00TL-P3.2

Sadly, it went from having 4 vehicles in it, to 2.

SamDoe1

I have a 3 car, could use a 4 at this point...

00TL-P3.2

Spent the morning of New Year's day mending fences. I swear the builders in this neighborhood used the most garbage fence materials.
Replaced 2 posts (broken at ground level, rotted clean across) and 7 pickets (mostly dog damage there). In the last year or so, I've replaced 6 posts due to wood rot at the base. Multiple neighbors with similar issues, leaning fences or whole sections blowing over. On top of that, none of the pickets are consistent width; the majority are 5", but there are random 4.5" & 5.5" (which are about all you're able to find at HD). So I bought a stack of 5.5" & just rip off the extra width & re-dogear them at the top.
Having a pool, a proper secure fence is a priority for me.

New blade on the saw made a huge difference, old one was way far gone, to the point of needing 3 cuts to get through a 2x4.

Also got a creeper & shop stool for the garage for Christmas from the wife, and a new floor jack for my birthday from my parents.

Got a Raspberry Pi4 also, thinking about handing a spare TV in the garage & looking into a 3D printer.

00TL-P3.2

Our Rinnai tankless water heater has been throwing a code 11 (no ignition) with increasing frequency.
Pretty much have to prop open the garage door (spring hinged) & cycle the 1/2 bath sink a few times until it ignites. ASSumption is corrosion/salt buildup on the ignitor.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

I read the first line and thought you had to go apologize to your neighbors for getting trashed and puking on their rose bushes

thoiboi

I think i had a code 11 the last time on my parents' Rinnai and the culprit ended up bring the seismic shut off valve on their gas main. Not sure if you have one but worth looking into as well if it's not the ignitor. I went and cleaned all the orifices to no avail

00TL-P3.2

No issues with any other gas appliances (stove/oven(s)/HVAC) & you can hear it trying to ignite. Guessing corroded/salted ingitor/flame rod.
But, I don't see any readily apparent method of opening the case.,

SamDoe1

Does it have a flame sensor? Often times that's what will fail or get dirty LONG before you get an actual ignitor failure. Should be fairly simple and easy to change if it is the problem. I clean mine off once a year to prevent issues.

thoiboi

yeah that's what I thought too (Hey, the stove still works, can't be a gas problem ) but i learned that tankless heaters are a lot more susceptible to inadequate gas flow than the other appliances.

Not saying definitively that this is your problem, just sharing my experience

00TL-P3.2

Being Houston, I'd be surprised if we had seismic sensors on anything.

My boss' son is an HVAC guy, so going to try to have him take a look.

1StGenCL

Whoa, that wall removal looks great and it's incredible how messy drywall is; nice work!

00TL-P3.2

Messy doesn't come close. So much drywall dust. Filled my 4gal shop vac with dust & drywall bits.
Still chopping up the scraps & filling our outside trash can. Just have 1 full-length piece of frame/baseboard to hack up & get rid of. Then just need to finish the touch up on the walls, been lazy & just don't want to deal with it right now
My brother-in-law does this stuff for a living, so I'll probably have him come over & do the touch-up & texture. I can manage the little bit of paint needed.

00TL-P3.2

Ordered a flame rod & ignitor kit for the water heater. For $26 it's worth a couple replacement parts.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

Always, dude...
I always start off with repair vs replace.

00TL-P3.2

Put in the new flame rods & ignitor, and got nothing, even after multiple cycles it would not light.

Cleaned up the old ones, reinstalled them & it lit right up.

Noticed when I compared the ignitors, that the angle is different on them, so I think the new one just wasn't at the proper angle to ignite. At least I have spares now & back to on demand hot water.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

If it makes you feel any better ,same shit happened to with our old water heater heating elements...
bought a kit and swapped them (pretty sure it was the thermostat that was fucked)
accidentally ran it dry and melted one and when I looked at the old vs new side by side..
old one was a lot more robust!

00TL-P3.2

Well, if it ever goes out, I'll just have to try to match the proper angle of the ignitor based on the old one.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

new shit sucks...
but yeah, glad you at least got it fingered out

00TL-P3.2

Record lows in Houston.
Last time we got snow like this we didn't lose power.
Power went out at about 2am this morning, out for about an hour. Only stayed up for about 5 minutes & was back out around 3am. Had to go kill the breakers for the pool pumps so they don't try to activate when the power comes back on, they're frozen solid....
Hoping there's no damage to them when they thaw.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

I'm assuming it's just rolling brown outs?
your utility is too cheap to pay the peak load premium!

00TL-P3.2

Just plain out. 6 hours now.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

right, but there are various reasons for it.
sometimes it's a storm...heavy ice takes down lines etc...
other times the utility can't keep up with the kw demand as everyone cranks their heat and then it becomes a budget constraint.
they have to then decide on whether not they are going to recover from buying electricity from neighboring utilities at a much higher rate.

00TL-P3.2

I think it's a bit of both here. Some line damage & some load balancing.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

I would like to see your load balance.

00TL-P3.2

I bet you would

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

I understand your bet,
but to be clear, who's wood is in question?

00TL-P3.2

Both ?

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

I'm willing to take that bet and raise you.
Power back yet?
Bundle up!

00TL-P3.2

Nope, still chillin (literally) at the in-law's place.
Probably go back to the house here in a bit to check on everything & let the dog out.

imj0257

iTrader: (1)

We luckily haven't lost power yet. But half the people at work have and half my friends have... several times.

How far of a drive is the in laws? Also assume the roads aren't bad there? Our backup would be to drive to hers or my parents, about 20 miles away, but roads are awful.

00TL-P3.2

They live 5 miles from us. No highway.
Just got back from letting the dog out. Roads are worse than they were this morning, very slushy & a lot more people out. Lots of bad driving out there, but only saw 1 damaged car.

SamDoe1

You didn't bring the dog with you?

Do you guys have gas or electric for heat?

00TL-P3.2

Gas heat & appliances & fireplace. So we can cook (stovetop) & generate heat in the living room.
Gas tankless water heater, but no power to ignite.
Dog is ok at the house. Too cold for the kids, but she's content. I'll be going back over there to check on her & bring her back if we end up staying at the in-laws tonight. My in-laws have 3 dogs & adding an extra, plus our 3 kids is too much chaos.

00TL-P3.2

Posted in the weather thread.

Have a cracked brass ball valve for the sprinkler valve, looks like a straightforward replacement. Luckily were a ways off from needing the sprinklers.

More pressing is the cracked manifold on the pool heater. Have to get that replaced before I can turn the pumps on, no way to bypass the heater as is. Luckily, the replacement part is only about 5% the cost of replacing the whole heater.
No visible damage to any other pool components, so far. We'll see as things thaw. Looks like the pumps have freeze plugs & nothing looks out of sorts there.

Fingers crossed those are the only 2 freeze related issues we have to resolve.

SamDoe1

You have power back yet?

00TL-P3.2

>24 hours up so far.
Pool stuff still frozen, so no idea if there's further damage than the heater manifold.

CCColtsicehockey

Such crazy weather. So much further north than you guys and I never ever bother to winterize my sprinkler system. Hopefully, those are your only two freeze related issues.

00TL-P3.2

Parts should be coming in for the pool heater today. We'll see once I get it all up to pressure if there are any other leaks.
Luckily, Inyo Pools seems to have a pretty deep catalog of parts & reasonable pricing. Actually got recommended to them by a Leslie's employee, one of the reasons I like this particular Leslie's store. They don't push chemicals & actually try to save you some $$$.

00TL-P3.2

Parts are here.

Forecast shows rain for the next 5 days.

00TL-P3.2

Heater manifold replaced. Bit of a pain to do, but pretty straightforward.
Pump housing on the main filter pump is cracked The other 2 pumps appear to be fine & were running without issue..
Luckily, it's a replaceable part, now to order & wait; then hope nothing else is broken once I get things running & up to pressure.