EAR BUDS II

        So how do you fix something that isn't broken? That's what happened to me. I got my ear buds working but they weren't broken.

      The people who made suggestions were in the ballpark. Nothing was broken. Nothing needed fixing. You suggested looking for something that just needed a click.

      It was that simple. There were three places where sound could be adjusted. I had looked at all three places to adjust sound. On one of them I didn't look carefully enough. On the blue tooth sound a line was bouncing in the sound indicator. I assumed it was telling me that the sound was on. Looking at it again I saw that there was a little cross bar that actually indicated the sound. The little cross piece was on zero. It only took a heart beat to turn the sound up and yes there was music. 

     What was playing was ABBA take a chance on me. I even heard vocals in the background that I had never heard before. 

    So I was happy and listened to my music for an hour.

    Thanks for all your comments and suggestions. I knew you'd get me there. 

THE RELUCTANT HANDYMAN DOES IT AGAIN.

      I have written about my experiences at being a reluctant handyman. I don't like mechanical things. I'm not good at mechanical things. I still don't know which way to turn the wrench and I never will. I just experiment and if the nut moves Ok it's going to come off . If the nut doesn't move well then I'm turning the wrong direction.

    Well, my latest experience  was to  change the motor on my central vacuum system.

    When the vacuum quits running the first thing to discover is why it won't run. I leave the diagnosis up to the micro manager. She found out that the motor had to be replaced. Then comes the shopping to get a motor.

    Now we're in business. Take the machine apart and instal the new motor. Well not so fast. Be careful when taking things apart so that you know how to put it back together. I took a couple of wires off that I didn't have to. There is a hood over the motor that has to be taken off so that you can get at the motor . Inside the hood are three wires that have to be taken off. I made sure that I labeled the wires and where they should be reconnected. Oh and don't forget to take the exhaust pipe off the motor. And don't forget to turn the power off. Oops that should have been done a few steps ago.

   Now I found out that I was missing two parts. I needed a gasket to go  on top of the motor and a clip to go on an electrical wire.

   The whole machine is very dirty as carbon comes off the motor so there was some cleaning , lots of cleaning. Those first two wires I took off? I had a tough time to get them back on. They were in behind and at eye level. You couldn't look on the top of them.

    Well after a few checks and lots of cleaning, the Micro Manager says, "Let's see if it works" Well what do you know. It was fixed.

    Why do I go through this torture? Tradesmen are so awful that we will do many things to avoid them. At one time I had an excellent plumber but my experience is not the same with other tradesmen.

    Also , today Buttons at Buttons Thoughts wrote about all the good things about being a handyman. I enjoyed her post.

 

Yes, It Is! No, It Isn't

     Silly little disagreements, like in the title, can arise from very innocent situations.

     The micro Manager and I have been in one of these little disagreements for three days.

     The origin of this little bicker was simple. The micro Manager said that her laundry tub hot tap was dripping. Could I replace the washer and fix it. Well , of course. That's an easy job.

     So with close supervision by the micro manager I replaced the washer. Okay , now check! Guess what? it's still dripping like before. We let it sit for a couple of hours to see if the drip stops . No way.

    What now? Well, replace the washer. It might have been faulty! Second washer, same as the first. Now our puzzlers were in overdrive. Well the washers were old so maybe buy some new washers and that will do the trick.

     At the beginning I asked the Micro Manager if she was sure it was the hot side.

     So a quick trip to Crappy Tire and a nice fresh package of washers. This should fix things. Dang! It still drips like before.

    More puzzling. Maybe it's the seat? Yes that's it . It's gotta be the seat.

     We're now on the third day and I'm still saying we've gotta check the cold side. More reasoning from the Micro Manager that it couldn't be the cold side. More reasoning about water runs downhill!!! Sure, but what's that go to do about this situation.

     Well finally, the micro manager agreed to check the cold  even though she said it will never work.

     Well, you guessed it. When I turned off the water supply from the hot, the drip kept dripping.

     Okay, now change the washer on the cold!

    So silly little arguments can start from very simple misunderstandings.  Am

I the only one who gets into yes, no, disagreements?

That Old Dishwasher Works Again

      So one little roller was not going to let me throw out my dishwasher. With the broken roller I could only use the bottom rack.

     So I finally found an old top dishwasher rack at the Habitat for Humanity store. The rollers looked similar to mine and they said take the rack if it works okay and if it doesn't throw the rack away. The rollers did look much like mine in size and shape. 

     So I took one roller off. Now dishwashers they make these days are crap but try taking the thing apart.

     When I put the new roller beside the old roller I thought there would be nothing to it. Wrong! I found the roller was too thick so I had to grind it down more than half. The hole for the shaft was too small so some reaming out took place. Then the screw that attaches the roller caught on the railing. So grind out a bit so the screw is inset. 

    And there you have it . A lot of work to alter a roller to make it fit. 

    And away goes my dish washer.

    Now there are only two of us so we don't have a big pile of dishes. I do all the dishes. So around here it wouldn't be disaster if I didn't have  dishwasher. 

Accidental Theme

     It seems that once in awhile I have several posts in a row on the same theme. Sometimes it's planned and sometimes completely unplanned. Today's post is an accident.

     My last post was on a house being moved and saved from the wrecking block. It seems many readers feel the same about wa

sting resources and energy by throwing material away that is still in good condition.

     So this morning when I filled the dishwasher the top rack wouldn't come out. When I did get it to come out it wiped out the dishes on the lower rack so something had come off so that the top rack was hanging down.

     Now it took quite a few looks before I saw what the problem was. A small roller that runs in the slide that is part of the mechanism to pull out the top rack had broken. More to the point this little roller had almost disintegrated. 

      I phoned the best appliance parts place. No, these rollers are not made anymore. I tried a used appliance place. They didn't have a roller. They gave me the bad news that appliances only last 3-5 years before they need repairs.

    I went to Habitat for Humanity and dug around in the mountains of used dishwashers and parts. I couldn't find anything.

     Now for the wise use of resources and energy. I bought my dishwasher in 1987! That's right. My dishwasher is 29 years old and I'm not going to part with it yet if I can help it.

    I've done repairs on this appliance but have never taken it to a repair shop. I've changed a little control valve twice as they get corroded and then seize up and won't work. There are a couple of zip ties holding things together, I've painted racks to cover the rust. For most of the time only two of us have been using the dishwasher. I don't wash pots and pans in it. Sometimes I run vinegar in it and other times some margarine. I also clean out the screen for the water outlet.

     I wish that more quality was put into today's appliances. I hate to see things thrown away. However, if everybody used their dishwasher for 29 years the making of dishwashers wouldn't be very lucrative and the fat cats wouldn't make their millions of easy money. 

    I will not throw my whole dishwasher out just for one small roller that is missing!

This is my central vac motor that needs a talking to once in a while.

Oh How I Miss My Microwave...

      It's funny how much we miss something once it's gone.

      A few days ago someone wondered what it would be like if we suddenly didn't have the Internet. What would we miss? How would we handle it?

     Well, today I had to drop my microwave off for some repairs. I dropped it off in the morning and would be able to pick it up in the afternoon.

     Everything was fine until I went to start my lunch. How do I cook my soup? It took me a minute to think, "Oh ya! In a pot on the stove." I'm used to making one pot of coffee in the morning and when I want a cup of coffee I heat it in the micro wave. What happened before? Did I not drink coffee? Oh yes! We had instant coffee! Anytime you wanted coffee you boiled the kettle and made a cup of instant coffee. I even had instant coffee for breakfast. I had instant coffee at school!

    So today I suffered a little when I had to do without my micro wave. I missed it in so many ways.

    Now the repair turned into a nightmare. As soon as I saw the micro wave I could see marks on the glass part of the door. The marks wouldn't come off. The only thing they knew is that it wasn't scratched. Yes , they would replace the door. They sent me home with my micro wave to wait for a new door. Then I found the same marks on the side. I couldn't get them off either. 

   Now since I had a chance to take a close look at it, I don't think they replaced the door parts they were supposed to replace. But how do I know? I think they just greased the latches.

    So I got a double dose today as I couldn't use my micro wave and had a miserable experience with the repair.

    Wish me better luck tomorrow.

A Matter of Perspective

      I have posted numerous times on my attempts to be a handyman. I am not mechanically inclined but with effort and digging for information I can repair a wide variety of things. I ask people and get excellent information which is very helpful and makes me look good. On the other hand if I can help others I'll do it.

   Last February I bought a new car and just recently had a tow hitch put on it. I have a rather ancient utility trailer but it allows me to haul things a half dozen times a year. This summer I wanted one 16 ' two by four to fix my fence. They wanted $45.00 to deliver it. This is where the utility trailer saves you money.

   Now I had to get a connector to hook up the trailer lights to the car so that brake lights and signal lights would operate. At first I thought the job would be easy. You know two wires come from the trailer light. Can that be difficult? Well, the longer I thought about it the more complicated it became. Finally, with a little advice from a few sources I thought I had it right.

    I didn't want to pull my trailer out because of the snow so I asked a mechanically inclined neighbor if he's look at it to see if I was right.

   He came over and of course wanted the trailer pulled out and attached to the car. Of course, the lights didn't work. He wanted me to haul the trailer to his garage. I didn't want to do this but he gave reasons as to how he could help to do the connections so finally I agreed . He said we would do it in the afternoon and it would take 15 or 20 minutes.

    He came later on and said tomorrow morning. He came again and said this afternoon. I went over in the afternoon and he had a long list of reasons why the system wouldn't work. He had a number of certainly upgraded plans. I only wanted the wires hooked up and no super dooper wire enclosers. He also said I had to buy different lights. Then wouldn't it be nice to replace the box. 

    Well, I was talking as fast as I could as I only wanted wires hooked up properly and the rest was just fine. Finally he agreed , but I had to leave the trailer in his garage as it was behind a car he didn't want to move. 

    I'm sure he meant well. I think he is a perfectionist and when he sees something he just has to repair it to first class condition. That's not what I needed.

    So it all boiled down to a matter of perspective. What kind of trailer did I want? It was certainly not the trailer he wanted. 

    So after much worry about leaving my trailer I retrieved it and I still don't have the lights connected. 

   So there will be another post in the spring about how I got the lights working. I know I can do it.

My Trail of Mishaps.

     I have written a couple of posts this winter about equipment  that has  broken down. 

     The first couple of break downs happened last fall. I was going to cut my grass for the last time in late October.  The forecast for the next day was for snow. I was trying to start the lawn mower motor and all of a sudden the rope went limp.  Yes you guessed it. The rewind spring had broken. Under the weather conditions I quickly put the lawn mower away and said , "I'll attend to this next spring."

    Just a few days before the lawn mower crashed, I had put winter tires on my car and had to adjust the air pressure. My air compressor wouldn't work. Since it was cold and late in the season I said, "I'll attend to this next spring."

   In the winter my thermostat crashed, my CO 2 detector  died and my microwave oven ceased to work. I dealt with these three things when they happened.

    So it's now spring and time to deal with my other two problems. I checked the air compressor first. I first checked the fuse and it was fine. Then I checked the switch and it was dead. So I replaced the switch and away it went. I turned the switch off and then on and the compressor would not start. I discovered that the air pump needed lubrication. So one thing repaired. That air compressor was a pretty sick puppy.

    I started with my lawn mower. I took it apart to make sure that it was the rewind spring. Yes the rewind coil was in several pieces. Now since this lawn mower is very old, I had to work pretty hard to find parts. When I found a part , I didn't like the price , but that was the only choice. I had replaced a spring 12 years ago and decided to do it myself again. The Internet is a great help. I want to check with the technician before I proceed because there are a number of methods that can be used to change the spring. I want to get his advice,

    So you notice that I don't have a picture to show the lawn mower running. That will have to wait until tomorrow.

    Is anybody else as stubborn and cantankerous as I am and insists on fixing things on their own?

Again, the Reluctant Handyman.

     Once again I've had one of those handyman jobs that I dislike. I've posted on this topic before.

      There are many little repair jobs that crop up around the average home. There are people who are in business and they fix the things that fall apart. They are usually good but when they're bad they really stink. When we first moved into this house we needed a repair to the oven. The reluctant repairman (me) was not practicing then. An appliance repair man came to the house to repair the oven. A bill was paid and when we checked the oven it still didn't work. The appliance repairman came back and said, "Oh your oven element has to be pushed in." A service call was charged. So the debate was should I pay for the first call and repairs that were not needed. After a vigorous argument we did not have to pay for the first call where nothing was actually repaired. Maybe this is why we became leery of appliance repairmen and I started to do repairs.

    Now I don't have a mechanical aptitude. I'm not good with my hands or tools. I don't like doing repairs.

    But there I was the other day with just a little job. The washers on the bathtub taps were leaking. So the parts were 98 cents(a dollar here  because we don't have pennies). So would you calla repair man for a $105.00 service fee? Of course not.

Some of the parts.

Now I think I should do something with that tile color.

    So here I am taking taps apart and replacing washers and voila no more leaks.