One more update on the Pool Pump

 Apparently it gets hot in there...

So we need to figure something else out.

Update on the Pool Pump...

Pool pump overheating issues.  I didn't realize how hot an electric motor gets.  The fan that was installed in the pump broke, Nick tried to glue it, but it didn't hold up. So he 3d printed one, then another (center hole was too big, tried to print an adapter, but that didn't work at all...), then another.  The issue is that they get too hot and deform.

His current design is pretty tight on the shaft.  I had to heat it up to get it on.  Maybe it will work, not sure.  It ran for 2 hours last night.  Time will tell.

Septic fun

 Jen and Nick and probably Maddie too, noticed that the toilet in the basement was slow to flush and there had been some water coming up from the drain in the basement.  I might have noticed that the alarm light on the septic had been on for some time as well, but busy you know...

Anyway, went and out and found this when I took the cover off.

So that ain't right...  Made some calls Thursday, and Friday morning Mike's Septic called me back and said they could have someone out in the evening.  Of course it was my work golf outing, but I said I could be there.  Maddie had to take a driveway shower, but luckily we have hot/cold water at the faucet in the garage.

Fortunately, they didn't arrive till 5pm, which worked well for my schedule.  Matt and Matt were very nice and were able to replace the pump and also fix a baffle on the outlet of the first tank.  Or course they charged me an arm and a leg for it.  Especially $500 to replace the baffle which was less than 5 minutes of work.  But no one wants to jump into a septic tank, I get it.

I talked with an older septic guy, who couldn't come out, Thursday night and he helped me verify the problem was with the pump and not the switch.  There is a plug on the back of the switch plug, if you plug that directly in it will run the pump and take the switch out the equation.  Unfortunately, the pump was triggering the breaker each time I plugged it in.

Good times...

Update on the Ice Maker...

 So about 4 months after we installed and had been using the Ice Maker it went out...  It wasn't pushing the ice out anymore.  Turns out the issue is pretty common, Nick took it apart and found this:

You can see the screw has broken on the cylinder...  That piece turns and pushed the slushy water through and up and out the holes at the top of the mechanism.

Here you can see the cooling camber and the cap with the holes that the ice comes out.

Fortunately, we were able to get a refund for the machine through Amazon, but it took awhile as I originally contacted the seller directly.  They offered a replacement unit, but it didn't have the water line input which I wanted.  So they sent me back to Amazon.

Once we had the refund, I order a very similar looking one, which we have been using since June 12th...  We will see if this one has a bit more life.

Pool Pump issues and fix!

 A couple weeks ago the pump on our pool went out.  From the symptoms, humming noise, I thought it might be the starting capacitor, so I looked at it and it was bulgy...  So I ordered some replacements and tried that.  No good.

Luckily out friends (thanks Klimpke's!) have a similar pump and didn't put their pool up this year so we were able to borrow theirs while we worked on this.  It is a bit smaller though, so we didn't want to run it too much.

After the capacitor didn't work I found a video where the bearings had gone bad and the guy was able to replace them.  So I put Nick on the task of taking it apart and I ordered the bearings 😊

We had to order a bearing puller as well, which worked on 1 side, but the other side was falling apart, so I ended up using the demel to get it off.  Then he was able to put it back together.  On the first try the plastic fan fell apart (it was already partially broken) so he had to take it back apart and use plastic cement to fix it.  Then put it back together, and Success!

So we saved probably $200, and kept it out of the landfill, win win!

Another Flat Tire!

We had a busy Monday planned, Jen was getting her braces on, everyone (but me) had dentist appointments.  It was 6:50 in the morning and as we pulled up the driveway we noticed the tire was flat.

Not sure when it happened or how even, we jumped in my car and went on our way.  When we got back in the afternoon and got the tire off Maddie found the leak.  Nothing obvious.

Luckily Toyota was able to patch it the next day and it has been OK for a week now.

 

New Radon Fan after 10 years

 The radon fan in the garage has always generated a low hum, but lately it had been getting quite bad.

So I picked up a new one and installed it today.  It is amazing quiet!  I can't remember if the old one was ever this quiet, but it hasn't been in a long time.

Shower Door for Kids

We have been talking about putting in shower doors in the kids bathroom for awhile.  The shower curtain pole would fall down and water would come out if the curtain wasn't positions just right.

We purchased a tub shower door kit and I was able to cut the threshold piece and put that down.  Then when we put the jambs on noticed that we would almost hit our head walking into the shower.  So it was back to Menards to get the full sized door.  I guess out tub is very low.

I put the threshold piece from the full size kit back in the tub kit and returned the tub kit to the store.  They weren't sure they wanted to take it back w/o going through the box, but laziness took over and they took it back w/o too much issue.  Though I can certainly understand why they would want to be careful.

Our shower has a trim piece that goes around the top, so I have to take off the little ridge that is on the back of the jamb.  It looks bad here, but you can't really tell once it was installed.  The install would have gone very quick, except for this and cutting the threshold and top piece.  I used a Dremel and the results look nice, but it took awhile.  And a lot of cutting wheels!

I tried to use a titanium bit to drill into the tile, but it wasn't working well and I was nervous to do it...  So I picked up this set and they work amazing well!  Glad I waited and used the right tool.

Very happy with the finished product, I would do these everywhere but they are about $600.

Ice Maker

 When we went to CO this year to vacation we used the countertop ice maker that Jason has and really liked the nugget ice that came out.  So we decided to get one and I wanted it to have a more permanent installation and with less maintenance for me!

We used it on the counter for awhile then moved it into the pantry where I was able to hook it up to a water line.  That worked great, but I also wanted to be able to clean it without having to move it around, so I attached the drain lines to some valves and ran them into the basement.

We have been using it about a month like this and I finally got around to cleaning it.  Manual recommends once a week cleaning, but it seemed OK.  So we will see.