Home Improvement

Siliconemelons · Jul 14, 2024

AC fan motor died…first it was the capacitor as mentioned, then the actual motor died… fan blade still stuck on the thing.. 350 for the motor 150 for the blade…

The unit is 9+ years old and underpowered for my sq ft…

It’s been needing to be replaced since it was installed. Rather than dump 500 bucks into the old unit, i bought myself a Mr cool 4 ton (replacing 2.5 Lennox) duct heat pump system.

Ordered via Lowe’s - said 2 week arrival - took a week so i was not done with prep work yet, but i got the thing in yesterday and today all done and loaded up- obviously moving 1.5 / 24k btu more air makes a difference and its all working well.

Had to put in a sub panel and other stuff but its humming along.

Literally half the price of the cheapest quote i got.

Lanx · Jul 14, 2024

Kajiimagi · Jul 14, 2024

Siliconemelons said:
AC fan motor died…first it was the capacitor as mentioned, then the actual motor died… fan blade still stuck on the thing.. 350 for the motor 150 for the blade…

The unit is 9+ years old and underpowered for my sq ft…

It’s been needing to be replaced since it was installed. Rather than dump 500 bucks into the old unit, i bought myself a Mr cool 4 ton (replacing 2.5 Lennox) duct heat pump system.

Ordered via Lowe’s - said 2 week arrival - took a week so i was not done with prep work yet, but i got the thing in yesterday and today all done and loaded up- obviously moving 1.5 / 24k btu more air makes a difference and its all working well.

Had to put in a sub panel and other stuff but its humming along.

Literally half the price of the cheapest quote i got.

awesome let us know how it's working long term. Every year seems like I'm dumping money in my AC unit.

Palum · Jul 14, 2024

I have several friends who have done Mr. Cool route. I know someone else who does mini splits as a side business (dad owns HVAC company but he went a different career path but still does that part for friends/family type of thing). He didn't like using them and typically he goes with Mitsubishi or Fujitsu.

The biggest problem is serviceability. All the HVAC companies know what Mr. Cool is and some will flat refuse to work on them. Performance wise, they also tend to be good but not great. Little stuff like noise, options and finish.

If you can DIY and are getting a unit you don't care if you have to replace in 5-10 by yourself without any major serviceability, then they're a decent value. If you want a company to maintain them for you and want long warranties, you probably have to go mainstream brands. If it's your only heat source then that's potentially a big deal depending where you live.

We have Daikin and I'm not sure if I'm going to go major brand or replace/expand with Mr. Cool once our current unit bites the dust.

Anyway my 2c.

Onoes · Jul 15, 2024

Just to rant for a second, sometimes the old ways are best. I bought my house at the tail end of 2019 and basically did a ton of remodeling and updating. One of the things I wanted (Foolishly) was to have a smart system - everything tied together using google assistant or alexia. I wanted the house of the future.

I ordered about 40 of these https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R4MFWCQ?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details and replaced every switch in the house. I've probably replaced 8 of them in the last 2 years, with another 5 of them needing replaced currently. A buddy of mine did the same thing with a totally different brand and was just bitching that around half of his have failed.

To top that off, all the fans I got (8 in total) are basically the same shit, with all the fan programming being on a little digital display instead of a dumb switch. They are constant headaches. Sometimes they just don't work, so I have to go into the app on my phone to turn a fan on or off, or to turn the light on the fan off or on. Sometimes they just turn on or off randomly. Last night my bedroom fan light just turned on twice at around 2am. I called the company I bought them from and they basically said the fans won't work with any controls except the proprietary ones they came with, and they are $380 a purchase a replacement display (if that is even the issue). I want to say the fans were about %600 each total, so the display price is fucking outrageous as well.

Anyway, just wanted to rant about that for a minute. At some point I will probably go through and replace every single switch again, was just a time consuming nightmare the first time, so I don't envy having to do that. I'll probably have to just buy new fans at some point too, fuck, this is the kind of shit that just makes me want to throw my arms up and move! Never going to get a 2% home loan again though, and my career is here, so probably not going anywhere.

Burns · Jul 15, 2024

Onoes said:
Just to rant for a second, sometimes the old ways are best. I bought my house at the tail end of 2019 and basically did a ton of remodeling and updating. One of the things I wanted (Foolishly) was to have a smart system - everything tied together using google assistant or alexia. I wanted the house of the future.

I ordered about 40 of these https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R4MFWCQ?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details and replaced every switch in the house. I've probably replaced 8 of them in the last 2 years, with another 5 of them needing replaced currently. A buddy of mine did the same thing with a totally different brand and was just bitching that around half of his have failed.

To top that off, all the fans I got (8 in total) are basically the same shit, with all the fan programming being on a little digital display instead of a dumb switch. They are constant headaches. Sometimes they just don't work, so I have to go into the app on my phone to turn a fan on or off, or to turn the light on the fan off or on. Sometimes they just turn on or off randomly. Last night my bedroom fan light just turned on twice at around 2am. I called the company I bought them from and they basically said the fans won't work with any controls except the proprietary ones they came with, and they are $380 a purchase a replacement display (if that is even the issue). I want to say the fans were about %600 each total, so the display price is fucking outrageous as well.

Anyway, just wanted to rant about that for a minute. At some point I will probably go through and replace every single switch again, was just a time consuming nightmare the first time, so I don't envy having to do that. I'll probably have to just buy new fans at some point too, fuck, this is the kind of shit that just makes me want to throw my arms up and move! Never going to get a 2% home loan again though, and my career is here, so probably not going anywhere.

Have you looked at setting up a Home Assistant on a Raspberry Pi or similar device? They may have figured out how to control your fans. I used the guide below to set one up, but I don't really like smart home shit talking to the internet, which more and more require, so I just switched it all off. On the light switches, I wonder if that's a "you get what you pay for" thing. I thought I read decent reviews for the Lutron Caseta system/line.

Siliconemelons · Jul 15, 2024

Kajiimagi said:
awesome let us know how it's working long term. Every year seems like I'm dumping money in my AC unit.

Palum said:
I have several friends who have done Mr. Cool route. I know someone else who does mini splits as a side business (dad owns HVAC company but he went a different career path but still does that part for friends/family type of thing). He didn't like using them and typically he goes with Mitsubishi or Fujitsu.

The biggest problem is serviceability. All the HVAC companies know what Mr. Cool is and some will flat refuse to work on them. Performance wise, they also tend to be good but not great. Little stuff like noise, options and finish.

If you can DIY and are getting a unit you don't care if you have to replace in 5-10 by yourself without any major serviceability, then they're a decent value. If you want a company to maintain them for you and want long warranties, you probably have to go mainstream brands. If it's your only heat source then that's potentially a big deal depending where you live.

We have Daikin and I'm not sure if I'm going to go major brand or replace/expand with Mr. Cool once our current unit bites the dust.

Anyway my 2c.

Most of the complaints I encountered online were with their mini split systems. Most AC people dont mess with them in general- they are not as popular as traditional systems- but are starting to be.

This one is their “hyper heat” their newest model for traditional split ducted systems- compressor unit outside and handler inside.

The model “below” is the VersaPro - the hyper heat can do heat pump to like “-22” vs “-18” - I live in Florida so that matters not- BUT the hyper heat has a 10 year warranty on parts AND labor, while the versapro was just parts.

Goodman seems to be ones of the only other DIY systems a normal person can just order and it shows up, i would still have to flare weld, vac and fill and buy coolant. Mrcool seems on par or better quality than Goodman.

This system was 3600$ my lowest quote was 7450$ on a 3.5ton goodman

I bought about 300$ in random supplies, like making sure i had the proper deep sockets etc. bought the torque wrench from harbor freight for 22$ that i watched tons of review on that is actually accurate. Followed the guide on the ft-lb for each connector for the Freon lines and no bubbles or hisses.

The hardest part is getting the old things out and the new in- had my cousin (also his military Lowe’s discount) help with that, all else i did solo.

Now to clean up…lol

Kajiimagi · Jul 15, 2024

Onoes said:
Just to rant for a second, sometimes the old ways are best. I bought my house at the tail end of 2019 and basically did a ton of remodeling and updating. One of the things I wanted (Foolishly) was to have a smart system - everything tied together using google assistant or alexia. I wanted the house of the future.

I ordered about 40 of these https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R4MFWCQ?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details and replaced every switch in the house. I've probably replaced 8 of them in the last 2 years, with another 5 of them needing replaced currently. A buddy of mine did the same thing with a totally different brand and was just bitching that around half of his have failed.

To top that off, all the fans I got (8 in total) are basically the same shit, with all the fan programming being on a little digital display instead of a dumb switch. They are constant headaches. Sometimes they just don't work, so I have to go into the app on my phone to turn a fan on or off, or to turn the light on the fan off or on. Sometimes they just turn on or off randomly. Last night my bedroom fan light just turned on twice at around 2am. I called the company I bought them from and they basically said the fans won't work with any controls except the proprietary ones they came with, and they are $380 a purchase a replacement display (if that is even the issue). I want to say the fans were about %600 each total, so the display price is fucking outrageous as well.

Anyway, just wanted to rant about that for a minute. At some point I will probably go through and replace every single switch again, was just a time consuming nightmare the first time, so I don't envy having to do that. I'll probably have to just buy new fans at some point too, fuck, this is the kind of shit that just makes me want to throw my arms up and move! Never going to get a 2% home loan again though, and my career is here, so probably not going anywhere.

I had WEMO switches for years in this house. No real issues. Then I finally had one go bad. Went to buy a replacement only to find out WEMO went out of business. I also have WYZE cameras & robo Vac so I bought them to replace. I replaced all 5 and 2 of the switches were bad out of the bag, one bricked and one just came apart in my hand. I only installed them on lights as smart switches on motor loads (like a ceiling fan) can be tricky but the convenience outweighs the PITA factor.

Intrinsic · Jul 27, 2024

This weekend's project was going to be to replace this hose pipe on the side of the house next to the garden I redid. It is the main one I use for the front yard and everything else pretty much. Since we bought the house 3 years ago it has never had a knob and I've always just used a pair of pliers to turn it on. I can't use the timer because it requires the water to be on and without a knob or screw it just spits water out.

In that past I've tried to fix the knob only but the inner threads are stripped and the outer faces of the hexagon or however many it originally had are almost smooth. There's probably another way to do it that I'll look in to, because the alternative below doesn't sound fun.

Here's a picture of it straight on:

What I was really thinking about doing was just replacing the whole thing as a package unit sillcock and 1/2" pipe going back into the crawl space and be done with it. So this morning got under the house and I don't think I'll be doing this myself. There's two 90s taking it up and out of the siding and it appears to all be a fitting I don't want to deal with in a 3' x 3' crawlspace behind and through a bunch of walls. I could barely even get a picture of the part extending out of the house.

I'm guessing that last 90 is the connection point of the whole pipe + valve (I didn't see any other up in between), and I have no idea how to detach that and reconnect it. Looks like something I'd have to cut the whole joint off and re-thread and put a new bend in? Seems like a huge pita for a DIY and my patience.

Palum · Jul 27, 2024

Intrinsic said:
This weekend's project was going to be to replace this hose pipe on the side of the house next to the garden I redid. It is the main one I use for the front yard and everything else pretty much. Since we bought the house 3 years ago it has never had a knob and I've always just used a pair of pliers to turn it on. I can't use the timer because it requires the water to be on and without a knob or screw it just spits water out.

In that past I've tried to fix the knob only but the inner threads are stripped and the outer faces of the hexagon or however many it originally had are almost smooth. There's probably another way to do it that I'll look in to, because the alternative below doesn't sound fun.

View attachment 538648

Here's a picture of it straight on:

View attachment 538652

What I was really thinking about doing was just replacing the whole thing as a package unit sillcock and 1/2" pipe going back into the crawl space and be done with it. So this morning got under the house and I don't think I'll be doing this myself. There's two 90s taking it up and out of the siding and it appears to all be a fitting I don't want to deal with in a 3' x 3' crawlspace behind and through a bunch of walls. I could barely even get a picture of the part extending out of the house.

I'm guessing that last 90 is the connection point of the whole pipe + valve (I didn't see any other up in between), and I have no idea how to detach that and reconnect it. Looks like something I'd have to cut the whole joint off and re-thread and put a new bend in? Seems like a huge pita for a DIY and my patience.

View attachment 538649
View attachment 538650

Most wall hydrants should unscrew from the pipe. The problem is:
1) corrosion
2) heat/cold cycles
3) minerals in water buildup.

Regardless you definitely want to secure that pipe behind where the spigot screws in (guessing you can't see it in this photos and it's between the joist and the wall?). If you start torquing on that pipe there's a good chance you'll break soldering.

Also you should be able to get a parts kit and replace the valve assembly and stem and mount a new handle, which is probably easiest.

fris · Jul 27, 2024

Onoes said:
Just to rant for a second, sometimes the old ways are best. I bought my house at the tail end of 2019 and basically did a ton of remodeling and updating. One of the things I wanted (Foolishly) was to have a smart system - everything tied together using google assistant or alexia. I wanted the house of the future.

I ordered about 40 of these https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R4MFWCQ?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details and replaced every switch in the house. I've probably replaced 8 of them in the last 2 years, with another 5 of them needing replaced currently. A buddy of mine did the same thing with a totally different brand and was just bitching that around half of his have failed.

To top that off, all the fans I got (8 in total) are basically the same shit, with all the fan programming being on a little digital display instead of a dumb switch. They are constant headaches. Sometimes they just don't work, so I have to go into the app on my phone to turn a fan on or off, or to turn the light on the fan off or on. Sometimes they just turn on or off randomly. Last night my bedroom fan light just turned on twice at around 2am. I called the company I bought them from and they basically said the fans won't work with any controls except the proprietary ones they came with, and they are $380 a purchase a replacement display (if that is even the issue). I want to say the fans were about %600 each total, so the display price is fucking outrageous as well.

Anyway, just wanted to rant about that for a minute. At some point I will probably go through and replace every single switch again, was just a time consuming nightmare the first time, so I don't envy having to do that. I'll probably have to just buy new fans at some point too, fuck, this is the kind of shit that just makes me want to throw my arms up and move! Never going to get a 2% home loan again though, and my career is here, so probably not going anywhere.

I have a few different brand switches all over my house wish I bought all at the same time so they look the same. Zero issues with any. Mostly kasa, but a few cheaper ones that were on sale on Amazon. 3 3ways, 2 motion sensors. Zero issues after installed. First 2 are at least 10 years old. My dad has had 2 go out, one due to his old house having crap wiring, other probably due to lightning.

Onoes · Jul 27, 2024

fris said:
I have a few different brand switches all over my house wish I bought all at the same time so they look the same. Zero issues with any. Mostly kasa, but a few cheaper ones that were on sale on Amazon. 3 3ways, 2 motion sensors. Zero issues after installed. First 2 are at least 10 years old. My dad has had 2 go out, one due to his old house having crap wiring, other probably due to lightning.

I definitely feel like the issue is a combo of moisture and use. Every single switch in both bathrooms has died a couple of those have also had the replacements fail after a year or so, and my 3 switches at the front door have all failed. The front door switches are the only ones I have set to turn on at dusk and back off at dawn, so they are effectively being clicked twice a day. I think I've only had 1 or 2 of the ones I don't regularly use fail.

And yeah, it may be that I bought the ones that were $10 a pop instead of the ones that were $50 each, but my buddy opted for those and is having the same complaints. I think the big difference was that he was only replacing 15 or so switches, and I was doing 40something.

I still think eventually I'll spend a weekend just switching them all back to basic toggle switches. I have about 100 other home improvement projects before that though.

fris · Jul 27, 2024

Are you manually hitting stitches that could be controlled via voice? There's some switches I haven't touched in years but use my voice to turn on off daily

Siliconemelons · Jul 28, 2024

And for copper, sharkbite are your friend…unless you really like soldering. And there are shark bites copper to pex and pvc so yeah

Random

BrutulTM · Jul 28, 2024

I started a plumbing repair in my girlfriend's rental house but it kept getting bigger and I finally ran out of time after 6 trips to the hardware store and she had to call in a plumber to finish it. I was expecting him to shit on my beginning the job with sharkbite connectors. He wound up replacing a shower valve and when I came back he had put it in with shark bites all around. It has an access panel but I was still surprised a real plumber did that. Confidence in them must be growing although in this particular case the landlord is such a douche that if I could buy a shower valve with a timer that would burn the house down after she moves out I would totally do it.

Palum · Jul 28, 2024

Sharkbites are awesome. The only thing that sucks is the tools to release them are annoying and also I lose them constantly.

Siliconemelons · Jul 28, 2024

Also, I think they got approved for in wall or limited in wall use for code. Eliminating plumbers biggest reason not to use

Haus · Aug 7, 2024

Khane · Aug 7, 2024

Haus said:
View attachment 540173

Firstly, let's discuss the font choice in this meme

ToeMissile · Aug 8, 2024

Definitely not the same, but I understand the sentiment. Depends on the brick, some old stuff with legit character? Also, at least with painting the brick you’ll still have the texture/pattern.

Im not a fan of carpet, get a rug if you want something soft and fuzzy.

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