What are you doing today?

[Citysnaps]

Right now I'm descaling the heat exchanger in our tankless water heater.

Basically it involves isolating the city water supply going into the water heater and the house hot water line (both through valves below the heater), and then running two gallons of distilled white vinegar through the water heater with a pump for 45 minutes to get rid of lime scale in the heat exchanger.

After that, flush the water heater with water for 10 minutes to get rid of any vinegar, and then set the valves to normal operation. Pretty easy, and should be done yearly.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Hope you got some bread and cheese as well!

Here it’s hot. Too hot. Went for an early morning walk. Vacuumed the car. Did some weeding. Now I’ve retreated to the slightly cooler house. All the blinds are closed. But it’s still too warm for me.

Yes, I did.

A French baguette (the version that goes by the name of 'campagne') and rye bread.

And, as for cheese:

Cheese purchases included two blues: Roquefort, and Bleu de Basques; two (semi-soft) washed rind cheeses one of which goes by the (wonderful) name of Drunken Saint, while the other is the classic St Nectaire; a Corsican sheep's cheese named Brin d'Amour; Cantal, which is the closest French cheese to cheddar - a less "dense" (cheese than classic Cheddar), but still, a quite delicious, rich and savoury cheese.

At present, the fridge also plays host to some Shropshire Red (a robust, cheddar style cheese) and Stilton.

@Clix Pix might be interested to know what I did with the kalamata olives I bought, well, apart, that is, from eating them all: They found their way to a lovely Italian dish (bought from what used to be my favourite Italian coffee shop when they closed down - I used to visit frequently with my mother - they were an unfortunate casualty of the recession before this one) and were dressed with olive oil, roughly chopped lemon slices, needles of fresh rosemary and very thinly sliced garlic - remember that scene in Goodfellas, in the prison kitchen, where they were busily slicing garlic - carefully - into gossamer thin slices with a razor, a scene I recall watching with awed amazement? Now, I didn't use a razor, just an incredibly sharp (and beautifuly balanced) Japanese (Shun) knife which effortlessly achieves the same outcome of gralic sliced thinly to an almost translucent, nay tansparent, degree. Delicious.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Had a long chat with Decent Brother last night; having succumbed recently to a bout of Covid (he is triple vaccinated, as am I), he is still tired.

 

[DT]

We had a shark attack ...













... in our coffee this morning

Back to some Bones, got some freebies too for their 4th sale We're getting a little over-coffee'ed again, I've got Stone Street OTW too (and just scored some of their dark roast Ks for backup).

 

[DT]

Right now I'm descaling the heat exchanger in our tankless water heater.

Basically it involves isolating the city water supply going into the water heater and the house hot water line (both through valves below the heater), and then running two gallons of distilled white vinegar through the water heater with a pump for 45 minutes to get rid of lime scale in the heat exchanger.

After that, flush the water heater with water for 10 minutes to get rid of any vinegar, and then set the valves to normal operation. Pretty easy, and should be done yearly.

In addition to the obvious benefits, I'd wondered if maintenance was easier/more effective[?]

Don't know if you read my hot water heater battles, but cleaning a convention tank based system completely out is almost impossible (they need to have a 8-10", threaded port, so I could easily run a shop vac inside ...)

 

[Citysnaps]

In addition to the obvious benefits, I'd wondered if maintenance was easier/more effective[?]

Don't know if you read my hot water heater battles, but cleaning a convention tank based system completely out is almost impossible (they need to have a 8-10", threaded port, so I could easily run a shop vac inside ...)

Hmmm... My tankless water is only two years old and have only descaled it twice. It's pretty easy. It's recommended the two gallons of white vinegar recirculate through the system for 45 minutes to descale the lime that accumulates in the heat exchanger. I do other things while that's happening. There are good videos out there showing how it's done. My water heater is a Navien.

In previous homes I've had conventional water heaters that I flushed through the drain spigot either never or every couple of years to get rid of sediment. Not sure if that really did much. Seems they lasted around 10 years.

I'm glad I went tankless on this house, though I was initially skeptical. One thing to remember (and it hasn't happened to us yet) if you lose electrical power, you don't have hot water as there is electronics then need to be powered for the water heater to run. I've been thinking of making a portable backup LiPo4 battery and small inverter system to deal with that - the power requirements are low.

 

[fischersd]

(as the board software won't allow me to edit an older post...a new one to wrap up the FedEx woes)
FedEx driver did actually show up on the 4th attempt that management set up. Buzzed me and asked me to come down to give him a hand? (WTF?!) - when I got down there, I told him that they should give you a dolly for heavier packages....he said he did have one on the truck, just didn't want to take it off the truck. (yes, I'm thoroughly convinced they're all inept lazy bastards).
Box was beat up all to hell - took several pics of the box with the FedEx driver in frame - he asked if I wanted to decline delivery based on that - said "After all of this horseshit to get one of you to actually get it off of the truck?! Uhh...no"
Parts were also falling out of the bottom of the box - the batteries for the remote were absent (though supposed to be included) - no doubt lost on the way.
Keeping the packing materials for a few weeks in case the thing dies (no signs of damage to anything inside the box)

Yesterday was day one (took me awhile to find my hacksaw and duct tape to customize the window kit).

 

[DT]

No explanation, but I bet the driver was moving stuff around, broke it / found it broken, halted the delivery.

So this is 3 for 3, what the f*** is up FedEx? Or maybe it's the Walmart shipping/packaging side and FedEx needs that resolved? Is Walmart going to continue to ship this to make and have it shown up broken every time? Do they maybe just need to remove from being available online?

Yep! Hahaha, that's 3 for 3

I'm not sure what the "scheduled for next day" mean, i.e., are they bringing a box full of broken bottles? Repackaging? Updates as this excitement unfolds ...

 

[DT]

@fischersd

Oh, that was your portable AC unit, right! Yeah, I've had some things where the packaging looked pretty wrecked but the product survived just fine. I do the same, keep a box at least for a week in case it craps out in the short term.

 

[JayAgostino]

I went to WalMart on a Saturday.

I haven't been to a Walmart store in a while, but I assume it's the opposite of stepping into a Kmart store on a Saturday.

(Yes, I did in fact pass by this place just a couple of weeks ago!)

I am a loyal Targé customer. Il n’y a pas de retour en arrière!

 

[Herdfan]

I haven't been to a Walmart store in a while, but I assume it's the opposite of stepping into a Kmart store on a Saturday.

(Yes, I did in fact pass by this place just a couple of weeks ago!)
View attachment 15784

I am a loyal Targé customer. Il n’y a pas de retour en arrière!

You have a K-Mart that is still open? And why is the K blue, not red?

 

[Eric]

You have a K-Mart that is still open? And why is the K blue, not red?

Was just going to ask the same thing, I think they closed them all up in California, didn't know they were still around.

 

[JayAgostino]

You have a K-Mart that is still open? And why is the K blue, not red?

There's a TJ Maxx store in the same plaza. My company won a bid to redo the floors in that place.

 

[Joe]

I went to orange theory. It kicked my ass.

 

[DT]

You have a K-Mart that is still open? And why is the K blue, not red?

Because blue is better than red, for department store logos AND for power tools.

*BOOM*

 

[DT]

Yep! Hahaha, that's 3 for 3

View attachment 15777

I'm not sure what the "scheduled for next day" mean, i.e., are they bringing a box full of broken bottles? Repackaging? Updates as this excitement unfolds ...

Well, I guess it means they're attempting to deliver it, again, and I'm not sure if it's going to be "as is" (with the damage indicated), or a partial, or a re-pack provided by Walmart, but this is where it's at:

(We are pretty far south, not even in Jax, so deliveries originating from there are usually in the late afternoon ...)

 

[Herdfan]

Because blue is better than red, for department store logos AND for power tools.

*BOOM*

Bite your tongue.

Well, OK, as long as it isn't lime green.


Did you see the new Milwaukee Dual M18 Blower? From the videos it looks every bit as powerful as a backpack blower. But as big of fan as I am of Milwaukee, they need to move to stacked lithium. Everyone else is either there or getting there.

 

[DT]

Hahaha, honestly, I don't keep up with it, but what's the WOTS, Dewalt vs. Makita vs. Milwaukee ?

 

[JayAgostino]

Well, OK, as long as it isn't lime green.

 

[Cmaier]

View attachment 15799

I’m old enough to remember when it was called Kresge.

I’m so old.