The slow, pulsing, flicker, drawing me ever nearer towards the depths of insanity. That droning hum, was it real or all in my mind? I was beginning to feel like I was lost in a French noir film rather then sitting in my living room. Or at least thats how my over active imagination was reacting to the old florescent lighting nestled behind the window cornice.
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Worse then the continuous flicker and hum from the tubes was the ridiculous energy waste created by the three, 4 foot T12 fixtures. I’m far from the most environmentally conscious person on the planet but some things are such blatant wastes they bother even me. Especially when my pocket book is directly involved. When I moved in I had researched LED tub replacements, but at the time they were crazy expensive. Nowhere near my tiny middle class budget. I spent some time considering other options like LED strip lights or maybe converting over to the new T5 standard. There were lots of options but because I’m weird I didn't want to remove anything original to the house, Even crappy old florescent light fixtures. From time to time I’d check the prices on the LED tube replacements. The prices where steadily dropping so I kept putting off any decisions, finding other projects to keep me busy instead. Then one fateful day, thanks to Amazon tracking my every move, LED tubes where listed in my "suggested items" section at a rock bottom price. Only 35 bucks, down from 150+ less then a year ago. I figured the time was right and ordered a set.
Even though I was going to be cutting my electric usage down to a third, I was worried they wouldn't be anywhere near as bright. The lumens are close but not quite as high as the old T12's and the LED tubes don’t have a full 360 degree throw. Once installed, none of that seems to matter. Visually it looks almost the same. It’s a tiny bit darker but as a trade I was able to buy them in a soothing warm light and there is no flicker or hum at all.
One important thing to know with LED tubes is they aren’t just drop in replacements. You no longer need the old ballast from the fixture and have to bypass it. Seems daunting, but really its super easy. Just open the old fixture and take everything out. Run two new wires, one for positive and one for negative and you are done. The tubes I bought were single sided, meaning the positive and negative terminals where on the same side of the tube. The other side is just for support after its rewired. There are a lot of resources on how to do the rewiring, if you are a DIY guy like me just dig around on youtube. You will find what you need.
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It may come as a surprise but our modern day internet doesn't have much information about how to defrost a 70-some-odd-year old fridge. There are no webpages, blogs, or DIY YouTube videos dedicated to the subject. Apparently that’s not something people have to deal with much these days.
Damn kids and their fancy self-defrosting refrigerators!! They don't know how good they've got it.
While most wouldn't consider this too life-threatening, I have to dissagr... Actually I have to agree. On a list of full blow home emergencies I don't think frosty freezer is even on said list.
It was a tad daunting considering it’s probably months past whatever the manufacturer suggests, and you might even say, I had never defrosted it. Because I hadn’t...ever...defrosted it. The time had come. Not for any of these reasons, though; for something far more important: it was getting difficult to fit in my ice cube trays. I need ice.
With a lack of instructional videos to stream at a whim from my smartphone, I turned to the next best thing: my mother. A woman of many talents, who just so happens to be a top notch research librarian. If she couldn't help, I was doomed. When I called her in a panic, she just chuckled and said, “ I wondered when you would ask about that. Just do what Grandma always did. Boil some water in a pot and stick it in the freezer. The heat and steam will melt it in a jiffy.”
Could it really be that simple? Was steam all I needed to defeat the icy arctic sarcophagus entombing my pizza rolls? There was really only one way to find out. I thanked my mom for her advice, told her I loved her (like a good son should) and hung up the phone with as much dramatic force as one can hangup a touch screen phone; for this was not a time for dilly dallying: this was a time for ACTION.
After chiseling out any still edible food items from the freezer cube, I boiled the water as instructed and placed the dangerously hot pot into the icy tundra. Immediately the temperature difference caused a reaction and steam began to rise. I threw my hands up into the air like a mad genius and screamed, “IT’S ALIVE!!” (Okay, I have a weird mad scientist appreciation but that’s another story.)
To my surprise, it did work. The steam and heat loosened up the bricks of ice clinging to the freezer panels. It didn't come off as easy as I hoped but with a little extra love they broke free. The process took roughly 20 minutes. I did, however, have to reheat the water pot 3 times to keep it nice and toasty. If I’m a bit more vigilant about how long I go between defrosting this will be, as they say, “easy as a cake walk.”
There I was, thinking another week would go by with nothing of interest to report around the homestead. Then late Friday night I received the modern day equivalent of an Indian attack. The torsion spring on my garage door snapped, trapping all my vehicles inside. Ok so maybe that’s not the best comparison I’ve ever come up with, but I’ve been watching a lot of old westerns lately.
Being the “do it yourself” kind of guy I am, I immediately set about figuring out how to replace the spring. This being my first ever garage I had no idea that torsions springs have a bad habit of killing people if they are installed wrong. Now most people would be deterred by that information. Often to my detriment, I am not most people.
Ever the optimist, I was positive I could do the repair as long as I took the proper precautions. Really, what could go wrong? Well, I may never know. Apparently you can’t just go down to your local home supply store for these things. Probably because of that death and dismemberment thing. To my dismay, I was forced to turn to a professional. The only other option would have been to order online. Considering all of my many modes of transportation were trapped inside my sealed garage, waiting wasn't an option.
After some quick internet searching I found a local company that seemed trustworthy. Most importantly they were able to come early the next morning and thankfully didn't cost much more then I would have spent ordering the parts myself. While I had a pro at my house I asked him to check out the rest of my arcane garage door system. With the exception of the rusted and almost non moving guide wheels he said the door and its components looked to be in very good shape: a huge relief considering the cost of garage doors.
With the new wheels and springs, the door runs so smooth I no longer hear the clanking metal monstrosity inside the house. The repair was worth every penny.
