BWW Project #27 Storage Shelves for Workshop

BWW Project #27: Storage Shelves for Workshop

I use these little sandwich meat containers to store screws, nuts, bolts, brads and lots of other small workshop items.  They are much better than little trays, which somehow fill up with dirt, grime, and dead bugs.  The tops snap on and whatever is in there can be seen through the sides.  They stack real easily as well because the tops are indented a little bit so that the bottom of another container fits slightly into it.

I made up these three 1 x 6 shelves to put on the end of my larger storage shelf, facing the workbench.  On it I can stack four rows of the little packs or fewer of larger ones.  I added one 1 x 4 shelf to the very top for spray cans of things like WD-40, Rem Oil, etc., etc.

It is much easier finding a washer or small needed part when you can look at these boxes instead of pouring out a large tub of miscellaneous things and pawing through it all.  

Farm Project #7 BBQ Grill Rehab

Farm Project #7: BBQ Grill Rehab

Have done this in Florida and at BWW.  This grill, at the farm, is horrendously filthy.  It looks like a bird tried to build a nest of leaves and stuff in it, it needed a scraping, and a good shop-vacuuming.  I sucked out all the debris, scraped the grill plates, checked for loose paint or gunk on the inside of the cover and below the heat diffusers.

Wheeled it up to its normal summer spot behind the house and perched over the well-head on its little board base.  All cleaned up and ready to go.

Cooked two hot dogs on it to test it out.  Delicious!  Ready for another summer of little usage.

Farm Project #6 Refrigerator fin cleaning

 Farm Project #6:  Refrigerator Fin Cleaning

The refrigerator at the farm is, I guess, the only appliance holdover from when my mom and step-dad lived there, other than the electric heat.  Everything else has been changed out.  But it only runs about half the year.  Nevertheless, the fins haven't been cleaned in a long time and as long as I was vacuuming up everything else, including Asian beetles, it was time to check them out.  Other fridges we have turned out to need it pretty badly.  Off with the grille under the door and...

Kinda dirty.  I keep a lot of cokes and beers in there so there is some ballast, and it still runs pretty often.  A good vacuuming and it looked a lot better...

Not the hardest project in the world, but well worth doing and I think it ran less often after the cleaning.  It's hard to say because it runs more when it's real hot.

Farm Project #5 Dehumidifier

 Farm Project #5:  Basement Dehumidifier

We have a number of these portable dehumidifiers various places.  Some I let fill their tanks and empty them by hand; others I have connected tubes to that drain them into a floor drain.  They are supposed to have a built in humidistat but I am never sure that they work.  The particular one I have hooked up in the basement at the farm is located in the room where my safe, the pressure-tank, and the hot water heater are located.  That room tends to get quite humid and it is a good place to drop the humidity before it gets into the rest of the house.  It is connected to a tube that runs out the door and under the bed to a floor drain, and I have it set all the way up but connected to a timer so that it just runs a few hours a day.

Since we are seldom at the farm, I worry about the unit freezing up and not operating, so the off-time obviates that, giving the grids plenty of time to thaw in the event that they freeze.

This first visit was in mid-June and during a very hot and humid period.  The basement floor was cold and the humidity was condensing on it and beading up.  I bought a measuring device and the percentage was 88 in that downstairs bedroom!  I had already hooked up both portable air conditioners and they were venting some of it to the outside but obviously couldn't handle it all.

After a day of watching, I realized that this portable was not removing any water from the air.  I took a flashlight and could see that no water was dripping down the tube as in the past.  There was some water on the floor, just a bit, of the unit though.  I have never tried to figure what was wrong with these units, and I didn't have the time or energy to do it to this one, so I hopped in the van and drove to WalMart.  The only unit they had was pricey and looked weak.

Drove over to Theisen's, which is like a Farm & Fleet or Fleet Farm or Tractor Supply.  They had a good looking one and it was even on sale.  Unlike the WalMart model I would not have to buy the scaled-up version in order to attach a tube.

Bought it and zipped back to the farm where I simply plugged it in and lit it up.  For that afternoon and night I let it just fill the tank, which it did.  I emptied three tanks before getting around to hooking up the tube, which turned out to be threaded the same, so I just removed my old fitting adapter from the old humidifier and screwed it on to the new one.

I left it running, on the timer, and hopefully it is keeping the humidity down, because I turn off the air conditioners when I leave.  
We'll see next visit, which should be soon, because I have work to do.  I am going to open the old one, when I get a chance, and in the meantime I will scan You-Tube videos for ideas.

Farm Project #4 Bosch Clothes Washer

 Farm Project #4: Bosch Clothes Washer

The washer and dryer at the farm are used very little so they are almost like new even though they have been there for twenty years.  Last year, however, the washer began refusing to end the wash cycle, giving an error code, which I looked up.  Water feed sounded like the problem.  

The two machines are installed side-by-side in a basement closet, a very efficient installation with doors that can be swung shut to conceal them.  Each year when I close up the house, however, I have to waltz the dryer out so that I can get in behind it and unhook the feeds for the washer and drain them for the winter since the heat will be turned off.  In the spring I go back, hook them up again, and waltz the two machines back into place, having also cleaned out the long hot air exhaust of the dryer.  It is what it is. 

6th

This year, before hooking up the feeds, I decided to address the problem.  Putting my phone and a flashlight back there I was able to take a couple of shots of the feeds and to verify that, indeed, they were crusted in with mineral deposits.

Lime-Away seemed to be the logical product to use and I also found some small implements to gently move it away from the stainless steel screens inside the feeds.  The Lime-Away foamed up, I

gently brushed around in there, and the vacuumed it out with the shop-vac.  I did this several times and then took some more pictures.  Voila!  The screens and insides of the feeds were very clean.

No

w I could finally put the feed hoses back on the move everything back into place, including the dryer.  The final test would be to do the wash, and I had a load of dirty stuff and rags ready.

My lucky day!  The washer functioned flawlessly.  Now I just have to remember to do this step every 2 or 3 years and obviate the problem happening again.  Very happy about the positive outcome of this one!

Farm Project #3 Downstairs Air Conditioner

 Farm Project #3:  Downstairs Air Conditioner Install

It was hot and humid and before continuing on with other indoor projects, I needed to establish as much dehumidifying and air conditioning as possible.  The unit we use downstairs is smaller, but the downstairs is much cooler to begin with.

I st

ored pics on my phone as to the method of putting the pre-fab Styrofoam blocks, and rags around the exit tube.  As with the upstairs, the little window comes down to secure everything.  Fired it up and ready to get on with the next project.

Farm Project #2 Install Haier Double Exhaust Air Conditioner

 Farm Project #2:  Install Haier Double Exhaust Air Conditioner

In the midst of bringing up the water and opening up the routine systems at the farm, it was necessary to take the time to install the double exhaust air conditioner into its place in the living room window to the right of the large picture window.  

The exhaust tubes, which are insulated, fit onto the storm/screen and the sliding storm window comes down to secure them.  I have cut pieces of Styrofoam to the proper dimensions to form in around all of this and we have rolled up some rags to fill in all the spaces so the window can slide down on top of all this.  

I keep a photo on my cellphone to remember the setup each year.  Once it is rolled into its summer spot and the tubes to the window are secure, the Haier can be turned on.  

It was raining when I arrived this time but soon quit and the sun came out.  Humidity was high and the forecast was for heat and humidity so I needed to get a jump on controlling this.  It was 75 in the upstairs.  I put the unit on air conditioning high setting and turned it on.  I'm lucky to bring the upstairs down a degree or two in the course of a hot day, but at least it lowers the humidity level and makes it livable.