Sonic the Hedgehog

Pretty entertaining.

Good action, kid friendly I would say.

Jen doesn't care for Jim Carey so that made it not a favorite of hers.  There are definitely some times when there are bullying parts as well.

Christmas Break-In

Pretty good movie.

Netflix's attempt at Home Alone.

But fewer traps, which disappointed the kids.

Kid friendly.

Nick wanted to watch a movie for his half birthday and eat Culver's.

Defrosting the Freezer

 

It is that time of the year again.  We had a coldish day we were able to put out freezer items out on the porch.  The freezer really needed it too!

Furnace Install

 My installation date is Friday the 13th :)  Good thing I am not superstitious.

2 man crew arrived at 8am, and finished about 11am.  They said they would be done by lunch and they were done by lunch.  The new unit slipped right in place of the old unit.  It is a little smaller actually so they had to add an air flow box underneath.  Which I guess helps with the air flow anyway, because they are building furnaces so small now that there isn't enough space for the return air to enter anyways.

They pulled my A-coil out and I was a bit concerned to see all the rust on there.  I guess that is pretty typical though.  Something about how they don't build them like they used to.

Here is the new one, you can see the airflow box underneath.  I need to clean up the humidifier tubing and wiring.  We hooked up the 2nd stage of heat to the nest, though I can't really tell much of a difference in the fan speed between stage 1 and 2, apparently you can tinker with the CFM setting for the fan, but I haven't gotten there yet.

When I just run the fan it is very quite though.  I think it runs at about 30% of full, which is very quite and uses about 200 watts instead of 600 to 800.  So I might consider leaving it running, but I have never really needed it.

New Furnace Time

 My furnace has been leaking water out the bottom for awhile.  I looked at it and it appeared to be coming from the heat exchanger, so eventually I thought I would have someone come look at it.  I chose to go with the company that installed it, since I didn't want to get a fly by night low cost to inspect an arm and a leg to fix.

It was a Trane XR90, 92% efficient furnace.  It went in with the house in 2009.  Chuck came and assessed the situation and determined it was in fact the heat exchanger was no longer sealed.  The furnace has a 20 year warranty on the heat exchanger, so I was able to get the part for free, but the labor to replace it was going to be about $1000 he thought...

So I inquired about a new furnace, he recommended a Trane S9V2 which is 96% efficient with 2 stages of heat for $5500.  There are some rebates involved and my Trane discount which knock it down another $825.  So I went with that option just so I don't have to worry about it or deal with more parts failing.

I also asked for the Heat Exchanger as that is an expensive part, and I figured they owed me that and I might be able to sell it.  I also called around and received a lower bid, which they agreed to match ($5080).

Sense Energy Monitor

 I have been wanting a Sense energy monitor for a couple of years.  Facebook keeps shoving it in my face.  Plus I think it is an awesome idea.  So I finally broke down and bought myself an early Christmas present when they were having a good sale on them.

Here is the panel before.

The hardest part of installing it was getting the metal cover off for the wifi antenna to go through.

The second hardest part was getting it all to fit in there and get the cover back on :)

Overall though a very easy installation.

Here are the clamps on the 2 lines coming into the house.

Furough Projects

My company instituted company wide furloughs for all salaried employees starting last week.  This is my furlough week and I am putting it to good use getting a few projects finished.

Our patio in the back has not been looking too good for awhile.  The ground has been sinking and as a result it kind of waves a bit.  Plus the wood edging needs stain.  So we decided to take it out and replace it with a deck.  Plus we have plan for the old stones.

So the first task is to get the stones out, the kids and I accomplished that yesterday.  Quite a bit of work, but it is done.

The other thing I was able to do yesterday was put up some more shelves in our attic.  We have quite a collection of ski's that a friend of Jen's didn't want anymore...  It was cool enough yesterday that the warm attic felt pretty good.

Now the plan is to put up more shelving...  If shelving on one side is good, both sides must be better right!