gush
Where is that speedo pic
Preaching to the choir here Sir..
Mr. Fixit Strikes Again. For Real!
- Thread starter László
- Start date
gush
Where is that speedo pic
The fridge we had before our current one was a pike of junk.
One of the many things that pi$$ed me off was the main door hinge. It broke in less than a year. I took it all apart and discovered the expanding foam they fill the door with hadn't expanded enough to fill the corner so the weight of the door was being held by the plastic hinge mount.
I made a new hinge mount out of steel, drilled a hole in the bottom of door to finish filling it with foam.
It worked but you could see the repair. Not cool
None of the handles would stay tight and screws that held track for slide out freezer drawer would back out enough that drawer wouldn't close.
All enough to drive me to furious.
Had it two years before I got rid of it.
Seriously, the washer and dryer I got when we moved into our first house in 1980 lasted at least 20 years, and then only the washer went. The dryer was fine for 25 years.
Try and get that kind of result today without spending an arm and a leg on Sub-Zero or Miele.
I can report that I've gotten 17 years out of my Dyson Ball vacuum. Unfortunately only 4 years out of a Dyson heater/air filter.
deathworlder
; )
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My auxiliary Whirlpool refrigerator is going on 25 years...
As far as washers and dryers, Paykel and Fischer is what you want; if you want serviceable.
They make CPAP supplies as well. Maybe their washers and dryers are also CPAP machines!!
Johnny Rigs
"Hold on to your butts" - Samuel L Jackson
Hits close to home. Monday morning the week of Christmas we woke up to no heat and a cold house. Heat pump system. Ecobee thermostat is black and unresponsive. Circuit breaker hasn’t tripped and we have power. What the dealio?
Because of the holidays and trouble calls from the temp dropping over the weekend, no one could come out till Friday. Perfect time for a week of overnight temps falling below freezing.
Did my best to troubleshoot various things with the help of YouTube. Nothing. Resetting the breaker, even though it hadn’t tripped, would get it kick back on maybe 20% of the time.
I kept a small fire going in our small fireplace that’s really just designed for mood fires. You have to constantly watch them. We set up shop (air mattress and sleeping bags) downstairs so we could sleep near the only heat source.
Friday comes along. The technician arrives, does some tests, and says “yeah, nothing wrong with your heating system. I bet you have a problem with your breaker.” Sure enough the 60A breaker is starting to disintegrate internally. The lower temps were causing the aux heating coil to kick on. And since the breaker wasn’t able to deliver 240V consistently anymore, the system would shut down to protect itself.
Go figure. I was happy the bill was as small as it was, considering. And more importantly to sleep in my own bed.
Because of the holidays and trouble calls from the temp dropping over the weekend, no one could come out till Friday. Perfect time for a week of overnight temps falling below freezing.
Did my best to troubleshoot various things with the help of YouTube. Nothing. Resetting the breaker, even though it hadn’t tripped, would get it kick back on maybe 20% of the time.
I kept a small fire going in our small fireplace that’s really just designed for mood fires. You have to constantly watch them. We set up shop (air mattress and sleeping bags) downstairs so we could sleep near the only heat source.
Friday comes along. The technician arrives, does some tests, and says “yeah, nothing wrong with your heating system. I bet you have a problem with your breaker.” Sure enough the 60A breaker is starting to disintegrate internally. The lower temps were causing the aux heating coil to kick on. And since the breaker wasn’t able to deliver 240V consistently anymore, the system would shut down to protect itself.
Go figure. I was happy the bill was as small as it was, considering. And more importantly to sleep in my own bed.
Moondog Wily
In Tune Wit Da Moon!
I first learned about a year ago that breakers can be bad even when the switch is still functioning properly. I had encountered breakers that had gone bad where the switches would no longer hold in the on position, but I had never seen one where the switch still locks fine, but the breaker itself was bad. I was helping an elderly friend and it turned out she had 4 bad breakers, all of which the switch still worked fine on. To top it off, the type of breaker it was, cost ~$75 each! All the breakers I have ever replaced have been about $15-20 each. I was floored when I saw that price and had to tell her that she needed to fork out $300 for parts. At least she did not have to pay an electrician as well as I did it all for free. I did tell her though, that she should pay an electrician to give the house a once over as I thought 4 bad breakers may be due to some other issues. She has yet to do so and it is beyond my pay grade/skill level ;~(( Glad you got off on the low end of the cost for that situation!
deathworlder
; )
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Wasn't a Federal panel, was it?
Moondog Wily
In Tune Wit Da Moon!
Not sure, never paid any attention to the maker nor am I "electric" enough to recognize one from another. I hope that wasn't a joke that went over my head ;~))
deathworlder
; )
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My trade calls them lawsuit panels...
No one will work on them; replace only.
Moondog Wily
In Tune Wit Da Moon!
I will take a look next time I am over there! I will not replace her whole panel though, I will let her know to have a pro do that ;~)) Thanks for the heads up! Does it generally use the QO series GFCI/AFCI type breakers? I think that is what they were. Had the pigtail white wire permanently attached.
deathworlder
; )
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That'd be Square D...
She's good; you're good.
Johnny Rigs
"Hold on to your butts" - Samuel L Jackson
Yeah I hadn’t seen that before. After taking the breaker out, broken and soft pieces of plastic in there around the contacts. And as it was failing it had clearly started to heat up. Melted plastic on the bus bar, and the breaker on the opposite side of the bus had some damage as well. Had both replaced and moved so two high-draw circuits weren’t sharing the same bus space. All-in-all, a productive visit
By coincidence, our condo board recently had everyone check their electrical panels - required by the insurance carrier no doubt for that very reason.
The condo was built in the '80s; I'm sure the builder put in whatever box was cheapest that day.
If you had a Federal panel you were required to replace it. Mine turned out to be a GE - they said I was OK.
I know you're all dying to know the upshot of this little adventure 
.
My HVAC guy does a beautiful job and is reasonable in price. He returned my call yesterday; turns out he'd hurt his back the day before, but will be back at work next week. So he'll be coming out to go through the system, inspect everything, replace what needs to be replaced, etc.
Says I should be OK for the interim.
.My HVAC guy does a beautiful job and is reasonable in price. He returned my call yesterday; turns out he'd hurt his back the day before, but will be back at work next week. So he'll be coming out to go through the system, inspect everything, replace what needs to be replaced, etc.
Says I should be OK for the interim.
JasonE
PRS Fan Boy
I had a breaker go bad in the bottom of my air handler for the heat pump in the last house I had in Ohio. It kind of scared the crap out of us. It got hot and started melting. We could smell it. If you haven't ever smelled one of those old breakers melting, you will never forget the smell. I killed the power to the unit and called the repair man. He pulled it out and it was toast. It was good that I killed the power because it was only a matter of time before it started on fire in there. It was pretty close to that. I actually saw some smoke come out of the unit and that is what made me shut the power off to it. I am glad we were home when it happened.
Prina
Avoiding imperial entanglements
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We're lucky. Our house was built in the mid '60's and built like a tank with great USA components. We've owned it for half that time with no electrical problems at all.
But things don't get stressed or updated too much. Here, south of SF, it hasn't been below freezing this season and one of our heating zones still uses the original manual round Honeywell thermostat.
But things don't get stressed or updated too much. Here, south of SF, it hasn't been below freezing this season and one of our heating zones still uses the original manual round Honeywell thermostat.
Johnny Rigs
"Hold on to your butts" - Samuel L Jackson
Same here. 80s “contractor special”.
gush
Where is that speedo pic
Doesn't hurt to put an infrared thermometer on electrical components like a breaker box once in a while.
Heat images can help detect overheated circuits.
Heat images can help detect overheated circuits.
Moondog Wily
In Tune Wit Da Moon!
That is a really good idea! I will take my infrared camera to my friend's house next time I go over there and take a looksie to see what it says when I am pointing it at the breaker box!! I will do that on my own two boxes as well (one for grid feed, one for solar feed)!!!
