Entropy

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JR.
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Re: Entropy

Post by JR. »

This week my flag attachment point broke. I fixed it with a cable tie but these have low tensile strength so not a permanent fix. I may buy a smaller flag to reduce the wind loading.

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My (lifetime warranty) manual can opener broke again... (It was replaced free once already). Shipping it back for replacement will cost about the same as buying a new one.... :o

There are more expensive ones for sale, but they do not appear to be any better... this time the teeth on the cogs that turn the cutting wheel wore down. Apparently steel(?) too cheap to hold up to normal use.

JR
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mediatechnology
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Re: Entropy

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JR. wrote: Sun Nov 05, 2017 10:36 am This week my flag attachment point broke. I fixed it with a cable tie but these have low tensile strength so not a permanent fix. I may buy a smaller flag to reduce the wind loading.
Hard to find good flagpoles. Most of the ones I can get are thin-walled aluminum tubing. I have to keep shortening them. I'm about to abandon the current mount however because the Oak has almost completely swallowed it in bark.
My (lifetime warranty) manual can opener broke again... (It was replaced free once already). Shipping it back for replacement will cost about the same as buying a new one.... :o

There are more expensive ones for sale, but they do not appear to be any better... this time the teeth on the cogs that turn the cutting wheel wore down. Apparently steel(?) too cheap to hold up to normal use.
Try the KitchenAid: https://www.amazon.com/KitchenAid-Gourm ... can+opener

I liked mine so much I gave them as gifts LOL.
And also bought a spare.
We don't open many cans though but when we do this one rocks.
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JR.
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Re: Entropy

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mediatechnology wrote: Sun Nov 05, 2017 2:57 pm
JR. wrote: Sun Nov 05, 2017 10:36 am This week my flag attachment point broke. I fixed it with a cable tie but these have low tensile strength so not a permanent fix. I may buy a smaller flag to reduce the wind loading.
Hard to find good flagpoles. Most of the ones I can get are thin-walled aluminum tubing. I have to keep shortening them. I'm about to abandon the current mount however because the Oak has almost completely swallowed it in bark.
My current flagpole that broke is already a premium one with swivel so flag can spin around, but the top attachment ring is injection molded plastic and fatigues and broke... I am thinking of replacing current with a smaller flag the wind has been blowing a lot since the global warming generated so much hot air :lol: (half joking). The wind load is so bad it ripped the flag down more than once, and broke the old molded plastic flag pole base (not the cheap type), but i replaced with a metal mount that will not break... can't say the same for flag attachment molding holding top of the flag.
My (lifetime warranty) manual can opener broke again... (It was replaced free once already). Shipping it back for replacement will cost about the same as buying a new one.... :o

There are more expensive ones for sale, but they do not appear to be any better... this time the teeth on the cogs that turn the cutting wheel wore down. Apparently steel(?) too cheap to hold up to normal use.
Try the KitchenAid: https://www.amazon.com/KitchenAid-Gourm ... can+opener
Yup that looks pretty much the same.... the lid magnet makes it the premium version. When these are brand new they cut great, but over time the cheap metal cog teeth wear. When the cog teeth mesh smoothly it drives the cutting wheel to roll through the lid (like butter)...when they don't they don't. The half life for manual can openers around me is low single digit years,,,

One recent one was a cute different design where it cut into the side of the lid's rolled over lip, but unfortunately no more robust than the others.

Someday I may break down and get an electric can opener, they seem to last forever, but serve as permanent residences for kitchen germs.

I liked mine so much I gave them as gifts LOL.
And also bought a spare.
We don't open many cans though but when we do this one rocks.
I have a spare too because mine always break.

I open several cans a week, mostly canned tomatoes, and canned corn. I wouldn't expect that to be excessive use but these cheap openers don't cut it very long. I replaced my broken oneida (replaced free once and may get another free replacement.) with similar lifetime guaranteed Farberware, maybe next time I'll try a kitchen aid... :lol: I looked for better ones and while I can't swear by the picture that kitchenaid looks like it is cut from the same chinese steel. Amazon doesn't say where it was made, so unlikely it isn't Chinese.

JR

PS: I wish I kept a P-38, these came inside the C-RAT packages and were pretty good can openers.
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Re: Entropy

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I just heard back from the can opener customer service rep... I asked them if they wanted me to return the broken can opener to their address on the hang card :roll: (I had no intention of shipping it back... in fact I already bought a replacement). I have started keeping the hang cards in light of the brief half-life for these cheap kitchen tools.

As expected/hoped, the rep asked me to email a photo, which I have done.

Since this can opener has already been replaced (free) once before, this will be it's third lifetime. I wonder if like a cat it has 6 more lives to go? :lol: I suspect most customers are not as cheap as I am so don't bother with warranty. This is not the first time a customer service rep has accepted a picture in place of the return, but for the big dehumidifier they had me remove the SN sticker.

JR
P1010226.JPG

Not a very attractive picture but I was hoping to capture the damaged cogs... but they're not visible. First time it broke, the turn handle cammed out from opener jamming up... so opener is a trapeze act of functionality, everything is engineered so marginal that almost any over stress will break something.
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Re: Entropy

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Ok new failure... My in wall oven is losing it's temperature control... My judgement is that the temperature sensor is flaky/broken... The temperature control knob turns the heat element on/off but the temp threshold shifts dramatically over time... when cold a 200' temp setting heats the oven up to 350' or more... after the oven has been running for a while the temp control needs to be turned higher and higher to maintain the same temperature. After an hour close to actual, but that is almost 200' shift between cold and warmed up.

My guess is that the temperature pickup, a foot long metal tube that sits in the top of the oven is not effectively communicating the temperature back to the controller... as the oven runs for a while the loosely coupled, or not coupled temperature sensor finally heats up the controller decision circuit.

I talked to my local repair guy, and he says the old kenmore oven uses a thermocouple so my guess the solid wire is just supposed to get hot and carry that heat to the control box where a thermocouple parses the temp...

I checked on the WWW and with sears and there are limited common repair parts available for this model...(probably 50+ years old). I could replace the heating element , but temp control parts are no longer available.

Time to start thinking about a new oven... Probably better to wait until after christmas. 8-)

JR
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Re: Entropy

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Newest entropy drama... my car battery is getting wimpy in cold weather.... about right because the 3 years warranty has less than 1 week to go...

In theory if I bring it to a walmart car center and the battery tests bad, I should get a new battery....

That sounds too good to be true...

JR
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Re: Entropy

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Is the wall oven a 24" width?
Very few models to chose from these days...

Was thinking the same thing about my 4 year-old 2013 car battery.
Go for an Interstate if you can find them.
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JR.
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Re: Entropy

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I can find plenty of 24" ovens for more than I want to pay... interesting range of prices from around $300 to $2k.... For 2k the oven needs to do my laundry too.

JR

{edit] Tomorrow is my shopping day so depending on how the car cranks I will either go 8 miles to the closes walmart, or 25 miles to one that can test the battery... Weather report for tomorrow is 70' and of course by the time I drive 25 miles the battery will be warmed up by the motor so probably test better. :oops:

I don't mind getting 3 years out of a 3 years battery and I think there is a pro-rated rebate between 3 years and 5 years, so I may still get something when it fails after weather gets colder...

Damn that global warming. I'm planting some new trees today and it's almost too warm for them.

[/edit]
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Re: Entropy

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My difficulty was finding a 24" double oven model.
I did find one from Maytag/Amana in black that was nice.
I liked it so much I bought a second one for the remodeled house.
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Re: Entropy

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I am learning more about lead acid batteries.

The printout from the battery test performed on my old battery called for a retest after charging with 40A for 80 minutes. :o

My car alternator could put out that much current at higher RPM than idle, but an 80 minute drive is a lot further than I need (perhaps a long drive every month or two?)

I just ordered a smart trickle charger (NOCO G1100) that should keep my battery topped off and reduce sulfation that occurs from extended use with reduced charge.

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here is a good link about sulfation http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/arti ... prevent_it

I had to resist the temptation to roll my own "smart" battery charger that would be relatively easy with a microprocessor, crazy when I could buy a finished product with bells and whistles for <$35

JR

PS As usual life gives us the test first and answers later... I "might" have saved my declining battery by a long drive... or not if sulfation damage was too far along to be reversed.
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