked it out:



York rake is this thing with flexible tines. It does a great job of smoothing and leveling while also dragging out trash and rocks. This one has "gauge wheels" on the back that are really handy for setting the depth in situations like this. No hand raking at all, it came out nice.



I broadcast spread the wildflower seed as well as the rye cover with some corn based kitty litter as a bulking agent. These are the wildflower seeds only - they are just too light/small to spread well on their own.



I used a hand held spreader for that because it's just not that big of an area. Then there was a thunderstorm and I just had to cross my fingers that it wouldn't be enough rain to wash that seed off. It wasn't. Then the sun came out again. So I got out the roller I bought last year specifically for this purpose:



Rolled out and chopped straw hand applied:



Now it's been raining on and off. For once my timing is good-ish. I'll let this get nice and soaked overnight and see what the weather looks like in the coming few weeks and likely have to supplement water to get this going vigorously. The idea is that the perennials will root well enough to over winter and the annuals will be healthy enough fast enough to flower and seed in the first year. Otherwise next year will be real disappointing and I'll have to overseed in the fall of the second year or the spring of the third year.

Slugworth
Feb 18, 2001

If two grown men can't make a pervert happy for a few minutes in order to watch a film about zombies, then maybe we should all just move to Iran!
The goddamn dream right there. We're currently letting clover of some type (it puts out tiny little yellow flowers) take over a plant bed so that we can stop remulching it every year, and it looks so nice that I'd really just like to let it take over the whole yard.

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Motronic
Nov 6, 2009

It's spring maintenance time. AC compressors need to get cleaned. I haven't done these in a few years so they're filthy.

You need to strip them all the way down for this, so I start with pulling the power. You should have a disconnect outside. Mine looks like this:

That takes care of the 240v power going to it. You should also turn of your furnace/air handler inside. This takes care of the 24 V signal going to it which isn't necessarily going to hurt you but may blow a fuse on your indoor unit.

Next, taking off the service cover:



While you're in there you should get pictures of the contactor and capacitor and get yourself to amazon and buy spares because these are the two most common issues that you can just go on and fix yourself.

Capacitor:


Contactor, completely missing it's sticker. That's okay, I already know what it is:



Let's make really really sure we pulled the correct disconnect:



Yep. We're good.

No on this and most units the wires for the fan are not long enough to take the fan off and lay it aside without disconnecting them. Here's my "for documentation purposes" picture I took so I can go back and make sure I reconnect those three wires to the proper spots when I'm done. They get disconnected and we pop the top with the fan off and the box with the contactor and capacitor:



Next we get all the screws out of the bottom and pull the surround:



Yeah, that coil is nasty. In normal operation the fan is pulling air from the sides and exhausting it out of the top. So the outside of the coil is going to be the nastiest part. You don't want to jam things in further so you rinse it in the opposite direction of the airflow. I like to use a soaker style nozzle and get it rigs up against the condenser coil inside:



This one is bas enough that I rinse it downwards from the outside first, then rins it thoroughly from the inside after scraping all of those leaves and garbage out. There are drains all over, they will be obvious once you get the trash out. Make sure you can run your house thorugh all of them clearly.

Sprayed with some coil safe cleaner diluted in a spray bottle. Need to sit at least 5 minutes:



I use this stuff: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01D66YNWA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

There are more aggressive cleaners and full drench hose end applicators that are certainly better. But this works fine for someone who does a total of a few units a year. You also need to be careful with the more aggressive ones both in where the rinse water goes and whether it's safe for your coils.

Thoroughly rinsed after sitting for 5-10 minutes and looking much better:



Then zip it all back together. Assembly is the revers of disassembly and all that:



Outside will be cleaned with a pressure washer the next time I have it out for other jobs. Dirty outside have zero impact on the performance of these things.

Guess I need to flush the tankless heater next. Did I post that one last year? Guess I should check.

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