TOTALLY RANDOM POST II

[moose eater]

Is the freezer in room that freezes? Newer freezers can't take it. The older ones could.

No, this is the kitchen refrigerator. And the control board malfunctioned again this morning, meaning it's out of commission entirely now.

Food is currently in coolers with ice packs from the freezer in the bottom of the refrigerator.

Located our multi-year extended warranty, and called the 3rd party that vends the services and connects with techs, and the fellow on the phone was confused that he couldn't find any scheduling dates, so he forwarded a trouble ticket to the 'resolution department'. Whatever they do, other than offer generic resolutions?

So, despite having insurance that would likely cover the entire fiasco, I contacted a fellow who was one of a very few who basically works out of a shop and a van and is ready to take jobs (it seems) almost any time of any day.

We have three upright freezers here, aside from the lower portion of the kitchen refrigerator. 2 of them are in the 'freezer room (1 21.5 cu. ft. upright energy star rated freezer, and the previously mentioned antique Montgomery Wards 18.5 +/- cu. ft. Then there's a 9+ cu. ft. upright in the basement.

There are a couple of smaller chest freezers on the enclosed unheated back porch, as well.

Even the older freezers will fail prematurely if a person runs the compressors in freezing conditions, let alone extreme freezing weather, so we don't ever do that.

Anyway, I found the OEM motherboard online for anywhere from $107 at one place, all the way up to about $240 from the manufacturer's site. The fellow bringing one out tonight wants $150 or so for his, and presumably it's OEM. (I'll ask).

So, with the house call and the part, I'm looking at about $350 total for the entire shindig.

Not too bad, though at this point, for future crises of this sort, the plan is to sell that nice compact 9 cu. ft. upright freezer in the basement (we no longer eat the volume of fish and meat we once did when there were five people here, rather than the current aging 2) and replace it with (maybe) a 14-cu. ft. refrigerator freezer, and that way I cause it for some of my shop supplies (such as Myco-Stop and Pre-Stop) that require refrigeration and have limited shelf lives.

 

[moose eater]

On the fridge controllers I use, some dashes would probably mean the temperature sensor wasn't working. Leaving nothing to display, and no reason to run. It's an unusual part to fail, and more likely a connection issue. When building a fridge, there is usually a wiring run into the compartment, for a light. This wiring route opens up the opportunity to run the air temperature sensor in at the same time. So giving it a good beating around there somewhere could be helpful.

Turns out the motherboard is a routine failed part in these.

On a positive note, and explaining why the fellow who's on the way actually had my motherboard on-hand, is that the control board/motherboard in our unit apparently fits hundreds of models of refrigerator-freezers, made by maybe a half-dozen different manufacturers.

Not too uncommon for manufacturers of circuit boards, etc., to supply lots of folks, including those who are competing with each other.

If I were the insurance carrier on this extended warranty, I'd likely be encouraging the refrigerator manufacturer to procure more reliable electronics and save some money. But they make a greater profit through planned obsolescence.

 

[f-e]

Sounds like a jazz board. They have a number of programs they can run. The right one for your appliance needs selecting at install. On the plate, you will find the code to enter. It's a bit of button pushing and opening and closing to get the menu up. What comes out might look different to what goes in, until he breaks the board along the dotted line. Watching for this possibilty, could help you spot a board being fitted that was already used. Remember the part that comes out is yours, if you want it. So asking to have a look (to confirm any suspicions) is something he can't deny you.

 

[Three Berries]

My chest freezer, a cheap made in USA Danby, has worked flawlessly for 9 years. It started leaking water out of the bottom somehow, as it never got above freezing and what frost was still there. So I figures some cold metal somewhere was exposed to the air and the humidity was condensing and dripping out. I suspected mouses.

But it turned out to be they sealed the bottom with some foam insulation and used a bag as a form on top. This bag left creases in the foam. These creases were sealed with more foam on top of them. But the two foams did not bond well and that is where the vapor barrier failed.

I took a sheet of 1/2 rigid foam insulation and glued it down to reseal the whole thing.

Now I need new flooring under it.

 

[big315smooth]

sunday funday

 

[moose eater]

Sounds like a jazz board. They have a number of programs they can run. The right one for your appliance needs selecting at install. On the plate, you will find the code to enter. It's a bit of button pushing and opening and closing to get the menu up. What comes out might look different to what goes in, until he breaks the board along the dotted line. Watching for this possibilty, could help you spot a board being fitted that was already used. Remember the part that comes out is yours, if you want it. So asking to have a look (to confirm any suspicions) is something he can't deny you.

Yes, the circuit board or jazz board was cooked (the old part we replaced); visibly scorched on a whole series of solder points on the circuitry.

And I learned that there is a whole series of the same jazz board part # that are not the same; the number following "jazz" on the back of the circuit board, indicates which rendition of that part number it is. The older jazz 6 boards, for example, will come under the same part number as the jazz 14 circuit boards, but in fact, there've been a total of 8 modifications or 'improvements' made to that part between the production date of the jazz 6 and the jazz 14.

Handy information when shopping online and trying to locate the same exact part, beyond the common part number.

Also discovered that the damper that operates from the circuit board and temperature sensor, is the newer, less problematic damper.

The older faulty circuit board may have also been responsible for some of the temperature differences near the cold air outlet in the top of the refrigerator at the damper, as it's quite possible the damper was either remaining partly open, or opening too often, due to the faulty jazz board.

Whatever the differences in these 2 boards, the scorched and the new, both of them being jazz 14's, the refrigerator now needs to be set at a colder setting in order to retain the same temperature as we had it set at before. So aside from fine-tuning the settings now, it's, as stated, further evidence that the jazz board may have been responsible for numerous symptoms, and the4 out-and-out failure was simply the more recent and noticeable outcome.

I also discovered that my extended warranty (had we been able to use it this time; we'll keep the fact that we didn't to ourselves, telling the warranty provider that it seems to be functioning fine now) also pays up to $250 for food loss in the event of a failure. I chuckled to myself upon learning that, figuring that these days, if one is relatively frugal, $250 is MAYBE equivalent to 3-4 bags of good quality groceries.

Another learning experience, and we've gone from -2 f yesterday, to -35 f on the front porch this morning. So outdoor chores are temporarily on hold, until we warm up a bit, perhaps next Friday or Saturday.

 

[f-e]

moose eater
I'm a bit lost pal. You are not claiming for the repair or losses?

 

[moose eater]

moose eater
I'm a bit lost pal. You are not claiming for the repair or losses?

Nope. It wasn't their guy who was arranged for the repair, mostly because I didn't have time to wait for them to figure out their schedule, so our ultimate concern is that if we tell them we had another source fix the thing, they might void the warranty.

We'll eat this $360 loss and maintain the warranty for when it really matters; like, if we end up needing to replace this thing before the summer of 2024.

 

[f-e]

Quite a balance.. with 250cn to spend in booze busters to consider.
Put the board back in before he arrives



Did we all notice the thread about new forum software (that was locked before we could talk about it)

 

[tobedetermined]

Did we all notice the thread about new forum software (that was locked before we could talk about it)

Yes.

 

[f-e]

Yes.

It sounds interesting, but I have not seen my hosts file since windows XP, and I have lots of connection problems as it is.
However, isn't the hosts file just like an internal dns. I put notes in there, that some site names don't need looking up, there actual IP is put in the hosts file, to ensure it's used, not some dns assigned one. If this was the case, I don't need to do anything like that. I wouldn't need the sites name, I just need the IP number to use as an address. Like the old internet


Is anyone doing any testing? It would be good to hear anything about the state of play over there.

 

[tobedetermined]

I guess we will have to wait and see. Anything that functions smoothly - while retaining all of the historical data - will be wonderful. The last time I checked, click traffic is still climbing so the eyeballs are coming despite the spastic way everything works (or doesn't).

 

[moose eater]

Another day of mixed outcomes.

Parts on the way for one vehicle (totaling nearly $1,600), and my younger son's automotive mechanic friend is doing the work that my younger son would've done, had he not placed my priorities on his proverbial back burner. My son's friend offered to do it for free. My wife and I thought $30/hour to be very fair to us. He countered with $5/hour. I told him we'll work something out. (* The grocery store has Copper River sockeye salmon on sale, previously frozen, for a Winter price of $4.97/lb. in town, so I'm thinking his dad, he, and their household wo7uld be tickled pink to receive 30-50 lbs. of Copper River red salmon. Maybe if the weather's right, I could even fire up my walk-in fish smoker, and do some for both households).

My previously free, then later on $25/lb. source (my youngest son's mechanic friend's father) for dried, pulverized chaga for home cancer treatment is apparently running out, and they -may- be able to get me another 4 lbs. After that, it's bulk online purchases from well-reviewed (but personally unknown to me) sources for the stuff. So that's going to be very near (just under) about $80 to $100/month.

Cold front is upon us until this next weekend, assuming it actually leaves us on time, per the NOAA forecast; often not the case when a cold system takes a squat right on the valley floor and gets stubborn about leaving. We've seen a one-week cold snap change its mind and stay for close to 3 weeks in the past. no thanks.

Shopping for various surge protectors for either the whole house or a wall-mounted surge protector specifically for the refrigerator. The more I read reviews about the failures and shortcomings of the cheapo sleazo surge protectors in the home improvement stores and online, the more I think there's folks selling gimmicks who don't really need to be on the planet anymore, categorized along with thieves by sleight of hand and other forms of dishonesty. The old, "You get what you pay for." comes to mind once again. The better, more appropriate and useful whole-house surge protectors that will theoretically fit my 200-amp electrical panel are apt to run about $125, on up to $350.

Owning a home may be an investment, but I'm not sure the investment value was ours. I'm thinking it's more an investment for the banks. Though ours is paid for, if it would simply quit nickeling and diming us to death.

 

[buzzmobile]

So it goes.

 

[big315smooth]

coffeed up time to go lop some plants yall enjoy your day

 

[f-e]

I'm not sure I would fit surge protection. Any equipment fit for purpose will look after itself. If lightening strikes, not a lot will help anyway.
Most is a swizz, as what really controls the size of a surge, is the length of cable back to the distribution transformer. Or where lots of compensated lighting (flo's and HID) is nearby. As such, it's not an exact science. All we can really do is suppress voltage spikes, which lots of kit like a fridge does. So a few plugged in locally, offers an accumulative gain that an extension lead can't add much to. Only in isolation can the gain of say an x2 capacitor be shown to work.

Edit: One of my trades is electrician. At no point when designing an installation is surge suppression a consideration. We expect the supply to stay within the allowed range. We can't plan for more. At the local iron works, they would phone the power station before using the induction furnace. The pylons looped the city before dropping into the ground at the iron works. Big consumer... but no surge protection anywhere. Though it had to be bought online incremental. The rattle of contactors dropping in was fierce.

It's quite something, to phone up the power station to say you were going to power up your rig. Then watch the chimneys in the distance fire up, before you got the call back that you could use it. Only at certain times of day to.

 

[Three Berries]

I run surge suppressors on anything digital. And I have one tied across the 240V mains coming in. But hard to stop a lightning strike.

One time on a windy day the lights started getting really bright then dimming. The old incandescent were really humming. I got out the voltmeter and was hitting 160V on my 125v line. Called the electric co and they came out. It was a loose neutral lug on the transformer.

 

[moose eater]

I'm not sure I would fit surge protection. Any equipment fit for purpose will look after itself. If lightening strikes, not a lot will help anyway.
Most is a swizz, as what really controls the size of a surge, is the length of cable back to the distribution transformer. Or where lots of compensated lighting (flo's and HID) is nearby. As such, it's not an exact science. All we can really do is suppress voltage spikes, which lots of kit like a fridge does. So a few plugged in locally, offers an accumulative gain that an extension lead can't add much to. Only in isolation can the gain of say an x2 capacitor be shown to work.

Edit: One of my trades is electrician. At no point when designing an installation is surge suppression a consideration. We expect the supply to stay within the allowed range. We can't plan for more. At the local iron works, they would phone the power station before using the induction furnace. The pylons looped the city before dropping into the ground at the iron works. Big consumer... but no surge protection anywhere. Though it had to be bought online incremental. The rattle of contactors dropping in was fierce.

It's quite something, to phone up the power station to say you were going to power up your rig. Then watch the chimneys in the distance fire up, before you got the call back that you could use it. Only at certain times of day to.

House is triple-grounded with long grounding rods and clamps to 3 different areas of the foundation and plumbing. (It's a warm but 'plain' 6-star home on which I was the general contractor, with the reason for the 6-star rating being thermal efficiency).

My electrician in the distant neighborhood, who was one of several who helped wire my house, recommended whole-house surge protection, either outside at our own power supply pole, where my master panel is, or in the basement in the 200-amp QO panel down there.

We have surges, etc. throughout the Winter, often as a result of outages from trees falling, wind, snow, etc. Often times when their main power line fuses are in between tripped and not, the power flickers (a brown out), and that's when less than ideal electricity can cook (especially) digital appliances.

It doesn't help the matter a lot that the local power co. tends to use more resistant/stout fuses on their primary poles, resulting in the flickering in between having a good supply of 'clean power' and the moment when it goes out altogether being extended, which is all the more problematic on numerous devices.

I once, in the middle of a midnight storm, watched a large spruce tree kitty-corner to our land, land on the power lines, and the thing threw sparks for hours, literally, like a giant steel grinder, until it finally fully tripped. It's irresponsible on their part to run such equipment (and I've told them so, including the greater likelihood of their sparks from stout fuses burning down someone's home in the dry months of Summer), but it reduces their trips out to the field, paying union line workers in the middle of the night. And the electric co. takes no responsibility here for toasted equipment that result from uncleared right-of-way lines, or using overly rated fuses on their poles.

Reminds me of my adult children at times; making sure not to be accountable for issues they helped to generate.

 

[tobedetermined]

I got a small jolt from lightning once. I learned not to swim in a lake during an electrical storm.

 

[Three Berries]

I got a small jolt from lightning once. I learned not to swim in a lake during an electrical storm.

I was kneeling on the garage floor lighting the water heater pilot light when lightning hit right outside. Came in the copper gas line and knocked me on my butt.