We are going through a really hot spell here in East Texas. Always on the edge of a semi arid climate we depend on irrigation wells to keep our lawns green and air conditioning to stay cool. But in the garage where I spend some time there is not air conditioned, just a fan or two.
A few years ago, well maybe more than a few years, I bought a killer floor fan. It is a high velocity fan about 15 or 16 inches in diameter. It could move a lot of air and I positioned it near the door so it could suck in the cooler air and cool of the garage. It did a very creditable job but then age caught up with it.
When starting up it would squawk and squeal like it had a bad bearing. But it would run. Then it started just stopping and maybe restarting later when it cooled off. I took the switch assembly apart but all the parts were okay and there was no burnt or charred items so I knew it was functioning like it should. So I figured the bearings had gone bad.
So while considering getting a new fan and tossing this one I decided to take it apart. I took the blade guard off and was able to the three blade fan off of the shaft. Not problem, it was held in place by a set screw and that was easy to get off.
The I attacked the fan motor case. It had a series of nuts and bolts around it that held the two part case and the rear fan guard in place. That was easy enough. But splitting the case was a bit more of a challenge. I was able to get it about a quarter of an inch apart, not near enough to do anything. I did not want to break or bend the case just in case I could really fix it.
After a bit of working it back and forth I got the front case off, or at least the front half of the case off. The outer electrical winding was firmly held in place by the rear half of the case. I found both the front and rear of the rotor held in place by a simple sleeve type bearings. I got the rotor off and it was in good shape. And the motor did not have brushes so that was not the problem.
I got the rotor out of the rear mount, not a ball bearing but a sleeve bearing was used in the front and rear to support the rotor. I thought maybe the shaft was galled up or the like and that was not the case. I got the rotor out and the shaft was just fine. I looked and in the rear bearing support I saw a piece of thin rear thrust washer. It had broken into two parts. I was able to fish out the bigger piece and I discarded that altogether. I figure since the fan is constantly pulling forward a rear thrust washer was of no importance. That is the shaft will be always pulling forward and thus it was just really a thin spacer.
I got my tube of trusty silicon grease that I have had for years and with a screw driver took a dab and place it in the rear support housing. Since there was not galling and apparently what grease was in there had long ago disappeared, this new stuff would work for me. I then place a dab of the grease in the front sleeve bearing. I smeared a little on both ends of the shaft. I noted that there were two or three front thrust washers and left them alone. That tube was acquired about 20 years ago to use on a dot matrix printer shaft for lubrication. I have used the grease on my models, etc. However, I got that tube of grease from Radio Shak which is not longer in existence.
I reassembled the rotor shaft and fan motor housing to the rear fan guard. I then replaced the fan blades and put the front fan blade guard back in place. Got it all screwed back together, guard in place and plug in the power. Then I turn it on. wha-la, the started right up and ran at its old top speed again. I had saved the cost of a new fan and this would continue to run for a while yet.
Sometimes it is worth while to take things apart and see if you can fix them.
Tuesday, July 31, 2018
Sunday, July 22, 2018
Drat, That Irrigation System . . .
After having spent a ton of money getting both the well pump being lowered (an additional forty feet) and a new pump, I am experiencing control valve problems. The old pump was simply worn out, they usually last 8 or 9 years but this one lasted 16 years, not bad at all.
Most of my control valves are "Dirty Water" valves, that is they can tolerate the amount of sand in the water. The sand is very, very fine to the extent when you taste the water it is sort of grity. In normal valves designed to be used with city water systems, there is not such debris, it has all be filtered out. And you can get a sand separator installed but they must be back flushed occasionally and do develop rust holes in the sides.
We had a separator, got it welded up once and there after removed it and threw it away whe it developed another hole. I replaced most of my control valves with the dirty water valves. But there are a few of the clean water valves still in use.
And one of them acted up. They get stuck open, run and run and run until the well is over drawn. The up side is the area gets well watered, the down side is nothing else gets watered as the well is not capable to supply more than one irrigation circuit at a time (only so many gallons of water per hour). Luckily for us, this valve was the last one in the series, that is it was the last one to run last night. So the other 9 did their job.
So I had to take it down, clean it out and reassemble it. I was able to get farther down into the valve this time, cleaned out the old sand with an old tooth brush and running water. I got it reassembled, bled the air out and once that was done the valve worked like it was supposed to do. It shut down and stayed shut down. When they get curded up with sand, they tend to stay open or on.
The valves are not complicated, a diaphragm, spring, and solenoid. But are indeed sensitive to grit (aka fine sand). This time when I reassembled the valve I added a little grease to the assembly. I know that the lubrication will wash out pretty quickly but it will get the valve functioning correctly for a while.
We are going through a terrific heat wave and the grass is suffering from lack of water. Our yard stays green because we can water it. If we were to use city water which we do inside the house it would cost three or four hundred dollars a month to irrigate. That allows us to amortize the well in about a year and half. Our well when first installed cost about $5,000 to drill, get the pump, pressure tank and hook it up to the existing irrigation system. Today that cost over $10,000.
The well has been in use for 16 years now. And of course is showing its age (a new pump for instance, they do wear out) and me cleaning out control valves and sprinkler filters. The sprinklers are easy to deal with but you have examine them every once in a while to make sure they are working correctly. Usually a brown spot shows up and one needs to take the sprinkler head off and usually the little nylon plastic screen is full of debris. Wash the sand/dirt and/or debris out and reassemble and the sprinkler works just fine. Lawn mowers and weed eaters can also do a number on exposed sprinklers.
So it is constant maintenance. I am adept at it having had two previous sprinkler systems. It is just one of those things.
Most of my control valves are "Dirty Water" valves, that is they can tolerate the amount of sand in the water. The sand is very, very fine to the extent when you taste the water it is sort of grity. In normal valves designed to be used with city water systems, there is not such debris, it has all be filtered out. And you can get a sand separator installed but they must be back flushed occasionally and do develop rust holes in the sides.
We had a separator, got it welded up once and there after removed it and threw it away whe it developed another hole. I replaced most of my control valves with the dirty water valves. But there are a few of the clean water valves still in use.
And one of them acted up. They get stuck open, run and run and run until the well is over drawn. The up side is the area gets well watered, the down side is nothing else gets watered as the well is not capable to supply more than one irrigation circuit at a time (only so many gallons of water per hour). Luckily for us, this valve was the last one in the series, that is it was the last one to run last night. So the other 9 did their job.
So I had to take it down, clean it out and reassemble it. I was able to get farther down into the valve this time, cleaned out the old sand with an old tooth brush and running water. I got it reassembled, bled the air out and once that was done the valve worked like it was supposed to do. It shut down and stayed shut down. When they get curded up with sand, they tend to stay open or on.
The valves are not complicated, a diaphragm, spring, and solenoid. But are indeed sensitive to grit (aka fine sand). This time when I reassembled the valve I added a little grease to the assembly. I know that the lubrication will wash out pretty quickly but it will get the valve functioning correctly for a while.
We are going through a terrific heat wave and the grass is suffering from lack of water. Our yard stays green because we can water it. If we were to use city water which we do inside the house it would cost three or four hundred dollars a month to irrigate. That allows us to amortize the well in about a year and half. Our well when first installed cost about $5,000 to drill, get the pump, pressure tank and hook it up to the existing irrigation system. Today that cost over $10,000.
The well has been in use for 16 years now. And of course is showing its age (a new pump for instance, they do wear out) and me cleaning out control valves and sprinkler filters. The sprinklers are easy to deal with but you have examine them every once in a while to make sure they are working correctly. Usually a brown spot shows up and one needs to take the sprinkler head off and usually the little nylon plastic screen is full of debris. Wash the sand/dirt and/or debris out and reassemble and the sprinkler works just fine. Lawn mowers and weed eaters can also do a number on exposed sprinklers.
So it is constant maintenance. I am adept at it having had two previous sprinkler systems. It is just one of those things.
Tuesday, July 10, 2018
Death . . .
We, my wife and I, are of an age where our friends are dying. It is trying to hear of someone you knew passing away. It just does not fit in correctly.
Recently a local friend who had been dealing with a patch on his back via Veterans Administration treatment suddenly was entered into Hospice for cancer. And then with in a week, he passed away.
That was shocking to me. Last year in August we drove up to Denton to a model airplane swap meet. While driving up there he was sedate but he was always a quite kinda of person. We got there and we wandered all around the place looking at the wares for sale by owners. Lots of junk, but the old adage about one man's junk is another man's treasure holds true at these events. But a careful shopper makes good bargains.
I noted he did not buy anything but I did not think much about it. I did not buy much either, I am pretty selective now days. Not that I can not afford it, I just do not need it. And I do not have space for it either.
We had our fun and returned back to Weatherford. I dropped him off not thinking much about it. It literally was he last time I saw him. I shall miss him.
He had tried to retire once but his wife was going to school for an advanced degree, so he had to go back to work. He worked at the local Ford dealership, driving people home, picking them up and running the housekeeping operations of cutting the grass and cleaning up the buildings. He liked his work but fretted about getting his team to do the work. Often, the team had team members that were assigned to him by the owner/manager who had hired them as a favor for someone. And they often really did not do very good work. But he was stuck with them and could not let them go without clearance from the big boss.
Now he is beyond that point. No more of those kinds of worries. And we worry about his wife as she too has medical problems too. I am sure I will next see his house up for sale and she will move on a care facility of some sort.
It is the fate of age, it always catches up with us. We are just growing old. I mourn for him in a detached way as I know my time will also come to pass.
Recently a local friend who had been dealing with a patch on his back via Veterans Administration treatment suddenly was entered into Hospice for cancer. And then with in a week, he passed away.
That was shocking to me. Last year in August we drove up to Denton to a model airplane swap meet. While driving up there he was sedate but he was always a quite kinda of person. We got there and we wandered all around the place looking at the wares for sale by owners. Lots of junk, but the old adage about one man's junk is another man's treasure holds true at these events. But a careful shopper makes good bargains.
I noted he did not buy anything but I did not think much about it. I did not buy much either, I am pretty selective now days. Not that I can not afford it, I just do not need it. And I do not have space for it either.
We had our fun and returned back to Weatherford. I dropped him off not thinking much about it. It literally was he last time I saw him. I shall miss him.
He had tried to retire once but his wife was going to school for an advanced degree, so he had to go back to work. He worked at the local Ford dealership, driving people home, picking them up and running the housekeeping operations of cutting the grass and cleaning up the buildings. He liked his work but fretted about getting his team to do the work. Often, the team had team members that were assigned to him by the owner/manager who had hired them as a favor for someone. And they often really did not do very good work. But he was stuck with them and could not let them go without clearance from the big boss.
Now he is beyond that point. No more of those kinds of worries. And we worry about his wife as she too has medical problems too. I am sure I will next see his house up for sale and she will move on a care facility of some sort.
It is the fate of age, it always catches up with us. We are just growing old. I mourn for him in a detached way as I know my time will also come to pass.
Saturday, July 7, 2018
The Well . . .
We have had a water well for irrigation purposes almost as long as we have owned this house. The well is about 200 feet deep and goes into the Paluxey aquifer. The Paluxey is a river, more like a large creek, west of us but apparently feeds this aquifer. There is another aquifer below it but it is well over six hundred feet down. And that is quite expensive to drill to.
We live in the city limits and one would ask why a well. The City of Weatherford thinks extremely highly of their water. It is extremely pricey. I cost us about $6,000 to drill our well and have he pump and electrical work done. We amortized that in two years. So since then the expense of the well has been maintenance of the system and the electricity to operate the sprinkler system and run the pump. I would guess that would have been maybe $100 or $150 a year. And for that we have a green yard.
Of late the well has been acting up. We had the well people check it out and it ended up with a new pump to be installed. That was $1,790 but once every 16 years, well that is not much. While we were at it we had the pump lowered down deeper into the aquifer. We added 40 feet of pipe. So now we know we will not cavitate the pump.
So we are about to green up again. I have been running the water extra cycles to get the grass green again. Surprisingly the grass responds quickly, in just a couple of days it is nice and green again.
Few people do not realize we are in a semi arid zone, next to desert almost. We get seasonal rains in the Spring and they suffer through a long hot and dry summer. We get cracks in the ground and the trees seem to suffer through it all. Watering keeps the trees healthy too.
Now back to fixing sprinklers, adjusting them, cleaning them (yes, they have little filters to catch debris and some times stop up). I consider an irrigation system as a source of constant maintenance. It is just upkeep but it has to be done.
We live in the city limits and one would ask why a well. The City of Weatherford thinks extremely highly of their water. It is extremely pricey. I cost us about $6,000 to drill our well and have he pump and electrical work done. We amortized that in two years. So since then the expense of the well has been maintenance of the system and the electricity to operate the sprinkler system and run the pump. I would guess that would have been maybe $100 or $150 a year. And for that we have a green yard.
Of late the well has been acting up. We had the well people check it out and it ended up with a new pump to be installed. That was $1,790 but once every 16 years, well that is not much. While we were at it we had the pump lowered down deeper into the aquifer. We added 40 feet of pipe. So now we know we will not cavitate the pump.
So we are about to green up again. I have been running the water extra cycles to get the grass green again. Surprisingly the grass responds quickly, in just a couple of days it is nice and green again.
Few people do not realize we are in a semi arid zone, next to desert almost. We get seasonal rains in the Spring and they suffer through a long hot and dry summer. We get cracks in the ground and the trees seem to suffer through it all. Watering keeps the trees healthy too.
Now back to fixing sprinklers, adjusting them, cleaning them (yes, they have little filters to catch debris and some times stop up). I consider an irrigation system as a source of constant maintenance. It is just upkeep but it has to be done.
Doldrums . . .
Extraordinarily hot yesterday. Then out of nowhere blows up a nice shower. Rains about 20 minutes and soaks everything. Better than watering any day of the year. Muggy later but a cool night and AM very pleasant to walk my mile and half this morning.
We had the well tuned up and I have been watering extra to get back to even so to speak. Had some dry spots and used the hose pipe and individual sprinkler to work on those parched spots. That surely greened them up and now the rain has done a better job.
Front grass on the left side of the yard really looks bad. I am thinking the yard people who do the spreading of fertilizer got the wrong stuff on the yard. I will do some of my own spreading and see what happens. But regardless the grass is in really bad shape. Water helps but it is not the be all, need some nutrients to make the grass grow.
I know it is kind of hot to be putting out fertilizer but something needs to be done. I can see where the tree man droves some tree spikes in the ground to fertilize the tree. Those spots are nice and green. So that tells me we need to do something.
I did not cut the far back last grass cutting session. It needed to have a rest too. It does not get treated by the yard people. We are going to start getting them to put stuff down back there too. But you can not even see the difference between where I cut the grass and where I did not cut the grass. Pretty bad.
Oh well gives me something to do and worry about.
We had the well tuned up and I have been watering extra to get back to even so to speak. Had some dry spots and used the hose pipe and individual sprinkler to work on those parched spots. That surely greened them up and now the rain has done a better job.
Front grass on the left side of the yard really looks bad. I am thinking the yard people who do the spreading of fertilizer got the wrong stuff on the yard. I will do some of my own spreading and see what happens. But regardless the grass is in really bad shape. Water helps but it is not the be all, need some nutrients to make the grass grow.
I know it is kind of hot to be putting out fertilizer but something needs to be done. I can see where the tree man droves some tree spikes in the ground to fertilize the tree. Those spots are nice and green. So that tells me we need to do something.
I did not cut the far back last grass cutting session. It needed to have a rest too. It does not get treated by the yard people. We are going to start getting them to put stuff down back there too. But you can not even see the difference between where I cut the grass and where I did not cut the grass. Pretty bad.
Oh well gives me something to do and worry about.
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