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MY SUN DAY NEWS

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Sun City in Huntley

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February 23, 2012

Fixing a wobbly chair

This is the 10th year the Woodchucks have opened the shop to the community to repair furniture and other wooden objects. This event, appropriately named Ask the Woodchucks, is held twice a year in April and in October. 25 to 35 woodchucks donate a day of their time to repair furniture for residents of Sun City. The most common item repaired is a wobbly chair. We typically fix 18 chairs each time the event is held, or 36 chairs per year.

Surge Protection for your electronics

Every year, we add to our homes more electronics that are vulnerable to power surges. You probably added another device this Christmas. Some of the devices I am talking about are computers, the circuit boards in your refrigerator, oven, microwave, dimmer switches, your TV, DVD player, garage door opener, and the GFI outlets (Ground Fault Interrupt outlets in your bathroom and kitchen). The repair bill for a single surge on an unprotected house can exceed $10,000.

Honey, the dishes are not getting clean; we need a new dishwasher

Several Woodchucks have reported lately that their dishwashers have not been getting the dishes clean, and there is water on the floor inside the dishwasher that does not drain properly.

Annual Preventative Maintenance

As we start the new year of 2012, it’s appropriate to remind all residents of some preventative maintenance that should be done at the beginning of the year. Skipping this simple and inexpensive maintenance could result in hundreds of dollars of repairs in the future.

Light bulb technology

When we were young and Thomas Edison was still alive, buying light bulbs was easy. You had to decide if you wanted 60 watt or 100 watt. Today there are many more decisions to make.

Instant hot water

Did you ever wish that when you stagger into the bathroom in the morning and turn on the hot water in the bathroom sink there was instant hot water like in quality hotels? There is a device that will fulfill your wish. It is called a recirculating hot water pump.

Mysterious noise solved

Recently two Woodchucks reported that a hissing or low whistling noise started in their homes. One thought it was an electrical sound, but after checking each electrical appliance found nothing. He then noticed that when he turned on the water in the bathroom sink or the shower, the sound stopped. He then turned off the main water valve to the house. This also stopped the noise. Since turning off the water to the house was not an acceptable solution, he kept looking.

Door Bell Maintenance

A couple of Woodchucks have reported a strange humming noise that turned out to be a failed door bell mechanism. To track down this problem, first locate your door bell mechanism. Have someone ring your door bell, and look and listen for a box mounted high in the wall, usually in the hall.

Tip 26: Vacation Checklist

We have had several requests for the going-away checklist we published last year. A few additional things have been added. All of these columns are available on the Sun Day website if you want to refer back to one.

Questions & Answers

This month we received four questions on our e-mail site, more than we have in any month since this column began over a year ago. Question: What is the best way to eliminate green moss growing on the inside of the steel window-well liners?

Tip 25: Fix a Leaky Sillcock

You have two or more sillcocks on your house even if you don’t know the name sillcock. They are the outside faucets where you connect garden hoses, and they often leak. If a sillcock leaks when the water is on, you are in luck, as the fix is relatively easy. This leak is caused by a loose packing nut.

Tip 24: Driveway Maintenance

The last foot of a number of blacktop driveways in Sun City are becoming cracked and are sinking. They will soon need to be replaced unless some required maintenance is done. To see if you have neglected your driveway enough to have this problem, inspect the last foot of your driveway where it interfaces with the concrete sidewalk and where it interfaces with the concrete apron in front of your garage.

More air conditioner tips

If your air conditioner was not keeping your house cool during the recent heat wave or if your summer electric bills are higher than your neighbors’, your problem might be an overcharged air conditioner—one that has too much refrigerant.

Tip 22: Screens

If the screens on your house are stretched or have holes in them, it’s time to replace them. There are two ways you can replace your window screens. You can either bring your damaged screen to the hardware store and have them do it for you, or you can do it yourself and save the labor costs. If I tell you how to take it to the hardware store, this column will be too short, so I’ll tell you how to do it yourself.

Tip 21: Keeping birds out of house vents

When we moved here ten years ago, there were very few birds. Our previous house was located in the woods, and we were used to hearing birds in the morning when we awoke, and there were many birds to be seen in the air and in the trees all during the day.

Tip 20: More Air Conditioner Information

In the last issue we talked about normal maintenance that all residents should be doing, such as changing filters and washing the condenser fins. In this issue, we will discuss some of the things you can do when using your air conditioner to get the most out of it.

Tip 19: Air Conditioner Maintenance

The unit on the outside of your house with the large fan pointing upward is called the condenser unit. It contains the compressor and the condenser heat exchanger. The condenser is like the radiator in your car. It has tubes that wrap around all four sides of the box. These tubes have thin aluminum fins to dissipate the heat. Its function is to get rid of the heat that is collected from inside your house. The fan draws air across the fins and tubes of the condenser and exhausts this air upward.

Tip 19: Garage Door Maintenance

Back on January 13, we talked about things you need to do to keep your garage door working well. (To review this article, go to the mysundaynews.com website and search under columnists.) We have heard about a few door spring failures and have some more complete information on how to deal with this type of failure.

Tip 18: Setting the water heater temperature

Question: How to I correctly set the water heater temperature? I believe it should be set around 120 degrees.

Ask the Woodchucks: Live and in person

On April 20, every workbench in the Millgrove Woodshop was covered with broken furniture and parts of furniture. Small teams of Woodchucks hovered around each bench, squinting at their projects and talking to the other team members, deciding on the best way to fix the problems.

Tip 17: Moen faucets

We told you about the manufacturer’s warranty on the windows in your house, but did you know that if you have Moen faucets, they are also warranted? Moen has a lifetime warranty on their faucets to the original owner, and not just in senior communities. Below is an extract from the warranty:

Tip 16: Repair a Squeaky door

In an informal survey at the woodshop of household problems, the problem most mentioned was squeaky doors. We discussed a number of ways to fix the problem, including turning up the radio to drown out the squeak. The problem most often is caused by the hinges running dry of lubricant, causing the metal parts to rub together, making a squeaking noise.

Tip 15: Clean mildew off vinyl siding

Question: The following question came into our website: “We have had several neighbors ask about mildew on the outside of their home, on the plastic siding. Can you give some advice on this subject?”

Tip 13: Tankless Water Heater

In the last issue, we wrote about the two types of storage tank water heaters used by Del Webb in Sun City, Huntley (open combustion and closed combustion). After 10-15 years of use, these water heaters will need to be replaced.

Tip 13: Water heater

There are two types of gas water heaters used in Sun City. Up until about 2003, an open combustion-chamber water heater was used. Starting in 2003, the sealed combustion-chamber unit, aka Flammable Vapor Ignition Resistant (FVIR), was used. The purpose of the new safety standard is to prevent the ignition of any flammable liquids spilled or stored near a water heater. In the older open-combustion chamber water heaters, the combustion air entered directly into the combustion chamber.

Woodchucks Q&A

I’ve heard about the Woodchucks, and I pass the woodworking shop on Sun City Boulevard, but I don’t know anything about them. Could you explain how the woodshop operates?

Tip 12: Bathroom Fan Noise

Question: My bathroom is next to my family room, and when the exhaust fan kicks on, it is very noisy. Is there any way to quiet this fan?

Tip 11: Mailboxes etc.

This week a couple of email questions came in to the website. The first one involves mailboxes. “How often are mailboxes replaced in Sun City?”

Tip 10: Garage door

There are many small things, including several battery changes, you may not have thought about when it comes to garage door maintenance. Lubrication is absolutely necessary for devices like this, which operate every day.

Tip 9: Minor repairs anyone can do

Occasionally, something put into the garbage disposal will cause a jam. It will hum when you turn it on, or it will make no noise at all. There is a wrench that came with your disposal that fits into a hole in the bottom center of the disposal.