Category: Self reliance

In March 2014 I dedicated two posts to the process of removing the old fireplace and installing a new, efficient wood stove.  In the last post the stove was fully functional but looked “bleh”.

I had a lot of work to do – on the exterior the wood siding had deteriorated and had to be replaced and caulked.  And then on the inside the question was to either replace the sheetrock, not a real skill of mine, or do something extra.  I decided to tile the wall behind the stove, since the tiling would look nice and is not combustible.   So I installed cement backer board and spent ages looking for tiles which would match the new hearth pad.   I mentioned that the mantle of the old fireplace included good wood, which I decided to re-use for the surround.

So here is the finished product.

To reduce heat loss I connected the air inlet pipe at the rear of the stove to the exterior so the stove will not consume heated air from the room.

Initially I used the concertina type ducting you install for clothes dryers, but I concluded that the concertina crinkles impeded the air flow and so I replaced that with standard duct piping, which seems to work well.

And on the exterior air inlet, I fitted a plastic grate to keep out animals.  It is hinged and during the summer, when the stove is not in use, I have also plugged the interior pipe with an empty 1qt yogurt container.

Whilst I was at it, I also installed a small door which provides access to the interior of the chimney chase so I can brush clean the chimney flue pipe, as needed.

In the past, when a bathroom fan failed, I simply removed the cover, unscrewed and unplugged the insert and installed a replacement – this was the NuTone brand and the replacement cost <$15.  However, at the log cabin it was not so simple.  The fan was manufactured in Canada and a replacement blower assembly was not available locally or at Amazon.  It could be purchased from the manufacturer but the cost plus shipping was greater than the $70 cost for a complete unit from Amazon.

Since the manufacturer touted the reliability of its product I considered whether I could simply repair the fan.  When I removed the unit I noticed that the vanes of the blower were clogged with dust and debris.  This was why the fan had sounded weaker and weaker with the passing months – the motor had been struggling to turn the blower.  And perhaps this had burnt out the capacitor or the motor was defective.  If the motor was bad I would have to buy the Amazon unit.  I tested the capacitor with a capacitor meter and it seemed ok.  However this did not mean it was ok.

I could buy a new capacitor for <$4 from the manufacturer but with flat rate shipping of $11 this would be close to $15.  Or I could buy a similar capacitor with the same farad spec from Amazon for approx $5 with no shipping cost add on.  I invested $5 and when I installed the new capacitor the motor turned slowly.  Then I cleaned the vanes and the fan spun to life.  Fixed.  NB – don’t try this unless you know what you are doing, it can be dangerous.

And the lesson – clean the blower vanes with a sized, soft paint brush regularly and you can avoid a lot of aggravation down the road.

In addition to my nu trac life north of Atlanta, we also have a house in Atlanta.  The gas company decided to install new gas lines in the subdivision where our house is located.  They called in the “locators” who with different colored sprays identified the electricity, water, telephone, sewage and gas lines.  Then with a sophisticated omni-directional drilling machine they bored small diameter tunnels underground from one excavated point to another.  When the drill bit reached its destination they attached the new flexy gas line to it and hauled the drill bit and the new gas line back to the starting point.

The excitement began mid day July 2 – it was a Wednesday and 2 days before July 4, which was on the Friday.  A loud bang was heard in the kitchen accompanied with a burning plastic smell and the house lost power.  The local power company restored power within 3 hours.  However 2 desktops, a Bose CD player, the telephone and other items no longer worked.  Thursday 8am I walked over to the subcontractors who are installing the new gas lines and asked the supervisor for their claims department contact information.  The supervisor denied responsibility because, although his crew hit the power line (he couldn’t deny that) , the power line location had allegedly not been accurately marked.  We are not responsible the supervisor said, the blame lies either with the power company  for not mapping the power line or the locator for not accurately marking it.  He added that this would take weeks to resolve.  Nothing like a challenge to fire me up.  I called the power company and the gas company and left numerous voice mails – it being the day before July 4, many folks were not at work.

I figured that the desktops might just need a new power supply and, on my way to the farm, I stopped at Fry’s, which is a very impressive electronics store, and bought a new power supply for $12 (a bargain, actually $21 less $9 rebate).  The desktops which had shown no life at all after the power surge now sorta switched on with the new power supply and there was a cursor on the screen but nothing else.  So I decided to buy a new low end desktop and began reinstalling software from CD’s I had kept.  I won’t go into the details except for one challenge I encountered.  The information on the 2 destroyed desktops had not been backed up recently so I wanted to transfer from the old desktop hard drives to the new desktop.  When I bought the new desktop I had asked if it had a bay for a 2nd hard drive and was advised that it did and, when I opened up the new desktop it did have a bay for a 2nd hard drive.  But – there were no connectors to attach to the 2nd hard drive.  In other words I could not simply attach my hard drive to the new computer and transfer the files.  A hard drive needs two connectors – one to provide power for it to spin and the other to save or retrieve information.  I was thinking of powering the hard drive with the new power supply I had purchased and temporarily using the connector to the CD/DVD drive for the hard drive.  But I was concerned this could do damage.  And then I was given the solution – it’s great to have family or friends who know something about technology.

There is a very nifty device manufactured by Sabrent which costs just $15 and it both provides the power for the hard drive and also, via a USB hookup transfers information back and forth between the hard drive and the computer.  The device arrived within a few days and, with a lot of googling help, I was able to identify and transfer all the files on the 2 hard drives and the browser book marks and the desktop icons.  And life was back to normal.

And what happened with the claim?  The following Monday, when folks were back at work, I had lengthy calls with the claims departments of the power and gas companies.  They were just 2 of the 4 parties involved since there was also the locating service and the sub-contractors who were installing the new gas lines for the gas company.  But I wanted to keep things simple and so I said to the two utility companies that since their head offices were in our county, if the matter was not quickly resolved, rather than pursuing claims against them individually and the locating company and the sub-contractors, I was simply going to name the 2 big companies as joint defendants and proceed against them in small claims court, and by the time we were finished, their legal costs would probably exceed my damages, which I estimated at $1,600.  Two days later (Wednesday) the power company called and said if my damages were still around $1,600 they would settle up.  On the Thursday, I emailed a very detailed claims analysis with photos and Amazon cut outs and lengthy notes.  On the Friday they said they would pay, and on the following Monday, less than 2 weeks after the incident I received my check for approximately $1,600.

Moral – by DIY I was able to keep the downtime and my costs to a minimum, and keeping my costs low made settlement attractive (a computer technician would have increased the costs significantly).  Also by suggesting small claims court (another DIY resource, I suppose) I was able to motivate the parties to move quickly.

During my working days I owned a luxury used car which I purchased with 28k miles on the clock and traded in at 140k miles 10 years later – a decision I regret, since it had character (a big wrestler looking badge for the front grill) and I should have kept and nurtured it.  At about 110k the Bose sound system deteriorated and I arranged for an audioshop to replace the tuner/CD player and, since they said the Bose speakers were incompatible with the new system, the speakers as well.  But I requested they set aside the 4 Bose speakers for me, and for the past 12 years the speakers have sat on a shelf in the garage awaiting their destiny.

I enjoy most music genres and at my log cabin I incorporated various audio components into an acceptable sound system.  Since I did not have speakers, I purchased a pair at the local thrift store – they seemed decent quality.

And for $18.91 what had I to lose.

Actually, $18.91!  I have bought solid wood desks ($6) and paintings ($8 – $25) at the thrift store and been very happy, but then I was able to inspect all the components of the purchase.  A pair of good looking speakers on a shelf unconnected to a sound system can be a pig in a poke – after all why would anyone donate good quality, working speakers.  Desks and paintings you can outgrow but good speakers are always useful.  When I connected the speakers up at the house one worked fine and one was buzzy and noisy.  I suspect the speakers were hammered at high volumes and the one was damaged.

So I have  used just the one speaker until, with the advent of hot weather, I had time during mid-day heat to ponder a solution.

And then the Bose speakers came to mind.  Why not replace the damaged speaker with one of the Bose speakers.  But there is a problem – for whatever reason the Bose has a receptacle for 4 speaker wires while I have only 2 to provide.

I powered the sound system and tried touching my 2 speaker wires to all combinations of the 4 speaker tabs but no response.  Then I inspected the Bose more carefully and saw that when all was said and done, just 2 wires headed for the speaker.

So I touched the speaker wires from the sound system to these 2 wires and the speaker came alive and sounded decent.  I could have connected the speaker wires to these 2 wires and job finished but I thought it would be more elegant to connect to the interior tabs and I was curious to see how 4 input wires became 2.  So I disconnected the back cover plate.

Since I am a bit of a novice I decided to commit a travesty and sidestep all the embedded electronics and connect directly to the 2 wires going to the speaker.  I reasoned that the Mitsubishi speaker box had its own electronics and these would have to suffice.  So I made a short extension with connectors for the Bose tabs and a screw on connector for the 2 wires from the speaker box, ensuring I maintained polarity.

But first I had to fit the Bose speaker into the speaker box and since its profile was elliptical/oval it would not fit the rectangular shape of the speaker being replaced.  I needed a template to mark out the shape on the speaker box so I could cut with my Skil jigsaw.  I measured the length and width of the speaker where it would fit into the box , but how to draw an elliptical circle.  Fortunately for my permaculture design course I have been working with Inkscape, freeware software, and so I produced the shape with the software to actual size, printed the circle, then copied it onto cardboard which I trimmed and then used the cardboard to sketch the shape on the speaker box.

With the jigsaw I cut out the pattern, the Bose speaker fitted well into the box, I connected the wires and fitted the lid cover and tried it out on my system and it sounds fine.  Job accomplished.