QuietShootr
06-19-12, 09:42
After what happened last night and this morning, a thought occurred to me. We have some seriously smart people here, and it would be cool to have a Life TTPs thread where you could post tips and tricks that could save you money, aggravation, or oxygen (sort of like a whole-life version of the SCAR Tips thread), and people here would understand our 'unique' perspective that might not be as appreciated in a home improvement forum, for instance. Here's how it could work:
Post a question to a problem you're having in GD. If/when the question is answered, and the consensus is that it's worth moving to the Life TTPs sticky, then the Q and A are moved to the sticky and the thread is deleted - this keeps from cluttering up the forum.
Sort of like the Ask a SME thread, general guidelines would be "Don't be a dumb-ass." Example of a good question would be:
My air conditioner blower is locked up. What are a couple of things I can try before I make a $300 service call?
Now to my little anecdote that inspired this thought. Last night about 2230, with outside temps above the 90s, it suddenly got hotter than **** in here. Now, I am no kind of a handyman, but I do understand the refrigeration cycle, so I checked the inside unit first. Hmmm.. Coils are room temp (i.e. warm.) I go outside, and immediately grasp the problem. The blower is not turning, and is making a sound that sounds a lot like a jammed electric motor.
****. I pull the breaker and take the top off the AC unit, and try to spin the fan by hand. It's turning, but not spinning freely. So I try a hillbilly trick. I spin the blades by hand and have my wife flip the breaker. The fan grudgingly starts spinning, and I put the top back on the unit. Cut to 0200, and wake up hot again. Open all the windows, go back to bed.
Get up 0630, sweating like a pig. I think "****. This is going to be an $500 service call to somebody." Then I think, "Wait, I know! The Internet!" and I look up 'blower motor not working', and I find something about lubricating the bearings. I says to myself,"Self, we own lots of oils." I find a picture of the motor with parts nomenclature on the web, and locate the two oil ports, one for each bearing at the end of the motor. Six drops of CLP per end later, I'm enjoying frosty 23-degree-dropped air measured at the plenum. That was 0730 - after a couple of minutes of erratic spinning while the (undoubtedly dry) bearings got the oil distributed, now it's spinning like George Washington in his grave.
There's a sticker on the side of the motor that says "Lubricate every 5 months" that the last service guy said nothing about - and I'm quite certain that had I called someone out here, they would have wanted to replace the motor, the starter cap, and god knows what else, but I would have been lucky to get off with a $500 bill.
Blah blah, I know - but the moral of the story is: Lubricate your AC blower bearings. It's easy, free, and could probably save you a shitload of money.
There, there's tip #1.
Post a question to a problem you're having in GD. If/when the question is answered, and the consensus is that it's worth moving to the Life TTPs sticky, then the Q and A are moved to the sticky and the thread is deleted - this keeps from cluttering up the forum.
Sort of like the Ask a SME thread, general guidelines would be "Don't be a dumb-ass." Example of a good question would be:
My air conditioner blower is locked up. What are a couple of things I can try before I make a $300 service call?
Now to my little anecdote that inspired this thought. Last night about 2230, with outside temps above the 90s, it suddenly got hotter than **** in here. Now, I am no kind of a handyman, but I do understand the refrigeration cycle, so I checked the inside unit first. Hmmm.. Coils are room temp (i.e. warm.) I go outside, and immediately grasp the problem. The blower is not turning, and is making a sound that sounds a lot like a jammed electric motor.
****. I pull the breaker and take the top off the AC unit, and try to spin the fan by hand. It's turning, but not spinning freely. So I try a hillbilly trick. I spin the blades by hand and have my wife flip the breaker. The fan grudgingly starts spinning, and I put the top back on the unit. Cut to 0200, and wake up hot again. Open all the windows, go back to bed.
Get up 0630, sweating like a pig. I think "****. This is going to be an $500 service call to somebody." Then I think, "Wait, I know! The Internet!" and I look up 'blower motor not working', and I find something about lubricating the bearings. I says to myself,"Self, we own lots of oils." I find a picture of the motor with parts nomenclature on the web, and locate the two oil ports, one for each bearing at the end of the motor. Six drops of CLP per end later, I'm enjoying frosty 23-degree-dropped air measured at the plenum. That was 0730 - after a couple of minutes of erratic spinning while the (undoubtedly dry) bearings got the oil distributed, now it's spinning like George Washington in his grave.
There's a sticker on the side of the motor that says "Lubricate every 5 months" that the last service guy said nothing about - and I'm quite certain that had I called someone out here, they would have wanted to replace the motor, the starter cap, and god knows what else, but I would have been lucky to get off with a $500 bill.
Blah blah, I know - but the moral of the story is: Lubricate your AC blower bearings. It's easy, free, and could probably save you a shitload of money.
There, there's tip #1.