First thing I took a look at was the gas furnace. It's a Rheem Criterion, and it wasn't putting out any heat. So I took the cover off and, err... bad news. Something must have happened to the chimney cap because it looks like it's been raining in there. Time to call the landlord. But anyhow, once I blew all the junk out with canned air and pressed the button on the flame rollout switch (all done with power shut off to the unit of course), it fired right up with a typical Rheem start cycle (draft inducer whir, a glow plug burn red, then ignition of four tubes of heat). Hopefully getting the chimney cap fixed to keep water out of the system will keep the switch from tripping again, if not (shrug) landlord buys a new flame rollout switch.
Next up was the kitchen faucet. It's a cheap POS that's been leaking for years, from what I can tell. I got tired of it and got an American Standard Cadet with a spray nozzle a while back. So tonight I decided to install it. The only annoying part was getting the retainer ring tight on the spray nozzle side, I have the "right" faucet wrench to do this job, but simply working it around the cabinetry was a PITA because the crossbrace that the tiled-in sink actually sits on comes almost right up to the retainer ring there. Just one of the joys of custom cabinetry and tiled-in sinks...
So now I have heat, and a sink that doesn't drip. Life is good :).
Well, except that The Mighty Fang freaked out and started howling at Mencken again, who of course is completely baffled...
- Badtux the Handy Penguin
I don't know if the vanilla extract trick would work with TMF. Tab a bit on his nose and, from Fang's point of view, Mencken would smell like Fang. Everything would smell like Fang.
ReplyDeleteHe might not be happy with you, though.
At least you got it done and no mention of having to go get something.
ReplyDeleteNan, if it gets worse I might try your suggestion. (Yes I do of course have vanilla extract in my kitchen).
ReplyDeleteOne Fly, I had new hoses and plumber's putty and all that, no need to go get something. Also had the right wrenches and all. I left out the WD-40 on the old crusted-on bolts, the use of a dental pick and brass brush to clean up the crusted-up valve stem of the cold water shutoff valve so that I could shut off the cold water, and so forth simply because you already knew there was something like that when dealing with removing a 20 year old faucet and the amount of cursing involved outweighed the interest level :).
Add up what you would have paid some bozo to do what you did, and it feels even better doesn't it?
ReplyDeletew3ski
Well, the amount the landlord would have paid some bozo -- but yeah, he woulda raised my rent to pay for that bozo. I want as little attention from my landlord as possible, my rent is ridiculously low and bringing that fact to his attention by bringing little things like a dripping faucet to his attention probably is not in my best interests :).
ReplyDeleteYou'd better read your rental agreement since many contain fine print about renter's doing their own repairs. Once my bride and I did as you did and found ourselves in violation of an obscure addendum and were faced with a stiff fee that we refused to pay. The SOB took us to court and won. We moved once our lease was up, but it pissed me of at the time since he would never have anything repaired.
Delete1) My landlord is an old retired dude who hasn't been inside my unit in the entire time I've lived there so he wouldn't know,
ReplyDelete2) The only time he's ever sued anybody is to evict folks who haven't paid rent,
3) the rental agreement is a standard form created by the State of California that has the standard boilerplate that I'm not to do repairs (which given the incompetence of the average tenant is probably a Good Thing, but I did my first re-plumbing of a house erm thirty years ago? plus worked as an electrician for a while so this is old hat for me), but has no provisions for any remedy other than to evict me if I violate the agreement, which since this is a month-to-month rental he can already do with 30 days notice.
In short, if I create damage by fixing something I can be sued for those damages or have them taken out of my deposit, but then I *should* be able to be sued for those damages -- if I broke something, I should fix it or pay for it to be fixed. Other than that, the worst that can happen is that he tells me to leave at the end of the month. Which he isn't going to do, as long as he gets my rent, because he's an old retired dude and really doesn't care anymore.
Oh yeah, the main reason for that clause in the lease is to protect him against me suing him if I manage to electrocute myself or fall off the roof or something while trying to fix something. My lease said I wasn't 'spozed to do dat, I dun dat, court says "Get yer butt outta here and quit wasting our time" dat.
DeleteRe: TMF: if vanilla extract doesn't work and TMF is still driving you crazy, you might consider forking over some cash for one of those plug-in kitty hormone dispensers. I keep one (and a refill) around for when one of the cats just starts behaving weird, if I can't solve the problem any other way (like, making sure the litter box is extra-clean for awhile) and there doesn't seem like anything that would require a trip to the vet. A month of kitty hormones in the house usually resolves whatever it is.
ReplyDeleteI still think the best alternative is to get rid of the damned cats.
ReplyDeleteYour Meow May Vary,
JzB
Mr Tux, I too have a leaky kitchen faucet and I no longer fit under the sink. When can you stop by? :)
ReplyDeleteKaren, if I put kitty hormones all over the house, does that mean I will suddenly develop a craving for tuna?
ReplyDeleteJzB, stay away from my fur babies! (I say that despite knowing that if I keeled over dead, the fur-bearin' varmints would likely just look at each other, say "Mealtime!", and start chowin' down).
Montag: It'd probably be cheaper to go on a diet. My current going rate is $100/hour, with a two hour minimum :).
That's more than the hookers on my street make! I'm going to have to go tell those ladies that they need to learn about a different kind of plumbing!
ReplyDeleteLynne, I plumb the insides of computers generally, not the insides of houses. Computer plumbers make a bit more than than most plumbers, so don't get those hookers' hopes up :).
ReplyDelete- Badtux the Plumbing Penguin