Entropy continued

[JohnRoberts]

new entropy incident... all I wanted was a hair cut, but my Flowbee wasn't sucking like normal. The obvious lead suspect was my Hoover "bagless" upright... Apparently they have multiple filters inside that need to be cleaned. It kind of makes my old vacuum with the hepa filter built into the disposable bags look smart. Since I never bothered with filters during over a year and a half in service. I let my fingers do some walking and ordered a new filter set (due in Thurs).

For chuckles I decided to see if I could clear the filters enough to get the Hoover hoovering. I scraped a layer of lint off the bottom filter. The top filter is inside the dust canister. According to the you-rube video the top simply(?) unscrews apart. After refusing to unscrew for me since yesterday (I'm old), I decided to grab a hammer from my tool room and try a little percussive persuasion. Apparently once the Hoover saw that I was serious it released and avoided getting hit. I cleaned the top and bottom filters well enough to get the Hoover sucking and tried to cut my hair again.

Once again no love with the Flowbee. It just didn't suck. It behaved like it was blocked. I took it apart and while there was some oily hair clippings inside the cutting head, no visible blockage, but still no suck. As I was putting it back together, I noticed a huge air gap in the plastic Flowbee hose. The cheap plastic ribbed hose had about a 3/4" long slit near one end. The fix was easy enough, I cut the hose about one inch shorter and reattached it.

My hair is now trimmed better than my rain ditches.

I checked the Flowbee website and they do not sell replacement hoses, they sell a replacement hose with cutter head assembly for around $100 but the hose alone is probably only worth a couple dollars. It is fixed for now but I don't trust the hose.

I will try to contact the Flowbee folks. Apparently this is a rare failure.

JR

After getting zero response from Flowbee about purchasing some replacement hose from them I bought the cheapest suction hose I could find from McMaster Carr. At $3/foot it is probably 10x what that oem hose cost. I added screw clamps just to be extra secure but they probably aren't needed. The hose is a tight fit. It was a little more difficult to repair than from first glance. The power cord runs inside the suction hose requiring complete disassembly before putting it back together again.

JR

 

[MicMaven]

I bought the cheapest suction hose I could find from McMaster Carr. At $3/foot it is probably 10x what that oem hose cost. I added screw clamp

Nice work, old man. While I might have pressed an old vacuum cleaner hose into service, your solution is elegant, super strong, and visually appealing. Overkill can be a good thing, and you get to enjoy that the heady sense of self satisfaction one derives from completing a successful home brewed project for a long time to come. Score one for JR. --- James/K8JHR

 

[shabtek]

I am somehow not surprised by this...Flowbee

 

[JohnRoberts]

I am somehow not surprised by this...Flowbee

Nobody should be surprised, I am not ashamed of being frugal.

I have been using Flowbee for years and it has paid for itself several times over.

JR

 

[shabtek]

when it was advertised on TV it became a 'punchline' --or would be a meme today

I used to be more frugal, and did home barbering--yesterday I paid a skilled person for a haircut and they used a clippers connected to a central vacuum manifold to rough in the 'doo.

 

[JohnRoberts]

when it was advertised on TV it became a 'punchline' --or would be a meme today

Yes I recall that. It works well for very short cuts. Longer hairstyles are more difficult. I don't even try.

I used to be more frugal, and did home barbering--yesterday I paid a skilled person for a haircut and they used a clippers connected to a central vacuum manifold to rough in the 'doo.

I suspect the air leak in the suction hose may have been there for a while. I replaced the blades in January of this year to get it cutting better. I expect the weak suction affected the hair cutting ability. Now it is cutting like new.
===
When I was a kid my mom cut our hair. I suspect it helped her make ends meet. I recall one time in high school my hair was getting a little shaggy and a couple girls said it was looking good. I begged my mother to cut it short again. I outgrew that aversion.

JR

 

[JohnRoberts]

My Peltier technology room dehumidifier fan has started making noise again. This cheap toy(?) advertised low noise but the original internal blower fan failed after a few months in service. The common 120x25 mm sized box fan used a rather uncommon voltage 18V. I never found an exact replacement so a few months ago I put a 24V fan in place of the 18V original. The 24V fan will not even run at the low speed quiet setting, at high speed it runs proportionately slower than the original 18V fan. This dehumidifier pulls so little water it is hardly worth the trouble, now that the replacement fan has started getting noisy it is one step closer to the junk pile. It works, but yawn not enough to be useful.

JR

 

[JohnRoberts]

My dodgy GFCI outlet in my laundry room that was guilty of false trips, just tripped agin (yesterday?). I ordered some new replacement GFCI outlets and decided to wait until the next false trip. I ordered these replacements about 4 months ago so it has been behaving since then. These false trips were sometimes coincident with losing mains power, and we did lose power a couple days ago. It doesn't feel like the trip was exactly coincident with the power outage, but we know Gibb's rule #39 about coincidences.

I will replace this one after the dishwasher finishes this load of dishes. Since the dishwasher is plugged into that same laundry room outlet that is generally how I discover the tripped outlet, when the washer refuses to start up.

[edit- done but I had to wedge some plastic between the outlet and metal box to prevent energized screws from shorting to the box. I tried to order the thinnest GFCI outlets but this puppy is tight. Fixed for now, maybe forever. I have one new spare for the next one to hiccup. /edit]

JR

 

[JohnRoberts]

===
I just removed the transmitter from my mailbox door alarm to check the batteries. I have been getting almost daily false alarms, often coincident with a noisy truck driving past. Both batteries measured a more than satisfactory 1.25 Vdc.
===


JR

I failed to find what was randomly triggering my mailbox alarm late afternoons and evenings. Today I just put the mailbox alarm receiver on a TOD timer, so it is only looking for mail box opens between 7AM and 1PM.

Not a fix, but a solution for all the false alarms.

[edit- my first (old) time of day switch didn't work, so I grabbed a second, different TOD switch that I used for my Christmas lights. My mailbox alarm is now better behaved with no false alarms while powered down, and true alarms when my mailbox gets filled. /edit]

JR

 

[JohnRoberts]

Last update to my spurious mailbox false alarms, I put it on a 7 day- TOD switched outlet so now it only energize during normal delivery hours. All good.
====
A new entropy event. I discovered that my very old answering machine on my land line gave up the ghost (probably 30 years old?).

An old friend who is writing another book and has me editing chapters for him, emailed me that my phone doesn't work. The phone line is working, but I was probably out in my yard. I tested my line by calling myself with my dumb smart phone... sure enough it rings and the answering machine picks up but does not play my outgoing message or accept caller messages.

I just ordered a new one ($39).

I get several messages a year from doctors or dentists reminding me about appointments. The robo callers generally don't leave messages if I don't pick up.

More entropy going on but thats enough for now...

JR

 

[JohnRoberts]

Here are the fittings for adding a secondary anode to my hot water heater. In the picture I show a full size sacrificial anode screwed in, but I have a powered active anode I plan to use. It is thinner and shorter.

Unknowns are how much clearance I have beneath the hot water output port. Another unknown is how difficult it is to remove the stock heat trap nipple from the old hot water tank. I am hiring my local good old boy plumber to remove the old nipple and complete the hook up. The heat trap coming out of the middle of the "T" replaces the heat trap built into the original heater tank.

If there is inadequate clearance for the active anode which is pretty short, I may just cut the sacrificial anode short enough to fit for now. If I only need a couple inches I can add short section of pipe between the T and the anode.

===
[update] my failing land line answering machine recorded a call yesterday, but my new machine arrives tomorrow. No worries.

JR

 

[MicMaven]

[update] my failing land line answering machine recorded a call yesterday,

Of course. Murphy at work, again.

PS - (Murphy of Murphy's Law lives at my house, and, apparently visits yours now and then.)

James

 

[JohnRoberts]

Of course. Murphy at work, again.

PS - (Murphy of Murphy's Law lives at my house, and, apparently visits yours now and then.)

James

IIRC Murphy's law says something like "if any piece of aircraft gear can be installed backwards, it will be", obviously leading to bad outcomes.
===
Speaking of failures that heal themselves, two weeks ago on my weekly grocery shopping trip my ABS idiot light stayed lit, but went out on the return trip home. This week the ABS idiot like remained dark.

My old answering machine is past due for replacement.

JR

PS: I have another major entropy incident but I will save that for later.

 

[JohnRoberts]

Today's entropy repair is my neighbor's LED outdoor lamp. The center electrode for the Edison screw contact was floating loose.


The middle contact is not perfectly centered but it works for now. I glued it in place with some gorilla glue so we will see how long it lasts.

JR

 

[JohnRoberts]

I don't know that this qualifies strictly as entropy. My tub/shower drain clogged up again. The hair and detritus coalesced to clog the drain pipe. This seems almost like increasing order, but I guess regarding overall system function it is disorder. The last time this drain clogged was 15 months ago, when I purchased a sturdy 25' long drain snake. It was not easy, the clog was some 10-15' down the hole, but once again the snake got the job done.

15 months seems too frequent to me so I have ordered a drain hair catcher to perhaps reduce the frequency of future clog incidences.

JR

 

[MicMaven]

I don't know that this qualifies strictly as entropy. My tub/shower drain clogged up again.

Well, yes and no. While clearing the drain constitutes routine maintenance ... loosing that much hair surely constitutes entropy !


MY latest entropic experience involved our long-suffering mailbox box. It gets whacked and buried in snow by the City's snow plows in Winter, and it finally gave up the ghost, folding over in 98 degree sunshine where it had been creased repeatedly over ten years. A new one has taken its place. James

 

[JohnRoberts]

Today's entropy citation appears to be on topic. My Schwinn airdyne exercise bike developed an annoying squeal in use. This unit is only a few years old so IMO too early to be needing lubrication. It was not easy but I gained access to repack 5 of the 6 serious ball bearings, before running out of grease in my grease gun cartridge. I haven't used that grease gun for over a decade so no surprise there.

My airdyne is now dead silent except for wind noise from the fan blades. My speculation is that these bearings were not properly packed with grease when the unit was first assembled.

JR

 

[MicMaven]

My speculation is that these bearings were not properly packed with grease when the unit was first assembled.

Not so, Dick Tracy!

I was once a serious bike racer and triathlete in a former life, I believe white bicycle grease breaks down over time, and should be refreshed periodically, at least once a year or maybe every two years on as stationary bike with little use; but I am not surprised you encountered an issue over time.

Using old grease is contraindicated - good bike bearing grease has an expiration date on the tube. Using just any ol' grease, and not specifically bike bearing grease, is contraindicated and a false economy. Oils in grease separate from solid additives over time, especially if stored in a warm climate, rendering it unsuitable.

Grease 'dem bearing at least once a year with a proper bicycle grease - we always used a type of white grease - and it will work much better than the presumably generic grease in your old grease gun. Better yet, get a real bicycle and ride outdoors and enjoy the scenery, fresh air, and Mississippi humidity, as it will be more fun and provide a better workout. Um ... er ... just saying ... Anonymous ...

 

[JohnRoberts]

Not so, Dick Tracy!

?

I was once a serious bike racer and triathlete in a former life,

I ran one marathon and many shorter distance races but only competed in one duathlon (run-bike-run). As a non-biker I got smoked on the bike section but reeled in several who passed me during the bike leg on the final running leg.

I believe white bicycle grease breaks down over time, and should be refreshed periodically, at least once a year or maybe every two years on as stationary bike with little use; but I am not surprised you encountered an issue over time.

I used general purpose grease and the steel ball bearing assemblies looked and sound happy.

Using old grease is contraindicated - good bike bearing grease has an expiration date on the tube.

Not using bike grease. Not bike bearing grease but general purpose grease.

Using just any ol' grease, and not specifically bike bearing grease, is contraindicated and a false economy.

That's me... cheap

Oils in grease separate from solid additives over time, especially if stored in a warm climate, rendering it unsuitable.

indoors at room temperature?

Grease 'dem bearing at least once a year with a proper bicycle grease - we always used a type of white grease - and it will work much better than the presumably generic grease in your old grease gun.

I'm cheap. FWIW when this first started squealing I tried to quiet it down with some bike chain lube but that did nothing. I probably didn't even hit the right bearing.

Better yet, get a real bicycle and ride outdoors and enjoy the scenery, fresh air, and Mississippi humidity, as it will be more fun and provide a better workout. Um ... er ... just saying ... Anonymous ...

I'm down to only one road bike, I gave my old one away a couple years ago to a hitchhiker who saw it parked in my carport and asked about it. I was kind of hoping somebody would steal it. I was glad to give it away.

For several years after my right knee got too dodgy to still jog on, I rode my (21 speed) bike over the same hilly 5 mile loop, 3x a week. But for several years now I only ride my road bike a couple blocks once a month down to the town clerk's office to pay my water bill. These days the airdyne is my only aerobic workout but because of my bum knee I pedal using only one leg, while cranking with both arms (it gets my heart rate up). A few months ago I tried using both legs again and the airdyne workout was much nicer, but my arthritic knee did not completely quiet down with only two days of rest between workouts, so now I am back to only one leg pedaling. (I also only use one leg on my weight machine 3x a week.)

For now at least the airdyne has stopped squealing. I think it was the bearing in the front eccentric link but don't really care which one it was. I will be able to pick up another tube of grease by the time bearing #6 starts making noise. I'll look for a tube of fancy bicycle grease but not holding my breath. General purpose grease was good enough for the 5 bearings I repacked.

JR

 

[JohnRoberts]

Never a shortage of entropy.... this morning the carpeting was saturated with water under my dehumidifier. This is the same (older) one that I repaired a few years with a faulty "run" cap. It was blowing fuses back then until I replaced the cap. Today as I was moving this out to my carport for disposal, while leaking water everywhere, I noticed that the ground lift plug adapter was frozen on. I pried it off with a screw driver and it looks like the current surge from back when the run cap was faulty welded the plug lead to the adapter contact.

The previous owner of my house used some larger than code fuse values. I have since replaced every branch fuse with normal 15A fast blow. IIRC there were a couple scary 30A fuses in my fuse box.
==
I could probably get this working again as the dehumidifier appears to still extract humidity from my indoor air. The problem is most likely a clogged internal drainage pathway, most likely blocked by black mold that can grow profusely in such a high humidity environment.

The more modern dehumidifiers have a much improved physical layout where it is easier to access the evaporator coils for cleaning. This old soldier probably ran daily for more than a decade with the one run cap failure.

I already have a modern replacement on order. this morning I sucked up a bunch of the water with my carpet shampooer.

JR