My Rant $$$$$$$$$$

[RetroJames]

Akkkkk -

Call from wife at 3:30pm.  Heat is out.  $$ - Meet repair man at 4:00pm at the house.  Problems -

Exhaust fan motor shot.  Safety keeps furnace from turning on.  Tech goes to bypass furnace for heat pump until he can get new motor.  

Thermostat (programmable) shot, will not turn on heat pump.  He shows me error codes on the screen and manual indicating they mean it is phooey.  He replaces it with a temporary manual thermostat.  

Onto the heat pump.  No refrigerant.  He fills it up, finds leak near main coils fixes leak.  

Also, had to "tap?" circut board on furnace as it is not shutting off the fan.  That is shot.

Contacts on heat pump, soon to be shot.

Exhaust vent goes up then down on the way out, big no-no.  Must rerun exhaust fan.

Fan on main furnace blower, out of balance and rocking and rolling.  Cleaning helped, replace now or hope it does not kill the motor soon.

While all this is going on;

Plumber shows up to give me a revised bid for the rest of our work on the master bath.

Carpenter shows up from last week to be paid.

Downstairs tenant knocks on the door, Internet is out.  (Found a cable that had been cut, spliced it)

Drywall finisher calls with his quote, starts tommorow (Home Depot for me tonight)

Wife shows up!  Yay!  Dinner?  Nope, just came to get $$ so I can buy shoes (She is pregnant and her shoes are getting tight

Hungry and heading to Home Depot....



Work done on my Omega Cabinet tonight  ?


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[Edgedamage]

Man sounds like the movie "money pit"

[RetroJames]

Man sounds like the movie "money pit"

Yep except they had comedy.  Oh wait, we do too...dinner = 1 can of ravioli.  Someone shoot me.

[paigeoliver]

Well, if it makes you feel any better count yourself blessed that you are well off enough financially to even BE in those sort of situations.

Seems to me like you are a homeowner, own a large enough home (or building) that you have tenants, are basically well off enough to do home improvements even with an impending child.

I get into this discussion a lot with one of my best friends. He makes $28.00 and hour, I make $10.35 and get 10 percent of that garnished (student loans). He complains about money. I point out the fact that every time he gets a raise he expands his bills to cover that income. Actually it is getting worse. Back when we both made $8 an hour he was actually living on his salary without going into any sort of debt. Now it seems he is racking it up like there is no tommorrow, bought a house, is doing (largely senseless), expensive home improvements left and right, did multiple vehicle trade ins which of course resulted in him making payments on a new truck and owing many thousands more than the sticker price. He also has a baby on the way, and I hope he doesn't keep this path up. The house part wouldn't actually be so bad, except that he bought his house recently (along with many others), when real estate prices were at record highs (because of record low interest rates). He was buying into the false assumption that real estate never goes down, which is largely nonsense. They are building like crazy in our state, population has been unchanged for several decades here, yet new subdivisions are going up all over the place, due totally to low interest rates. Most streets have multiple empty homes now, the bottom is going to fall out of that, I promise you.

No way he can turn a profit on the place in less than a couple of years (not with the closing costs, moving costs, and the extra costs from the two times he refinanced, and the senseless remodeling he did), and if he waits longer than that his place is gonna get eaten by the encroaching suburban ghetto (our neighborhood goes from good to bad in the space of less than a mile now), which will quickly reduce the value of his "investment".

[RetroJames]

Paige,

I do make note of my good fortune every day, and as you pointed out all of these things are relative.  We have stretched a bit like your friend in that we bought a house that was and is on the edge of our income ability, though the repairs we are doing are all solid investments that we know will increase the value and longevity of the house.  The apt is a little one bedroom in the basment that took me 6 months of weekends to renovate.  All sweat equity.  We are on a 5 year plan, meaning all of our improivements and financing are geared towards a resale in 4 more years depending on the market etc.  Investements always contain some risk, and who knows where we will be in 5 years, but I knew for certain that if we did NOT make one we certainly would not be in a position to reap any benefits.  A bit like the lottery, need to play to win etc.  As for real estate, barring a catastrophe like a dirty bomb etc, it always goes up over time.  Just depends what the "over time" entails.  

[paigeoliver]

Paige,

I do make note of my good fortune every day, and as you pointed out all of these things are relative.  We have stretched a bit like your friend in that we bought a house that was and is on the edge of our income ability, though the repairs we are doing are all solid investments that we know will increase the value and longevity of the house.  The apt is a little one bedroom in the basment that took me 6 months of weekends to renovate.  All sweat equity.  We are on a 5 year plan, meaning all of our improivements and financing are geared towards a resale in 4 more years depending on the market etc.  Investements always contain some risk, and who knows where we will be in 5 years, but I knew for certain that if we did NOT make one we certainly would not be in a position to reap any benefits.  A bit like the lottery, need to play to win etc.  As for real estate, barring a catastrophe like a dirty bomb etc, it always goes up over time.  Just depends what the "over time" entails.  

Well, yes it does always go up, it just doesn't always beat inflation. (Ok, it does actually go down from time to time). Right now though we are in a bit of a boom time which is going to be a one shot deal. The dynamics of the average household are changing which is creating a larger household demand. Single people who historically tended to have roommates or live with family until marriage are more often living alone in apartments, which were once largely occupied by young married couples who did not yet have children, who are now buying the houses that used to be largely occupied by married couples with children. Once that trend evens out, the real estate boom is going to stop.

I guess sometimes I am just the voice crying out in the wilderness "Hey, it isn't all that bad". I personally have deep convictions against debt of all types, and will not be able to own my own home until I can pay for it in cash.

I am sure it will all work out though. It sounds pretty exciting to me. I would love to be in your shoes in a couple of years (aside from the debt part). Not sure if it is going to happen though, as those pesky girls I like are pretty elusive.

[GGKoul]

Trust me... the more you make the more you spend.

[RetroJames]

Work done on my Omega Cabinet tonight  ?


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Correction, I was able to pick up the lexan I needed for the CP overlay while at Home Depot...

[ErikRuud]

That's how you have to do it sometimes, interleave your projects!

I can feel some of your pain, I am in the middle of a basement/1st floor bathroom remodel myself.  I have learned to dread the words "Special Order".  It means that the thing you need to complete you project will cost at least double and will take 3 to 4 weeks to arrive.  An 18" six panel pine door costs about $240.00 and a 36" six panel pine door cost $98.00.  If I had known ahead of time, I would have had specified that the vanity door should be 24" wich is not special order.

[ErikRuud]

1hookedspacecadet , you jinxed me!

This is too wierd!

I was down in the basement last night getting ready to install the utility room door, when I hear this strange hummimg sound.  It turns out that the exhaust fan on the furnace has siezed up and the furnace won't run!  I think the dust from the construction got to the bearings.

After talking to a guy on the phone, I got it to run for a while so that we did not need to have some one come out right away, but it quit for good some time during the night.  The house was only in the 50's when we got up this morning.

$512.00 dollars later, everything is working fine again.

Now I feel the pain even more!

[RetroJames]

1hookedspacecadet , you jinxed me!

This is too wierd!

I was down in the basement last night getting ready to install the utility room door, when I hear this strange hummimg sound.  It turns out that the exhaust fan on the furnace has siezed up and the furnace won't run!  I think the dust from the construction got to the bearings.

After talking to a guy on the phone, I got it to run for a while so that we did not need to have some one come out right away, but it quit for good some time during the night.  The house was only in the 50's when we got up this morning.

$512.00 dollars later, everything is working fine again.

Now I feel the pain even more!

Can you believe that s**t!!!!  I have been getting quotes from $500 to $950 to replace that d$%m thing!  It is a FAN!!!!!  One motor with a  freakin' squirrel cage.   uhgg.

Sorry my luck is spreading, keep an eye on your wife's car....my wife called today and said it "seemed to shut off just before I turned the key when I got home...not sure if I did anything..."  etc, etc, etc.

[ErikRuud]

Yeah,  I find it hard to believe that a brushless motor and a squirrel cage really cost that much.

[Spaced Invader]

1hookedspacecadet , you jinxed me!

This is too wierd!

I was down in the basement last night getting ready to install the utility room door, when I hear this strange hummimg sound.  It turns out that the exhaust fan on the furnace has siezed up and the furnace won't run!  I think the dust from the construction got to the bearings.

After talking to a guy on the phone, I got it to run for a while so that we did not need to have some one come out right away, but it quit for good some time during the night.  The house was only in the 50's when we got up this morning.

$512.00 dollars later, everything is working fine again.

Now I feel the pain even more!

Can you believe that s**t!!!!  I have been getting quotes from $500 to $950 to replace that d$%m thing!  It is a FAN!!!!!  One motor with a  freakin' squirrel cage.   uhgg.

Sorry my luck is spreading, keep an eye on your wife's car....my wife called today and said it "seemed to shut off just before I turned the key when I got home...not sure if I did anything..."  etc, etc, etc.

They wanted $750 to put a new fan in my furnace...I guess the figured I was cold and would pay. I bought a fan for $115 spent an hour tearing my furnace apart and another putting it together and all is well!  

I hate contractors/repair men...

[Ken Layton]

All the more reason to have an account at W.W. Grainger Company. When I have a motor crap out at a theater I just go to my local branch and pickup new exhaust/blower/fan motors. I just replaced the entire lamphouse exhaust fan assembly at the Chehalis Theater on an emergency service call last week. Spent only $120 for the whole thing at Grainger (and it was in stock!).

A friend had his home heat system conk out a couple of months ago. Fan motor was energized but not spinning. If power was turned off it spun freely but not when power was applied. Whipped out my trusty analog multimeter and first thing I checked was the motor capacitor. It was dead shorted! Went to my local Motors & Controls branch office and plunked down $12 cash for a new capacitor. System up and running properly again.

[RetroJames]

Yeah, they got me.  At the end of the day I spent much more than I would have had I the time to address the issue myself with some thought and planning.  We have a tenant downstairs who needed the heat, a pregnant wife upstairs who really needed the heat, contractors of all shapes and sizes comming at me from all sides working on other parts of the house and somewhere in there I am supposed to work 40-50 hrs plus on my job AND build an arcade game!!!!  Yeesh.  

I took a hit this time, though I was able to get the work for 1/3 the original quote (I love competition) it was still too much.  As soon as the dust clears from the present bath/bedroom project this spacecadet is getting some HVAC reading material.  The HVAC guys I have encountered so far are just awful.  I am going to do it myself in future.

[RetroJames]

Awesome....

My wife calls on the phone two days ago while driving on the highway.  While talking she says the car, an Isuzu Trooper, starts making weird clicking noises, seconds later it stops running, she pulls over.  

Just got word from my brother-in-law who owns a shop, engine has seized.

Talking to the wife last night, she said, "I knew I was 200mi over the limit from the last oil change, but I was going to get the oil changed on Thursday (today)."

Me: "So you looked at the sticker and compared the miles?"

Wife: "Yes."


....................pause....................


Wife: "I looked at it when the oil light came on a couple of days ago."



Good God Man, I am living a Greek Tragedy.

[Magnet_Eye]

It could be worse. Just remember that.

Don't sweat the small stuff, man...

When your family or friends are permanently injured, seriously ill, or start dying, then you may have the beginning of a greek tragedy.  

Keep life in perspective.

[RetroJames]

meh...

This stuff rolls off my back, it has just been fast and furious these past few months testing even my limits.  I will say this, the fun and enjoyment I have gotten from this board and the Omega MAME I am building have really helped.