Fixit Log

Fixing and making things, what tools to get and what skills to learn, ...
Gilberto de Piento
Posts: 1942
Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2013 10:23 pm

Re: Fixit Log

Post by Gilberto de Piento »

I replaced a wax ring on a toilet recently. Water was getting onto the bathroom floor and into the basement when the toilet was flushed.

To disassemble you turn off the water supply, disconnect the water line, drain the toilet (wet dry shop vac was great for this), unbolt the toilet from the floor, move it out for the way (heavier than I thought it would be - 60lbs?). Then you remove the old bolts and wax ring.

The old cast iron pipe the toilet connects to was at a severe angle compared to the floor but the new wax ring (a newer design using rubber, foam, and wax instead of just wax) did as advertised and compensated for the angle. It also was adjustable (you include or remove a part) for whether the pipe was above, below or even with the floor. In my case it was all of those so I guessed at what to do. :lol:

To reassemble you install the new bolts, install the new wax ring, set the toilet back down, use shims under the toilet if needed so it doesn't wobble, bolt it down gently (don't crack the toilet), reconnect the water line, and turn the water back on. So far so good, no leaks (cross fingers). A first for me but not a bad job to have to do. It could be a terrible job if for some reason it won't seal of the cast iron pipe needs to be replaced. Took a few hours and one extra run to the store to get shims. Could be done in 15 minutes by a pro. I'm curious how much they'd charge but didn't look into it.

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Slevin
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Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2015 7:44 pm
Location: Sonoma County

Re: Fixit Log

Post by Slevin »

@gilberto de piento Did you replace/ add the caulk seal around the toilet (except in the back)? That is what should be keeping water from escaping onto the bathroom floor in the first place.

basuragomi
Posts: 418
Joined: Tue Oct 15, 2019 3:13 pm

Re: Fixit Log

Post by basuragomi »

Caulk has no role in the function of a toilet. If water is escaping the wax ring and going onto the floor, the seal has failed. Caulk is only to make cleaning easier by stopping debris from getting under the toilet.

A "professional" toilet install here is $170, and no guarantees on it actually being done competently.

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Sclass
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Joined: Tue Jul 10, 2012 5:15 pm
Location: Orange County, CA

Re: Fixit Log

Post by Sclass »

I had a really interesting problem with the wax ring on one of my toilets. It leaked at the base so I changed the was ring just like in @GDP’s post.

But it still leaked. I did some measurements and I found the cast iron flange was too low in the floor. Somebody had retiled the bathroom without removing the old tile so the floor went up about 1cm. I needed a thicker wax gasket. I went to the hardware store and the clerk told me an extra thick gasket would fix the problem. I measured the thickness of the extra thick model he tried to sell me and it was 2mm too short.

I told the guy no way. He said he was sure of it. Just try it. It’ll work. Take his word he knows stuff. 2mm is a big gap though. Water is going to flow right through. So I played dumb and he helped somebody else. I bought two standard sized gaskets.

By stacking two baskets I got the desired height and the gap was filled. Toilet never leaked again. I could tell by this halo under the tile that it had been leaking for quite awhile. Water mixed with waste had seeped between the clear coated tile and the porous tile substrate. This created a disgusting visual effect of a brown nebula radiating from the toilet on my white tile floor. It was totally sealed under the tile but you could see it kind of like an ant farm filled with waste.

Oddly after fixing it the yellow stain kind of diffused out to the walls of the toilet stall. All the tiles are kind of a beige now and no longer white but at least they match. :lol:

basuragomi
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Joined: Tue Oct 15, 2019 3:13 pm

Re: Fixit Log

Post by basuragomi »

My rice cooker broke. Don't run your rice cooker on top of a running oven.

First challenge: security screws.
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Solution: My always-handy end clippers.
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If you have the same model, know that there are hidden screws as well (Philips - I guess this was to save on cost).
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Here's what the inside looks like.
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Here's a circuit diagram. Can you tell what broke?
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It's an ingeniously simple design. Just a resistance heater (the 47 ohm resistor) with a bypass switch. The switch is held in place by a magnetic alloy which demagnetizes at 105 C.

I poked around a lot with a multimeter and found an open circuit which should not have been open. Here's the offending section of the circuit.
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And without the insulation.
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It's the thermal fuse. $3 at the hardware store got me a new one. I installed it and stuck the insulation back on. Unfortunately, I didn't have temperature-rated crimps, crimpers or connectors. So I soldered it together with a solder rated slightly higher than the fuse.

This caused a new issue: I didn't have more of that insulating fabric, and replacing the part meant I needed a new junction to the power cord. I tried insulated crimps first, but they put out some pretty funky smells despite being theoretically rated for the heat. The solution: a glass jar insulating the splice. For this particular job, it was constrained in all six degrees of freedom, so I felt okay with it. If it fails, it'll raise an audible alarm too.

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Don't do this at home. But now I have a working rice cooker again.

ertyu
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Joined: Sun Nov 13, 2016 2:31 am

Re: Fixit Log

Post by ertyu »

This is a dumb question but will the glass jar heat when the rice cooker is in operation?

ducknald_don
Posts: 321
Joined: Thu Dec 17, 2020 12:31 pm
Location: Oxford, UK

Re: Fixit Log

Post by ducknald_don »

basuragomi wrote:
Tue Dec 13, 2022 10:09 pm
The switch is held in place by a magnetic alloy which demagnetizes at 105 C.
Which it can only get to once all the water has boiled away. I wonder who came up with such an elegant solution.

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Sclass
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Joined: Tue Jul 10, 2012 5:15 pm
Location: Orange County, CA

Re: Fixit Log

Post by Sclass »

Thank you for posting @ basiragomi.
:o
Wow, I’ve used these cookers forever and I never knew how the thermostat actually worked. Just looked it up and read the how it works info online. I always thought it was weight of the rice after cooking that shuts it down and puts it into warm mode but I had no idea. There are a boatload of these switches on aliexpress.

The one I currently use has all this microprocessor stuff inside. I’ve always wondered if all the high tech stuff was necessary since the old ones appeared to be mechanical for the most part. The latching mechanism is also important to put it into warm mode when the rice is done.


http://m.vectormagnets.com/f728592/How- ... cooker.htm

basuragomi
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Joined: Tue Oct 15, 2019 3:13 pm

Re: Fixit Log

Post by basuragomi »

@ertyu, the glass will heat up but not enough to melt, and unlike plastic insulators (that I had access to) it will not put out funky smells. I need it for electrical isolation, not thermal, as the power cord jacket is rated for the heat.

@sclass it's kind of amazing to read about how rice cookers work because there's at least six different methods explained on the internet, and most of them are wrong. Bimetallic strips, thermistors, weight, conductive bowls, I only found one site in the top ten results that actually explained the critical part about the low Curie temperature magnet. That's not to say there weren't/aren't cookers that work those ways, but my cooker is by far the most popular type of design.

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Sclass
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Location: Orange County, CA

Re: Fixit Log

Post by Sclass »

Odd. I just looked into my fancy microprocessor controlled “fuzzy logic” rice cooking machine and it had one of those magnetic button switches in the bottom. It has all these electronic chimes and selectable menus for different kinds of rice but deep down under all the fluff is the magnetic switch.

What it doesn’t have is the mechanical bell. I have this old one on the shelf that has a mechanical bell that dings when the thermostat flips over from cook to warm. Clearly the new unit doesn’t have one of those.

I think I’ve been boondoggled with a fancy software wrapping over old school hardware. :lol:

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Sclass
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Location: Orange County, CA

Re: Fixit Log

Post by Sclass »

Fixed an oil can.

I've recently become interested in these old style pump oilers. Ones that look like this. Used to be high quality items but now they're from cheap importers. They inject at a significant pressure and have a tight tolerance in their pump chamber between their piston and cylinder.

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They pump a messy gush of oil at pretty high pressure. It can be useful for some applications where oil needs to be forced into a tight clearance. In some cases you want to dispense a viscous oil and you need something more substantial than a disposable aerosol can of WD40 or light oil. These old style cans do the trick and can be had for $5 - $10 at the usual stores. Harbor Freight. I got this one at Autozone. I kind of liked the metallic blue paint so I decided I'd get it.

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I've discussed in threads here how I scavenge old oil jugs at the autoparts store trash and drain out several tablespoons of new oil. People change their oil in the parking lot. They are in a big hurry to pour it all in and leave anywhere from a few tablespoons to a quarter cup of oil in the bottoms of the jugs. There is a special dumpster for empty jugs so I just grab those. Free oil. Free synthetic oil at that. I bring the empty jugs home and drain them out.

I also drain out my oil jugs when I change oil at home. I have collected up about two salsa jars of oil. This is useful stuff to keep around to oil linkages, hinges, machine tools and sewing machines. But it is kind of messy using a salsa jar and a brush so I got this pump can. Seemed like a nice way to use an Autozone giftcard I received recently. I really like the idea of scavenging leftover oil and not using the disposable aerosol cans of lubricant that seem to have taken over nowadays.

So I got back from Autozone and I noticed my pump lever was binding. I traced it to the pump and started making small adjustments to the pump linkage with a pair of pliers. Then "Tink" it broke at the weld between the pump actuator and the pump. Below the spring rod must be attached to the thick tube at the center. The thing works by moving the central cylinder up and down while a double acting ball valve pumps the oil out the hose.

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There is a little spot weld that broke free. It was barely welded. My guess is a poor assembler didn't want to overheat the wall of the central pump and didn't have the current turned up high enough on the welder. The weld stuck together well enough to pass inspection while not damaging the pump with excessive heat. A win for the worker and a lose for me. There is a narrow window for success on this assembly. Cold weld. Fragile. It just came apart. You can see the shallow spot weld that came loose.

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So there were a variety of things to do. I could take it back to Autozone. But I noticed they downgraded to cheap black paint on the other ones in stock and I had the only metallic blue one. I didn't want to exchange. I could glue it with steel filled epoxy like JB weld. May not hold up well in oil over the years. May also not handle many pumping stress cycles. Possibility two was flame brazing with my cheap torch and brass wire/borax laundry booster. This would be good because the tube is very thin walled and may need gentle heat. Possibility three was lash it on with safety wire. A weak fix and there is a possibility I'll deform the tube.

Finally I figured, hey, I just bought a $600 TIG welder and I need to start using it on fixes to justify the cost. I got out the welder and tacked the bracket on in three spots using Silicon Bronze rod. The advantages are low temperature for thin walled steel, sticks to plating, resistant to oils, strong and more. Here is the result. Note the small size of the components. This is a delicate welding job. If you burn through the center pump cylinder it'll never work. If you deform the pump cylinder with too much heat the piston will bind. It is the perfect application for TIG brazing.

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Not bad for a cheap TIG welder from China. I had no problem controlling the heat. The bronze stuck to the steel without blowing holes in it. My guess is the tubing is 0.025" wall thickness. Super easy to blow through with a torch.

Oil can is back together and working.

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Not sure I saved much money on this one but it sure was satisfying to fix the poor manufacturing and make something that'll last many years.

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Sclass
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Location: Orange County, CA

Re: Fixit Log

Post by Sclass »

patched some holes in my bed sheet. I didn't want to discard them simply because my feet had worn out a small area.

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Ego
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Re: Fixit Log

Post by Ego »

@Sclass, I am having trouble figuring out what I am seeing there. Please tell me my eyes are not deceiving me and you used shop towels to patch your sheets. If so, this fix-it makes me very happy for several reasons. Mostly I need to know how you managed to get it past your SO.

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Sclass
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Location: Orange County, CA

Re: Fixit Log

Post by Sclass »

They’re scraps of a fabric bag that a comforter came in. My wife throws them away but I cut them up for two square yard scraps of fabric. Best description is it’s a low thread count bedsheet material.

My wife said as long as I put it on my side of the bed it’s fine.

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Ego
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Re: Fixit Log

Post by Ego »

I am envious anytime I see a guy exercising dominion over his sleep situation. I didn't even get to choose my own pillow.

Nice work!

horsewoman
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Joined: Fri Jun 07, 2019 4:11 am

Re: Fixit Log

Post by horsewoman »

Bedsheets are amongst a selected few things I don't mend (zippers on coats come to mind as well).

It's not because of the optics - those could be easily improved by choosing a similar coloured patch, an old soft T-shirt perhaps. The duvet covers it anyways, so it's not really important.
But I couldn't stand the bumpy sheet, it would drive me nuts.

So worn out sheets will end up dog beds, and then tossed.

Married2aSwabian
Posts: 265
Joined: Thu Jan 07, 2021 7:45 pm

Re: Fixit Log

Post by Married2aSwabian »

Well, after five months of retirement, I haven’t spent as much time in the woodshop as I’d like due to home maintenance stuff! At least keeping those costs down to materials I have to buy is satisfying.

Current maintenance task is getting our furnace humidifier going again. Replaced the mesh filter and noticed that the drain side was like 80% clogged with calcium / rust deposits! This is 3/4” pvc. I cut out the worst of it (3’ after filter) and replaced with new. Of course some sediment from the rest clogged the condensate pump and caused it to overflow! Today, I will replace ALL of 3/4” PVC, as well as the 3/8” tubing from the pump to drain line and run more vinegar and warm water through pump. These are common Little Giant condensate pumps (available on AMZN). The scheduler lady at our local HVAC place told me that this is a very common problem (for those on well water, especially). Tempted to just run pvc line to our floor drain, but don’t want the tripping hazard and pump still works fine. Saves another paid repair call! Although, I may submit another invoice to DW … even though she’s yet to pay the last one. ;)

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Sclass
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Location: Orange County, CA

Re: Fixit Log

Post by Sclass »

Fixed my high tech washing machine. The digital display started going crazy. It had been collecting condensation near the motherboard. I opened it up. Blew the water out with a hairdryer. I left the back cover off. The glitches have seemed to stop. Water doesn’t collect in there anymore but we have to be careful not to splash the back of the machine.

We have been having some rains here. My roof in the second home is leaking. There was an old cold tar patch that had opened up. Apparently it shrinks after a few years. I patched the spot in 2017. This is the special tar you can add in the rain. Doesn’t hold up under hot sun for many years. I tried some urethane based flashing cement this time (Loctite PL). Seems to be holding.

Frita
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Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2018 8:43 pm

Re: Fixit Log

Post by Frita »

Situation: My spouse prefers drip coffee with a paper filter. (About four years ago I scored a free higher end machine from a foreign college student moving home after a semester.). Since COVID and subsequent shortages, the paper thicknesses are more variable. What happens with a thicker filter is the water drains through it slower, the water fills the basket and spills out, creating a coffee and ground mess. I end up cleaning the whole machine too. This is not enjoyable to do at 6:30 AM. I am not a morning person.

Solution: Quick search online found that one can buy a coffee filter holder for $9.99 plus shipping. I cut the top 3/8” of the bottom of an old cottage cheese container. Then I removed 1 1/2” from the ring. It friction fits on the top of the filter to hold it in place.

Lesson: I spent a lot of time thinking paying more attention was most skillful and continued experiencing negative consequences. I did not want to buy a solution. Okay, I thought this was just an issue I had. Not so. I was reminded to continue to generalize this awareness to new situations.

white belt
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Joined: Sat May 21, 2011 12:15 am

Re: Fixit Log

Post by white belt »

white belt wrote:
Fri Jan 06, 2023 3:02 am
I've been researching laptop options because I'm now doing both live streaming and video editing on my 7+ year old Toshiba laptop and it's starting to show its age. I upgraded to 16gb RAM a few years ago when I was doing a lot of work on virtual machines, but I'm still on the original HDD which is obviously not ideal for these sorts of things. Fortunately, I can upgrade to an SSD for $75, so I think I will do that, clean the fan, and replace the thermal paste in hopes of getting another few years of utility out of the laptop. Unfortunately, the CPU can't be upgraded.
Not a crazy DIY fix, but I did upgrade my hard drive to an SSD in my 7.5-year-old Toshiba laptop. I also replaced the thermal paste and cleaned the fan. A pretty simple install other than having to do some tinkering with startup menus until eventually it booted correctly. Now the laptop boots up in seconds whereas it used to take minutes. The upgrade has also slightly reduced the time it takes to render video, although not all that much because I can't upgrade CPU or GPU (not that big of deal anyway because I can just walk away and do other stuff). With 16gb RAM and now 1TB SSD, I hope that I can get the laptop to 10 years of service.

I'm currently on Windows 10 which is end-of-life in October '25 (I need it for gaming and streaming requirements). My computer says it can't upgrade to Windows 11, but after doing some research it appears I can bypass the TPM requirements to still install Windows 11 on my machine. I haven't felt the need to make the switch because Windows 10 is still supported and it's unclear how long Windows 11 updates for unsupported hardware will be pushed.

I'm currently on battery #2 but will have to replace that because it barely holds a charge. I looked on the internet and it seems it is possible to replace the Li Ion cells but it also seems like that might not be worth the risk of frying critical components when I can just purchase a replacement instead.

I get a strange thrill out of keeping old things running well or better than new.

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