Kitchen Aid Mixer

Our mixer was starting to squeak and grind while mixing. We purchased this mixer in 1981 making it 32 years old. I found a nice little Youtube video on how to disassemble the unit. So I did take it apart and redistribute the grease as several gears looked rather dry. Now it sounds much better. There was plenty of grease still present.

Our normally great tasting water tastes bad, part 2



Our Northwest corner of the basement showed a little water on the floor again and the drinking water has a slight taste again. So I suspect the float switch failed and the reservoir overflowed. Since the reservoir is under ground this can lead to fowl tasting water as muddy water seeps back into the tank. Interestingly this water never becomes cloudy.

I removed the float switch for inspection and found the terminals had broken from the switch body. The terminals may have broke while removing the stiff 12 gauge wire for inspection. Unfortunately this type switch is no longer manufactured. Don had rebuilt an older switch but I was unable to make a reliable, repeatable adjustment.



 

I purchased a new tethered style normally closed switch for about $70 and reconfigured the switching system by inserting a 41 inch copper pipe inside the 3/4 inch galvanized pipe. The float switch cable runs inside the copper pipe. All worked out rather neatly and now performs reliably, at least I think so.

 

 

 

Now the water tastes just fine as it has for many years. Interestingly we had the well pump off for 9 days and only used half the reservoir water. And we were not even restricting our water use. The delay was mainly caused while I healed from a little surgery and while located and purchased a new style switch.

 



Our normally great tasting water tastes bad.

We have a very shallow well with rather slow delivery. In about 1976 we added a underground 1000 gallon water reservoir. I have only inspected this reservoir a couple of times in the ensuing 35 years.  The last time I remember was in 1999 when I was preparing to build a garage and the county, bless their little hearts, insisted I upgrade the septic system and since I was doing that, to upgrade the well system also. Whew, no small task to get the old systems to pass new standards.

Well in the last month the water which normally taste superior was now tasting yucky. I opened the shallow well and visual inspection seemed just fine. So I dumped in some chlorine and washed the walls that I could reach. Then let this rather high concentration on chlorine water reach the reservoir and sit some. The chlorine passed through in a couple weeks but the bad taste remained. Meanwhile we carried our drinking water from our neighbors.

I then uncovered the reservoir lid which is about a foot underground. A visual inspection looked rather good. The water was clear and I could see the bottom easily. There was no water leaking into the tank that I could see. But I did see some contamination, about 0.5 inches round, in the bottom which appeared to maybe be a bug or something. I got a hose working as a siphon and was able to suck this contamination out first thing. Then I went further and let the hose siphon run for 4 hours emptying 2/3 of the tank. I climbed in the tank and used a broom to scrub the reservoir walls and also stir up the maybe 1/8 inch of sand/soil on the bottom making the water very muddy. I then used the house pump along with the siphon to remove most of the rest of the reservoir water. With 1/2 inch of water remaining I used a shop vacuum to remove the remaining water along with any remaining sand/soil.

I then turned on the well pump and started the fill process. Do to the design of the system it is best to let the reservoir fill almost half way before turning on the house pump after the prime is lost. I let the reservoir fill overnight and the following noon was able to turn on the house pump which primed first time. Before I buried the reservoir again I covered the lid with some tarp material which may stop any critter from entering the tank again.

So we lost all water for well 16 hours. Linda did several loads in the washing machine the same day and also we ran the dishwasher. We expect the water to be slightly cloudy for a couple of days and hopefully when all settles out should be back to perfect soft, clear and great tasting water, again.

 The two floats tell the well pump when the reservoir is low and needs water and also when it is full and don't send more water.

The cleaned reservoir.

 

The lid is under this section of walkway. So this is after all the digging.

ABS Brake Sensors Analysis

I saved 3 used ABS brake sensor assemblies cables. One from a BMW which had indicated it was bad. One from Andre’s vehicle as a new ABS sensor was provided when he replaced the left front wheel bearing assembly. The third when Paul replaced his front wheel bearing assembly.

To test these brake sensor assemblies I used a 9 volt power supply and connected the minus lead to a 1,000 ohm resistor then to one of the two leads to the sensor.
The other lead of the sensor I connected to the plus side of the 9 volt supply.

I then placed an oscilloscope across the resistor. By running a screwdriver past the sensor I would get a nice negative pulse on the oscilloscope when connected to the sensor one way and no pulse when connected in the other polarity.

The pulses I observed are shown below.

This all makes good sense as the bad sensor was known by the BMW’s computer fault code to be bad. The two sensors that I could get a pulse from were replaced only because a wheel bearing went bad. (The sensors I suspect are just hall effect sensors.)

The Antilock Brake System (ABS) works something like this, I suppose. For some interesting physics phenomenon, a tire that is sliding has less traction than a tire that is not quite sliding. So if we keep a wheel turning slightly in an emergency brake we can stop sooner than if the wheel is completely stopped. Also one can continue to steer the car. If you are in a complete slide the car will not turn. So enter ABS. Using a thin light cogged disk which is attached to the wheel they place a sensor near the cogs at the outside edge of the disk which senses when each cog rotates past the sensor. At each sense a little pulse is created by the sensor. Now if the wheel is turning the sensor will send out a series of pulses which relates to how fast the wheel is turning.

This string of pulses goes to the computer which does nothing if there are pulses. However if the vehicle is moving and the one wheel’s pulses stop the computer (ABS) interrupts the hydraulic pressure going to the brake caliper at that wheel in a pulsing motion which ensures that wheel continues some spinning which increases traction for faster stopping and also providing some steering control.   

Hot Water - Continued

Well I was in for a little surprise this morning. I was the second shower and the shower ended with, warm, not hot water. So, one element in the hot water tank apparently is not going to do the job!

I checked the working upper element and it is ok, so now for the repair of the known bad lower element. First, off with the circuit breaker. Then attach a garden hose and open the valve on the tank to drain the water from the tank. Then to aid in the draining open several of the hot water valves in the house.  The draining took about 3 hours. Then remove the lower element which had bent and no longer easily came out the little 2 inch hole. But with some additional force and more bending it was removed. Sure enough there is a 3 inch slit in the element heating tube. No wonder it failed. It was a 5,500 watt element which is huge seems to me.

Off to Home Depot and I find there replacement elements all screw in while this one is held in place by 4 bolts. So off to Coast to Coast and they have an element for all water heater brands with the same bolt hole spacing. I purchased their 4,500 watt element for $16.

The tank is in grand shape where the element attaches and there is no gunk in the bottom of the tank even after all these years. But this universal element does has a thicker base so the bolts are not long enough. And the bracket that also attaches to the bolts which holds the thermostat needs a little grinding to take off some tabs that are getting in the way. So off to Henry’s for 4 each ¼ x 36 x ¾ inch cap bolts and eight washers. Less than $2. Now all installed ok with a little work. Filled the tank and walla, we have hot water once again and hopefully enough for 2 showers. I suspect we have enough hot water for 6 showers now.

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Just recently we again had only enough water for one shower. [December 2013.] So rather than troubleshoot much I purchased two new thermostats from Home Depot and installed them. Now plenty of hot water again.  The elements tested just fine. The preset on the temperature was set at, 130 degrees if I remember correctly. $25 and an hours work.

Hot Water Failure Christmas Morning

Much to our surprise we were out of hot water Christmas morning 2012. Interestingly enough we purchased this Sears Dual 28 Electric Water Heater in December of 1974. Hot water worked fine until September of 1996.

At that time a thermostat or heating coil went bad . While installing different used hardware I reconfigured the wiring so just one element is on at a time which is more standard. 

This Christmas morning I observed 240 volts at the upper element so I open the circuit breaker and removed one lead from the element and measured 40 ohms across the upper element which indicated the element is good.  I did notice the wire to the element was slightly discolored due to being warm. I loosened the screw and shortened the wire half an inch and reconnected with everything cleaned.  Now with power on the upper element is working fine and we have hot water.

With power on I measured 3/10 amps going to the lower element.  With power off I measured infinity across the heating coil which means it is bad. I then remove both leads, and installed wire nuts to protect the wire ends.

This hot water tank is double glass lined, has very little rust on the outside and has lasted so many years I hate to replace it. New tanks seem to only last 10 years at times. So now the question is should I operate with only one element which seems to work just fine. Seems we have enough hot water. This was the biggest tank Sears sold in 1974. It had by far the fastest heat recovery or gallons of hot water per minute due to the fact it had both elements on at the same time. It drew 28 amps which is rather close to the 30 amp circuit breaker. Power was cheap back then and since we had the cheaper all electric rate it seemed smart get the biggest and the best tank for just a few dollars extra. I see it came in 3 sizes 52, 66 and 82 gallons. It might be the biggest. We have never to my knowledge run out of hot water except for the 2 failures.

Merry Christmas 2012

Christmas 2012

Merry Christmas to all. What a busy and great time of year. So much is happening these days with well used trails through the woods to both boys’ families. We have so much to be grateful for. We are healthy but aging some. 

In April a big event was Linda retiring from the Office Manager/Bookkeeper position for Gamble Bay Timber. It was a nice career for her having flexibility all those years and especially to work with Jeremy and Nate. Now we are able to spend about two days a week watching our granddaughters. What a blessing for us. 

We traveled to the National Parks of Utah and Arizona in April car camping in our van. We met Bob and Marlene and spent a week camping with them and had a great time. So much to see and do. It was wonderful!

Our May special event was Hannah’s birth making our fourth delightful granddaughter. What a treat to be so close to our granddaughters (and their parents) as our granddaughters are growing up. All of them are doing well and so full of love, joy and energy. {Ages ½, 2, 3 &4.}

In July we camped at Lake Roosevelt with the extended family. We had a great time enjoying the sunshine, the heat, the water and everyone who came. Good mealtimes were had by all. Then in August we camped at Takhlak Lake overlooking Mount Adams with Betty and Alain, Bob and Marlene and Mark and Anne. What a beautiful spot. We so enjoyed our adventurous day hike which crossed a raging river and snow patches on a hot summer day. We basked in the luxury of our new very little camping trailer. (After 46 years of tents and vans.)

Our oldest granddaughter fell in our creek this year. The first person ever to do so. She was crossing the log bridge across the creek and momentarily looked back to see what Gramie was doing and off the side she went. She got wet to her ankles and was really surprised for sure. I reached down and pulled her back up on the log but noticed my strength has diminished some. She learned a valuable lesson.

In September we experienced another special event as Nate, Deann and girls moved into the home across the street from us. Wahoo!  Deann has two horses in our pasture these days which keeps us entertained. Now that they live so close she pretty much takes complete care which makes it especially nice for us. Horses are enjoyable to watch out our dining room window. We notice they watch us a lot also.

We are also grateful for the routine things in life - including volunteering and helping family and friends when the opportunities come.  All in all it has been a grand year.

                                   Blessings to you as we celebrate Jesus‘ birth, and enter 2013,

                                   Jim & Linda