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That's the Way It Crumbles, Cookie-Wise

We've had so much rain a couple of fairy rings appeared in the back yard this week. Actually, they are only semi-circles. The fairies were in the old dirt, but not in the new dirt the landscapers hauled in. It's a good thing because I had to mow over them yesterday. I didn't realize it was bad luck to step in the middle.

A.I. reports: "Some legends say that once you step inside, you might be compelled to dance with the fairies until you die of exhaustion or madness or become invisible to the mortal world and unable to escape." :eek:

(stock photo)
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Axel Slingerland said:
If it bad luck to step in the middle, and you mowed on the circle, what kind of music are the fairies forcing you to dance to? 🧚‍♀️🧚‍♂️
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Nancy Hart said:
Actually, they are only semi-circles. The fairies were in the old dirt, but not in the new dirt the landscapers hauled in.
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I think I dodged a bullet. Mine were only semicircles. 🤔😂
 
Yesterday I worked all day on another long time annoyance---the bedroom closet door. It's almost impossible to close in the summer when the humidity is high, and is getting worse even in the winter because it's starting to sag.

This is a solid wood, tiny Alice in Wonderland, door, only 6 feet tall, 24" wide. Probably weighs less than 40 lbs. Took the door off, removed all the hardware and soaked them in boiling vinegar on the stove to remove all the old paint. Sanded the layers of paint down to the bare wood, on the latch side of the door.

Dry fit it last night and sanded a few more spots. It works well now, except it's still a little tight right at the striker plate. I suppose I should repaint the edge, but I don't think so. It doesn't show when closed. Today I'll fix a few of the screws that have stripped out over the years. Very few of the original screws were still there. It was a hodge-podge of all kinds and miss-matches. I searched through cans of old saved screws and found better ones.

Sunday I removed all the paint from the threshold. It squeaks. Needs a couple of nails then polyurethane. Waiting until the dust settles.
 
Nancy Hart said:
Yesterday I worked all day on another long time annoyance---the bedroom closet door. It's almost impossible to close in the summer when the humidity is high, and is getting worse even in the winter because it's starting to sag.

This is a solid wood, tiny Alice in Wonderland, door, only 6 feet tall, 24" wide. Probably weighs less than 40 lbs. Took the door off, removed all the hardware and soaked them int boiling vinegar on the stove to remove all the old paint. Sanded the layers of paint down to the bare wood, on the latch side of the door.

Dry fit it last night and sanded a few more spots. It works well now, except it's still a little tight right at the striker plate. I suppose I should repaint the edge, but I don't think so. It doesn't show when closed. Today I'll fix a few of the screws that have stripped out over the years. Very few of the original screws were still there. It was a hodge-podge of all kinds and miss-matches. I searched through cans of old saved screws and found better ones.

Sunday I removed all the paint from the threshold. It squeaks. Needs a couple of nails then polyurethane. Waiting until the dust settles.
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Isn't it funny how we actually NEED all the stuff we saved? nails and screws cost three times more. I go up to Habitat for Humanity for old hardware and stuff.
 
Mary Stetler said:
I used to also like Fly the Friendly Skies of United's theme song. But flying is definitely not as fun as it used to be.
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As someone who flies quite a bit (still), I can attest to the fact that it is not as enjoyable as it once was. It does take a bit to get used to the various quirks of air travel. The latest thing is the TSA trying to "encourage" people to pay $75 dollars to private companies for the privilege of being pre-approved for air travel. It was once a free service that occurred when you were a regular traveler who was deemed "safe" by previous experience. Now, however, the TSA appears to be deliberately slowing down the screening process in an attempt to force regular air travelers to pay extra for the privilege of a swifter screening process, not to the government but to private companies who probably gather your info and sell it to the highest bidder. So far we have resisted this ploy. The establishment of the TSA by Congress under President Bush post 9-11 has never made me feel any safer than the old airline-run system once did. The 9-11 guys simply found a loophole in the old system and exploited it, just as the TSA has reportedly failed every real test of its ability to detect "real" explosives, although they do find a lot of partially-filled water bottles and prevent those dangerous beverages from entering the airport.

Sorry for the rant @Nancy Hart :(
 
It's my own fault. Thursday I changed out the thermostat on the heat pump upstairs to a new one without flipping the breakers first. I know you're supposed to, but it meant 2 flights of stairs down to the basement and back. After the change out, nothing on the heat pump worked---no AC, no fan. Was the new thermostat bad? Put the old thermostat back on, and still nothing.

This is why I hate instructions that don't explain "Why." Just do it and trust us. MANY troubleshooting videos later I found out if you don't turn off the power and accidentally let the "red wire" touch the "blue wire" you can short out the whole low voltage system which controls many little switches which turn on all kinds of important gadgets. I was pretty sure that's what happened.

The first thing to check for is a blown 3-amp fuse. I couldn't find anything about the parts on any model of this brand (York). A.I. said that brand usually has a low-voltage fuse on the circuit board. Every other brand and model of heat pump has the same 3-amp fuse on a circuit board. I was willing to gamble that the same 83¢ fuse will work, somewhere, because it was 118F degrees in the attic and I didn't want to go up there and work in the afternoon heat.

Electrical parts stores here don't want to talk to you unless you are a contractor. ( I miss Radio Shack. :( ) O'Reilly's Auto Parts had them in stock! Paid for a pack of 5 after hours to pick up first thing Friday morning. Tied the stepladder with a rope onto something in the attic in case I tipped it over climbing up. Took off into the oven. Removed the air handler cover. There was NO circuit board. :) The fuse was just spliced into the hot wire. The old fuse had blown. The new one fit.

This time the fan came on, and it said the AC was on, but it was putting out warm air. Temp inside was 92. Late Friday night it started putting out cooler air, and by morning it was 77, but by afternoon it couldn't keep up. Temp back up to 92. Today I put the new thermostat back on. It kept the temp consistent around 87 during the hottest part of the day.

Back up again tonight to screw the service panel door back on. That seemed to make a big difference. As I'm writing this, the temp is 76 upstairs. That's the coldest I'd ever want it to be. Air coming from registers is 73F. The test will be to see what happens during the peak heat tomorrow around 3 pm. Did I dodge another bullet? 🤞
 
Nancy Hart said:
It's my own fault. Thursday I changed out the thermostat on the heat pump upstairs to a new one without flipping the breakers first. I know you're supposed to, but it meant 2 flights of stairs down to the basement and back. After the change out, nothing on the heat pump worked---no AC, no fan. Was the new thermostat bad? Put the old thermostat back on, and still nothing.

This is why I hate instructions that don't explain "Why." Just do it and trust us. MANY troubleshooting videos later I found out if you don't turn off the power and accidentally let the "red wire" touch the "blue wire" you can short out the whole low voltage system which controls many little switches which turn on all kinds of important gadgets. I was pretty sure that's what happened.

The first thing to check for is a blown 3-amp fuse. I couldn't find anything about the parts on any model of this brand (York). A.I. said that brand usually has a low-voltage fuse on the circuit board. Every other brand and model of heat pump has the same 3-amp fuse on a circuit board. I was willing to gamble that the same 83¢ fuse will work, somewhere, because it was 118F degrees in the attic and I didn't want to go up there and work in the afternoon heat.

Electrical parts stores here don't want to talk to you unless you are a contractor. ( I miss Radio Shack. :( ) O'Reilly's Auto Parts had them in stock! Paid for a pack of 5 after hours to pick up first thing Friday morning. Tied the stepladder with a rope onto something in the attic in case I tipped it over climbing up. Took off into the oven. Removed the air handler cover. There was NO circuit board. :) The fuse was just spliced into the hot wire. The old fuse had blown. The new one fit.

This time the fan came on, and it said the AC was on, but it was putting out warm air. Temp inside was 92. Late Friday night it started putting out cooler air, and by morning it was 77, but by afternoon it couldn't keep up. Temp back up to 92. Today I put the new thermostat back on. It kept the temp consistent around 87 during the hottest part of the day.

Back up again tonight to screw the service panel door back on. That seemed to make a big difference. As I'm writing this, the temp is 76 upstairs. That's the coldest I'd ever want it to be. Air coming from registers is 73F. The test will be to see what happens during the peak heat tomorrow around 3 pm. Did I dodge another bullet? 🤞
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I love to read about OTHER peoples' misfortunes and mishaps. It makes me feel better when I screw up something:)
 
Today was not a good test day, because it didn't get as hot as it was supposed to. We've only had 3 days (all 3 in a row) where it got above 95 all summer. However, I think the heat pump is back to the way it was before the "incident," only better. No swings, where it gets too cold before AC turns off and too hot before it turns on. I set the deadband on the new thermostat at 0.7 F degrees for now.

I'm just lucky none of the other switches or gadgets seemed to have gotten fried or damaged. Thank you, Mr. Fuse. :love:
 
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