One AC finally works.

The HVAC guy came Tuesday morning.  He has the info to order the compressor for the one throwing the compressor code, and he said both units had leaked out all the refrigerant. He wasn't prepared to do all the leak detection and whatnot; this was just a diagnostic visit which is why he was able to fit me in on such short notice (I had just emailed him last weekend), but he recharged the second unit and we shall see if it holds.  This unit worked until I switched from heat to cooling and then died suddenly, so I think as long as I don't change modes on it it will hopefully be okay. My assumption is that the leak is in the switching valve, but he would need to verify that for warranty purposes to get a new one on order. This issue also highlights something interesting about Samsung: their units have no safeties in them. The one that still turned on was happily chugging along with no refrigerant in it, which will burn up the compressor in very short order since the refrigerant is also the coolant for the compressor. It is possible (probable?) this killed the compressor in the first unit. When I worked at Carrier, we used to monitor the pressures (both inlet and output) and the temperature of the compressor but Samsung apparently has a "it'll go or it'll blow" mentality, and then just cost reduced all the sensors out would be my theory.

 

The difference it made was remarkable.  In less than an hour it had knocked over 20% off the humidity.  It made a notable air quality improvement inside as well. It really is amazing how despite decreasing the capacity (I had more BTUs in portable units, 23k, than one of my mini-splits, 18k) , the mini-split is more effective at everything.

 

I also went and picked up some new chairs for Jess and Heather.  

 

I also picked up the stuff I wanted to try cold smoking.  I don't have a smoker, but a smoke tube and a grill (which I do have) is sufficient for a little bit of cold smoking.  

 

I got applewood pellets, though I wanted hickory (they were out of stock).  Applewood is common for things like bacon, hickory is more common for cheese.

During lunches, since it is frequently too hot to go out for a walk at lunch this time of year, I have been cleaning up and organizing the CR-V.  I finally have a plan for where to store everything, and more importantly, how to store it so it doesn't rattle since my previous haphazard storage system was really obnoxious and annoying.  I still don't have a good solution for the cargo netting, I might just switch to bungee cords or something.  Or maybe make a removable face board, I still have the underlay which is basically a 3/16 plywood (think wimpy paneling) that I put up and bungee in or something.  I could also try the smaller one I originally started with, and just use carabiners or something to make it fit better (it was too tight).  I also finally got everything but the toaster oven in the car last night.

 

I finally got my meal service box this week last night.  I have to say, the fact that it has been screwed up literally every week is really getting old.  It may be (mostly, if not all) Fedex's fault, but Factor chooses the carrier and if Factor can't get the meals to me it makes their service awfully worthless. The first week Fedex tossed the box on its side and ignored the "this side up" and some of the meals saw the trays get mixed.  The second week all the freeze packs were destroyed, and while it was still cold I had to wash the gel goo off of everything.  The third one Fedex sat on it and didn't bother putting it on the delivery truck, and thus was a day late and their ice packs were inadequate for the extra day of sitting in 90+ heat for shipping.  This week is also a day late.  Factor is one of the more expensive meal services, and if they don't figure out their logistics issues quick I am going to switch to a different one.

More AC failures, but finally mowed.

There were a lot of angry skies last week, but we thankfully did not get much rain.  Just a lot of thunder.  My creek is actually starting to look like summer.  

 

The first nice day was Wednesday.  Since Fedex screwed up though, my meals arrived a day late (they are supposed to be delivered on Tuesday), and the ice packs were not up to the task for an extra day of transit.  A couple of them near the ice pack in the middle (the only one that was below room temperature still) were salvageable, but I ended up chucking over half the box.  Thankfully they didn't give me any trouble and I got a full refund for the week.  I still ended up making an unplanned grocery run on Wednesday though.

 

One perk of the back not being mowed is that it is now tall enough that wildlife seems to think they are in cover and come out during the day.  Three times this week I have seen deer when cooking dinner or whatever, and turkeys twice, gobbling up all my ticks.  The bugs have been really bad this year with all the moisture, but I have only had one tick on me all year, which I picked up in the driveway of all places.

 

My temporary AC solution has been a bit lackluster, so I decided to try keeping it drained.  Most portable AC units have ways to evaporate the water off, but it drops their efficiency and frequently their BTU output to do so.  So I made a trip to Harbor Freight and came up with a solution.  I had to put the AC up on blocks to get the drain pan underneath it. 

 

But it worked, kinda (more on that in a second).

 

Saturday I had yet another AC failure.  This one decided to eat its blower, which is a shame because it frankly worked better of the two.  I woke up Saturday morning to the fan sounding unhealthy, and a couple hours later it started going into a reboot loop.  

 

This kind of threw my Saturday plans for a loop.  I already didn't have enough cooling capacity.  So I made some calls, emailed a bunch of guys and found one.  This one is a tiny bit larger (10k BTU instead of 8k), so I decided to move the one ineffectively cooling the living room into the bedroom, and put the bigger one in the living room.  This time I installed the ducts with foam, which hopefully works better.

Thankfully the weather on Saturday wasn't excruciatingly hot, because I learned that my drain pan solution was leaking.  The o-ring in the cap wasn't installed properly (only the finest from Harbor Freight).  It made a huge mess.  I noticed that the blocks the living room unit was on were wet when I went to move it.  It filled three towels, and even with my big box fan, still took the rest of the day to dry up.  Ugh.

 

I got the o-ring fixed and tested it.  It is now water tight.

 

I didn't wait for everything to finish drying to set up the other one, I will just need to readjust everything later today.  

 

I couldn't find my door snake (I probably chucked it), so I took some scrap corner bracing and a board to hold it down to reduce the draft.  I could feel hot air being pulled into the living room.  

It was supposed to storm in the afternoon Saturday, so I was originally planning on doing the mowing Saturday before everything moved in.  The AC destroyed those plans, and I ended up driving through all the storms to pick up the new unit.  The storm cell however missed Sullivan in a bit of unusual freak luck, so I was able to do all my mowing on Sunday instead.  

 

It didn't start off well, the Troy Bilt runs worse each time I fire it up.  Even though it started with almost a quarter tank (I don't fill it because it leaks if you forget to close the shutoff), I only got two loops before it started coughing and sputtering.  It was almost out of gas, which admittedly makes me wonder how it managed to burn a quarter tank in two passes when a quarter tank used to do the whole yard.  

 

After running into town to get more gas, I did manage to coax it to run long enough finish the front yard.  

 

I also ran it up to the shed, and discovered that the tarp that was covering my snowblower was wrapped around a tree and no longer over the snowblower.  Ugh.  I just pinned it under the grading blade for now; I need to take the three point snowblower off the tractor soon anyways. 

 

I didn't grab a picture, but I also did most of the back with the pushmower.

I came back in to my smoke alarms going off, which is never fun, and I think I might smash these damn things and get a different set.  These ones just go off when the battery is low (most normal ones chirp), and I just replaced the batteries three months ago.  And I put Energizer batteries in them, not cheapo garbage ones from work.  Since they are also wired into AC, batteries shouldn't be going bad until they expire.  For now I just ripped them all down, any that were showing low battery.  I still have two in the house.

 

I got the freezer set up that I brought home.  It still works.  Very very well I might add, it railed my thermometer at 0F.

 

I noticed when I was doing laundry that my laundry room has apparently become a bee graveyard.  I keep the door closed (minimize the area to cool) which is probably why they haven't been seen in the house, but I am not sure where they are coming in from.  There were three dead ones on the floor, and I swept up a bunch of carcasses a couple of weeks ago.

 

One thought is that there is a small leak around the doorframe somewhere that because the trim is peeling from the humidity, is now accessible.  I didn't have a single bee get in last year though.  I think this is happening because of the humidity; the trim, which is just pressboard, is absorbing moisture and expanding too much, causing it to pop off the wall.  This door is actually two pieces of trim just sitting on top of each other, a standard flat trim, and then the interior decorative trim.    

 

Maybe I am just noticing it because of the AC troubles and have an indoor and outdoor monitor now, but it feels like the humidity this year is the worst I have ever seen.  To the point where I even have seen condensation inside the house, and if you walk into the rooms I have closed off (which I did when I first bought the house and only had the window units) you can smell the musty and the smell wet wood makes.  In addition to the few pieces of trim that have popped off I noted above.  The lowest humidity I have seen in the house is 78% for the last month or two.

Even though I didn't make any progress on the checklist over the weekend, the mowing was waaaaaay overdue.  This was only the second mowing for most of the yard, only the section of front between the septic tank and leech field has been mowed three times.  The far back still hasn't been done, nor has the side where the other drainage ditch is.  The side I don't think I can mow now; I can't see the ditch anymore to make sure I don't end up in it.  I have started loading stuff into the car camper, and now it makes a lot of noise when driving so I have started putting stuff in totes and whatnot.  I still need to test it.

The last minute rush and holiday shenanigans.

There was a flurry of things that I got done before going to KY.  I was taking the truck, so the first thing was to empty it out.  So I turned the tractor into the worlds most expensive wheelbarrow.

 

Apparently that was too much weight though.  I haven't dropped the snowblower off it yet, so there was more than enough counterweight, but it was more than the hydraulics could lift.  Oops.  It could still rotate though, just not lift, which was all I needed to dump it.

The truck is empty now though.  I just put them in a pile over by the sawhorses.

Then I had to get the steps into the truck.  I haven't finished the drainage yet, so I used the excavator to get it to the ditch.  It had no problems lifting it, though I would say they were near the weight limit.  The hydraulics had plenty left, but if I leaned on the steps it would lift the back of the excavator, it needs more weight.

 

It did have problems balancing it though.  The controls on the excavator are very jerky because it is cheap, and it was sliding around quite a bit and flopping to the side.  I had to add more stability straps, which only sorta worked.  

 

Sorta worked was enough though. From the ditch I could transfer it to the tractor, which holds it in the bucket a lot better.

 

I discovered something about the excavator while doing this: the weird intermittent electrical issues I have been having are because of the key.  I got agitated when it wouldn't start, gave it some percussion maintenance, and discovered as long as I held the key down it worked fine.  I switched to my other key and it also works fine.  They are just cheap universal keys, so I might have to pick up another set, but at least I know the cause and won't have to tear apart the wiring harness which is a relief. 

 

I was out of light by the time I got it to the ditch, so I started loading the truck instead.  The big dresser was also going down.

 

The next morning before work I grabbed the tractor and finished the handoff.  I should also note that the hydraulics on the excavator are now tight enough that it didn't completely drop overnight, which is a significant improvement.  Funny how things work better when they don't leak...

 

The tractor is a lot more gentle and had no problems putting it in the truck, even as precarious as it was since I was lifting the light end and left the heavy end waay out.

 

My truck made the trip almost without issue.  I had a TPMS sensor fail on the way down, which was really annoying because every time it tries to read the tire pressure (about once an hour or so) it dinged and brought up an error.

 

Despite the late start, I made it to Maryland before I stopped for work.  It was miserably hot, and so humid that it was too hot to sleep despite me grabbing the fan I bought for the CR-V camper, so I didn't sleep long.

 

Since I naturally had to drive through some storms on the way down, I at least got to see a nice sunset afterwards. 

 

I didn't have a ton of projects to work on while I was down in KY, so I mostly worked on the shed that I started last year.  It still needs soffit wire and the trim pieces.  I am regretting my decision at this point to build my own soffits instead of just buying one.  They aren't that expensive; it would have cost twice what the wire did, but it is literally just screw it in and you are done.  Oh well. I also installed some shelves and got my old tiny home dishwasher back up and running so my sisters have a dishwasher again. 

 

We did get to try one of the things I picked up on my last trip.  Cranberry maple syrup.  It was surprisingly good.  I got it on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls.

 

The drive home was a little bit cooler, so I slept better, but I did get to see some rather fearless trash pandas, errr, raccoons at one of the rest stops in West Virginia.  They literally walked right up to me, and out in the lane of traffic.  I expect they will be splat soon.

 

There was also a random cat on the prowl there as well.

 

I also noticed that the failure of the drip edges I bought online is now complete.  One of the back ones has a clip failing, and the adhesive already failed.  The front ones I had to rip off because they screwed up the sensors in the windows that detect whether there is an obstruction.  It did make it home without completely falling out though, this picture was taken when I stopped for gas in Morehead in KY.

 

Everything was fine at home, other than I really need to make a run to the dump, I didn't have time before I left, and you could smell the bags outside if you are withing ten feet of the can.  Apparently we lost power at some point while I was gone too, all the electric clocks like the one on the stove were way out of whack. It drizzled on me a little when I got home, but it looks like the bulk of the rain has been taken out of the forecast for the next day or two, so there is still a chance it will stay dry enough for me to finish the drainage pipe.  Getting rid of the steps wasn't on the list, but it is now complete, and my sisters now have nice stairs at their back door as well.

 

Available Projects and annual tasks:

• Dunks and bug repellent.
• Clean up yard
• Take scrap metal away
• Finish cleanup on the pile in the back 
• Do something with the trailer.
• Fix excavator
  
• Finish drainage
• Build deck
• Push back trees
• Install concrete pilings
• Install landscape fabric and gravel underneath
• Build frame
• Lay decking
  
• Set up hot tub and pool
• Build insulated platform for hot tub
• Put down pool sand to level spot for pool
• Get water delivered for both
  
• Fix mowers and equipment
• Get tractor serviced
• Build travel station for CR-V/prep CR-V for travel
  
• Move carport
• Build the roof extension over to the rocks
• Fix front stairs 
• Test travel options (rent u-haul and test that, rent trailer and test that)
• Install storm doors
• Build overhangs for windows
• Insulate the water lines
  
• Front yard drainage
• Fix snowblowers (broken grease fitting on big snowblower, gas leak on small one)
  
• Gravel/hardpack driveway
• Fix grade to the shed
• Level a spot for a lean-to up the hill
• Build a small lean-to for off-season equipment
• Make shed mouse-tight 
• Create walking trails (put up markers, maybe put down some gravel).
• Clear and level a spot for orchard
• Build a bridge over the creek
• Build a gazebo or something on the other side

 

Mmmm. Brisket.

Most of the weekend was spent eating brisket (more on that in a minute), but I did pick up my bike on Thursday before going down.  You may recall that it had problems with the pedals.  Because of all the loc-tite and other various attempts to keep if from coming apart, they couldn't reuse the pedals, but they got everything drilled out and tapped correctly and new pedals installed.  Time will tell how this holds up.

 

Friday was the drive down to Long Island for the barbeque.  I decided to take the ferry.  On the way down, I arrived early enough that they tossed me on an earlier one, which was nice.  It was rather enjoyable.  Driving through CT to get to it less so.  

 

It is hard to tell from the picture, but the water was only a few feet below the surface for the cars.  If I hung off the side, my feet and probably a good chunk of my legs would have been in the water.

 

The ferry itself was actually really nice, and reminded me how much I miss being out on the open water.  When I would on cruises, I would often sit on the front deck for hours, and then follow that up by watching the waves and smelling the ocean on the balcony of the room before going to bed.  The front part of the deck on the way to Long Island I had to myself, probably since it was rather windy and cool out.  

 

It threw off some big wake, but then I suppose the ferry was probably pushing >120 tons; it had 70 cars on it, plus whatever a ship built like a parking garage weighs.  

Port Jefferson in the distance.  

 

The cookout was on Saturday.  It turned into a nice day, though it started off a bit soggy.  The brisket was excellent, and probably the best brisket I have had outside of the guys in Texas when I was at Big Bend.

 

I didn't arrive early enough to get put on the earlier ferry on the way back, so I had to wait for mine a little bit.  It was a good thing I had just eaten round 2 of the brisket, because the shrimp that they were cooking over there smelled really good.

 

I got to watch the ferry unload as sunset started.

 

It was still quite pretty when we took off.

 

The picture sucks because Google doesn't know how to stitch a panorama (thanks phone...), but one other thing I miss about being on the water is being able to see the entire horizon.  This was taken well after sunset (and at the very end of twilight), and you can see in the west the little bit of color and light, but as you pan to (presumably) Rhode Island on the right, it gets dark, it is pretty cool.  I got a bunch of pictures with the big camera too, which I haven't uploaded yet.  It should blow up if you click on it.

 

The drive back made me hate CT even more, but I made it back around 1:30AM, and pretty much dragged stuff in and went to bed.  I did have one issue with the conversion on the trip; the bungee cord across the top and the few inches of netting that went across the top were not enough to make the microwave stay on place across the terrible roads in CT.  It isn't clear, but I think just replacing the bungee with an actual strap might be sufficient to prevent it in the future, but will have to play around with it.  I haven't tried it yet to see if it was fatal.  Which would be a shame, and would likely mean I have to move my microwave back and forth instead of it just always being there.

 

I won't likely get the pictures uploaded before I go to KY for the 4th, since I was hoping to leave tomorrow, but I will try to.  This will probably be the last post until I get back though since I have a lot of stuff and not a lot of time to do it in.  I have a couple things to pick up tonight shopping since I cancelled my food service for this week.  I froze a couple of last week's meals, so I will get to see how well they handle that.  The manufacturer recommends against freezing, but the alternative was to toss them, so into the freezer they went.  So I should have something to post when I get back anyways.  But I still have to get all the sand bags out of the truck (which you saw above in the bike picture...), get the steps into the truck, and basically only have tonight to do it, and I have to go into town to pick up my prescriptions and stuff for the longer drive.  I will note that since I have gone on the blood pressure and heart medicine, I don't get as sleepy when I drive though, which is nice.  I was only starting to get sleepy when I got home at 1:30AM, so maybe I won't need to caffeinate as heavily as normal for the drive down, but I want it with me just in case I do need it.