Entropy

[emrr]

Top load washer, electric dryer. The old washer was running fine, the dryer was eating or friction staining things. About a year ago the dryer power partially failed, turned out one internal wire had cooked itself into oblivion. It was at the spade connector coming off the barrier strip. Growing resistance across dissimilar metals?

[JR.]

Today the five-year-old Cuisinart 12 cup coffee maker failed.
It had been producing a crazy amount of steam the last few days but was still brewing.
Today it was all sound effects and no drip.

On May 9, 2012 I planned for this day.

When I purchased this Cuisinart I bought an identical twin a few days later.
I tested its standby replacement five years ago and then re-packed it.
All I had to do was pull out its replacement and I was good to go.

I'm going to try to descale the old one but I don't think its going to help.

aren't those AKA "firestarters"?

The problem may be something simple like a leaky tube that transfers the steam/water up to the top to drip down again.

I use a kettle and pour over rig.... KISS and more control. I have a cheap modern electric kettle that is cute... it lifts off it's base so the line cord and power detaches while you fill it with water. After the water is boiling the power switch automatically turns off... Did I mention it was cheap (walmart special)?

JR

[JR.]

Well that was too easy to be true... less than a week and I noticed the new flapper leaking too.

Time to maybe look at the valve seat? Toilet is no more than a few years old (american standard).

JR

[edit] the new flapper already had some white film residue on it... I cleaned it off and took some fine sand paper to the valve seat. I didn't see any smoking (leaking) gun. but it has been quiet a couple hours.[/edit]

[edit2] now a week later the flapper is not leaking so all good... not sure what happened before [/edit2]

I still haven't found a perfect replacement for the silicon rubber disc... One it tried yesterday had a ridge on one lip and was thicker. When I shoehorned it into the old flapper it leaked. So I replaced with the previous almost new flapper that started leaking again.

So I took it apart and found some smutz on the it that was really hard to clean off...typical bathroom solvents didn't touch it.

Looks like I will need to keep the flapper discs and valve seat clean.

JR

I am almost reluctant to declare I repaired this again... but 4 days without phantom fills, so maybe OK.

I now have the original flapper valve back in after a good cleaning of the valve seat with scotch brite and fine sand paper. There seems to be a clay like sediment in my town water causing mischief.

JR

[mediatechnology]

The problem may be something simple like a leaky tube that transfers the steam/water up to the top to drip down again.

I had thought about that and have it in line for inspection.
The last coffee maker I had that split a tube leaked all over the counter top.
The last few days this one had been steaming like Mount Vesuvius and it does sound like its trying to heat.

I do have a Silex Vacuum pot I need to commission.

[JR.]

- I have been searching for replacement silicone rubber flapper valve seals, but haven't found many (none that fit mine.). Perhaps the reason is that the silicon rubber flapper seal is not the part that wears out... In my case the problem was sediment and grunge building up on the valve seat. My toilet is working flawlessly again with the original flapper back in it, since I cleaned up the valve seat.

======

Since my cheap razor failed I have been back to using my old electric razor (20 to 30 years old). The rechargeable battery is long dead (only works with line cord), and the cutters probably need replacement again. I replaced them once years ago but they don't shave as close as my cheap one did while it worked.

I can buy a replacement battery for $6, and replacement cutter heads for $20... So including shipping i could make my razor as good as a new 30 year old design for $25-$30. A new decent razor is only around $50 and I suspect the new technology has improved a bunch in three decades.

I am leaning toward getting a new generation shaver.... thoughts?

JR

[mediatechnology]

I couldn't offer you any advice on an electric razor.
I've received them as gifts but don't use them.
I use regular blades.

Defrosting the "deep" freezer today...

[JR.]

Before my right knee failed me and I used to run 5 miles 3x a week, I would shave with a blade(sss) razor while still sweaty and my beard was softened up, then take a shower to wash off the excess foam... I don't get sweaty enough on the bike rides these days, unless it's really hot so haven't used my blade razor for some time (years?). Probably still have fresh blades for more than one variation multiple blade razor .

My electric razor is so old I don't remember how old... The blades/razor is a good business model (free razor but gouge them on the blades) but IIRC blades were pretty pricey last time I bought them. Looks like there is new competition in the blade razor market, but for now I'd like a decent electric.

Somewhere I have an old wilkinson blade razor that my father probably brought back from england in the 30's.... Looks like an old school double edge razor, but blade is single edged and fat on the non-cutting end. It has it's own leather strop to sharpen the blade with...( i need to take some photos of that puppy, not 100 years old yet but getting up there).

JR

In picture the shaver is open and blade is loose to flop back and forth. To sharpen you feed the leather strop between the bottom of the blade and the handle. Moving the shaver handle back and forth causes the razor blade to flop back and forth in good alignment to sharpen the blade by dragging across the leather. Leather and razor are in very good shape for their age, the metal clip the leather strop fits into after being rolled up is showing some signs of oxidation (green flakes). It all fits neatly inside the wooden box. There are still new blades in that little wood holder. It has a round hole drilled in it to hollow it out, with a paper seal over one end to secure the blades when new.

[JR.]

Life is too short to discuss everything that breaks. So here's a few lumped together, and lightning does strike twice, for repairs.

Things I've fixed before...

-One of my neighbor's two american flags broke loose from the bottom attachment. Last time I fixed it I just used a cable tie. Cable ties seem pretty strong but they can actually be brittle and break when repeatedly stressed (like holding a flag in the wind). When I went to fix it, I noticed that the old cable tie had broken in such a way that there was still enough left to reattach it, so I pulled through the broken end and fed what was left into the clasp. That was fast, easy, and free....

- Two weekends ago one of my old lawn mower tires went flat... It was tubeless and I couldn't get it to hold air with my hand pump so I scraped together 4 quarters and carried it to the gas station next door... with enough pressure and fiddling I got it pumped up... However yesterday when I fired the mower up to do trim (I use the old smaller mower for the edges) it was flat again. A few years ago when the other front tire went flat I put a tube in it... I searched on the internet for a tube... The prices for the replacement tube varied between $4 and change up to $6 and change from different vendors but shipping cost and delivery varied all the way up to $13 and early July (3 weeks). So the decisions was not about the tube price alone but availability first, and cost next... If I bumped the order up to $25 I could get free shipping which matters to me on a $5 item, and I have been thinking about upgrading to a new electric razor. It looks like it would cost me $25+ to rebuild my old razor to be like new for a 30 YO design... or a modern version of about the same thing for $39... Same features but decades newer technology for a few dollars more... Next I found that almost every vendor I checked offered the same model razor for the exact same price. Actually not that surprising as web merchants are using dynamic pricing and with cookies can tell if you are price shopping around. I bundled the razor with a tube that will show up in a few days with free shipping.... So the mower should be back in action by next weekend.

We've been getting a lot of rain lately and my rain ditches were muddy.. Far back rain ditch still has a couple inches in it. I usually mow the outside edge of my yard with the smaller old mower, but this time I had to use my big dog 44" zero turn.. I didn't think I was that close to the edge when I felt the mower sliding toward the ditch and spinning tires. Trying to rock it out with zero turn mowers just doesn't work... the front wheels get turned at 90" and just dig a hole in the mud... After much drama I got it free by forcing the front wheels into the correct direction and digging away an easier path behind the wheels. It took two tries. The first time I moved it about 10' angled toward more solid yard before it started spinning again, so I stopped and re-straightened the front wheels and cleared another path... This time I made it up onto solid ground.. In hindsight maybe I didn't need to buy a lawnmower I can't lift... but I avoided the ditch the rest of the day.

Since getting stuck is the mother of invention I thought of a product... A long fabric runner, long enough to reach a tree or secure external anchor. Wide enough for the tire to grip and wrap around. So with one end anchored and the the fabric wrapped around the wheel, like a winch the wheel turning could wrap the fabric belt around the tire and pull the mower out of the ditch... Of course not trivial, and longer distances could attach a rope to the fabric runner... Still a work in process, and the fabric gripping surface is not obvious. For now I prefer to not get stuck again, but those fat tires love to spin in the mud...

- I have been chasing down a noise in my bike, and replaced the chain and rear derailleur hoping that was it... it wasn't so next I need to replace the bottom bracket pedal crank bearing. In the process of swapping out the derailleur last week the shift cable got tangled inside the sheath and for two days I couldn't grab higher than 4 th gear (the shifter pulls toward the lower gears, but derailleur spring return pulls back to the higher gears. The sticky cable sheath was more friction than the return spring could overcome. Saturday my new cable arrived and I am now shifting into all 7 gears again, but noise is still not fixed.

It's been quiet all morning so far, time for something else to break...

JR

[mediatechnology]

I defrosted the second deep freezer today.

[JR.]

I defrosted the second deep freezer today.

cool...

JR