Home Improvement Thread

Postby **tifosi77** » Sat Feb 24, 2018 6:13 pm

As a guy who painted his entire house this past weekend, I envy you being able to hire a painter. lol

We do interior stuff ourselves (badly), but no way I'm doing a surface that will end up on Street View for the world to see.

Postby **DigitalGypsy66** » Sun Feb 25, 2018 9:42 am

Yeah, external stuff is worth ponying up the cash: ladders/scaffolding and prep work alone make it tough for weekend warriors.

Postby **LITT** » Mon Feb 26, 2018 10:47 am

does anyone use sketchup? someone sent me .skp files of a schematic and i can't seem to get the detailed specs for measurements, etc

Postby **mac5155** » Mon Feb 26, 2018 11:06 am

Bought $1500 of tile and supplies @ Home Depot this weekend. Activated 5% Discover cashback at gas stations... went and bought HD gift cards... bought tile with gift cards... enjoyed $75 of cash back and 30 gallons of free fuel. #winning

Postby **tifosi77** » Mon Feb 26, 2018 1:59 pm

And of course, 24 hours after finishing the paint job temps dropped nearly 10 degrees and it rained overnight last night. Woohoo!

We'll see how well things hold, and if we need any touch ups.

Postby **blackjack68** » Mon Feb 26, 2018 2:51 pm

24 hours should be fine.

Postby **mac5155** » Mon Feb 26, 2018 4:47 pm

24 hours @ 77 degrees with 50% relative humidity, yes...

Postby **tifosi77** » Mon Feb 26, 2018 7:17 pm

The mean temp all day yesterday was 50°F, which was the go-no-go temp according to the contractor, plus persistent rain for 2 1/2 hours this morning.

Guy was really good, I've never worked with a contractor that was so on point. When he came over for the quote, he handed me a 3" sheaf of documentation: His business license, his bond, his Angie's List letter, three or four double-sided pages of past jobs he's done. I more or less made the decision to work with him within the first two minutes, and before I even saw his quote.

Postby **shafnutz05** » Mon Feb 26, 2018 9:23 pm

Source of the post The ceiling fan in my MBR started to hum the other day, and I've ruled out the remote receiver.
Either the bearings or the motor. It's only going to get worse. You could try to tighten up the blades or try balancing them out, as that's most likely the reason for the bad bearings/motor.
I replaced the capacitor in the fan and voila, humming back to normal. That was a nice $10 fix.

The fan in our guest bathroom downstairs is awfully loud. I've never gotten around to fixing it, but should probably get around to it at some point.

Postby **NTP66** » Tue Feb 27, 2018 6:57 am

If the noise isn't grinding (bearings) or rattling (parts rubbing), this is a very inexpensive troubleshooting step. You just need to make sure that you match the micro farad value (4uf, 5uf, etc.), and come close on the VAC. My old one was a 300VAC cap, but they apparently don't make those anymore, so I settled on 250VAC, which is more than sufficient for a ceiling fan motor.

Postby **robbiestoupe** » Tue Feb 27, 2018 8:25 am

If the noise isn't grinding (bearings) or rattling (parts rubbing), this is a very inexpensive troubleshooting step. You just need to make sure that you match the micro farad value (4uf, 5uf, etc.), and come close on the VAC. My old one was a 300VAC cap, but they apparently don't make those anymore, so I settled on 250VAC, which is more than sufficient for a ceiling fan motor.

I'm guessing it was a cold solder that was causing the noise. Soldering is one of those things that if you don't practice it often, you can make a quick mess out of things.

Postby **NTP66** » Tue Feb 27, 2018 8:28 am

If the noise isn't grinding (bearings) or rattling (parts rubbing), this is a very inexpensive troubleshooting step. You just need to make sure that you match the micro farad value (4uf, 5uf, etc.), and come close on the VAC. My old one was a 300VAC cap, but they apparently don't make those anymore, so I settled on 250VAC, which is more than sufficient for a ceiling fan motor.
I'm guessing it was a cold solder that was causing the noise. Soldering is one of those things that if you don't practice it often, you can make a quick mess out of things.

No solder here, I cut out the old cap and spliced the new one in using plastic wire connectors. The old cap actually looked totally normal; no bulges or bubbles at all. That said, it was from 2009, and they can definitely go bad without showing physical signs of wear.

Postby **Silentom** » Tue Feb 27, 2018 9:12 am

Your talking to me all wrong. It's the wrong tone. You do it again, and I'll stab you in the face with a soldering iron.

Postby **willeyeam** » Tue Feb 27, 2018 9:13 am

you're

Postby **Silentom** » Tue Feb 27, 2018 9:14 am

see location

Postby **NTP66** » Tue Feb 27, 2018 9:14 am

I think you're in the wrong thread, bud.

Postby **blackjack68** » Tue Feb 27, 2018 10:40 am

Your talking to me all wrong. It's the wrong tone. You do it again, and I'll stab you in the face with a soldering iron.

Settle down Clem

Postby **NTP66** » Wed Feb 28, 2018 7:19 am

If the noise isn't grinding (bearings) or rattling (parts rubbing), this is a very inexpensive troubleshooting step. You just need to make sure that you match the micro farad value (4uf, 5uf, etc.), and come close on the VAC. My old one was a 300VAC cap, but they apparently don't make those anymore, so I settled on 250VAC, which is more than sufficient for a ceiling fan motor.
I'm guessing it was a cold solder that was causing the noise. Soldering is one of those things that if you don't practice it often, you can make a quick mess out of things.

I think we might have been talking about different types of capacitors. It sounds like you were thinking of caps that are soldered to a circuit board, but I was referring to an in-line cap:

Postby **Silentom** » Wed Feb 28, 2018 7:55 am

That looks more like a potted circuit breaker.

Postby **NTP66** » Wed Feb 28, 2018 7:58 am

It does, yes.

Postby **robbiestoupe** » Wed Feb 28, 2018 8:22 am

I was thinking of a board type capacitor, yes. The humming sound you described earlier sometimes comes from a cold solder joint. I didn't mention it at first, because I have only heard of the hum coming from large electronics like an old tube TV or a computer.

Now I'm curious as to why a potted capacitor would make a humming sound.

Postby **willeyeam** » Wed Feb 28, 2018 8:23 am

This is probably a very beginner level question but whatever I don't have a ton of shame. My floodlights above my garage were motion sensor.. I hit the wrong switch one day turning my porch light on and turned the floodlights off. So turned them back on and now they're just on all the time if the switch is on. How tf do I turn them back to just being motion sensored? I remember my parents had an odd switch like this growing up and I never understood it

This has been resolved.

Postby **meow** » Wed Feb 28, 2018 8:27 am

THANK GOD

Postby **NTP66** » Wed Feb 28, 2018 8:28 am

Now I'm curious as to why a potted capacitor would make a humming sound.

I was wondering the same thing, but apparently it can happen. Odd that I didn't see any of the other, more common issues with the fan, like the fan only turning on one speed, or the lights flickering. Either way, it was a $10 fix and after a few days, now the fan is dead silent.

Postby **willeyeam** » Wed Feb 28, 2018 8:28 am

THANK GOD

I could sense the suspense getting to everyone.