Monthly Archives: July 2019
Thanks, Nicky . . .
Back on my repair list, I spent the morning looking at my dead bedroom ceiling lights. As it turns out the two ceiling fixtures are the only ones left in the rig still using the original fluorescent bulbs. All the rest have been updated with these 12 volt LED strip lights.
They put out slightly more light than the fluorescent tubes, at 30,000 hours they last longer, and at $10 for 6, they’re a lot cheaper.
In this case, since both fixtures were dead I figured it was the power feeding them, so I first checked the fuse, again. I had checked before, but I wanted to start from scratch again.
With the fuse good, I next checked the wall switch, thinking it was now likely, but I had 12 volts entering and leaving the switch. So I pulled the cover off one of the fixtures, and had 12 volts there. And 12 volts at the other one too.
WTH?
I knew that both sets of bulbs were on their last legs, and it looks like they all gave up at the same time. I’ve got some more LED strips packed away so I’ll dig them out and put them in place.
About 2pm I made a trip over to our storeroom, with a detour by Yummy Yummy’s for lunch, to see if I had pulled the dryer blower motor from Nick Russell’s old Splendide before he junked it. And I had.
It almost looks like it’s brand new. I’ll pull the washer back out tomorrow and put it in place.
Thanks, Nicky!
Since Nick posted about the Wigwam Hotel in Holbrook, AZ, I thought I’d post a link to one of our visits to that area in 2011, while we were traveling with Nick and Terry.
My family and I stayed there in 1963 on a trip out west after we moved back from South America. Nice memories.
Thought for the Day:
If you ‘let it ride’ long enough, you are going to leave the table busted.
ghdg
Wash Day Blues . . .
As I mentioned, I have a chore list of stuff to do while Jan is gone, and at the top of the list was to get the dryer working again. It quit right before we left for Europe, and with my recent ‘under the weather’ phase, and the problem at work, I’m just getting around to fixing it.
The reason I was able to let it slip for a while is that the park’s laundry is just two sites away. So I had some breathing room
So the first thing I did was get my washer dolly out of the bays and then pulled the washer out onto it until I could get the top off.
A while back I had configured the hoses so that I could partially remove the washer from the cabinet and get the lid off, since that’s usually where most problems are.
Since everything worked fine except no heat from the dryer, I figured it was the Thermal Overheat Fuse like a couple of times before.
A fuse of the correct temp is no longer available, and the replacements I found on Amazon aren’t quite the right temp rating so they only last a couple of years. But when I checked the fuse it was still good, as was the thermostat also.
But as I looked around I noticed the heater blower motor was loose on the mount, enough to make the motor twist around so that the squirrel cage fan rubbed against the inside of the blower housing, tearing it loose from the motor shaft and damaging the fan itself.
So my first call was to Westland Sales out in Oregon, but I was pretty sure I already knew the answer. And I was right.
A replacement was no longer available, not the first time I’ve heard this on my 20 year old Splendide Washer/Dryer.
A few years ago I had to replace the no-longer-available water pump with one from another make of washer by kluging up a mount for it in a new location with new hoses. But it’s worked for 5 or 6 years with no problems.
So now my Plan B is to check our storage room for my box of Splendide parts. These are parts that I salvaged out of our friend Nick Russell’s old 2000 unit when he upgraded to a new 2100. But it’s been so long I don’t know if I pulled the blower motor or not. So I’ll see tomorrow.
But if I don’t have a replacement, my Plan C is to repair the squirrel cage and then create a new mount for it on the motor shaft.
So we’ll see how it goes.
My Alexa has a new response. We have an Echo Dot in the bedroom that controls several devices there, including a fan that’s mounted up by the ceiling that she controls. So when I get up, I say, “Alexa, turn the fan off, please”. And after she does it, she says, “OK”. And I, wanting to be polite to our future robot overlords, always say, “Thank you!”
Now, normally Alexa goes silent at this point, but today she said, “You’re Welcome. And have a great Friday!”
Hopefully Alexa will remember my obeisance when they take over.
Thought for the Day:
The following statement is false. The previous statement is true.
ghdgh
