RP Listener Forum - Radio Paradise

Posted: May 25, 2013 - 9:15am

Alexandra wrote:

When hair color is always WAY darker than it shows on the label. Light golden brown should've matched sun-bleached brown hair. But no - it's darker than ever. Nothing golden about it! They always say to go one shade lighter...I suppose one should go TWO shades.

What would your hairdresser say? {#Shhh}

Posted: May 25, 2013 - 9:09am

miamizsun wrote:

please be careful

i only perform electrical work when i have a helper

To make it even more fun the cellar floor is always wet for days after each rain even after the sump pumps it all out. And even more fun the box is hanging by its wires behind the water heater where you can't get at it without lifting the box to the side. (while standing in water). I will turn off the main breaker for the house and then test the box with my meter in case they somehow tapped it off before the new breaker box. Then work by flashlight as there are no windows for the cellar and its pitch black down there,
I also have to cut a hole for a trap door in the back hallway floor to repair ductwork for the downstairs HVAC as there is no other way to get at it,

Posted: May 25, 2013 - 9:05am

When hair color is always WAY darker than it shows on the label. Light golden brown should've matched sun-bleached brown hair. But no - it's darker than ever. Nothing golden about it! They always say to go one shade lighter...I suppose one should go TWO shades.

Posted: May 25, 2013 - 8:58am

DaveInVA wrote:

I'm pissed off at whoever f*cked up the wiring for the cellar and the front 2 first floor rooms in my house. Some of the outlets are dead and the rest all show no ground with my tester. Those rooms are over a shallow crawlspace and its impossible to get to teh wiring to replace it without digging tunnels. All the wiring in the house has been replaced except those rooms. There are no cloth wires going to the breaker box so that means they are spliced into some newer wire at some unknown location. In the cellar is the original 40 amp fuse box with screw in fuses. I thought it was not hooked up any more. Turns out it is. Has cloth wire feeding it that goes off into the forbidden section under the house so cant see where they are tapping it off. Guess I will have to put a metal box up and just cap and dead end the wires in the box so in the future nobody gets zapped as I cant get to the other end to disconnect it. The box has a blown fuse so that explains the dead outlets. it is literally hanging by the wires not attached to anything. Even has a doorbell transformer hanging by the wires from it thats energized but not hooked to any doorbells. Also its still hooked to a oil pump for an oil furnace that hasn't existed in decades. So now I have to find ways to get new wires from new breakers in the new breaker box upstairs to the outlets in those rooms. What fun! Even more fun it has newer 3 wire cable hooked to it that goes to the 3 prong outlets with no ground because the ground wires are not hooked to anything in the box.

please be careful

i only perform electrical work when i have a helper

Posted: May 25, 2013 - 8:30am

I'm pissed off at whoever f*cked up the wiring for the cellar and the front 2 first floor rooms in my house. Some of the outlets are dead and the rest all show no ground with my tester. Those rooms are over a shallow crawlspace and its impossible to get to teh wiring to replace it without digging tunnels. All the wiring in the house has been replaced except those rooms. There are no cloth wires going to the breaker box so that means they are spliced into some newer wire at some unknown location. In the cellar is the original 40 amp fuse box with screw in fuses. I thought it was not hooked up any more. Turns out it is. Has cloth wire feeding it that goes off into the forbidden section under the house so cant see where they are tapping it off. Guess I will have to put a metal box up and just cap and dead end the wires in the box so in the future nobody gets zapped as I cant get to the other end to disconnect it. The box has a blown fuse so that explains the dead outlets. it is literally hanging by the wires not attached to anything. Even has a doorbell transformer hanging by the wires from it thats energized but not hooked to any doorbells. Also its still hooked to a oil pump for an oil furnace that hasn't existed in decades. So now I have to find ways to get new wires from new breakers in the new breaker box upstairs to the outlets in those rooms. What fun! Even more fun it has newer 3 wire cable hooked to it that goes to the 3 prong outlets with no ground because the ground wires are not hooked to anything in the box.

Posted: May 24, 2013 - 9:24am

cc_rider wrote:

True. The most annoying pests there walk around on two legs.

True enough and we have more of our fair share of those.........lol

Posted: May 24, 2013 - 9:22am

pigtail wrote:

yuck! Another reason I love California. We have very few bugs.

True. The most annoying pests there walk around on two legs.

Posted: May 24, 2013 - 8:59am

MsJudi wrote:

Tiny little flying bugs that seek moisture. They're coming in through the foundation. They look a little like gnats, and every morning (they're nocturnal), I have to go in and rinse a hundred or so down the damned drain. Pest control has been out twice this month along for them with no luck.

yuck! Another reason I love California. We have very few bugs.

Posted: May 24, 2013 - 8:11am

kurtster wrote:

Its not just the trucks. Had to deal with it with my Focus. Two out of the four doors so far. $500.

just ordered new actuators. $60.

Over on 'ford-trucks.com', door locks have come up time and again. There was a long discussion about how to repair them. The actuator has a teeny tiny electric motor that drives a gear train to lock/unlock the door. The electric motor is so undersized, it overheats under normal use. There is a fuse INSIDE the electric motor: a sliver of material. The fix? Check this out:

Disassemble the actuator housing (which is 'heat staked', so you have to drill out the stakes.)
Take the little motor out, bend back the metal tabs holding the end cap on the motor.
Take out the fuse, wrap a piece of foil around it.
Re-insert fuse, put cap back on motor, re-install into housing.
Figure out some way to hold the two halves of the housing together. Most people use an assortment of zip-ties.
Reinstall actuator in door lock mechanism.

The whole thing takes about 15 minutes/door, once you've done it a couple times. It is a totally cheeseball fix for a totally cheeseball design. Not to mention, disabling fuses of any kind is generally a no-no.

But here's the thing: I did all four doors that way, at least three years ago. Only just now did one of the motors finally burn up! When I first made repair, those actuators were $$$, so any attempt at repair was worth it. And heck, they were already busted anyway, so why not crack 'em open?

But the whole experience has scared me away from Fords. If they'll perpetrate such a half-assed design on something like a door lock, where else are they cutting corners?

Posted: May 24, 2013 - 7:49am

ScottFromWyoming wrote:

On the upside, you can get into a locked Ford without a key.

On the downside, everybody knows that simple fact: good guys and bad guys!

Posted: May 24, 2013 - 7:47am

cc_rider wrote:

The door lock mechanism in Ford trucks. Rube Goldberg, step aside...

On the upside, you can get into a locked Ford without a key.

Posted: May 24, 2013 - 7:43am

cc_rider wrote:

The door lock mechanism in Ford trucks. Rube Goldberg, step aside...

Its not just the trucks. Had to deal with it with my Focus. Two out of the four doors so far. $500.

Posted: May 24, 2013 - 7:43am

2cats wrote:

MsJudi wrote:

I have Springtails in my tub.

What is that?

Tiny little flying bugs that seek moisture. They're coming in through the foundation. They look a little like gnats, and every morning (they're nocturnal), I have to go in and rinse a hundred or so down the damned drain. Pest control has been out twice this month along for them with no luck.