Electrical Troubles

Grr! On July 28 this year, my heat pump failed. It was SO hot in the house! I called a couple of repair places, but they said "two days". I was dismayed. I found a listing that said "24 hour service, no additional charge". Great. I called and they were there in an hour! Their conclusion was that the unit had been hit by an electrical charge, the compressor was fried, and there was probably damage to other circuits that they couldn't test without a working compressor (which would cost about 1/2 the cost of replacing the whole unit. They could do the replacement the next morning.

Well, there HAD been a tremendous lightening crash directly overhead the night before. I jumped 3 feet, and all the cats were puffed up like big tribbles! So there was some logic to their conclusion. The replacement cost was about what I guessed, and I know the Ruud brand. I accepted.

Sure enough, they arrived in mid-morning and completed the replacement in 2 hours. Everything worked immediately, and they even converted the battery-powered thermostat to AC "as a favor". That may or not have been a mistake, but it seemed like such a minor thing at the time.

Some odd things followed. My oven clock suddenly started gaining 15 minutes per hour, and my M/V turntable turned at a different speed (I know because I heat my morning green tea water 1:30 minutes every time and for years it stopped in exactly the same position). Suddenly it didn't, and randomly positioned. Trivial, but weird.

Fast-forward to Oct 1st last week. I turned on the heat cycle for the first time, and it worked fine. 4 times in the next 5 days, the main house circuit breaker tripped. The 1st time, I assumed it was the whole neighborhood. But going outside, I realized it was only my house! I found the main breaker tripped and reset it. The next 3 times it was really annoying. I had my power company out Saturday morning to check their incoming line. They found no problems and suggested the main breaker on my end had to be replaced.

Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, I noticed that my heat pump (on "heat") was running continuously. And then I discovered that sometimes it was putting out warm air and sometimes cool air. Without ever seeming to turn off in between. Weird (and possibly expensive).

But when the main breaker (whole circuit box) tripped while I was taking a shower and covered with lather, I was compelled to act. Well, you shower in the dark if you want. ;) I called an electrician this morning (and he arrived in an hour!). After 30 minutes of diagnostics on the circuit box, he couldn't find any problem with it. I mentioned the heat pump problem. He wouldn't try to repair it himself, but he said it appeared to be locked on A/C but also intermittently producing emergency resistance heat. He left saying he would try to find a main breaker replacement part (it's old) and call with a price. But he said I needed to call the heat pump company because it wasn't working properly.

So I did, and they arrived after 3 hours (these fast response times are amazing). The service guy checked the inside unit, outside unit, and found some wiring oddities which he fixed. When he reset the thermostat, he was surprised that the problem remained. He spent more diagnosing the system to no avail, then went and checked the thermostat. He used some different instruments and said it wasn't working right. He went and rewired the heat pump as it was originally, then tested the thermostat again. Same problem. I agreed to have the thermostat replaced. He said converting it to AC was a mistake and changed it back to battery power.

Without him changing any wiring or parts afterwords, the new thermostat made everything work perfectly. However, he pointed out that nothing in the entire heat pump system should have been able to trip the main house breaker switch! In other words, the maximum surge draw of the heat pump even with problems is only 26 amps and I had 60 to spare (plus I had not been drawing half the capacity at any time). So basically, he said the heat pump was fixed but he couldn't think of any connection between that problem and the main breaker tripping.

So I still wait for the main power breaker to trip again at any time... If the first electrician calls with a reasonable cost of replacing the main breaker, I will just have it done. Getting caught in pitch black with soap in your eyes is not much fun, after all...

Why don't I ever have any "normal" problems? Everything that I can't fix myself is admittedly "weird" to the professionals who come. Maybe I just fix the routine problems. Or maybe it's just "mean ETs". LOL!

Boat Canopy Design

I think I have it figured out now. I needed basic frame strength (cubes) plus top support (arches with a ridgepole) for shedding rain and snow. And a sturdy cover.

Got them all figured out now!

The canopy is designed to be separate from the boat. I park the boat and just pull the canopy over it. No trying to back it into a small shelter in the dark. Making the canopy as small and unintrusive as possible.

The base is made of 1.25" PVC pipe. The bottom of the base is like a sled; only a crosspiece at the back bottom. Above the boat, there are crosspieces for rigidity and strength. Those crosspieces above the boat are 6" higher than the highest part of the boat for safe clearance.

The top of the canopy frame is made from .5" PVC pipe and fittings so it can be bent into an arch. Arches are strong and so can be made from easily bendable smaller PVC pipe. And I have an idea that will help support the tarp cover that I will mention later.

The design:



Dimensions of this canopy vary by boat. I need 5' high crosspieces at the top of the base to clear my 54" pedestal seats above ground. As they say, "Your requirements may vary".

Mine will be 20' long and 7' wide and about 7' tall. The 20' length will protect the boat and trailer (the trailer spare tire, winch, and hitch will last longer when sheltered). Adjust yours as needed. It's the fittings that are the tricky part unless you don't care if the structure is 10" tall!

And finding the fittings is the hardest part. I've spent weeks searching local and internet sources for all the right fittings. Rule #1: No one offers them all! So this design is one that offers one internet source for "odd fittings" and the rest really are locally available. Indeed, the design was forced by what I could get locally and from only one internet source.

The base is made of 2 parallel pipes with one cross piece at the back. This is because the whole structure is designed to be pulled over the boat and trailer wherever it is parked. The uprights from the bottom pipes and the crosspieces above the boat will make it a rigid structure.

At the point above the boat, the structure changes from 1.25" PVC pipe to .5" PVC pipe. And that's where it changes from squares to arches.

The tops of the base have 45 degree elbows (with a reducing bushing) in them. The top of the arch will have .5" cross pieces aligned as a ridgepole. From each crosspiece there will be a half arch .5" pipe into the reducing bushing.

The frame top will be covered with plastic snow fence for support of the tarp cover (and I am ordering a 12' x 20" heavy duty UV resistant tarp for only $42). The snow fence and tarp will be firmly attached to the PVC frame, not the trailer, so no boat attachments will be required. I will, however, put an eyebolt through the PVC frame on each side to attach it to the boat with a bungee cord. The boat is simply an anchor in this case. That way, it can't be blown off by wind.

My material list (letters relate to the above diagram):

A. .5" Cross - 3 each
B. 1.25" Tee - 6 each
C. 1.25" 5 Way - 6 each
D. 1.25" 3 Way - 2 each
E. Caps (not needed) - Forget that one unless you can't find some parts and need a cap for a part with an extra outlet)
F. .5" Tee - 2 each
G. 1.25" 90 degree Elbow - 2 each
H. 1.25" 4 Way - 4 each

C and H also require a 45 degree Elbow and a 1.25" to .5" Bushing - 10 each

And I think I need thirteen 10' 1.25" PVC pipes and six 10' .5" PVC pipes.

If anyone detects an error in design, please let me know ASAP!

I've bought all the fittings I can locally and ordered the other parts online (Creative Shelters). When everything arrives, I'll figure out what order to assemble the parts in, and report on that later.

I will, of course, take many pictures during construction! You can't believe how relieved I am to have finally solved the design issues. It was quite a challenge, as PVC fittings are limited in both design and availability! I could have easily done it with a 45 degree roof, but that was just too tall. I had a vision of a better way and I found it! The design aspect was half the "fun"... You wouldn't believe how many sheets of graph paper I used just getting THIS far. LOL!

When it is completed, I will probably rewrite the whole post for better clarity and add pictures, but this is the best I can do until I've actually built the thing.

AHAH, The Boat Canopy Problem Solved.

I've figured it out! Using available parts...

1. I didn't like the straight up sides and 45 degree roof because it was too tall.
2. I didn't like hoop supports because there was no top ridgepole connecting them and that was weak.
3. I didn't the gable design because it was too wide at the bottom.
4. I didn't like the tee design, because while it gave me a lower roof angle, the front an back were weird and it required way too many cuts and connectors.

So it FINALLY hit me like a cold wet fist in the dark of an alley (oh wait, that's a detective story). Seriously, I suddenly realized I could build a straight up frame to the height of the boat and THEN put in hoops on top into 45 degree elbows. I haven't seen THAT on any website. I'm sure someone has done that somewhere, but I haven't seen it anywhere.

So 1.25" pipe uprights on a sled base (no ground level cross-supports), 45 degree elbows on top with cross supports above the boat, and then 3/4" hoops over those. The 3/4" pipe will just stay in the 1.25" slip connections by torque! I'll use some solvent in there too. And my good idea is that the hoops won't just go from side to side unsupported, they will go into cross pieces ("Xs") as "half hoops" and the Xs will connect to a ridgepole!

That brings the height down to about 6', only 2' higher than the boat. And to give the top greater strength, I will attach plastic snow fence over it to support the poly tarp!

Yee Hah!

I have to rush off to sketch it on graph paper and list the parts and pipes I need! And its all available locally! I knew I would figure it out eventually...

The Stupid Boat Cover Again

Some advice requested...

I have several boat cover ideas in mind, and some have good points and bad ones. And since I have been diagramming many for days without success, I need some help. Traditional boat covers just dont work well on this jon boat. Rain pools in the cover and has to be bailed out. There just isn't any cover that fights right because of some minor modifications. And the expensive covers don't last more that a few years.

Idea #1 is a PVC frame with a tarp cover that I can just pull over the boat when I park it. The advantage is that, once built, it is really easy to use. But it is annoyingly hard to find the right pvc parts locally or online retail to build it.

Idea #2 is stretching ropes across a high stand in the center of the boat. Bungee cords and the height in the center would mean that rain should run off easily. But that would require some detailed arranging of the cover every time I used the boat. And it still requires a cover and I'm not sure how to fit it. I have problems fiting a cover because I have seats and a front motor attachment that are above the surface of the boat.

Idea #3 is a bit extreme. Park the boat in the garage and leave the car outside. Well, the car is actually a bit more weatherproof than the boat. Never let it be said I am not considering all options... LOL!

Idea #4 is to just cover the boat in black sheet plastic weighed down by bricks and cinder blocks. I have a HUGE roll of 12' wide black plastic. Its a possibility and no harm if it gets some holes poked in it (duct tape to the rescue). If it only lasts 2 years, so what? There's lots more of that on the roll.

Any suggestions? Other ideas? My ears and mind are open...

OK, Time For A Little Humor...

Life is not all projects...

Consequences of retirement:

1. Getting up at 10am is "early".
2. You learn more about your pet's daily life then you even imagined.
3. It IS possible to eat all day long.
4. Beer: "Breakfast of ex-champions".
5. Late-night Nickeldeon cartoons are great. I can't live without 'Robot Chicken'.
6. It is harder to relate to Dilbert comic strips.
7. Neighbors who mow their lawns at 10am should be arrested.
8. Never shopping at Walmart on a weekend.
9. Dr and vet appointments at 2:30 on a Thursday are great!
10. "Manyana"...
11. Spending an hour preparing dinner is not a waste of time.
12. "Inflation-adjusted annuity for life"...
13. Not sharing air with flu-ridden carpool members.
14. Watching birds at the feeders for an hour.
15. No "justifying your job" during office reorganizations.
16. And no "annual performance reviews" either.
17. And no office cafeteria food, for that matter.
18. Great movie on at 3am? No problem.
19. Going fishing on a Tuesday. Or Wednesday. Or Thursday.
20. Zinfandel with lunch!
21. Golf or fishing?
22. No kids at movie theaters.
23. My cats don't remember a time when I wasn't "there all day".
24. Making real bread.
25. Remembering truly long, boring meetings and ROTFLMAO!
26. Forgetting Excel...
27. Using a Mac and not that damn Windows computer I had to have for "compatibility".
28. No longer faking "working" on telework days.
29. Getting emails from frustrated former co-workers.
30. And just replying to them about the joy of tending to the tomatoes...

I'll leave it at that... ;)

The PVC Learning Continues - Part 2

This is becoming maddening. The manufacturers make all sorts of PVC fittings, but no one sells them locally. I have checked out all retailers within 15 miles and they have only the most limited selection.

The parts I want are available wholesale, but I don't qualify for that.

I don't want to have to buy a box of 20 when I need 5 items.

I went to 5 stores today. The last one was "the store that had everything". It didn't! They didn't even know what a "street 60 elbow" was! Well after weeks of researching, I do. I am SO PISSED!

The consequence is that I have to design the structure with what is available. That ticks me off royally, but it's my only option. Back to the drawing board...

The PVC Learning Continues...

LOL! It seems I misunderstood "slip". Slip connections won't fit into each other, but they do fit into pipes. That helps. And it means I don't have to worry about "hubs"!

But still, I went back to Home Depot and Lowe's and they just don't have complete selections in any size. I am going to a plumbing specialist store tomorrow. The Home Depot Plumbing Manager suggested one locally. I certainly didn't know about the place.

The local HD and Lowe's have basic parts and I wrote down the prices of the parts they do stock (and to indicate what parts they stock). But I'll be fair about it, if the specialty plumbing store offers competitive prices (within 10% of the HD and Lowe's cost) for the basic parts, I will reward them for the selection by buying all parts there.

Wow, this project is taking so much more time for the design and supply, it is weird. I normally work in wood, so the design is the hard part and the supplies are easy!

I can't wait to get this one done because the parts are so annoying to obtain!

No Project Day

Well, maybe call it "Project Relax". I simply had a good relaxing day today.

First, I went fishing with my best friend Jeffrey. On the way to the fishing place, we stopped at a farmers market. There is lots of crap merchandise there, but still some Amish stands. We bought pickles and relishes from them, and we found a small basket of tomatoes to split between us. There are a few stands with tools and we saw some very strange ones. I wish I had remembered to bring my camera. Some tools were really THAT weird.

We got to the "lake" (a reservoir actually - no one outside of Maryland would call it a lake). Maryland is one of the few states that actually has no natural lakes. But we like to fish there.

We were out on the water at 4 pm. Fishing 10 minutes later. We were using only top water flies and bass bugs. The wind was light, the water was still, the temp was 75 degrees F, the light was partly cloudy... A perfect day to be out fishing. We didn't catch a thing (the previous time, we caught a bass and 3 panfish, so there ARE fish there). But we had strikes and nibbles, so there was some excitement.

Fly fishing for bass is not productive, but we enjoyed it. The lake (it is actually also a State Park) closes at sunset, so we were on our way home after only 3 hours.

As we returned home, we stopped at Home Depot (a big box hardware store if you don't know of it) and looked for some stuff. Jeffrey wanted special cleaning product (which we didn't find), but he found knee pads. I found some neoprene gloves and nylon strap tie-downs for the boat. My old ones weren't holding any more.

After Jeffrey left for home, I made a great dinner. Filet Mignon, baked potato, steamed broccoli, and tomato salad. With wine (Zinfandel)...

Watched some great TV afterward, (Miracle Planet for 3 hours, and finally my favorite animation - Kim Possible - at 1:30 am). Next time, back to projects! I finally cleared out another framed garden box a yesterday! No more weeds, poison ivy, or day lilies left there! And it took an hour to finally dig out the sapling that was deep in that bed. I had to dig down 2 feet in a 2 ft circle to finally get it up. But it was worth the effort!

More about that next time...

Boat Canopy

I am so tired of buying $200 boat covers that pool water no matter how tight I tie them, rip at the corners and only last 2 years anyway! So, I got it in my mind to simply build a tentlike cover of standard black plastic sheet on a PVC pipe frame that could just be slid over the boat like a movable carport. I have spent 4 days learning all sorts of things about PVC fittings and is is very complicated. I found sites that had designs for structures, I found sites that sold connectors, and I found sites that sold kits.

Nowhere did I find a site that actually explained what all the fitting choices meant! There are "slip fittings", "hub fittings", "fipt fittings", "sanitary fittings", "street fittings", "furniture grade", "utility grade", "gray", "white", schedule 40", schedule 80", etc, etc, etc.

But I did figure it all out eventually. Indeed, I now know more about PVC pipe fittings than I ever wanted to! Add in the fact that the manufacturers don't want to sell to individuals and the local retailers carry limited selections, and it gets really hard to design what you want.

Just as examples (as best I have figured it out): "Slip" means the end fits inside a hub. "Hub" means there is a larger flange for a slip. "fipt" means that the pipe fitting screws on. "Sanitary fitting" means that the angles go out in a curve. "Schedule" means the amount of pressure the pipes can withstand. "Gray" is more UV resistant than "white". "Street" means that one end has a hub and the other end is a slip. Arggh!

Building a box frame from PVC pipe is not tricky or expensive. Its the FITTINGS and COUPLINGS of any form that deviates from that that are. I designed a first one easily. All I needed were some "4 way 60 degree angles". But no one makes those.

And even when I figured out a design that used standard manufacturer fittings, I discovered that no local stores sold all of them (individually or collectively). Some manufacturers will sell individual fittings "by the box" to individuals. Great, I need 3 on something, and the box holds 20!

As long as I am ranting on this, I will complain about local "big box" retailer websites. They are totally unorganized. You would think they would list their PVC fittings either by pipe size (1 inch, 2 inch) or by type (90 degree elbows, tee fittings, etc). No, they are totally random. You have to search through hundreds of items to find the one you want. And they don't list half the fittings that I know are in the store! That's BAD website organization...

The "kit" sellers are the worst. They offer plans for various constructions, but mention that you have to buy all the pipe separately. In other words, all they are selling are the connectors. And they get 3 times the price for those. LOL! Its like finding a shed "kit" and discovering that all they are selling you is a design and nails...

I'll work the design out tomorrow with what is available locally retail...

Fishing Rod Rack Project, Completed

I decided to give the rod rack 2 coats of polyurathane. I couldn't do all surfaces each day, so it took 4 days. It's not that it will get much wear and tear, but in the garage it will be exposed to a lot of humidity changes and there isn't anything in the construction that will allow much natural warp shifting.

So here are the final pictures:











Construction Notes: If I had it to do over again, I would have made the 3/4 holes on the top shelf smaller. The opening only needs to be large enough to accept the upper part of the rod. Also, I would make the base holes a bit larger (or at a slight angle). A couple of the base holes were a bit tight.

Fishing Equipment Notes: Anyone looking at the actual rods will notice I have 3 bait-casting rods, 4 spin-casting rods, and 3 fly-casting rods. From the left, the first 3 are for casting baits and large weights into tidal waters, the second 3 are for casting different weight lures in freshwater, and the last 3 are fly rods. 1 of those is a short rod for barrel loop casts in shrubby conditions, 1 is for for casting heavy bass flies and popping bugs, and the one in the cover is my "good real fly rod" for trout. The one spinning rod without a reel (7th from left) is just kind of lonely and waiting for a new reel. The short stubby rod (8th from left) is a "Chesapeake Bay" rod for dropping bait from a boat straight down. I've never caught a fish with it, but I keep it around just in case it is "the right one for some trip". LOL!

If anyone has a question about the construction (or anything else), just leave a comment...

Next project: Movable PVC frame tent for the boat.