7 degrees out – cold, cold, cold!

I was working on my computer when I noticed that my UPS was turning on and off every few seconds (meaning the power was going out and on a lot).

So to be safe I turned off the power on my computer and went outside. I heard a pretty loud popping noise and smelled smoke from my neighbor’s backyard so I went to their backyard and saw the flames coming from the electrical box. My neighbor was outside and had just called 911.

I made sure the girls were safe and grabbed my camera and shot this video from over the fence as the fire crew put out the fire.

What happened was the ground had shifted and pulled the wires off of there electric meter causing it to make contact and then not make contact (arcing). This went on for at least 10 minutes, I am surprised that the transformer that shares both of our houses didn’t trip much earlier.

The fireman and Xcel employee looked at my box on our house after he fixed the fuse on the transformer in our backyard and said ours looks fine. In Superior they have about 8 of these types of fires a year the fireman told me because of the shifting soil.

I drilled 3 holes with a drill bit designed for concrete. In the holes I placed the metal shells and then tighten the bolts.

I made sure that the holes were placed in the grout and not in the brick which makes for easier patching later on if I need to.

The universal mount is from Best Buy for holding up LCD TV less than 40″ or was it 40 pounds – I can’t remember. It does not tilt at all. I think it cost around $35.

All of a sudden the large garage door would not open but a few inches off the ground. I looked and noticed that one of the springs snapped.

Spring part number .250 2 32.0 LU H2 LW250x2x32″GS Wound Spring I think. 9 + 16x7R2000C 2-LM/S not sure if that is right. It came with a 36 month warranty. The spring on the receipt was $65.

There was a big warning on the spring to not attempt to fix it yourself (which is what I like to do) because it is under a lot of tension.

So I hired it out to Front Range Garage Door Company and it cost $145 to replace one spring. The installer said that the springs normally last 5 to 8 years. I called the original owner of the house and he said he replaced the last one about 4 years ago (it was 12 years old). And the one that just snapped was 16 years old.

If you watch the video he adds a total of 7 rotations to the spring.

The installer said that he replaces springs like this all day long, it is pretty much the only thing they do. Judging how fast he did it, I would say he is right. I think it took him 25 minutes to complete the entire job (not bad for $75 in labor).

After watching the installer do it, I bet I can do it myself (DIY) next time.

Century Model 4960 Matchless propane camping stove.

I had to remove the garbage disposal and put the hose into it and spray it out for about 10 minutes until all of the rocks where out and it would spin freely using the garbage disposal wrench as a test to see if it would spin.

Above are the rocks from just the P-trap that I also had to clean out.

I always buy pretty crappy gas grills from places like Home Depot and never really know what to look for. Tom Gabriel from Tips By Tom explains to me what to look for.

Here it is: