We bought our house 5 years ago now, and have replaced all the terrible floor surfaces except the kitchen. This was largely due to lack of options, and also the fact that we didn’t like the idea of cold, hard, tile. I personally think hardwood in the kitchen is a bad idea (dings, divits, water damage, etc), and carpet is obviously right out. When, about 3 months ago, my wife found modern “luxury” peel and stick, grout-able, tile (Lowes page) she suddenly got very interested in replacing the flooring. The current floor was an “orange” rock looking sheet vinyl from the late 70′s, and had since become impossible to clean.
Motor coupling on Kenmore Series 80 washing machine
2012/01/01 By
Not going to go very far with this post, since there is a plethora of info out there about doing this job, but I will take the time to point out some issues, and point to resources.
This PDF is probably the best info I could point to, as everything else I found suggested turning the washing machine on it’s side/back, and doing the work from the bottom. But, removing the cowling from the machine was quick, easy, and make the whole job MUCH easier than tipping it over.
My main tips for all this are:
- Sears Parts centers should all have this part in stock. It’s $18. It’s well worth it to pick one up and do the repair yourself using the above PDF as a guide
- When the motor coupling breaks, you’ll often get a heck of a racket when it’s running. BUT! The pump to drain the water usually still runs (since it’s attached directly to the motor, and not the tub transmission). If I’d realized this, I could have saved myself a lot of work by using an aquarium pump to get the water out
All and all, it’s an easy fix. It took me less than 45 minutes to replace the part, and about 15 minutes to drive to and from Sears. So, 1 hour of work, and $18 in parts. Bet a repair man would have charged AT LEAST $100. And, you’ll probably teach yourself something about how the washing machine works in the process. =)
Moving the modem
2011/05/23 By
Since moving into my home, I’ve had my cable modem in our office. A room above our garage that has coax run to it from the garage, which is where the CATV coax enters the house. Coax enters the house through a wall, goes into a splitter, and heads from there up to our office. Total run length from the splitter is about 30ft. With the modem in the office, and then in the garage, the data for the modem follows (Update 5/26/11: After a couple days, the signal levels changed a bit in its new location. I’ve found online that 6 dBmV is actually a bit on the high side for signal strength, but within acceptable limits):
| Office | Garage | Garage 2 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Downstream Freq | 567.00 mhz | 567.00 mhz | 579.00 mhz |
| Downstream Power | 3 dBmV | 4 dBmV | 6 dBmV |
| Downstream SNR | 36 dB | 36 dB | 35 dB |
| Modulation | QAM256 | QAM256 | QAM256 |
| Upstream Freq | 32.400 mhz | 32.400 mhz | 22.800 |
| Upstream Power | 44 dBmV | 43 dBmV | 42 dBmV |
| Channel Type | DOCSIS 2.0 (ATDMA) | DOCSIS 2.0 (ATDMA) | DOCSIS 2.0 (ATDMA) |
| Symbol Rate | 5120 kSym/sec | 5120 kSym/sec | 5120 kSym/sec |
| Modulation | QAM64 | QAM64 | QAM64 |