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

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  • That_GuyThat_Guy I don't wanna be that guy Registered User regular
    The ice maker in our Samsung fridge at work is constantly getting clogged up. I don't like how they have a special freezer in the fridge just for ice. It means that the outside parts are prone to melting a freezing. IDK if the LGs are any better. I think it's just a bad design overall.

  • KetarKetar Come on upstairs we're having a partyRegistered User regular
    MichaelLC wrote: »
    Seems our Samsung fridge has finally caught the icing drain pan issue, after barely surviving a bad case last year and picking up the ice maker bug from who knows where. Whole kitchen was Samsung so we just rode it out.

    So probably going to pass on Samsung when we're buying. Looks like LGs are decent? Think just another side-by-side is the way to go as we like shelves for the freezer.

    Any big warnings about LGs in the $2,000 range? Just ice & water makers are the only must-haves.

    We've had an LG in that range for about 2.5 years now with no issues. It dispenses water just fine, it makes ice pretty rapidly when needed, and it keeps food cold. We've been perfectly happy with it.

  • MichaelLCMichaelLC In what furnace was thy brain? ChicagoRegistered User regular
    edited February 2022
    Thanks. Yeah that's all we're looking for.

    One model has the door-in-a-door which seems dumb to me, but who knows.

    The ice is on the freezer side, so that should be ok. That's how it is in this Samsung but somehow they still screwed it up.

    MichaelLC on
  • ShadowfireShadowfire Vermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered User regular
    Ice makers break god-damned always so that's not surprising. It's the part on the fridge with my company's warranties that they'll never cover under their lemon-type rules. Doesn't matter if we fix it five times, you're never getting a new fridge.

  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    Check some review sites like Wirecutter. We're using a GE but the autofill sensor for the water on the door has been shitty for about a year. Otherwise it didn't freeze up and handles ice making pretty well.

    We have a French door model with bottom freezer (it has a pull out shelf)

  • CptHamiltonCptHamilton Registered User regular
    The type of icemaker in a fridge door is surprisingly complicated, really. You think, "It makes ice. You can make ice with a mildly complicated cardboard box, inside a freezer", right? I never thought much about it, even after replacing several parts in my old ice maker, until I started trying to buy a standalone icemaker. I've got one now and it's a lot more reliable than the ones in my fridge (especially the fucking craft ice maker, which I've had to take a heat gun to 3 times and may have permanently borked the last time). All it does is get a piece of metal cold and run water across it for a fixed period of time, then shoves it off. Comes out in sheets with bumps on them. It's not great ice and it's loud as hell, somehow, despite not even being a refrigerated cavity aside from the piece of metal, and I have to bash the ice apart with a metal scoop to scoop it, but it works! Now when my fridge's ice maker shits the bed I don't have to care, so I'm happy. The standalone unit was also surprisingly expensive, but not nearly as expensive as a "top-hat ice" maker, which seems to produce something more akin to what you traditionally get from a refrigerator unit, which I guess just further shows why the ones in refrigerators suck so much, seeing as the top-hat ice makers cost more than my (relatively fancy and large) refrigerator did.

    PSN,Steam,Live | CptHamiltonian
  • AbsoluteZeroAbsoluteZero The new film by Quentin Koopantino Registered User regular
    MichaelLC wrote: »
    Seems our Samsung fridge has finally caught the icing drain pan issue, after barely surviving a bad case last year and picking up the ice maker bug from who knows where. Whole kitchen was Samsung so we just rode it out.

    So probably going to pass on Samsung when we're buying. Looks like LGs are decent? Think just another side-by-side is the way to go as we like shelves for the freezer.

    Any big warnings about LGs in the $2,000 range? Just ice & water makers are the only must-haves.

    The compressor on our LG fridge makes a rattling noise that is slowly chipping away at my sanity but otherwise it's been solid.

    cs6f034fsffl.jpg
  • matt has a problemmatt has a problem Points to 'off' Points to 'on'Registered User regular
    If the compressor itself internally is making a rattling noise it's not long for this world. It's probably just loose on its mount or close enough to part of the frame for the housing to bump against it when it shakes. Just a small piece of foam will take care of that.

    nibXTE7.png
  • That_GuyThat_Guy I don't wanna be that guy Registered User regular
    Used and refurbished appliance parts are generally pretty cheap on ebay. I found a new ice maker for my shitty side-by-side for just $25.

  • HappylilElfHappylilElf Registered User regular
    edited February 2022
    Frankly after hearing about all the in-fridge ice maker nightmares (and the ice maker being broken in our kitchen fridge) I'm pretty ok with buying five ice cube trays from walmart.

    Does it suck to refill them constantly? ...sort of?

    But I mean I empty one, I fill it, and I move on to the next tray.

    HappylilElf on
  • MegaMan001MegaMan001 CRNA Rochester, MNRegistered User regular
    I'll jump on the fridge train.

    We've got a Samsung fridge which is fine. Icemaker fine.

    The weird thing is no matter what you change the temperature setting, it is always insanely cold in the fridge. I've turned the temperature to it's highest setting, 46 Fahrenheit I think it is, and sometimes things are still so cold in there they'll freeze!

    I am in the business of saving lives.
  • GilgaronGilgaron Registered User regular
    We have a Whirlpool in the kitchen that has had no problems with its icemaker, no problems with the Kitchenaid in the old house either. We got a Samsung for the basement despite hearing about lots of problems my parents have had with their Samsung ice maker, but the unit we picked has the icemaker in the freezer rather than in the door of a refrigerated section. No problems so far apart from the ice gluing into a block if it doesn't get used much. Apart from potential design flaws it seems related to how often the ice is used (more being better) and how often the door is opened (fewer being better) e.g. all the fridges in any building's break room in my company seem to eventually have the ice maker completely fail independent of brand or model. One of the buildings just went ahead and disconnected the water lines to the fridges and got a standalone ice maker.

  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    MegaMan001 wrote: »
    I'll jump on the fridge train.

    We've got a Samsung fridge which is fine. Icemaker fine.

    The weird thing is no matter what you change the temperature setting, it is always insanely cold in the fridge. I've turned the temperature to it's highest setting, 46 Fahrenheit I think it is, and sometimes things are still so cold in there they'll freeze!

    Your thermostat is shot but it should be replaceable. Check YT vids.

  • MichaelLCMichaelLC In what furnace was thy brain? ChicagoRegistered User regular
    MegaMan001 wrote: »
    I'll jump on the fridge train.

    We've got a Samsung fridge which is fine. Icemaker fine.

    The weird thing is no matter what you change the temperature setting, it is always insanely cold in the fridge. I've turned the temperature to it's highest setting, 46 Fahrenheit I think it is, and sometimes things are still so cold in there they'll freeze!

    Maybe they have a higher freezing point.

  • Red RaevynRed Raevyn because I only take Bubble Baths Registered User regular
    Red Raevyn wrote: »
    I googled cathodic protection and that is neat stuff. My to-do list is long and distinguished enough as-is, so I've asked my wife to look into the water heater aspect of it and potentially do it. We'll see how that goes!

    This went well! She needed some help with the removal, but she did all the googling and ordering and looking up videos later to make sure you're doing it right, which is honestly the most annoying part. We rediscovered our water heater was more or less new when we bought the house, so it was a 4.5 year old anode rod. Not mentioned in most directions is that newer water heaters have a solid foam top, so when the manual says "the anode rod is under this cap", they mean "remove this cap, then cut out 3 inches of foam to reveal the anode rod". Also, that thing was tight. Thankfully I have a 1/2 in impact gun that claims about 800 ft/lb of torque. Even it wouldn't do it on auto, I had to set it to MAX POWERRRRR. Woulda been pretty sketchy by hand, with needing an extension to reach through the foam... anyway here's how it looked:
    zijbmj1p09z6.jpg
    Pretty neat! I'm curious about why it is eroded unevenly - temperature gradient? Getting periodically uncovered when the water is used? Proximity to where it is connected to the tank?

    I'm also unsure about how tight the new one should go in. Read some stuff about "finger tight then a half turn" but that would have been way too loose because of the thread tape. The old one didn't have thread tape... anyway I got it good and snug with a wrench but hopefully not "wow past-me sucks" when I go to remove it in 5-6 years snug, and it doesn't leak.

    Thanks for mentioning this, zepherin!!

  • MichaelLCMichaelLC In what furnace was thy brain? ChicagoRegistered User regular
    edited February 2022
    You took the two layers of shrink wrap stuff off the new one, right? ;)

    Do you have to pull the rod up and out? How much top clearance do you need?

    Nice work! Makes me both way to do this too and very much not do it in fear of what I may find.

    MichaelLC on
  • Red RaevynRed Raevyn because I only take Bubble Baths Registered User regular
    Daggonit you made me stop and think haha, but yeah it came as bare metal. It actually came entirely without packaging in a way, because the UPS guy showed up the day after it was delivered and said "Hey this was in my truck at the end of my shift, was it supposed to be in that tube I delivered yesterday?" We hadn't even opened the tube yet, which it had blasted out of, but didn't notice it was kinda light.

    Yeah, you need to pull it out; depends on the length of your rod which depends some on your water heater. Ours was a 42 inch. But we're single story so it's in the back of the pantry with enough height. If you have less, they make nunchaku 3-section-staff "flexible" anode rods to be able to sneak em in.

  • SyngyneSyngyne Registered User regular
    So being in the middle of the Second Great Texas Freeze I decided to make sure my gas fireplace was working properly in case the power goes out. I have not used it since I moved into this house two and a half years ago.

    Of all the things that might have happened when firing it up for the first time, having a wasp fly out of the fake wood pile was not one of them.

    5gsowHm.png
  • lonelyahavalonelyahava Call me Ahava ~~She/Her~~ Move to New ZealandRegistered User regular
    We've got a mitsubishi electric fridge. Our Ice maker is a little water compartment in the fridge that gets filled up and then ice comes out into the freezer.

    I honestly love my little fridge, it's got a complete separate drawer for veggies.

  • GdiguyGdiguy San Diego, CARegistered User regular
    Syngyne wrote: »
    So being in the middle of the Second Great Texas Freeze I decided to make sure my gas fireplace was working properly in case the power goes out. I have not used it since I moved into this house two and a half years ago.

    Of all the things that might have happened when firing it up for the first time, having a wasp fly out of the fake wood pile was not one of them.

    Congrats on it being ‘a’ wasp

    We’ve had people in our neighborhood do that and discover there was now a wasp nest in their chimney

  • MegaMan001MegaMan001 CRNA Rochester, MNRegistered User regular
    Just absolutely fuck wasps.

    I went full genocide on some wasps that setup ship around our house last year with those cans of spray foam.

    I am in the business of saving lives.
  • MichaelLCMichaelLC In what furnace was thy brain? ChicagoRegistered User regular
    We've got a mitsubishi electric fridge. Our Ice maker is a little water compartment in the fridge that gets filled up and then ice comes out into the freezer.

    I honestly love my little fridge, it's got a complete separate drawer for veggies.

    I like the smooth fronts on those. They're got a lot of models, but even the fancy electronics store here doesn't carry them.

  • MugsleyMugsley DelawareRegistered User regular
    O-ring seals only need "finger tight plus a half turn" in general. In fact, many people overtighten o-ring seals and it does more harm than good.

    If there isn't an outing, you're relying on the threads to make the seal.

    And you'll see pits just from things like inconsistencies in the zinc itself, where particular sites are less or more dense.

  • Red RaevynRed Raevyn because I only take Bubble Baths Registered User regular
    Yeah, I know that well from working on vehicles, that's why I thought it was bad advice for this application. With no o-ring and going onto a large tank that pressurizes enough to have a temperature/pressure relief valve, a bit tighter seemed better.

  • AngelHedgieAngelHedgie Registered User regular
    Today in It Came From Zillow, we have a house that adds in all the aspects of boat ownership as well:

    https://youtu.be/gv7lWexKt8U

    XBL: Nox Aeternum / PSN: NoxAeternum / NN:NoxAeternum / Steam: noxaeternum
  • matt has a problemmatt has a problem Points to 'off' Points to 'on'Registered User regular
    A canal home with a private dock for a narrowboat is a retirement dream.

    nibXTE7.png
  • ShadowfireShadowfire Vermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered User regular
    The blower for my pellet stove came in yesterday. The guy who's been talking me through this is like "I can come by Wednesday and get it in for you if you want."

    I installed it myself, and she's running. We have heat! GROG HAVE FIRE!

    And the guy was like "hey, I could have come today, but I knew you could do it. Let me know when you want me to come teach you to really tear it down for cleaning this Spring."

  • swaylowswaylow Registered User regular
    edited February 2022
    The discussion of closet solutions a few pages back sent the wife and I down the Ikea PAX rabbit hole. I'd like to ask the thread for advice or any relevant experience on the following scenarios related to general (and Ikea-specific) supply issues:

    We'd like to mix-and-match pieces using their designer system to maximize space. When you go to checkout, between 30 - 45% of the 75+ individual items needed are out of stock. Do you:

    1) Purchase everything available now and set alerts for the missing pieces, building a collection over the next (____) weeks until you have it all.
    2) Wait until every item is available
    3) Wat until all of the structural pieces are available and then fill in missing accessories over time
    4) Despair and do nothing

    Thanks for any thoughts, especially if you've played Game #1 with Ikea. There is a store 1 mile from house and office so it makes option #1 reasonable in theory.

    swaylow on
  • UrsusUrsus Registered User regular
    swaylow wrote: »
    The discussion of closet solutions a few pages back sent the wife and I down the Ikea PAX rabbit hole. I'd like to ask the thread for advice or any relevant experience on the following scenarios related to general (and Ikea-specific) supply issues:

    We'd like to mix-and-match pieces using their designer system to maximize space. When you go to checkout, between 30 - 45% of the 75+ individual items needed are out of stock. Do you:

    1) Purchase everything available now and set alerts for the missing pieces, building a collection over the next (____) weeks until you have it all.
    2) Wait until every item is available
    3) Wat until all of the structural pieces are available and then fill in missing accessories over time
    4) Despair and do nothing

    Thanks for any thoughts, especially if you've played Game #1 with Ikea. There is a store 1 mile from house and office so it makes option #1 reasonable in theory.

    1 absolutely, but you need a manual check, the notification system is not working. 3 is smart as well as you get some use out of it. 2 is not gonna happen.

    IKEAs supply chain has been borked for a long time. Buy what you can now and keep checking, plan to drop and rush over asap when stuff is in stock

  • DibbitDibbit Registered User regular
    Today in It Came From Zillow, we have a house that adds in all the aspects of boat ownership as well:

    https://youtu.be/gv7lWexKt8U

    It also has a Chinese moongate and what seems like a Japanese..ish garden, including a cool shishiodoshi made out of metal.
    That's a pretty fascinating house.

  • notyanotya Registered User regular
    swaylow wrote: »
    The discussion of closet solutions a few pages back sent the wife and I down the Ikea PAX rabbit hole. I'd like to ask the thread for advice or any relevant experience on the following scenarios related to general (and Ikea-specific) supply issues:

    We'd like to mix-and-match pieces using their designer system to maximize space. When you go to checkout, between 30 - 45% of the 75+ individual items needed are out of stock. Do you:

    1) Purchase everything available now and set alerts for the missing pieces, building a collection over the next (____) weeks until you have it all.
    2) Wait until every item is available
    3) Wat until all of the structural pieces are available and then fill in missing accessories over time
    4) Despair and do nothing

    Thanks for any thoughts, especially if you've played Game #1 with Ikea. There is a store 1 mile from house and office so it makes option #1 reasonable in theory.

    Depends how sure you are that items will EVER be in stock again. Maybe they discontinue stuff. Maybe the business closes. I dunno.

  • UrsusUrsus Registered User regular
    notya wrote: »
    swaylow wrote: »
    The discussion of closet solutions a few pages back sent the wife and I down the Ikea PAX rabbit hole. I'd like to ask the thread for advice or any relevant experience on the following scenarios related to general (and Ikea-specific) supply issues:

    We'd like to mix-and-match pieces using their designer system to maximize space. When you go to checkout, between 30 - 45% of the 75+ individual items needed are out of stock. Do you:

    1) Purchase everything available now and set alerts for the missing pieces, building a collection over the next (____) weeks until you have it all.
    2) Wait until every item is available
    3) Wat until all of the structural pieces are available and then fill in missing accessories over time
    4) Despair and do nothing

    Thanks for any thoughts, especially if you've played Game #1 with Ikea. There is a store 1 mile from house and office so it makes option #1 reasonable in theory.

    Depends how sure you are that items will EVER be in stock again. Maybe they discontinue stuff. Maybe the business closes. I dunno.

    I doubt IKEA is going out of business any time soon. I also doubt they are dropping their most popular/flagship closet system anytime soon.

  • notyanotya Registered User regular
    Ikea has definitely discontinued certain cabinets. I know this cause I was looking for a specific one and couldn't find em.

  • UrsusUrsus Registered User regular
    Yes, low runners and otherwise unpopular items. Like any other business. They don't drop popular products that have an entire section devoted to them in the store, like the PAX system.

  • honoverehonovere Registered User regular
    Once at least they changed the white colour of the pax system and with it the shape of the drawers. Stuff was still compatible of course, but looked slightly different.

    Generally I would try to get the parts that you absolutely need. And then wait and buy the rest whenever it's available.

    Also check out the Metod system as alternative. The quality is better, way more door materials and colours. For dedicated wardrobe interiors you'll need to do some simple hacks with other IKEA wardrobe systems though.

  • swaylowswaylow Registered User regular
    Thanks for all the thoughts. We start "Operation Ikeamon: Gotta Catch Em All" tonight. I will report back in 2 - 200 weeks when complete so we can all laugh.

  • notyanotya Registered User regular
    Final inspection for my house was just finished. Had one correction for the electrical work. The inspector made my electrician add these arc protection breakers on my main panel. As the inspector was checking it out he was asking the electrician if they were working well because they can be really sensitive.

    Then after the inspector left, my electrician asked me if I wanted to put them back to normal cause he was also like 'yeah, these can be super sensitive.'

    So that's fun.

  • GilgaronGilgaron Registered User regular
    notya wrote: »
    Final inspection for my house was just finished. Had one correction for the electrical work. The inspector made my electrician add these arc protection breakers on my main panel. As the inspector was checking it out he was asking the electrician if they were working well because they can be really sensitive.

    Then after the inspector left, my electrician asked me if I wanted to put them back to normal cause he was also like 'yeah, these can be super sensitive.'

    So that's fun.

    I have only had problems with them when they're brand new and you're plugging stuff into outlets that haven't been used much and they must arc briefly. Also seen with brand new light switches. But it stops misbehaving after a few times and then it is keeping you safer. I have heard horror stories of the first generation AFCI breakers tripping over weird stuff nearby the house and so on, but they're code so obviously they're not all like that since there are entire neighborhoods full of them now.

  • notyanotya Registered User regular
    Well, fingers crossed haha! And thanks for writing that. Honestly I don't know shit about any of that stuff.

  • Trajan45Trajan45 Registered User regular
    swaylow wrote: »
    Thanks for all the thoughts. We start "Operation Ikeamon: Gotta Catch Em All" tonight. I will report back in 2 - 200 weeks when complete so we can all laugh.

    Welcome to the fight :)

    After pricing out that the Ikea Pax system came in at 1/3rd the cost of other companies, my wife built her closet out and we entered the war. Apparently structural parts will come in and sell out within the same day. Monday was the first battle, our local Ikea had all the structure pieces in but 1. The issue? I only have a normal sedan from the late 2000's. There is no chance an 8ft box was going to fit. With no delivery, and no ability to reserve stock, we had to drive all the way out there, load the pieces onto a cart, the start calling around to rental companies to see if we could rent a van.

    Of course anyone who has used car rental services knows, they are some of the worst run businesses out there. Why is that you ask? Well because their websites never update based on stock (or are slow as dirt doing it). So they could have a pickup truck listed for rent, but once you get the counter it's a crap shoot as to whether they'll have that type actually available. As someone who used to travel a lot, I'd get this all the time. "oh, I see you have the SUV, well it's not back yet, how about this Ford Taurus?" Anyways, while my wife was gathering parts, I called all the places I could. One place, the guy on the phone tells me someones on their way over to pick it up their van that moment for 14 days, ugh. So I go with the hail mary and drive over to Home Depot to see what they have (they are first come, first serve). Luckily they had a flatbed available. The downside, despite the weather app saying partly sunny all day, it starts to rain... So I grab some cheap paint tarp to go with the truck. Head back over and load everything up. Rain is getting harder, so I throw the tarp over everything and tuck it under the heavy pieces.

    However didn't think this through all the way. To get home, we need to take the highway. Even with the rain, the wind on the highway starts pulling the tarp off the units. At this point, I'm about to have a panic attack thinking about this sheet flying off and hitting another car or truck causing an accident. Thankfully, going 40 mph on the way back, the tarp just holds on. The next challange is getting them up to our apartment. The buildings communal cart, is the type hotels use for luggage. Let's just say, it made it past the front doors but then broke down lol. Just couldn't handle the height and weight. So I have to pick up each box and walk it to the other side of the building to our service elevator. I work out all the time, but that was one hell of a work out. Oh, and the cherry on the top, after dropping the flatbed back off, I think the speed camera grabbed me going 6mph over the speed limit on the way back (I guess we'll see).

    At the end of the day, the battle was won, but the war rages on. We still need most of the shelving and an 8ft tall corner piece. I'm hoping not to have to go the HD truck route again, but may have to.

    Origin ID\ Steam ID: Warder45
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