Category: House

First Mow of the Season

lpaulriddle

Today was the big day — the beginning of the annual mowing routine. Of course, if it stays this dry, I’m not sure how much mowing I’m going to need to do this year. Today was fairly typical as far as the first mow of the season goes — serving mainly to whack down the onion grass and make sure the tractor is running OK. In that regard, it was a resounding success. As usual, the very front of the lawn didn’t need mowing yet. This year, as parched as it looks, I’m wondering if it ever will. The moles have been hard at work too, which wouldn’t really bother me, but they are making it bumpier and bumpier, which makes it a major pain to mow. This season, I may pick up a lawn roller and try to flatten it down a bit. Of course, that means we’ll need some rain at some point to soften up the ground…

Tomorrow, I’ll see about getting the trimmer going and whacking down some weeds.

Garage Door Opener

lpaulriddle

Well… first off, I’m back from my most excellent trip to Philly to watch first and second round action from the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament. This year’s games were great, and it’s always nice to get away from the grind for a few days. It always butts up against UMBC’s Spring Break, so I get a couple extra days off afterwards to boot. And, this year I have tickets for third and fourth-round games in DC, with the overall winner going to the Final Four. That’s coming up this weekend. Oh, and it’s t-minus 9 days and counting until the official due date for our second rugrat. My pulse quickens as I type (in spite of the beta blockers).

Anyhow, this evening our garage door opener decided to go on the fritz. We were all sitting around in the dining room twiddling our thumbs, when the garage door decided to open all by itself! Always fun. I went and checked it out. The remote receiver module is a separate unit, and as I fiddled with it, the opener tripped a few times. I could hear a relay clicking somewhere each time it tripped. Shrugged my shoulders, went back inside, closed the garage door. Halfway through closing, it stopped. Tried again, it closed this time. An hour or so later, it opened itself again, and stopped midway. Seems that it’s become sensitive to vibration or something. I unscrewed the receiver from the unit and pulled it off. It’s a nice, cheapo, made-in-China piece of garbage just like everything else these days. With the receiver off, so far, it hasn’t acted up. So I’m tempted to blame the receiver. First, though, I’ll try reattaching it and changing the code, just to see what happens. If my suspicions are confirmed, and the receiver is bad, I’ll look into getting some keyfobs for our alarm system, and programming them to work the opener.

Nice that it decided to do this while we were home and around, rather than away with the alarm set, etc..

Two-Speed pool pump motor: Worth it?

lpaulriddle

With electricity prices set to skyrocket in the Baltimore area this summer, I’m once again looking at ways to cut down on our consumption. And in the summer, one of our biggest consumers is the pool pump. I’ve read that a two-speed pool pump motor can cut down quite a bit on energy usage. A standard swimming pool pump runs at 3450 RPM. A two-speed pump can also run at half speed, or 1725 RPM. The interesting thing is, although it’s running at 50% of normal speed, a typical model draws less than half (about 30%) of the current that it would draw running at full speed. So in theory, you could run the pump at half speed for twice the length of a normal-speed run cycle, do the same amount of work, and use less power. Now, this might be wrong. I’m not well-versed enough in fluid dynamics to say whether, for instance, 10 hours at 1725 RPM would turn over the same amount of water as 5 hours at 3450 RPM. But, for the sake of argument, let’s assume it would. Running at low speed would certainly consume less power, and longer pump run cycles are good for the pool water because they keep it from stagnating (I’ve also heard anecdotal reports that sand filters “work better” with lower flow rates — take that for what it’s worth). Of course, that’s only one side of the story. There are also some caveats..

  1. I can’t run the pump on low speed 100% of the time. I have a pressure-side pool cleaner (Polaris) with a booster pump, and I’d need to run at full speed while the cleaner was on (3 hours a day, 3 days a week or so). And, I’ll want to run on full speed for 3 hours or so after adding chemicals, to get them distributed as quickly as possible. Any time the pump is on high speed, it cuts into my potential savings.
  2. The pump motors I’ve looked at all consume somewhat more current (1 amp or so on models I’ve looked at) on high speed, than equivalent single-speed motors. Not quite sure why this is, but it seems to be a fact of life.
  3. Initial cost for a two-speed setup is high, even assuming I’m only replacing the motor and not the entire pump. The pump would need special wiring, and a new timer/control to control high vs low speed operation. Plus, I’d need a new shaft seal. I’m probably looking somewhere in the $350-$400 range when all is said and done.

A couple years back I made a spreadsheet to estimate potential savings using a two-speed pump, and concluded that the payback period was too long to justify the initial effort and expense, given what I was paying for electricity at the time. However, with the pending rate hike, it’s probably worthwhile to crunch those numbers again..

Tractor deck…

lpaulriddle

I put the deck back on the tractor yesterday, and I’ve got the skinned knuckles to prove it.

Every fall, I take the deck off the tractor. The sole purpose of this is so I can take the blades off to sharpen them. Now, it’s really, really easy to take the deck off the tractor, and it’s really, really hard to put it back on. But, because I take it off at the end of the mowing season, I can wait 4 months to put it back on. Of course, the 4 months go by quickly, and before I know it, I’m out putting the deck on, skinning my knuckles, and cursing up a storm.

My tractor was a freebie that came with the house. I really can’t complain too much about it, because it runs pretty well. It’s a “Powr Kraft”, which is the Montgomery Ward house brand, which should give you an idea of its age. Of course, like every other house brand, it’s built by MTD. My theory is that MTD tractors are made by guys who hate tractor mechanics. There are about 15,000 little lifter arms and cotter pins that attach the deck to the tractor. To put the deck on, you first have to slide it underneath the tractor. Well, while you’re doing this, you have to keep moving the little lifter arms out of the way, because they are always catching on the pulleys, belt, etc. Then, you have to perfectly align the deck with the tractor, and slide this metal rod through both of them. But, it’s hard to do this because the belt is in the way. Etc. etc. etc.

This year, I tried jacking the tractor up, and it did make it easier to slide the deck underneath. But, I couldn’t set the tractor back down on the deck, because the 15,000 little lifter arms kept getting wedged on stuff. Net result: Jacking the tractor doesn’t make it any easier.

One of the reasons I keep putting myself through this, is that I only have to do it once a year. After a year, I tend to forget what a pain it is. Remember the old adage, “Time heals all wounds?”

If I could figure out how to remove the blades with the deck still on the tractor, I wouldn’t have to do this any more. Problem is, I’d have to get underneath the tractor with my impact wrench somehow. That would mean raising the tractor about 2 feet off the ground. Then I’d have to replace the blades from underneath too. Somehow, that sounds like just as much of a pain as removing/replacing the deck. But, it’s worth trying once, if I can figure out how to do it. Maybe this will be the year..

Onion Grass: The Harbinger of Mowing Season

lpaulriddle

Welp, the onion grass has started coming up in my front yard. That means that it won’t be too long before I have to mow.

I’ve learned after a few years on my property that onion grass pops up in late winter/early spring, mostly goes away during prime growing season, then pops up again in the fall just before everything goes dormant. So it serves as sort of a bookend for the growing season. This year it seems a little early, I guess because the winter has been mild. We’ll see if the lawn follows suit.

Every year I tell myself I’m going to remember the first (and last) day I mow the lawn. And of course, I never write it down, so I never remember. I do know it’s always after my annual March Madness trip (which for me, is kind of an “enjoy the last week of winter and its associated lack of yard work” trip). This year, I’ll record the dates here for posterity.

I guess this means I’ve only got a month or so to put the deck back on the tractor. I’ve put that thankless chore on the list for this weekend.

Speaking of the March Madness trip, ESPN Bracketology has us seeing two #1 seeds again, for the second year in a row. This really sucks… (Why does it suck? Because we like to see competitive games, not #1s blowing out #16s.)

Life with a tempermental snowblower

lpaulriddle

Well, we finally got some real snow here on the east coast, so that meant some rare action for the snowblower. This is our fourth winter with the snowblower, and it’s getting more and more tempermental with each passing year. It’s getting harder and harder to start, and it’s developed this habit of quitting on me before I finish clearing the whole driveway. It will always start back up, but then I have to kind of nurse it along the rest of the way. Now, this is one of those problems that tends to get forgotten, because I eventually do get the driveway cleared with it, and then it gets put away, then spring comes, and it sits all summer, and then it has the same problem the next winter. It’s just the way things go with equipment that doesn’t get used much.

Anyhow, I decided things would be different this winter, and I would make at least a halfhearted attempt to identify and fix the problem. So, after the usual routine of: Clear 90% of the driveway, restart snowblower after it quits, nurse snowblower through remaining 10% of driveway, I set to work. The best thing to do with engine problems is to apply the scientific method, ruling out as many things as possible, until you find the problem. So here goes:

Fuel cap venting issue: This was the first thing I suspected. Sometimes I can get it to start, or keep it from stalling, by loosening the fuel cap. If the fuel cap doesn’t vent properly, it can cause a vacuum that prevents fuel from getting to the carburetor. I haven’t totally ruled this out yet, but there doesn’t appear to be anything wrong with the fuel cap. I’ve read that they vent through the threads, and there’s a plastic standoff in the cap that keeps it from sealing tightly against the lip. This all appears to be intact and functioning properly.
Carb out of adjustment: The engine has always run a little lean, requiring me to partially choke it sometimes to keep it from missing. So I figured, maybe I need to tweak the fuel mixture. Well, it turns out I have a bogus low-emissions carb, with non-adjustable jets. So much for that idea.
Main jet gummed up: I drained the float bowl, unscrewed the main jet/emulsion tube, and blasted it with carb cleaner. It did look like there was a little bit of gunk in there. I should probably do this every spring. But unfortunately, this didn’t solve the problem.
Out of gas: Seems obvious, but there appeared to be plenty of gas still in the tank. However, I topped the tank back up, and it seemed to run OK again (well, “OK” with this engine is a very relative term). Apparently the fuel pickup tube (or whatever mechanism it uses) doesn’t go all the way to the bottom of the tank.

I think the next step is to examine the fuel tank, fuel line etc. to see if there is anything that could keep fuel from reaching the carb properly. I’ll do that at the end of this season. Once I’ve ruled that out, if I still have problems next season, I’ll break down and overhaul the carb. Eventually, I’ll get to the bottom of this.

Upgrading the security system

lpaulriddle

Four years ago, I installed a full-perimeter hardwired security system in our house. This probably ranks as the single largest DIY project I’ve ever undertaken. All told, it took me about four months, working alone, and splitting the time with my day job as well as household chores and other projects. Would I do it again? Actually, now that I have kids, I’m not even sure if I could do it again. It ate up almost all my spare time even without kids. I think my wife was about ready to divorce me. But, in the end, we have a great, professional grade, monitored system, and I have full control over it to make changes, upgrades, etc., which brings us to the actual topic of this entry. I’d like to add a few zones (for a very basic intro to alarm system terminology, see this FAQ) to the system, but I’m running out of expansion room. Because of the layout of our house, I laid the system out in sort of a star topology; the panel is near one end of the house, and I have a “zone expander” installed near the other end. Each zone is terminated at either the panel or the zone expander, depending on which is closest. The zones I’d like to add are near the zone expander, but the expander (which provides 8 zones) is full. Matter of fact, it’s overloaded — in a couple spots, I’m doubling up devices which really should be on separate zones, becuase of the lack of space. Not only that, I’m up against the maximum auxiliary power load that my panel supports. If I add any more powered devices (motion detectors, glass break detectors, sirens, etc.), the panel will be overloaded in that department too.

So, before I do anything, I’m going to need to upgrade the system to allow for the additional zones and power draw. Here’s the current plan:

  1. Install an additional zone expander and mount it near the current one, to provide 8 additional zones.
  2. Install an auxiliary power supply and battery to handle additional powered devices.

I’m hoping I can fit all of this gear into a single metal enclosure. If necessary, I can move the existing zone expander, which will requre splicing several wires, but shouldn’t be the end of the world. The shopping list then becomes: metal enclosure, zone expander, power supply, battery, and extra wire, for a total price tag of around $250. Of course, these days, the real cost includes finding time to do this, as there are a lot more demands for my spare time these days. I’m thinking this project probably won’t get off the ground until close to the end of 2006. But we’ll see.

Stupid hard-starting generator

lpaulriddle

We have this generator, that we bought a few years back to use during power outages. It spends 99.9% of its time sitting in the garage gathering dust (much like the snowblower). Every few months, I start the thing up and run it for 20 minutes or so, just to make sure it will work if we ever really do need it. That was one of today’s chores.

Now, the generator has always been a little hard to start when it’s been sitting for 2 or 3 months. But it’s pretty reliable: it takes 9 or 10 yanks on the cord, then it starts up. Then you have to run it partially choked for several minutes so it doesn’t miss. Then, finally, it will warm up and run at the factory-set fuel mixture. Not exactly a finely tuned machine, but at least it works.

Today, I figured, well, it’s January, it’s cold, so the generator will probably be even more reluctant to start. So, I got the bright idea to spray some starting fluid into the carb. I did, and it fired right up on the first pull. Then, after 10 seconds or so, it died. And refused to start up again for love or money.

A couple dozen cord pulls, several more shots of starting fluid, and countless swear words later, I checked the oil. Hmm, seems a tad low. Topped it off with some 10w30. Started on the first pull, and stayed running. I guess there was just enough oil in there to start it initially, but once it started sloshing around in there, it tripped the low oil cutoff. Moral of the story: I need to check the oil every time I start the thing up. Followup: I later checked my records, and found that this was the first time I had tried to start it after changing the oil a couple months ago. I guess I didn’t add enough.

My theory about the hard starting problem.. I think over time, the fuel is slowly seeping out of the fuel pump/carb and causing it to lose prime. After 9 or 10 pulls, it reprimes itself and everything works again. I think Honda would do well to add a manual primer bulb to the engine. In any case, I think I’ll try the starting fluid again next time around, and see if I have better luck.

Chores Chores Chores, and a Broken Timer Switch

lpaulriddle

Today was a “get stuff done around the house” kind of day, where I basically knocked as many items off my to-do list as possible. Among the fun stuff accomplished:

I finished winterizing my chipper/shredder, pressure washer and trimmer. The chipper/shredder takes the most time, because I like to break it down, clean debris out of the blade housing, inspect the blade, and lubricate the metal flails. I also clean it off with a blow gun. For the others, it’s just a matter of adding some oil to the cylinder. I like to do this particularly with the chipper/shredder and pressure washer, because they can go long periods of time without being used.

I drained 2-3 inches of water out of the pool, to get it back below the tile line. This is one of those thankless busy-work type winter chores. However, I’ll take this any day over a pool that is losing water. This winter, I decided to just pump the water back behind the deck, rather than running it all the way out to the side street. It’s much less of a hassle. I thought it would be faster, too, but it still seems to take forever. Best guess is around an inch an hour with my dinky 1/6hp utility pump.

I noticed that our timer switch, that controls the front porch light, had stopped working. I only noticed because I happened to drive by the house around 2:30pm, and noticed that the porch light was on. I checked the switch and find the display said “No Op”. The switch is basically dead, and the light won’t turn off. I checked the trusty internet, and apparently these switches are basically garbage. Wish I had checked before I bought it. It’s a bit of a surprise, given that I’ve used lots of Intermatic products before, and generally been happy with the quality. However, this particular model seems to be a dud. Which leaves me without a timer for the front light. I pulled the switch out, so the fixture would go off. I guess I need to find a new switch. The challenge with this particular setup is that it’s a 3-way switch, and let me tell you, 3-way timer switches are haaaaard to come by. I have a standard single pole timer switch that I’m not using, so for now I may put that in and just forgo using the remote switch (we never use it anyhow). Long term, I may check into an X10 type switch, but there’s a limit to how much money I’m willing to pour into this. If a working 3-way setup turns out to be cost prohibitive, I’ll probably just live with the single pole.

Leaf Patrol

lpaulriddle

Yesterday, I finally finished up this year’s round of fall leaf removal. After 5 go-arounds with leaf removal on this property, I’m getting better at it, but the process could still stand some improvement.

The bulk of the leaves fall in back of the house, with the Tulip Poplars starting earliest, and the Oaks finishing up last. The Tulip Poplars start dropping leaves in mid to late August, creating an ongoing chore of clearing leaves from the pool, pool area and deck. The rest of the trees are better behaved, and drop their leaves in November.

Up to now, my leaf removal equipment has consisted of: Toro electric blower/vac mulcher, push broom, rake, and an old chipper/shredder (rescued from my parents’ garage).

Now, the Toro actually does a really nice job. I use it in vac mode in the summer, to clean up around the pool area without blowing debris into the pool. The blower does a good job clearing off the deck and other paved surfaces. Its only problem? The cord. It’s a pain maneuvering the cord around the pool fencing and trying to keep it from falling in the pool. This past fall, I tried using the blower to clear some grassy areas, but my extension cord was too short. My solution for next season: I’m going to upgrade to a gas powered blower/vac, probably an Echo ES-230. I’m hoping it’ll work as well as the Toro, without the cord.

The next big issue is removing the piles of leaves from the property. This year, I mulch/composted a bunch with the chipper/shredder, and put a bunch more out for yard waste pickup. I’m really looking for ways to make this process more efficient, because it’s long, hard work. The chipper/shredder has a ramp that you can lower to the ground, and rake leaves right up into the unit. I used to use this, but this year I found it was faster to just grab a big armload of leaves, and slowly drop it into the hopper. After a few tries, I got it so that I could do this without clogging up the intake. Still, this takes a long time. A bigger chipper/shredder might help. I’ve seen yard sweepers (Agri-Fab seems to be a popular brand) selling for $200 or so at Sears and Lowes. Still, with the amount of leaves we get here, mulching them down is pretty much a necessity, or I’d be putting out hundreds of bags a year for pickup. I’d love it if Howard County would start doing a service where you rake all your leaves to the curbside, and they pick them up without you having to bag them. That would eliminate the need for mulching, but they’d probably use it as an excuse to jack up our property taxes again.