Note
Okay. No training to report, but a lot going on, and I feel like whining about it.
Monday night. I received some batteries for an old Nikon digital, and I had the batteries and the charger, but not the camera. So, I got up out of bed at about 1130pm (which is an early bedtime for me), and went to the basement. I found it, *but* I noticed the water heater was leaking again. I say "again", because the last time was 16 years ago, and after about 12 years, there is this worry spot in your head that says, "Man, that water heater could go anytime. Literally, anytime." And it just nags at you.
Tuesday morning, I called into work so I could work on the water heater. But first, I drove all over town doing some last minute things for my niece, whom I will be accompanying to college on Wednesday and maybe Thursday. (I had already arranged for this time off, so I just extended it one day forward.) My 3pm, I had the water heater in the back of my Golf. By 5pm or so, the old one was out of the basement. I had to make another trip to buy pipe fittings for the gas line (yeah, kinda scary, but I check it really well when I'm done). It took longer than I expected to solder the copper, because in all my time soldering, this was the first time I had pinholes. I've heard stories, but I tend to do work on lines well cleared of water, so the steam can't build up pressure and blow out pinholes in the hot solder. So, I fixed two of them (so embarrassing). Checked the gas lines again with bubble solution and my nose, and lit the pilot. Soon, hot water, yay!
Wednesday morning. Packed up the cars. Katie left. I showered, got dressed for the trip, then made one last trip downstairs and painted on the bubble solution. All good. Ran my hands over the water lines to feel for water. Dry as a bone. All good. Whew.
Was planning to return the same day, but was delayed. Needed to install a window air conditioner for Katie. Did it. Took a while to figure out the configuration. Took an extra trip to Lowes (paid cash out of shame, plus it was cheap). Noticed that 4 of the other five rooms (the roommate's rooms), all had air conditioners tilting the wrong way, so water drains toward the window. Offered to fix the two on my niece's side, and told her to tell the others they needed to get them fixed. Took less than an hour for each room---very quick after you figure it out.
Made another trip to Lowes for weatherstripping and sealing materials (add'l requirement became apparent, so shame rules don't apply). Apparently bugs are common, so sealing the gaps around the AC is very important. Did a really nice job considering the limited tools I had with me, and the need to buy everything I didn't bring along.
So, Thursday night. Home at 1am. Bring in the stuff I needed, then headed to the basement. Yeah, worry spot in head re gas lines. Open the door, see water on the floor around the furnace and air handler. Hmmmm. The fan isn't running---that's not normal. There is a sound from the top of the furnace like a water leak: What could that be? There aren't any water lines up there. Oh man. Get ladder. Start to climb, but sound shifts to water heater. Oh man. Pinhole leak is spraying water on top of the furnace. (And I'm 100, 200, 300% sure it wasn't leaking when I left.) Turn off house water, start to drain tank. Switch to furnace. Open stuff. No real serious water---except---in the very bottom. The Equipment Interface Module, part of the thermostat, is bolted to the bottom of the furnace---what might be called a drip pan---and it doesn't look good. Also, the house is cool, so this just happened. I get the stuff out of the water, then fix the pinhole---I got it crazy hot and didn't see any escaping steam, so---I should be okay now.
But the furnace won't work. I use cell phone water damage experience to dry the PC board, but the thermostat has an error and it won't resolve.
To finish this up quicker:
Friday night and Saturday morning: Damage is a $70 module, which will arrive sometime next week. I tried three local places, but it's old, and no one has one in stock (at least that I could find). So I went to Home Depot and bought some wire and a $20 thermostat (our current one costs $320 or $450, according to two places I visited this morning). I've wired up the AC (no heat) to the thermostat until the module arrives.
The pro install on the water heater would have been $329, or maybe less if I got a local guy. So, I'm still ahead cost-wise, but it could have been much worse. Luckily the commercial HVAC parts have really good design for water dripping on them---the weak spot was the installer picking a monumentally bad place to put the box. Also, the new EIMs have a different case that prevents water damage until the water is much deeper, maybe 3/4 inch. It was literally 1/8 inch of water that killed it.
So---I hope stuff stops breaking, and that I stop screwing up the repairs. A pinhole leak that appeared between 12 and 48 hours after soldering. Weird. Never heard of one of those before.
Also, the HVAC places all had Nest units and a competing product from Honeywell called the Lyric. These learn your habits, and actually sense when you're gone and save you money. They also have wifi, so you can adjust the temperature from your smartphone. (There are also conventional units with wifi.) I don't like replacing things that aren't broken, so I probably won't buy one until the AC breaks. Which should be in 5-7 years, hopefully---so no worry spot, yet.