BilikFamily.com

Holiday - Like most Americans, I had Wednesday off for Independence Day. Michelle and I took the kids to meet up with our friends, the Kucmas', in New Boston. We went to the town parade and later to the town's Independence Day celebrations at their fairgrounds. The latter was a lot like a lightweight version of a county fair. I brought along my smaller, older digital camera and took some pictures. There are also some pictures of last month's gymnastics meet in that album.

Thursday - Today was a little more stressful. While the USA had a holiday yesterday, my main customers are in Canada, Europe, and India. So when I came in, I had a slight backlog of work which hopefully I'll catch up on by tomorrow. For the drive home I noticed a small intense storm on Dopler radar and wondered if I'd catch it. As I crossed the state line, it rained 'cats and dogs' for about five minutes. Just as I got out of the storm, my car was bumper kissed as I was stopped at an intersection looking for an opportunity to turn. Luckily, there was no significant damage.

When I got home, Michelle and I prepared to go out for dinner. The kids decided to watch a particular DVD but when I went to set it up, I found that Netflix shipped the wrong DVD in the envelope. Abby wanted to play KidPix but there were problems launching that CD-ROM. Between the storm, the little collision, the DVD snafu, and the computer hiccup, things seemed to be in a downward spiral for a while.

On the upside I went with to lunch with four co-workers for a hummus falafel in pita at The Big Fresh Cafe in Framingham. Later I did enjoy a quiet dinner with Michelle at the Black Forest Cafe in Amherst.

Tuesday - Rewinding a bit back to Tuesday, an HVAC guy came out to do scheduled maintenance on our A/C unit. Michelle and I were wondering if he wasn't trying to pad the bill a bit. The maintenance had been pre-paid last fall when the furnace was serviced. While servicing the A/C, he added "up to" 2 pounds of refrigerant to the unit. Cha-ching! He also added a dye to detect if there might be a slow leak. That dye was more expensive than inkjet printer ink! (already one of the most expensive liquid substances known to man!) He added a special water trap to the furnace. Funny, none of the other service staff thought one necessary in the past...

He asked Michelle about putting in a special water tray below the hot water heater that would cut the water supply if it senses that the tank leaked. Luckily by that time she said "no". The bill was approaching the $500 mark. That tray would have added another $500 to the bill. He also correctly noted that the blower motor on the water heater vent was running constantly instead of just when the flame is on. Note: because of our setup, our water heater exhaust is 'power vented' rather than naturally aspirated through a flue. Replacing our power vented water heater would be a pricey option.

When I got home I did a little debug of the way the blower is run. Air pressure sensor, ok... temperature sensor, alright... blower motor relay... buzz. I had done a little Google research and found that for our line of water heater, blower relays getting stuck was common. You can only imagine the expression on Michelle's face when I walked downstairs with a hammer in my hand. I gave the relay two gentle taps, which the tank amplified to make it sound like I was beating the heater to death. But then, suddenly, silence! The relay 'unstuck' and the blower switched on and off normally. It has for the past few days now. It may stick again soon, but at least I know it's a simple relay that needs replacing, not a whole new water heater.

Gotta love the free solution for now... It reminded me of the way some folks back in the 70's would find a 'sweet spot' on their TVs that they would smack when the TV acted up. Next time an HVAC comes for 'routine' maintenance, I want to be home so they aren't tempted pad the bill.