OTHER PROJECTS

Almost all of my spare time the second spring and summer after the Fiero was purchased, was devoted to the re-build, so many projects around the house went undone. I have been fortunate the last two years to have received rather generous bonuses from my employer, so last year and this year have been focusing on getting some things done around the house, that have been put off for way too long.

Last year, the kitchen was redone with a fresh paint job for the floors and ceilings, new counter tops, and a new grout job for the existing tile. New basement windows were installed as the old ones were just single pane and you could feel the cold air coming in in the winter. Also, the bathroom was redone with a new coat of paint on the walls and ceilings, new counter tops, a new bathtub skirt for the whirlpool tub, new exhaust fan, new lights above the vanity sink, new mirror and a new grout job on all of the tiles. All of this work was not completed until November because of the workload of the contractors who did some of the work.

This year I decided to get ahead of the game, so started lining up what was going to be done in January so contractors could be scheduled or materials procured much earlier in the year. By the time my bonus was deposited in my checking account this year, a plumbing contractor had already given me an estimate for the plumbing work  that needed done and after deciding that a contractor would be just wasting a bunch of money, had most of the new appliances ordered. I live in the country and have well water that is very hard and leaves a rust stain on all of the sinks, bathtubs, and toilets, so got an estimate to have the existing Kinetico water softener rebuilt but after finding out they wanted $1600, decided to purchase a Water Boss iron filter and water softener from Home Depot. Shipping was free and the units were dropped off on a skid in my driveway. 

WATER BOSS IRON FILTER AND WATER SOFTENER

Every month my electric utility company (Also my employer) kindly reminds me that my electric usage is quite a bit higher than all of my neighbors, so decided to look for a more efficient water heater and refrigerator. After looking around, I found a GE 4500 watt top and 4000 bottom element, heat pump water heater from a company online for $950 delivered. This was rather good, as my local utility company was offering a $500 rebate on this unit. Not bad, a heat pump water heater for $400, that can be used as a regular electric element water heater just by pushing a button. Again, the unit was delivered to my driveway and the driver actually wheeled it into my garage for me.

GE HEAT PUMP WATER HEATER

A new energy star refrigerator was purchased from Home Depot and again delivery was free and included set-up. The guys brought it into the house, and after getting in plugged in and running, explained some of the basic things I needed to know about it. Again, my utility company will give me a $50 rebate off the purchase price of the unit. 

FRIGIDAIRE ENERGY STAR REFRIGERATOR

Needless to say, I have pretty much been busy every weekend since the middle of March installing all of the new units and plumbing them up, so work on the Fiero project has been nonexistent. Every thing is installed and working great except the new water tank and that should be able to be done in one day, then I can jump back on the Fiero.

I did check the batteries and even though I took the lowest cell all the way down to 2.5 volts and let it come back up with a 7 watt night light, once turned off, the cell drifted back up to 2.85 volts. I will need to find out what the highest cell settled at and then will charge all of the cells to that level. Then I will charge the module and discharge it to see how close the cells are after a cycle. 

Hopefully some Fiero project progress updates next month!