What home improvement work did you do today?

Throwback to last March:

HVAC system (in attic) was short-cycling - e.g., it would run and get the temp inside up to 70, and shut off...and 5 minutes later, it'd start running again.

I had the local insulation firm come out and it turns out

- more insulation was needed (MUCH more in some places)
- some of the vent runs were terrible

Had more insulation blown in, and the vent runs repaired, etc. Now at the same outside temperatures it'll maintain inside temperature for 20-40 minutes before needing to kick on again, which of course is a major improvement.

 

Installed a few of these in hallways this afternoon. Easy swap, no brainer. Got tired of night lights hanging off outlets, for the kids and guests. LED and light sensor is all integrated into the cover plate. Cashed in on BlackFriday/CyberMonday deals, otherwise shit is overpriced IMHO. grabbed a couple of 4-packs, plan on gifting them off to my parents for the holidays if they’re solid. I was worried they may not work because I use the side posts (push-in is lame), but there really was no problem at all. Fire right up. 2min install per outlet.

 

Another exaggerated pic, iPhone would only let me do long exposure but you get the idea. Basement gym I finished out for the wife a couple years ago now. No windows, so dark as can be w/o lights on. In reality it’s only 1/4 as bright as this pic. Not obnoxious enough that I think it’d screw with my sleep.

 

I keep telling myself I'm going to do this.
Looks good!

 

I know this was beat to death pretty well, but I wanted to chime in from a different area of the country...

As mentioned by shifty, I caulk the front 80-90%, leaving the back exposed. This creates a clean seal, ensures sanitary conditions with cleaning, looks good and functions as intended. If the ring fails or there is an internal failure, i will find water at the rear of the toilet. Makes the mess, but makes it cleaner for the other 99% of the time.

 

I've got nothing to add other than it's really cool seeing other people enjoy these wall plates! My best friend was the inventor and founder of SnapPower (he has subsequently sold his stake).

He also happens to own a 2021 Double cab in MGM, haha.

 

Yeah, at their current price point, I'm feeling you on this one.

I will say, I'm absolutely shocked scAmazon appears free of product knockoffs for them. Not that I'd use them if they existed, because I don't play with knockoffs when it comes to things that could burn my house down or leave me stranded. Good on them for either keeping their PI intact and/or patent infringement under control. I wish them the best, but doubt I'll be buying more outside of gift purposes. Great product so far, though! Ingenious functionality that works great with modern outlets if the side posts are wound down.

 

Interesting you should mention knockoffs - at one point it almost tanked the company. Chinese knockoffs flooded the market, grabbing huge amounts of marketshare. Then there was the liability side where defective knockoffs were associated with SnapPower. I don't know all the legalities behind it, but I can tell you I saw a pile of scorched wall plates that had been "warrantied", even though they weren't from SnapPower.

Oh and the legal battles over IP infringement. The chinesium manufacturers strength was in their seemingly endless numbers. At one point, my friend said they were losing millions a month due to legal battles and marketshare loss.

My buddy had a lot of pride in his product. In the beginning phases he had leveraged his home to put up capital to get things going - he told me his biggest motivator was how he would feel if he gave up and saw someone else find success with his idea. What he was most proud of was not so much the overall utility, but in the design that kept it simple and almost universal to use. He personally spent a lot of time on the metallurgy and engineering of the power prongs.

I digress. It's really cool seeing other people enjoy his idea/product. Even if he doesn't own the company anymore.

 

Building a new firewood shed (4.5 cords about). Took apart a fence and tried to use as much of the PT posts/stringers as possible in this build.

 

Dang thats nice
Any specific reason why you sloped the roof that way?

 

I really like this. I threw one together this fall a little smaller and used logs I harvested from the woods, then threw metal siding along with metal roofing on it. Mine holds roughly 3 cords. I'll have to snap a pic or two of it tomorrow.

 

Haha I pondered over this alot. Eventually decided I would like the head room and it’s easier to load the top layers. The big con is all the water goes in one spot so will need to put in a bunch of clear gravel/rock all over I think.

 

Good looking wood shed! Might have to copy that

That's funny, I always look at roof slopes with snow in mind

 

^^^. and south facing as well.

 

Throw a simple gutter on the backside and angle it towards where you’re standing in the pic, then 45° angle it toward the ground on the opening side, and done. Maybe it’s just camera distortion but looks like the ground naturally favors where you’re standing. Should be a pretty easy run. Bonus: it may catch the runoff from the barn too so the barn doesn’t throw water all over the back wall or the wood in the woodstock.

 

Put these in just about every room in the house, no more looking for Power Blocks any more. Great Idea. Put a few of the lighted outlets in the hallway upstairs but didn't seem to put out much light. love the idea but execution was lacking

 

mine does that but not in the attic. I've tried everything and have no idea what's wrong. only the ac and not the heat

 

Have you had an HVAC annual inspection / tune up done on it? Lots of AC companies offer these for pretty cheap.

 

ive had 2 different companies out and they both agreed it shouldn't be doing that but also said they can't find anything wrong

 

They aren’t very good HVAC companies then. HVAC is relatively simple. It’s heat in and heat out. Surely they can figure out the imbalance in your system, if they want to.

 

the heat works great but the ac will kick on and not stay on more than 5 minutes every time

 

What part of the AC specifically?

Is the blower on the air handler kicking off?

Is the compressor outside or its fan kicking off?

Do you have a digital thermostat that is potentially causing the issue?

That is, to ask, “What is the symptom, what is physically turning off?”

I helped my friend after two diff’t companies came out and couldn’t figure out his issue, wanted to replace the whole furnace, thousands of dollars. I forget the exact problem, heat would kick on, then back off or something. Helped him trace it back to the board. Replacement board was only $85 on fleaBay. Swapped it in, moving over one connector at a time. Problem resolved. Bad board.

 

The outside unit runs for 5 minutes then kicks off then it will stay off for 5-7 minutes then when it starts back up it runs for 4 minutes then kicks off again. The only time it will run longer is say I have it set for 70 then I turn it down to 68 it will run longer to get to that temp then once it does every time it runs it will then again run for 5 minutes at a time. Thats what’s confusing. I do have a digital thermostat and thought that was the problem and switched it out and did the same thing. Do you think I should replace the board ?
Thanks

 

Sounds like a safety or overload kicking it out, but you said you switched stats and still the same

I hate diagnosing bad boards, it’s a last resort because it’s usually the most expensive fix; my neighbors grandpa had me over for his furnace that is from 1989……. The gas valve is bad and it’s like 500$ just for the part, I don’t want to upsell him but after labor that money is better spent for a new unit…..

 

Exactly my thought. Sounds like thermal overload. The only way to know for sure would be to check signal wire, see if the signal is kicking off from the panel. If not, then it’s definitely something with the compressor or related paraphernalia. And if the signal is kicking off on the wiring (the thin wires in sheath) then you need to figure out why, must be on the board side of things or t-stat.

 

Some more trouble shooting questions. When you say the OD unit shuts off is it the entire unit (OD fan stops spinning?) (indoor fan stays running?)
Sorry about this next question but is the temp in the house warm? Oversized systems will cause a lot of confusion in trouble shooting.

 

If thermal overload he would still have condenser fan motor running I'm thinking. I asked a couple of more questions cause in rereading his post it kinda sounds like he is at temp inside but not 100% sure.