Annoying Stuff Again

I hate to keep being all negative because it is all "generally" minor, but the list continues grows...   

1.  The computer continues to restart randomly.  It doesn't seem to be any particular program.  I only use about 5.  But sometimes it is fine for days with them, and sometimes it is several times and hour.  The message I get means there is most likely an outdated program or one that has fallen into incompatiblity.

I thought maybe I had gotten lucky the other day.  I have Microsoft Office 365 for Mac.  I did get a few screen alerts that my "Microsoft Updater Assistant is no longer active".  So I found it for download and installed.  No change.  I think I need to open every single program/app and check the update status.  That probably won't help.  😞

2.  The color toner printer still won't communicate with the computer.  I noticed at one site about using a special printer cable.  It has a small square plug.  I have one somewhere.  I had it in my hands 2 weeks ago, but I can't find it now.  It is probably in that weird place where you put "things you don't want to lose track of".  😡

3.  I mentioned that the garden enclosure pipes were bent and/or fallen from a heavy January snowfall.  The good news is that the weather is warming enough to work outside.  The bad news is now I have to actually go out and do it.  

4.  I keep my passwords on a spreadsheet printed out from an old standalone computer.  That's unhackable!  But the printout is so old and over-written with changes that it has become unusable.  I have to completely redo the whole thing.  I have 1Password but don't like the idea.  If someone breaks into that, they get get everything.  My password is Really Difficult, but no password is unhackable.  And a Really Difficult password to hack is also Really Annoying to enter every time.

I wonder if there is a fingerprint/face ID external plugin?  That should be safe.  But for now, I will just go back to a printout from the standalone.  That's a lot of really careful typing!  😒

5.  Lori has been in heat again since Tuesday.  That's the 3rd time in 7 weeks!  Hopefully, it will end today.  It better end soon, because she is scheduled for a 3rd try at a spay on Monday.  If it gets delayed again, I may lose my mind.  At least the platelet count confusion is all cleared up now.

6.  I'm having a terrible time leaving comments when The Mews visit their friends.  Autofill wont't work on Firefox or Safari lately, and when it does, the comments don't go through.  I read, just am having trouble leaving comments.

7.  The heat pump is making odd noises lately.  I expect a failure soon.  25 years ago, when the first one failed, I considered having underground pipes installed for one (about $15,000).  Underground temps stay about 50F or like that, and that is very efficient for heat pumps.  I didn't know I would stay here so long.  It would have paid for itself by now.

8.  New problem!  And this one is a bit long.  My kitchen sink suddenly started leaking Thursday night.  I had run the dishwasher and the garbage disposal and run the faucet, so I couldn't tell the cause.  I stuck a small bucket under the drips.  The next morning, I just ran the faucet and it dripped.  Seemed like good news, as it suggested there was just a loose connection somewhere.

But when I went to empty the inch of water in the bucket, I discovered the entire bottom of the cabinet was flooded.  An entire 75 container of dishwasher detergent pods are fused and everything in cardboard is soaked.  OK, that is really minor stuff.  But I'm more worried that the cabinet floor will rot and leaked water into the basement below where I will see it ruining ceiling tiles a few days.

I couldn't find and loose connections.  I'm no plumber anyway.  So I called one around Noon Friday.  They were booked for the day, but could come out 3-5 pm on overtime ($250/hour).   I asked about today (Sat).  Overtime again.  And no Sunday work.  And on Monday I am busy with Lori and her spay and picking her up after.  So it would have been Tuesday before regular rates.  I decided I couldn't get along without running water in the sink for 4 days.

So I said OK come Friday 3-5.  The plumber came by promptly, took one look and said your garbage disposal needs to be replaced.  He said it was leaking from the bottom.  Well, I could see that but leaks from above always drip off the lowest point.  I was unsure.  The faucet drain, the disposal, the sprayer, and the dishwasher all go through mutual connections.

He showed me that the water was coming out of 2 small holes in the bottom.  Apparently they are there for that reason.  OK.  I asked him if he had a disposal in the truck.  He said yes, but it would cost $550.  He said, well there is the labor and parts and everything.

I got burned by the "I have one in the truck" thing before as part of a heat pump repair once.  The repairman did work on the heat pump, but it kept cycling from heat to cool.  He said I had a bad thermostat that didn't match my equipment, but he "had one in the truck".  For $400...  

Given that the house was about 95F and I had barely slept for the 2 days it took them to arrive (I wilt over 75F), I very reluctantly agreed.  It didn't help.  To save you from a longer story, go to the end of this post where you can skip it if you want.

Back to the plumber...  This guy was offerring a $550 replacement job for a new garbage disposal.  I said, you know I can just buy a new one at Home Depot and install it myself in 30 minutes.  He looked at me with a slight smile, so I told him I had installed this one and the previous one.  I can't do actual plumbing (finding leak sources, fitting pipes, soldering copper connections, etc), but replacing equipment was easy enough.  

He was more than generous about the visit and didn't charge me.  Well, it was 2 minutes and I was on his way to another local customer.  And I have had them to service for me before.  He said to call them if I had a problem.  Or if I bought one myself and needed help.  That was more than fair.

What I didn't know was that disposals have changed since the last time I bought one to install.  I went straight to Consumer Report magazine site to find the best  models at a good price.  The best have plug-in cords and narrower openings so you can't reach in lest you also stupidly turn it on while retrieving a dropped object in there.  The silly thing is that a child's hand can fit in.  And I don't have an plugin electrical outlet under the sink.

So I had to research new disposals for an hour.  Some were expensive and bragged about grinding up bones and peach pits.  I don't do that.  Some bragged they ground the material fine enough to be suitable for septic tanks.  I don't have one.  Some bragged about outlet plug-ins.  I don't have one down there.  Some bragged about "continuous feed" or oppositely "bulk feed" (which are oddly expensive for reasons I do not know).

I finally found the best-rated hard-wired, continuous feed, reasonably priced model, according to CR I could get quickly (tomorrow) from Amazon (cheapest).  It isn't the top-rated, but all the better ones need an electrical outlet for plug-in.  It will probably last 10 years.

BTW, when the plumber guy asked how I installed them myself, I smiled.  They are awkward to hold in place AND attach bolts at the same time.  I told him I just stuck a scissors-jack under them and twister the handle tight.  He blinked and I could see him thinking "I should get one".

Well, when you live alone and have to hold awkward things in place, you thing of things like that.  LOL!

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The case of the wretched and rip-off heat pump (and eventually fixed) repair.

This is in the past, so not really important.  It is about how some individuals try to rip you off but the company can fix.  But as long as you are here, read on...

I don't have great luck with heat pumps.  They die after about 8 years.  2 of my neighbors have had theirs for 15 years.

So my heat pump died some 8 years ago in August.  I called the company that installed it.  They sent an idiot.  He worked on the outside unit and hooked up some testing equipment.  First, he said it was running properly, but then decided it needed more coolant.  He added more.  It seemed to work.  The air from the vents was cool.  He left.

Then I realized the heat pump was always on, recycling between cooling and heating every few minutes.  I called the company and they sent the same guy out.  Well, it made sense, he had just worked on the unit.

He decided my thermostat had failed.  He had one in the truck.  $400.  I was desperate, so OK.  The cooling came on and I was thrilled.  It seemed to work.  He left.  Then the heat/cooling cycling returned after mere minutes.  And I could hear whistling noises through the internal unit.

I called the company and told them about it saying they better send an actual expert this time.  They did, the next morning.  I said "it sounds over-pressured".  Well, professionals hate amateur guesses.  But he heard the whistling noises too when he arrived and agreed..  I also explained about the thermostat (and complained about the price).  Apparently, some repairmen get to sell parts for their own profit on the side.

The guy who came out was an actual manager of the business.  He agreed the repair had been done badly.  The higher than normal coolant pressure (whistling noises) was likely to have caused damage (and he gave me a brief nod for identifying that).  

He had the entire internal mechanical structure of the heat pump replaced at no cost.  And he examined the thermostat.  

This part is truly weird.  Thermostats display degrees in whole digits.  But some actually operate in 1/2 degrees.  And apparently, that matters but can be changed.  I'm not sure about how that works.  But, in any case, the real expert also adjusted the thermostat to match the heat pump (way out of my depth here).