When it rains, it pours, so be prepared!

[JoeP]

They say bad things come in threes. In our case, it comes in SEVENS!

I got a nice little bonus at work, and since we were up to snuff with all our allocations, we had earmarked it for different purposes: I need a clothing refresh, a watch repair, some toward a project, some for a nice dinner....most got canned because of:

1: Water heater broke, slow leak onto basement floor. Had to pay $1100 for a new one, and $265 for installation.

2: Garage door torsion spring broke, cost $330 to fix.

3: Daughter's car went into "limp mode" and needed a new coil pack and overflow reservoir installed to the tune of $600.

4: Son's car got a flat in the middle of the night, so we had to get the spare installed and the flat replaced for $50.

5: Wife's car is making a bad squeaking noise in the back, so that's in for repairs. Still waiting to hear the damage on that one. UPDATE: OVER $800

6: Neighbor passed away, so we went to his calling hours in Buffalo. No cost here, just a sad situation.

7: We lost power last week for almost 12 hours, generator did a great job keeping us powered up, but the TV got cooked by the power surge. New one cost $500 (way under ins deductible).


We have an EF just for this purpose, but the "good" news here is that the little bonus pretty much covered everything because we didn't spend against it with the earmarked expenses.

The takeaway is to be prepared! Home ownership is really starting to wear on me though!

[myrdale]

EF definitely gives you some room to breath.

For my television and computer, they are each on uninterrupted power supplies. I am far less concerned about running the computer for 30 additional minutes and more so concerned about the random power flickers. Its a good investment of $75 for any electronics you value.

[JoeP]

EF definitely gives you some room to breath.

For my television and computer, they are each on uninterrupted power supplies. I am far less concerned about running the computer for 30 additional minutes and more so concerned about the random power flickers. Its a good investment of $75 for any electronics you value.

I had a very good surge protector that was attached to equipment that was sitting unused. It is now protecting the new TV! I should really do the same for all my computer equipment.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

wow that is some list.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Clogged kitchen sink. Last night poured the 10 minute gel-type declogger hoping it does what it says and dissolves hair and grease, baloney (don't believe it guys). This morning still clogged. Took apart the p-trap and used the hand cranked auger to its max 15 feet and now drains beautifully. The other auger is a toilet auger which every homeowner should own if you don't have one already. I have two, one 3 footer and one 6 footer.

[rennigade]

I had a very good surge protector that was attached to equipment that was sitting unused. It is now protecting the new TV! I should really do the same for all my computer equipment.

Those cheap surge protectors are basically garbage, and eye sores. If you want to do it right install a whole house surge protector in your electric panel. Of course if you can't do it yourself you'll have to pay an electrician. You can watch a YouTube video, it's simple. Then, everything in your house is protected.

What kind of tension spring did you need installed? If it's the kind that you have to add tension by turning it with rods, they're also really easy to install. They're cheap too, like $60. I had to do a large door we have. It has a tension spring in each side of the door since the door is so heavy.

[ua_guy]

Clogged kitchen sink. Last night poured the 10 minute gel-type declogger hoping it does what it says and dissolves hair and grease, baloney (don't believe it guys). This morning still clogged. Took apart the p-trap and used the hand cranked auger to its max 15 feet and now drains beautifully. The other auger is a toilet auger which every homeowner should own if you don't have one already. I have two, one 3 footer and one 6 footer.

Nice work!

I rented a house with some roommates once. Tub/shower kept clogging. I was a college student so heck if I was going to spend money on drain-declogging liquid or take the thing apart, let alone call the landlord. I ran some water in the tub with the floor drain plugged. Once it filled a few inches, I held one plunger over the secondary drain. Popped the floor drain and started plunging with a second plunger. The force of the water and suction with the secondary drain sealed was extremely productive and all sorts of gunk got pulled up, black, chunky, gooey, hairy grossness!! After that it drained like a champ.

No you're not supposed to do this. But it works in a pinch. Also one of many reasons I'll never rent a house I care about to someone!

[Fishindude77]

Sounds like a lot of good old everyday stuff life throws at us.
Helps to be handy !

[disneysteve]

I rented a house with some roommates once. Tub/shower kept clogging. I was a college student so heck if I was going to spend money on drain-declogging liquid or take the thing apart, let alone call the landlord. I ran some water in the tub with the floor drain plugged. Once it filled a few inches, I held one plunger over the secondary drain. Popped the floor drain and started plunging with a second plunger. The force of the water and suction with the secondary drain sealed was extremely productive and all sorts of gunk got pulled up, black, chunky, gooey, hairy grossness!! After that it drained like a champ.

No you're not supposed to do this. But it works in a pinch.

Why are you not supposed to use a plunger to clear a clogged drain? I've done that plenty of times.

[QuarterMillionMan]

I can picture exactly how you unclogged that tub with the pop up lever covered with one plunger and using the second plunger over the actual drain itself which pushed and pulled the debris into and out of the clogged drain. That is ingenious. I like it when a plan like that works to perfection. And with minimal costs. My total of the 3 items above (ie, liquid drain chemical, toilet auger, and hand cranked auger) had cost me $50 at Home Depot. The maintenance man was scheduled to come over tomorrow on Monday, but I could not wait that long and decided to pay for the items to use my kitchen sink to wash dishes rather than washing dishes in my lavatory sink or bathtub.

[QuarterMillionMan]

BTW, my strategy for clearing a bathtub clogged with debris is to take off the pop lever by unscrewing the 2 bolts which holds it in place. Then with an auger go through the top as opposed to going through the actual drain itself on the bottom which has an extra bend before the p-trap which makes it harder for the auger to navigate. By going through the top where the pop up lever is located it is a straight line to the p-trap (see diagram below).

[ua_guy]

Why are you not supposed to use a plunger to clear a clogged drain? I've done that plenty of times.

As a general rule, home drains aren't meant to be pressurized. They carry water away using gravity. Not like a water supply line which is designed to carry water under pressure.

When you clear a toilet, you're clearing the porcelain s-curve in the toilet itself, usually not the PVC drain below, so the pressure is only in the porcelain. When plumbers clear PVC drains, they typically use an auger, snake, or water jet, but they don't pressurize the line.

When you use pressure (jamming a plunger) in a bathroom or kitchen sink, for example, you're relying on cheap plastic/PVC press-fit stuff to stay together and hold pressure, even more janky than glued PVC.

It really depends on how much pressure you use and how good your plumbing is. A lot of bathroom sinks, kitchen sinks, etc have been retrofit by DIY homeowners using extremely cheap parts

[rennigade]

For those that have a septic and not connected to the city sewers, never use harsh chemicals if you can help it. Disrupts the septic breaking down waste.

[crazyliblady]

Clogged kitchen sink. Last night poured the 10 minute gel-type declogger hoping it does what it says and dissolves hair and grease, baloney (don't believe it guys). This morning still clogged. Took apart the p-trap and used the hand cranked auger to its max 15 feet and now drains beautifully. The other auger is a toilet auger which every homeowner should own if you don't have one already. I have two, one 3 footer and one 6 footer.

I don't have an auger, but I do have one of these plastic hair snakes.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/BrassCraft-20-in-Plastic-Hair-Snake-BC00112/305468409

[QuarterMillionMan]

I see it is 20" which is better than nothing but often the clog is way beyond that amount.