The Home Improvement Thread. Successes and Failures

[dxmnkd316]

Battery is the future. It's not the present. Shit is changing too fast and batteries are expensive to replace. Especially on something like a snowblower. I'm with swan on this one, I need a two stage given the driveway and the slope. I'd also be a bit wary of cold temps and batteries. I fried a powertool battery because I left it in the garage over winter. And it was next to the inside wall where it stays above freezing nearly the entire winter.

simple spark plug and oil changes aren't that bad. $15 annually and you're set. Maybe you need to replace carb gaskets every ten years, but that's like an hour of work and $10.

Obviously YMMV and if batteries work for you, more *erm* power to you ;-)
Seriously though, you're dead on with batteries, they're just not quite to where I would prefer. It's a personal preference on my part and shouldn't be looked at as trying to talk anyone out of battery powered options.

edit: wait I just realized swan made that last post. For some reason my brain said DGF. Weird.

 

[Deutsche Gopher Fan]

Ok- it’s all ymmv. I have never needed a two stage so I don’t need a more powerful battery machine.
I don’t care how cheap it is to maintain a gas one- I dont want to learn how and I’m sick of hauling it to ace hardware . It’s a choice I make for convenience.


also, I’m not a fucking idiot - the batteries are kept in my indoor closet and not the garage. I’m aware of the cold temp effects on batteries

 

[walrus]

I believe it's because water and ethanol are miscible. OTOH, gas and water aren't. Any water would sit on top. Ethanol, while great for improving octane, having so much water could probably do the opposite. I'm guessing that water-ethanol mixtures are also not miscible in gasoline either. So if there's water in the tank (from the air, condensation, etc), it's going to get concentrated in the ethanol and separate from the gas. If you run your engine "dry" it might just be hitting that interface and shutting down leaving you with just a small amount of impossible to ignite liquid in the engine.

now, if all of a sudden you add a **** ton of ethanol, like, denatured 100%, it's going to mix with that water-ethanol mixture and hit the point where it can finally ignite. Once you get it running again, draining or running until dry would probably work. Then switch to 100% gas.

Wouldn't be surprised that this would be fine even if you had a boundary layer of water sitting on top of the gas because if you ran it dry and let it sit open, the dry air would yank that water right out of the tank.

edit: otoh, why wouldn't that also be true for etoh-h20? I'd have to think about that.

I don't believe Gasoline and Ethanol aren't miscible either. They don't store it together until it goes into the tanker on the way to the retail location. Its injected in to gas at the loading rack. A small amount of water will make the the E10 phase shift and ethanol will fall to the bottom of tank. Its a mess when that happens. If you are getting gas at your favorite CStore when it happens you won't get off the concrete mat.

No matter what very slim chance adding any chemical to the tank of a small engine will miraculously cure whatever engine problems you are having.

 

[Swansong]

Drygas worked like a charm. I let it run for 10 minutes or so and cycle through stuff. Multiple turn off/turn on confirmed ignition works.

 

[MarkEagleUSA]

It isn't super hard, just need to treat what's in the tank and then use the pull chain instead of the electric start so you cycle things around more. Just a lot of pulling and pulling and pulling.

Do you really think there's a difference between the pull & electric starter? The only thing the pull cord is cycling is your back and shoulder muscles. Bad fuel is bad fuel and it doesn’t matter which starter you use if something in the carb is gunned up.

 

[Swansong]

Do you really think there's a difference between the pull & electric starter? The only thing the pull cord is cycling is your back and shoulder muscles. Bad fuel is bad fuel and it doesn’t matter which starter you use if something in the carb is gunned up.

Well, it pulls pretty easy.

But my experience with this is that when I'm dealing with stale gas, only the pull start ever works. The electric start works fine otherwise.

 

[JF_Gophers]

Frameless glass for our walk-in shower finally going in today. Wrapping up our remodel of a brand new house.

Upgrades:
- master bathtub replaced with shower
- kitchen/bathroom counters switched to granite
- living room/hallways carpet changed to tile

 

[Swansong]

I love the look of glass shower doors but they just seem like they're going to look permanently dirty unless you windex them every day.

 

[dxmnkd316]

Squeegees do wonders. Used to look like frosted glas within a month. Now, it stays relatively clean. Gotta be better and do a deep scrub more often but regular cleanings keep it acceptable.

also, barkeepers friend for hard water buildup. We really need a softener. But I'm not super thrilled with the environmental impact and costs. OTOH, silky soft water.

 

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Yeah, the glass doors have to be squeeged after every use and deep cleaned every couple of months to remove the water spots and scum. It's a PITA.

 

[dxmnkd316]

I'd still take glass over curtains every day of the week.

 

[JF_Gophers]

Squeegees do wonders. Used to look like frosted glas within a month. Now, it stays relatively clean. Gotta be better and do a deep scrub more often but regular cleanings keep it acceptable.

also, barkeepers friend for hard water buildup. We really need a softener. But I'm not super thrilled with the environmental impact and costs. OTOH, silky soft water.

I'm happy to clean the glass on a walk in. It's just worth it vs the alternatives.

We had to go with water filter and softener here. The water is up to 25% recycled from waste and full of bleach, metals, etc.

paid for it up front to save several grand in costs. Now it's just salt for the softener every 2 months.

 

[dxmnkd316]

Our dream house will have a walk in as well.

Can I recommend an RO unit for your kitchen if you've got that bad of water?

 

[JF_Gophers]

Our dream house will have a walk in as well.

Can I recommend an RO unit for your kitchen if you've got that bad of water?

We have the whole house filter now. So don't really need anything else.

The reno to get a walk in wasn't that expensive surprisingly. Maybe 10k.

 

[dxmnkd316]

Added my chest freezer and kitchen freezer and fridge to home assistant. They're now smart appliances. If the temperatures ever get above the thresholds, I'll get an email and text. All for about $7 a piece using RF freezer alarms meant to just do an audible alarm locally.

 

[walrus]

We have the whole house filter now. So don't really need anything else.

The reno to get a walk in wasn't that expensive surprisingly. Maybe 10k.

10 k to do th shower or the whole bathroom? Kitchens and bathrooms are expensive

 

[JF_Gophers]

10 k to do th shower or the whole bathroom? Kitchens and bathrooms are expensive

To remove a tub and build a new shower.

 

[St. Clown]

I so very sincerely hate having plaster walls. Lousy 1950s technology.

My wife had me hang something in our bedroom today after having just done a minor remodel of the bathroom (new lights, new towel bars, etc.). I genuinely hate dealing with plaster on lathes. For as many drawbacks as Sheetrock may have, it’s way better than the alternative.

 

[Swansong]

I so very sincerely hate having plaster walls. Lousy 1950s technology.

My wife had me hang something in our bedroom today after having just done a minor remodel of the bathroom (new lights, new towel bars, etc.). I genuinely hate dealing with plaster on lathes. For as many drawbacks as Sheetrock may have, it’s way better than the alternative.

Yeah hanging stuff on them stinks.

 

[burd]

In my personal experience, plaster is better for hanging or patching until you have to replace a large area, like a wall or ceiling. That said, hanging can be more challenging if you need to anchor into studs, simply because the lumber is often very old (and sometimes oak) and hard as hell.