Darkoshi

My oven's touchpad isn't working right. The Temperature Up button makes the temperature go down. The Down button brings up Auto Clean. So I am stuck at a maximum temperature of 350, unless I want to Broil something.

It had a similar problem in 2015. Back then on the original Whirlpool unit, the Temperature Down button failed first. I was able to purchase and install a 3rd-party replacement touchpad to fix it, for $200. Now, it looks like a replacement may no longer be available. I've emailed the company I bought it from last time to find out for sure.

Looking up the problem, there are many videos indicating that oven touchpad buttons failing is a common problem with all brands. In most examples, the buttons don't work at all rather than doing the wrong thing. The videos show how to clean the ribbon cable contacts to fix the problem. One guy said that fixes the problem 70% of the time. I didn't try that back in 2015, but did yesterday. Today I tried it again, just to make sure I got those contacts very clean. It didn't fix my problem.

Maybe one of the resistors in the touchpad is shorted. I was looking at the photo I'd made of its wiring prior to installing it. Groups of buttons are wired together along the same metal connector thingy, with what looks like a flat resistor between each one. The control unit probably determines which button was pressed based on the voltage between the various connectors. If the resistor right after the Auto Clean button is shorted, that could result in my problem. Unfortunately the Temp Up button is the last in the path, so there's no other button I can press to make the temperature go up. It's strange that basically the same buttons failed both times, on different brands of touchpads.

Oh well. Being able to bake only at 350 degrees is better than not baking at all. I want to still bake something tonight.

If these touchpads failing is such a common problem, they ought to make more ovens with manual knob controls like in the old days.

Earlier this year, my microwave oven's touchpad was also acting up. Some of the buttons didn't respond, or only when pressed in a specific way. I tried one suggested fix (blow dryer) which didn't help. Later on, the problem went away on its own. Probably seasonal/humidity related.

I'm retrofitting the remaining 4 fluorescent tube lamp fixtures in my garage to use LED tubes. I've already removed the ballasts.

I'm debating whether to wire them for single-ended tubes or double-ended tubes.

Safety Test Shows Double-Ended EasiRetrofit LED Tube Safer Than Single Ended Tube For Maintenance - according to this page, double-ended tube fixtures are safer, because if someone accidentally puts a regular fluorescent tube into a single-ended fixture, it will cause a short. The short could burn out the tube, or if it's a 277V fixture, possibly even make the tube explode.

The Perfect Tube: What are the Differences Between Single-Ended LED Linear Light Tube and Double-Ended LED Linear Light Tube? - according to this page, double-ended tube fixtures were originally more dangerous, because someone putting up a tube, holding it on both ends, could potentially get shocked. Since then, double-ended tubes have features to prevent that.

Based on the above, I'm still not sure which are really better or safer.

The tombstone sockets on my fixtures are not shunted, so they are ok for either kind of tube. They are however, discolored, as are the fixtures themselves (from white to shades of gray), apparently from the heat generated by the old tubes and/or ballasts. So I might end up replacing the sockets anyway, to be on the safe side.

For the 2 fixtures that I already retrofitted in 2014, I used single-ended tubes. It would be best to have all the garage lamp fixtures be consistent, so I should probably use single-ended ones in the other fixtures too.

But I'd hate to do that and a couple years down the line find out that single-ended ones are obsolete, and aren't made anymore. Or vice versa.

Or it may be that tubes in general will become obsolete, as new fixtures will tend to have the LEDs built-in rather than as separate bulbs.

Lowes seems to only have the kind of LED tubes that require a ballast to still be present. I expect those to become obsolete eventually, as LEDs don't inherently require ballasts. But if everyone installs these kind of LED tubes, maybe they'll eventually end up replacing the ballasts too.

Home Depot has some of those kind and some of the ones that work without ballasts. Their product pages don't say if the LED tubes are single or double-ended. I suspect the latter.

But other stores have more choices, so I won't be buying from Home Depot anyway.

Another thing to decide is whether to get glass tubes or shatterproof plastic ones. If I knew the plastic wouldn't discolor over time, that would seem the better choice. I think the LED tubes I have already are plastic.

And then, frosted versus clear. The existing LED tubes I have are clear.

Here are some that say Dual-End & Single-End Powered, Works with/Without Ballast. I wonder how they can work as either dual or single ended, with the same tube. I guess they must have something inside to detect which pins have voltage across them?

Forestfen used to say that she had heard it was more energy efficient to keep the air conditioner or heater on a constant setting, or to only change it by a few degrees at night or when we were not at home, rather than turning it all the way off.

That never made sense to me from an energy perspective.
I did some web searches and sent her the following info.

http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/cooling.html
(See the section "It's a myth that leaving the AC on while you're away at work uses less energy than turning it on when you get home. ")

http://www.eere.energy.gov/consumer/your_home/space_heating_cooling/index.cfm/mytopic=12720

The above page also says it uses less electricity to turn the thermostat
up in the daytime than to keep the a/c on all day. However it also mentions something
about heat pumps, which I didn't pay much attention to at the time, as we don't have heat pumps:

"But when a heat pump is in its heating mode, setting back its thermostat can cause the unit to operate inefficiently, thereby canceling out any savings achieved by lowering the temperature setting. Maintaining a moderate setting is the most cost-effective practice. Recently, however, some companies have begun selling specially designed programmable thermostats for heat pumps, which make setting back the thermostat cost effective. These thermostats typically use special algorithms to minimize the use of backup electric resistance heat systems."

While doing those web-searches, I also came across some posts by people who said they worked in the HVAC business, and that it was cheaper to keep the A/C set to a constant temperature all day, but they did not give any proof. The only reasonable thing I read, was that the a/c has to work harder (the motor has to stay on for longer) to cool the house down by a large amount, whereas if it is on all the time, it only comes on in shorter bursts all day long (the overall time it is on would be longer, but each individual time it was running would be shorter). Since the a/c has to stay on for a longer period in order to cool the house initially, it may wear out sooner and have to be replaced sooner. So you do not save electricity by keeping it on, but you may extend the life of the a/c unit. I am not sure if that is true though.

On television this week, I heard someone mention something about heat pumps and
heat strips in regards to energy efficiency. So I did another websearch, and
found this:
http://www.jea.com/about/pub/downloads/HeatPumpStripHeatManagement.pdf

So, if you have a heat pump as opposed to a gas-powered heater, then it may be true that turning the thermostat down and up by large jumps will cause the unit to operate less efficiently than otherwise. It may switch over to using the electric-powered heat strips rather than the heat pump, to achieve the large change in temperature. However, as mentioned on the previous page, it depends on the unit.

Edited photos.
Petted dog.
Made brownies.
Watched Boston Legal.
Ordered deep purple hair dye.

Heard a sudden dripping sound in a place where no drips ought to be dropping. By the bay window. Hopefully it is just a clog in the gutter. Leaks are so hard to fix when you can't figure out where they're coming from. Never did totally resolve the leak by the sunroom window, and still have buckets out there.

Got my electric bill. 900 kWh electricity, 89 therms gas. Average temperature for the last month was 39 degrees F!
The winter of 2007/08, my max usage was 455 kWh and 49 therms, in February when the average temp was 48 degrees.
The winter of 2008/09, my max usage was 613 kWh and 56 therms, in February when the average temp was 43 degrees.

The electric company changed my meter the year before last. They changed it from an analog meter to an electric meter. Half a year later, they changed it again. The 2 previous meters showed both the total usage (kWh) and the current usage. That let me get an indication if the meter was working right, by comparing how many electrical devices I had running, and their wattage, to the current usage displayed. The new meter only shows the total usage. So there's no way of knowing if it is measuring accurately.

Qiao showed me something neat. If you have an ungrounded outlet, but have an HVAC vent nearby, often the vent or vent screws are grounded. So you can connect a wire from the outlet to the vent to ground it.

dammit. It took me about 1 1/2 hours trying to reconnect all those wires to the receptacle and getting them to bend in order to fit back into the box, but I had it!!! Then, on the last step,screwing the outlet cover back on, I screwed too tight, and the receptacle cracked through the middle!!!!! ARGHHH!!!!

Can't I get an electrician to do this?!! I don't wanna do no more damn outlets!!! They say, pull it out gently, but those wires are so stiff that gentleness sure as heck isn't going to get them pulled out, or pushed back in. An electrician will probably say the outlet shouldn't be wired like that, feeding the stove fan/light in addition to the other outlet, in the first place. But how else can they rewire it? Maybe connect it to one of the circuits from the attic?

I can hear my neighbors having an argument from my bedroom. Sounds like they are both tired and irritable.

I will have to call a different electrician up. If the other guy doesn't want my business bad enough to even call me back with the estimate like he said he would, he won't get it.

Maybe I should do some of the work myself. I've grounded an outlet before. I guess I could do as good a job as they would do, perhaps. I can put the pull-switch on the kitchen light myself, so I guess I'll do that part myself at least. I just want the wiring done right. But there's no guarantee that anyone I hire would do it right. They might do as amateur a job as me.

Oh dear, now I can hear them from this room too. She is shouting. He wants her leave him alone while he finishes the yardwork.

I have to decide on a washer and dryer. I need to fix the floor in the washer/dryer area first, because the linoleum is torn. Or should I just leave it torn? I don't want to. But I don't want to buy a vinyl floor product. And I don't want to deal with adhesives. And tile is complicated too. Why is it all so complicated???

Maybe I will need to hire a plumber to replace all the shut-off valves, so I can at least turn them.

I've felt vaguely moody, like crying. I notice it mostly at work... then I finally come home and don't find the time to relax and cry.

Oh, look. The moon.

I was wondering, what is more important in a romantic relationship. Feeling comforted by the other person's presence, or feeling excited?

Tired. Hungry. Should go cry. Should go eat. Should go do pushups.

I was going to go jogging yesterday, but then didn't feel like it. I just sat instead.
I was considering going jogging today, but didn't feel like it. I walked a bit instead.

Should go install locked handle on bedroom door.

Maybe I should just put some thick plastic on the floor, and some of the big leftover tiles over that, without any adhesive or grout. Or maybe I should just tape shut the torn part of the linoleum, and put the tiles over it. Even though they won't fit right in the space. Would need to cut them to size. That would be difficult.

I called the recycling office and verified that they are supposed to pick up the recyclables on Monday, each week. They said they will give my address to someone who will monitor the situation.

Discovered ants crawling over the bin, which I had left on the porch. So I bumped them off it and washed it today after all. I will glue and/or tape together some of the cracked parts, and then set it out again next Monday.

I looked up non-toxic remedies against ants. Instant grits or cornmeal is supposed to swell in their bellies and kill them. Repeatedly pouring boiling water over the hill may work. Or soapy water, or water with orange oil. But some of that sounds cruel. I also read that they don't like cinnamon. I don't have any pure cinnamon, but do have some pumpkin pie spice which contains cinnamon. So I sprinkled that over the ant hill by the water meter. I don't need to kill them, and I don't care much if they build their hill somewhere else by the curb. I just don't want them right there by the meter. The meter-reader person probably doosn't want them there either.

If there is a meter-reader person, that is. I noticed on my water bill that even though a monthly meter reading is listed, the amount of the bill is apparently constant regardless of usage. And I suspect they may have put down an estimated "reading".

I braved the attic space by myself, and put an extension on the light-pull, so that I can now reach it from the ladder without crawling all the way up there.

Doing these kind of things with the house... getting things accomplished, seems to make me feel excited/good/proud. And then tired and exhausted.

I think I'm ready now to set up an appointment for an electrician to come over. Although I still need to get a different light fixture for the front hall, so that they can install it.