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[Homeowner/House] Thread. How long is it going to take? Two weeks!

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Posts

  • webguy20webguy20 I spend too much time on the Internet Registered User regular
    That_Guy wrote: »
    I did it. I finally bought a new bed. I've only ever had hand-me-down mattresses. My current mattress is one my grandpa rejected and relegated to his guest bedroom 20 years ago. I inherited it 10 years ago when he had to move into a nursing home and no longer had a guest bedroom. For the last 5 years I've had a memory foam topper on it in a vain attempt to make it a little more comfortable. It's no longer working and I just couldn't stand it anymore.

    I went a little crazy and got a really nice mattress and a power adjustable frame. I went around to 3 different places today, laid on a bunch of mattresses and decided that I liked a $2800 set the best. I didn't even go with the highest end options. They had options going all the way up to $6500 for the whole set. Some mattresses alone went up to $5500. I decided I really like the adjustable frame. Having the front slightly elevated was a lot more comfortable when I was laying on my side. My mattress wasn't in stock so it'll be a couple of weeks before everything arrives. I'm really looking forward to it!

    A good bed, a good chair and a good pair of shoes. Everything else is negotiable.

    Steam ID: Webguy20
    Origin ID: Discgolfer27
    Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
  • electricitylikesmeelectricitylikesme Registered User regular
    edited November 2021
    I keep wiring up 2 way light switches in my house when I start doing light switches. Which is great! The bedroom will have a light switch at the door and the bed! Luxury.

    With that said, I just discovered if you kneel in the attic for 8 hours (might've been more), then your ham strings are basically wrecked if you try to crouch down afterwards.

    Also I want to go into business with a new home automation line because holy fucking christ, how come in 2021 I still need to point to point light switches and lights? Why is no one doing powerline ethernet for protocol, and selling it as a trade speed improvement that all you have to do is run live and neutral to switches and sockets and then everything can be reprogrammed from there.

    electricitylikesme on
  • SummaryJudgmentSummaryJudgment Grab the hottest iron you can find, stride in the Tower’s front door Registered User regular
    edited November 2021
    We had our laundry room painted a few weeks ago and I just noticed that, starting at about knee-level, there are droplet watermarks running down the paint and then there's a pool of dried paint/water sitting on top of the baseboards.

    What am I looking at here? I don't recall this being an issue with the previous dark paint. Did it not dry/cure properly, is it a ventilation issue and we should make sure to leave the door open, should i be calling a cleaner to blow out the dryer line?

    fsedPLgh.jpg
    lYXRSBch.jpg

    It's prettymuch piss-yellow in person on white walls and baseboards :bigfrown:

    SummaryJudgment on
    Some days Blue wonders why anyone ever bothered making numbers so small; other days she supposes even infinity needs to start somewhere.
  • MichaelLCMichaelLC In what furnace was thy brain? ChicagoRegistered User regular
    edited November 2021
    I would carefully clean it off the walls and baseboards. I like Behr paint wipes to keep from wiping the paint off, especially the walls. Watch to see if it appears again.

    Then see if it's coming from inside or outside. Is water being splashed onto the wall? Is it a leak coming in from inside the wall or window?

    It doesn't look like it's coming from inside the wall - could be either splashing or a condensation issue.

    MichaelLC on
  • SiliconStewSiliconStew Registered User regular
    We had our laundry room painted a few weeks ago and I just noticed that, starting at about knee-level, there are droplet watermarks running down the paint and then there's a pool of dried paint/water sitting on top of the baseboards.

    What am I looking at here? I don't recall this being an issue with the previous dark paint. Did it not dry/cure properly, is it a ventilation issue and we should make sure to leave the door open, should i be calling a cleaner to blow out the dryer line?

    fsedPLgh.jpg
    lYXRSBch.jpg

    It's prettymuch piss-yellow in person on white walls and baseboards :bigfrown:

    Is this happening just to the right of your washer? If so, it's water drops getting flung onto the wall when you take the wet clothes out. The water leaches pigments out of the paint and you get colored stains from it as it runs down the wall. Was it just standard interior paint or bathroom specific paint that stands up to moisture better?

    Just remember that half the people you meet are below average intelligence.
  • HappylilElfHappylilElf Registered User regular
    It could be water droplets but frankly that looks like a condensation issue to me

  • SiliconStewSiliconStew Registered User regular
    It could be water droplets but frankly that looks like a condensation issue to me

    Certainly could be, that's why I asked if it's just in a specific location. Though I wouldn't expect general condensation issues to be limited to "knee level" and below.

    Just remember that half the people you meet are below average intelligence.
  • OptyOpty Registered User regular
    We had our laundry room painted a few weeks ago and I just noticed that, starting at about knee-level, there are droplet watermarks running down the paint and then there's a pool of dried paint/water sitting on top of the baseboards.

    What am I looking at here? I don't recall this being an issue with the previous dark paint. Did it not dry/cure properly, is it a ventilation issue and we should make sure to leave the door open, should i be calling a cleaner to blow out the dryer line?

    fsedPLgh.jpg
    lYXRSBch.jpg

    It's prettymuch piss-yellow in person on white walls and baseboards :bigfrown:

    Is this happening just to the right of your washer? If so, it's water drops getting flung onto the wall when you take the wet clothes out. The water leaches pigments out of the paint and you get colored stains from it as it runs down the wall. Was it just standard interior paint or bathroom specific paint that stands up to moisture better?

    Yeah, if it's only happening to the wall to the right (the pictures don't give context to which wall the dripping is happening) then I'd agree with this. If it were condensation I don't think it would happen at knee level on just that one wall.

  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    Everyone here has very good theories. Also is the wall with the window actually insulated?

    That all being said, leaving the laundry door cracked takes almost zero effort as an easy test.

  • matt has a problemmatt has a problem Points to 'off' Points to 'on'Registered User regular
    Old valley roof section gutted.

    V4qkQn0.jpg?1

    New structure.

    IkrWblT.jpg?2

    Sheathed

    uwtdoW8.jpg?1

    Done.

    und6bkf.jpg?1

    Eventually I'll replace the roofing with the right color. Lowe's only had green and bare galvanized though.

    I had to redo the boot around the service mast. Cutting the old one off was easy enough. Getting the power company to cut power so I could pull the wires to replace it with a standard slip-over boot would've meant power off at the house for at least a day, plus however long it took for them to come out. They make retrofit boots which are split though. But...

    nfy6dqw.jpg?1

    Oatey knows how much you don't want to call the power company. So they charge $50 for it, while the regular one is only $20. Same material, base size, fit the same pipe, only difference is the split. Just a fuck you $30 extra charge because they can.

    nibXTE7.png
  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    You can't just split the rubber on the non-split one? Also the $30 is a pittance compared to dealing with the power company but I get your point

  • matt has a problemmatt has a problem Points to 'off' Points to 'on'Registered User regular
    There wouldn't be enough material to connect back together on the regular one really, the boot material is only about 1/8th thick, not structurally sound enough to hold together with sealant. You need the rubber flange on the split one.

    nibXTE7.png
  • OneAngryPossumOneAngryPossum Registered User regular
    edited November 2021
    Removing one tree turned into removing three trees after a talk with the neighbor, who chipped in (which was nice, the extra trees border on the property line but definitely sit more in my territory, though I think they were worrying him more than me). One of the extras was growing next to an old rotted stump (right between our place and the neighbors) and had started decaying as well, the other was just a smaller random tree that was concerning the neighbor (the work crew did that one for free/I now assume I overpaid).

    Still really sucks to lose the trees, but admittedly it’s kind of nice that I get more light in basement window now. And I realized the trade off for not having the tree shade on the house is that I also won’t have to deal with as many leaves on the roof (it was so many leaves).

    They’re coming back to grind the stumps down tomorrow, so now I’ve got to start thinking of what to put in the new growing space.

    Complete aside, I’m about ready to move forward with building a basic workbench, and I’m running into an issue - most plans call for using plywood/mdf for the top surface, but my idea has been to use a number of 2x10s across a basic frame. Is there a reason to use plywood over actual lumber here, aside from the simplicity?

    OneAngryPossum on
  • AiouaAioua Ora Occidens Ora OptimaRegistered User regular

    Complete aside, I’m about ready to move forward with building a basic workbench, and I’m running into an issue - most plans call for using plywood/mdf for the top surface, but my idea has been to use a number of 2x10s across a basic frame. Is there a reason to use plywood over actual lumber here, aside from the convenience?

    A flatter and smoother surface. That also doesn't shift with changes in humidity.

    life's a game that you're bound to lose / like using a hammer to pound in screws
    fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
    that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
    bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
  • OneAngryPossumOneAngryPossum Registered User regular
    Those are excellent points - I was willing to make the trade-off in smoothness, but given the humidity swings in my workspace, that could be a real problem. I could stain/seal the pieces before assembly, but that’s going to be a pain in the ass with this many parts.

    Maybe I’ll repurpose the lumber into a couple of projects then (workbench and a proper miter saw stand) and accept the plywood tops.

    I know it’s stupid, but something about mdf/plywood feels like cheating to me.

  • AiouaAioua Ora Occidens Ora OptimaRegistered User regular
    plywood is a miracle material! it's legitimate woodworking

    you can buy fancy expensive plywood if it makes you feel better :D

    life's a game that you're bound to lose / like using a hammer to pound in screws
    fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
    that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
    bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
  • HappylilElfHappylilElf Registered User regular
    Also high quality MDF is actually really fun to work with.

  • SimpsoniaSimpsonia Registered User regular
    edited November 2021
    Hardboard panels for the top of a workbench are what you want. Super smooth, hard, flat, and even work surface that you can abuse and abuse, and replace whenever you want for $10 if they get bad enough.

    Edit: the panels are only 1/8" thick so they just top whatever surface you decide on, they can't act as the top alone.

    Simpsonia on
  • matt has a problemmatt has a problem Points to 'off' Points to 'on'Registered User regular
    edited November 2021
    You can make a perfectly good workbench out of 2x10s without a problem. You'll need a biscuit joiner though. A tabletop planer would be helpful to get each board the same thickness but it isn't necessary, you can join the pieces together and then use a belt sander and get almost the same result, it will just take longer. You'll have to rip the edges of each board to get rid of the rounding of course. Once it's assembled and the glue is dry and you've sanded the top smooth wipe it down generously with boiled linseed oil or tung oil.

    matt has a problem on
    nibXTE7.png
  • SimpsoniaSimpsonia Registered User regular
    You'd need a table saw with a good (enough) fence to rip down those 2x10's though. I doubt you'd get a consistent enough cut from a circular saw rip fence. Though, a DIY tracksaw jig for your circular saw might work too if you didn't have a table saw.

  • GilgaronGilgaron Registered User regular
    A bandsaw would do good enough to rip 2x10s if you are good with a hand plane or don't mind making a terrible mess with a belt sander to flatten things afterwards.

  • CorvusCorvus . VancouverRegistered User regular
    Woof, there’s a half duplex around the corner from me for sale for more than we paid for our house (on a duplex sized lot) three years ago. Vancouver area property market remains insane.

    :so_raven:
  • MegaMan001MegaMan001 CRNA Rochester, MNRegistered User regular
    edited November 2021
    Gilgaron wrote: »
    A bandsaw would do good enough to rip 2x10s if you are good with a hand plane or don't mind making a terrible mess with a belt sander to flatten things afterwards.

    This is one of the most crazy things I've read on these boards. A band saw blade is less than an inch in width, it's not going to be remotely straight cut. Also with the tiny workspace when compared to a table saw, you would need a same sized height table as a feed and catch for the bandsaw. You'd also have to setup a homemade straight jig.

    Then hack at it with a fucking belt sander?

    I can't imagine the amount of time this would all take, let alone the cost in wasted materials.

    Buy a table saw.

    EDIT:. Just as an addendum I tried for years to maximize the use of tools in place of a bigger ticket item. It's just not worth it. Wait until Menards has an 11% rebate on anything in the store and unless your making cabinetry just get the master force table saw.

    MegaMan001 on
    I am in the business of saving lives.
  • GilgaronGilgaron Registered User regular
    MegaMan001 wrote: »
    Gilgaron wrote: »
    A bandsaw would do good enough to rip 2x10s if you are good with a hand plane or don't mind making a terrible mess with a belt sander to flatten things afterwards.

    This is one of the most crazy things I've read on these boards. A band saw blade is less than an inch in width, it's not going to be remotely straight cut. Also with the tiny workspace when compared to a table saw, you would need a same sized height table as a feed and catch for the bandsaw. You'd also have to setup a homemade straight jig.

    Then hack at it with a fucking belt sander?

    I can't imagine the amount of time this would all take, let alone the cost in wasted materials.

    Buy a table saw.

    EDIT:. Just as an addendum I tried for years to maximize the use of tools in place of a bigger ticket item. It's just not worth it. Wait until Menards has an 11% rebate on anything in the store and unless your making cabinetry just get the master force table saw.

    If I start ripping SYP on my tablesaw and get a bound blade, I switch to the bandsaw because I have a fence on it, and it will deal with case hardened wood better (and waste less wood if it is something more expensive than SYP). But it is a 14" floor saw, I wouldn't try that with a little bench band saw which, as you point out, are mostly only good for scrolling. I don't actually like belt sanders but find people that aren't good at sharpening do; I joint with a Stanley #7 and flatten with a #5. Flattening a 2x laminated workbench top with a hand plane might take 15 minutes.

  • AiouaAioua Ora Occidens Ora OptimaRegistered User regular
    Still doing my babby version woodworking.

    Putting up a mantle above the fireplace which just has a flat brick wall for some reason.
    Going with the whole rustic beam look, have a 4x6 cut down to size and getting some layers of finish on it.

    Fun part will be getting it on the wall. Plan right now is to drive in some lag screws (with lag shields) with about four inches protruding, then drill matching holes on the beam, and just friction fit. From looking online it seems to be a popular method. And I can actually get it off if we ever want a different mantle.

    life's a game that you're bound to lose / like using a hammer to pound in screws
    fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
    that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
    bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
  • matt has a problemmatt has a problem Points to 'off' Points to 'on'Registered User regular
    edited November 2021
    Doing some electrical work today. The house originally had a single 100 amp panel, it was in a breezeway between a carport and the house. The carport got turned into a sun room and the breezeway into a hallway eventually. Then when the previous owners added on to the house, they put a 200 amp panel outside. But they didn't get rid of the 100 amp panel. They fed the 100 amp from the 200 amp, and the house ran off two panels, because ???? It would've been one thing if the old section of the house ran off the 100 amp and the addition off the 200 amp, but no, half the kitchen was on one panel and the other half on the other. The back hallway light is run off the 200 amp panel while the exterior light by the back door is run off the 100 amp. There was also a 50 amp panel in the garage, ran off the 100 amp panel, that was ran off the 200 amp panel. Today's job was to get rid of the 50 amp panel completely, move the 100 amp panel to where the 50 amp panel in the garage is, and power the whole house off the 200 amp panel. Taking the 100 amp panel out was straight forward enough, detach all the wiring and pull the panel out of the wall but then the fun started. When I started pulling the old wiring back to be rerouted I discovered that there were three lines, all live, all on individual breakers, that went nowhere. Literally just cut, twisted around something in the basement ceiling, not wire nutted, taped, anything. Just exposed live ends. This is all cloth and tar insulation wiring, too. Another section had a splice in it wrapped in cloth tape, not soldered, nutted, anything. It powered the outlets in one of the bedrooms, and the splice went off to the pump house outside.

    All this has made me realize, I could've burned it down. I could've burned it down, and nobody would've ever suspected it, because the inspectors would've found so many fire-causing problems it wouldn't have looked suspicious at all. I could've taken the insurance payout, and started fresh. For some reason I just keep repairing things...

    matt has a problem on
    nibXTE7.png
  • MegaMan001MegaMan001 CRNA Rochester, MNRegistered User regular
    Jesus Christ, man.

    I am in the business of saving lives.
  • Jebus314Jebus314 Registered User regular
    Doing some electrical work today. The house originally had a single 100 amp panel, it was in a breezeway between a carport and the house. The carport got turned into a sun room and the breezeway into a hallway eventually. Then when the previous owners added on to the house, they put a 200 amp panel outside. But they didn't get rid of the 100 amp panel. They fed the 100 amp from the 200 amp, and the house ran off two panels, because ???? It would've been one thing if the old section of the house ran off the 100 amp and the addition off the 200 amp, but no, half the kitchen was on one panel and the other half on the other. The back hallway light is run off the 200 amp panel while the exterior light by the back door is run off the 100 amp. There was also a 50 amp panel in the garage, ran off the 100 amp panel, that was ran off the 200 amp panel. Today's job was to get rid of the 50 amp panel completely, move the 100 amp panel to where the 50 amp panel in the garage is, and power the whole house off the 200 amp panel. Taking the 100 amp panel out was straight forward enough, detach all the wiring and pull the panel out of the wall but then the fun started. When I started pulling the old wiring back to be rerouted I discovered that there were three lines, all live, all on individual breakers, that went nowhere. Literally just cut, twisted around something in the basement ceiling, not wire nutted, taped, anything. Just exposed live ends. This is all cloth and tar insulation wiring, too. Another section had a splice in it wrapped in cloth tape, not soldered, nutted, anything. It powered the outlets in one of the bedrooms, and the splice went off to the pump house outside.

    All this has made me realize, I could've burned it down. I could've burned it down, and nobody would've ever suspected it, because the inspectors would've found so many fire-causing problems it wouldn't have looked suspicious at all. I could've taken the insurance payout, and started fresh. For some reason I just keep repairing things...

    Not nearly as insane as your stories, but I found the same thing with live wires in my house during the initial Reno I did. There were 2 wires in the crawl space where the previous owners had just looped up a bunch of wire, stapled it to a beam, and then just left the end exposed. No cap, no electrical tape, no box, no idea what they were thinking.

    "The world is a mess, and I just need to rule it" - Dr Horrible
  • GilgaronGilgaron Registered User regular
    Gilgaron wrote: »
    MegaMan001 wrote: »
    Gilgaron wrote: »
    A bandsaw would do good enough to rip 2x10s if you are good with a hand plane or don't mind making a terrible mess with a belt sander to flatten things afterwards.

    This is one of the most crazy things I've read on these boards. A band saw blade is less than an inch in width, it's not going to be remotely straight cut. Also with the tiny workspace when compared to a table saw, you would need a same sized height table as a feed and catch for the bandsaw. You'd also have to setup a homemade straight jig.

    Then hack at it with a fucking belt sander?

    I can't imagine the amount of time this would all take, let alone the cost in wasted materials.

    Buy a table saw.

    EDIT:. Just as an addendum I tried for years to maximize the use of tools in place of a bigger ticket item. It's just not worth it. Wait until Menards has an 11% rebate on anything in the store and unless your making cabinetry just get the master force table saw.

    If I start ripping SYP on my tablesaw and get a bound blade, I switch to the bandsaw because I have a fence on it, and it will deal with case hardened wood better (and waste less wood if it is something more expensive than SYP). But it is a 14" floor saw, I wouldn't try that with a little bench band saw which, as you point out, are mostly only good for scrolling. I don't actually like belt sanders but find people that aren't good at sharpening do; I joint with a Stanley #7 and flatten with a #5. Flattening a 2x laminated workbench top with a hand plane might take 15 minutes.

    jej2r0utoh6n.jpg
    For example while I have a Nicholson/English bench that I made mostly with a miter saw and table saw, I made this Roubo/French bench with just a bandsaw and hand tools. Took longer to chop the mortises than to plane the top.

  • KupiKupi Registered User regular
    Homeowner thread, I trust you more than Google to assess my situation.

    My refrigerator (claimed to be new within 2-3 years when I bought the house six months ago) has started to making clicking noises intermittently. When it's happening (sometimes it'll give me a break for a half hour or so), it'll click every two or three minutes, and then again ten to twelve seconds after that. It has an ice maker, but the handle is pretty clearly in the "off" position, and the water feed is properly connected as far as I can tell. I've vacuumed out the air vent as best I can without removing any of the panels. It doesn't appear to have affected the ability of the main chamber or the freezer to hold a cold temperature yet (though I'm not confident in how long that condition will persist). If I look into the grating at the very back of the bottom of the freezer (shown below, though I couldn't get my camera to produce a decent impression of the ice), I can see ice on something back there, but otherwise there isn't ice anywhere I wouldn't expect it to be.

    48r72s61dmkq.jpg

    Is there anything I can do personally about this, or is it time to call in a repairman? Any experience with refrigerators to suggest what the problem might be?

    My favorite musical instrument is the air-raid siren.
  • GilgaronGilgaron Registered User regular
    I've heard of models that will problematically build up ice that either have recalls issued for little heating elements to be added or otherwise ignored by the manufacturer and the only recourse is to let the whole thing thaw out every so often.

    https://www.repairclinic.com/Shop-For-Parts/Appliances

    This site had kept many old and decrepit appliances running for me in the past, both with the troubleshooter and with the parts and disassembly guides.

  • That_GuyThat_Guy I don't wanna be that guy Registered User regular
    Kupi wrote: »
    Homeowner thread, I trust you more than Google to assess my situation.

    My refrigerator (claimed to be new within 2-3 years when I bought the house six months ago) has started to making clicking noises intermittently. When it's happening (sometimes it'll give me a break for a half hour or so), it'll click every two or three minutes, and then again ten to twelve seconds after that. It has an ice maker, but the handle is pretty clearly in the "off" position, and the water feed is properly connected as far as I can tell. I've vacuumed out the air vent as best I can without removing any of the panels. It doesn't appear to have affected the ability of the main chamber or the freezer to hold a cold temperature yet (though I'm not confident in how long that condition will persist). If I look into the grating at the very back of the bottom of the freezer (shown below, though I couldn't get my camera to produce a decent impression of the ice), I can see ice on something back there, but otherwise there isn't ice anywhere I wouldn't expect it to be.

    48r72s61dmkq.jpg

    Is there anything I can do personally about this, or is it time to call in a repairman? Any experience with refrigerators to suggest what the problem might be?

    It sounds like you have ice build up on your condenser coils. If you take those 2 screws out you'll find them. The easy fix is to take all your food out, turn the fridge totally off, leave the doors open and let the whole thing come up to room temp. That'll melt any buildup and it'll flow into the drip tray to evaporate.

    If you're feeling froggy you can take that panel off and carefully chip away most of the ice. You can use a turkey baster and warm water to melt the rest. Just make sure you don't overflow your drip tray.

  • ShadowfireShadowfire Vermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered User regular
    Don't use warm water please. Get a steamer and just melt the ice with some steam. You won't risk accidentally breaking something and you won't be introducing much more water than you are already dealing with.

    WiiU: Windrunner ; Guild Wars 2: Shadowfire.3940 ; PSN: Bradcopter
  • notyanotya Registered User regular
    Alright time to buy a new toilet. Who here has a toilet that flushes like a dream and always stays clean? (i'm not getting a smart toilet with a bidet or any of that fanciness)

  • SatanIsMyMotorSatanIsMyMotor Fuck Warren Ellis Registered User regular
    edited November 2021
    The flushing power of a toilet is typically up to the owner and how they have the fill valve and arm float set up.
    I'm not sure if there's such a thing as a toilet that cleans itself but I'm certainly no toiletologist.

    SatanIsMyMotor on
  • ArtereisArtereis Registered User regular
    You can't really go wrong with a Toto.

  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    We have American Standard in 2 places. I'm not keen on the flush lever because you have to hold it too long to get the mechanism to take over. End up with a bunch of 'false starts.'

    Or I should just slow the fuck down

  • GilgaronGilgaron Registered User regular
    Mugsley wrote: »
    We have American Standard in 2 places. I'm not keen on the flush lever because you have to hold it too long to get the mechanism to take over. End up with a bunch of 'false starts.'

    Or I should just slow the fuck down

    Adjust the chain so it is almost taught when the flap is down and it'll flip up hard enough for the water to hold it open when you depress the handle.

  • The WolfmanThe Wolfman Registered User regular
    I had to completely retrofit one of our toilets from the old "ball on a stick" to the fancy valve thing that I still don't know how it actually works. At first, it also had a delay where you had to hold the lever for a second before the valve tank "dropped". Turned out it was just rubbing against the styrofoam side of the toilet and the delay was just friction. Rotated it so it wasn't touching anymore and it drops instantly every time.

    "The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
  • SimpsoniaSimpsonia Registered User regular
    That_Guy wrote: »
    Kupi wrote: »
    Homeowner thread, I trust you more than Google to assess my situation.

    My refrigerator (claimed to be new within 2-3 years when I bought the house six months ago) has started to making clicking noises intermittently. When it's happening (sometimes it'll give me a break for a half hour or so), it'll click every two or three minutes, and then again ten to twelve seconds after that. It has an ice maker, but the handle is pretty clearly in the "off" position, and the water feed is properly connected as far as I can tell. I've vacuumed out the air vent as best I can without removing any of the panels. It doesn't appear to have affected the ability of the main chamber or the freezer to hold a cold temperature yet (though I'm not confident in how long that condition will persist). If I look into the grating at the very back of the bottom of the freezer (shown below, though I couldn't get my camera to produce a decent impression of the ice), I can see ice on something back there, but otherwise there isn't ice anywhere I wouldn't expect it to be.

    48r72s61dmkq.jpg

    Is there anything I can do personally about this, or is it time to call in a repairman? Any experience with refrigerators to suggest what the problem might be?

    It sounds like you have ice build up on your condenser coils. If you take those 2 screws out you'll find them. The easy fix is to take all your food out, turn the fridge totally off, leave the doors open and let the whole thing come up to room temp. That'll melt any buildup and it'll flow into the drip tray to evaporate.

    If you're feeling froggy you can take that panel off and carefully chip away most of the ice. You can use a turkey baster and warm water to melt the rest. Just make sure you don't overflow your drip tray.

    Before you do any of that, try googling your model number. Many modern fridges have a "dev mode" that can allow you to force certain modes such as a defrost cycle. My Samsung twice has iced over the ice maker. If you catch it early and run the defrost cycle a few times, you won't have to move all your food and unplug it. The element will run to defrost locally where the ice is, but the temperature in the main compartment should remain mostly stable enough to preserve your food.

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