Air Conditioning

I learned a great lesson today from Marcus, the service tech at Mountain Aire in Yreka. We had replaced the compressor and fan motor on a client's air conditioner here but the tenant called yet again to report no cold air was flowing.

Well, the first lesson was that ants are attracted to the electrical contacts in the A / C's panel. He had found them at this location on one of his earlier visits. So if you have ants (who in Lake Shastina doesn't?) be sure to spray or put out poison bait, especially near the air conditioner panel.

The other point he made is that most residential air conditioning units are sized to keep the temperature no higher than 70 or 72 degrees in a typical home. To get down into the 60's one would be over-working the compressor which can ice up as it did in the instance we inspected last night.

We also checked the filter in the furnace return vent. If a filter is plugged up the air conditioner will struggle against itself trying to pull air in to cool it. In this case the filter was clear but since many of us run the furnace fan all day and night when it's hot outside they plug up sooner than usual so don't wait the normal 3 months or whatever. It's cheap insurance. By the way, furnace return vents are larger than output vents (registers) and usually located high on the wall or ceiling where the warm air collects to make for more efficient heating in winter.

So three simple preventative things we can all do to avoid service calls: keep the ants away from the A / C panel, use the manufacturer's suggested settings of 72* in the daytime and 78* at night. Or higher, according to your comfort level. And check the air filters in the furnace return vent.

Hard Water and Amateur Plumbers

August 2009 CC&R Corner by Will Bullington

Mike and Charlene French have lived in Lake Shastina for over five years and have never drained their water heater. Charlene is on our Environmental Control Committee and was mentioning that they no longer had hot water, only “tepid” water. This is where the conversation got going at our last ECC meeting in which everyone was talking about the hard water. I was telling Charlene that the minerals in our water, which is moderately “hard” such as calcium, settle in the bottom of a water heater and if not drained at least once a year, will cover the lower element. Usually this is followed by the element failing and you now have “tepid” not hot water. I told her she should drain her water heater and put in a new lower element. Mike French is a retired Park Ranger and works the summer season at Castle Crags State Park, and doesn’t have a lot of extra time during the day. This is how I got involved with appliance repair or disrepair. Charlene asks me if I knew how to do the job, and I (stupidly) said sure. She and Mike have been great friends for years and I agreed to do it for steaks and beer. I had a similar issue at my house this spring and I told the French’s to get a new drain valve (hose bib style) and a new heater element.

After work I head over the French’s and the first thing that I try to do is drain out the water heater. It’s in a closet in the laundry room and is sitting on their floor instead of raised up on a platform. So that makes the drain valve almost flush with the floor. Now you have to picture this: the water heaters made in the last 10 years have this really cheesy plastic “drain valve” that a garden hose should hook up to, you open it and the closest hot water tap, and it should drain out. So, not only is the valve cheap plastic, it is way undersized for the task, especially with all the minerals that have to come out with it. You can’t take off the valve because there is no room to put a bucket under it.

O.K. so now you are seeing the excuses lining up. We take out the valve and without opening any hot water taps, we hope to quickly put in the new valve. Not a drop. Reach in with a screw driver and see that it is packed with calcium and gook. We finally get enough of the gook out of the way and put a short pipe in and then a rubber hose that we clamped onto the pipe with a “water thief.” We do this because the new hose bib valve keeps getting clogged. We manage to fill up a 50 foot garden hose and plug it, where we have to go get another one. So, let’s refigure this, we’ll put the clean hose on, and turn on the cold water coming into the tank to increase pressure to flush out the gunk. (Oh, yea, you have to turn off the water coming into the tank and turn off the electrical to the tank, which we did do). I’m on my hands and knees listening to hear if the gunk is flowing out of the garden hose. Just as I turn my head to yell at Mike “do you see anything yet?” The pressure blows the water hose off the drain pipe (which was held on with a clamp, that I swear I tightened up). Now you have to picture 50 gallons of water and gunk trying to shoot out of a ¾ inch pipe that is level with the floor and pointing right at my knees. The gunk (which looks like oatmeal and wet frosted flakes cereal) hits my knees, launches up my chest, into my face and hair, and then shoots out sideways into the kitchen and all over the laundry room. Now, saying really filthy words at a drain pipe does not activate it to close, like a clap on clap off switch. About the time the pressure was released and the hose was put back on, the French’s had about 5 gallons of gunk (Charlene will swear it was more like 10) splattered everywhere: on the ceiling, on the hardwood floors, on the cabinets, into the clean clothes, etc. At this point Mike yells from outside “it’s flowing now!”

Mike comes back in and points out how holy things are, holy this, and holy that, etc. I am holding onto the clamped hose and apologizing as best I can through calcium in my teeth, contact lenses, etc. The end result was the tank drained; we flushed out all the minerals, and put in a new element which gave them hot water. Charlene is still finding chunks of minerals in drawers and clothes and I know she was gritting her teeth when she thanked me for the hot water.

Lessons learned: plumbers get paid a lot because the job sucks and it takes a lot of training and experience. If you build a house or put in a new hot water heater have them put up it on a raised platform, even a couple of 4” x 6” boards. Before you install it throw away the cheap plastic drain valve and put in a good ¾ inch gang valve. Flush out your hot water twice a year. Don’t ask me to help you with any plumbing problems……. P.S. the steaks were great and I haven’t taken any calcium supplements in two weeks.

Helicopters VS Optimism

Brooders vs extroverts is the title of an article in the August Air & Space Smithsonian magazine. Here is a verbatim part:

"The thing is, helicopters are different from airplanes. An airplane by its nature wants to fly and, if not interfered with too strongly by unusual events or by a deliberately incompetent pilot, it will fly.

A helicopter does not want to fly. It is maintained in the air by a variety of forces and controls working in opposition to each other, and if there is any disturbance in the delicate balance, the helicopter stops flying, immediately and disastrously. There is no such thing as a gliding helicopter.

This is why a helicopter pilot is so different from an airplane pilot, and why in general, airplane pilots are open, clear-eyed, buoyant extroverts, and helicopter pilots are brooders, introspective anticipators of trouble.

They know if anything bad has not happened, it is about to."

Ah-Di-Na

Many of you have visited this campground on the McCloud River below the reservoir and we took our daughter Ami there today after many long years. The road takes off from McCloud Reservoir and is not bad as dirt roads go up to the top where it begins the drop to the river and the campground area. Then it gets more rocky and you begin to wish you'd brought the truck.

We took a Hyundai Santa Fe and I was worried about the tires because the rocks were angular and sharp, not like river rock. And there were places where the roadbed was all bedrock, with pointy rock jutting up that was black...the rubber from passing tires. I am told bias-ply tires are better for this kind of road due to their superior sidewall strength. But I had radials. What else to do but move forward?

Only one place was touchy clearance-wise; a culvert had washed bare and we had to creep over it. If you keep your speed down and imagine what rock vs oil pan looks like, you'll be fine.

Ah-Di-Na is not, surprisingly, an Indian name. The Forest Service handout says at least three Indian tribes claim that it is in their traditional territory but none of them named it that. Yet it apparently still was an ancient settlement which was bought from the railroad by a wealthy San Francisco family named Wittier in 1896 for a fishing retreat.

In 1916 it was sold to another rich family by the name of Fitzhugh and finally in 1936 to the Hearst family which also owned the fabulous Wyntoon estate upriver. It was during these Depression years when it was built up the most . .. a telephone system, a good supply road from Wyntoon for the mules, marble baths, you name it.

Then all the buildings were burned in 1958 because of infrequent use and vandalism.

So today all that's left are some foundations, a reconstructed cabin, a chimney, a probable root cellar, several stone pits (water reservoirs? fishing pools? stock ponds?), and an orchard. All these are on a very short and poorly marked 1/4 mile trail which was littered with bear scat.

As the old timers say, where there is bear puckey you can figure there are bear, and in case we had not taken enough notice of the one that had crossed the road earlier in front of the car, sure enough Sally sees something thrashing in the bushes maybe 20 feet from the trail.

I heard the distinctive whoof-whoof sound they make when they warn you and we all beat a graceful (I can say that, now) rearward stroll to the campground. Where, by the way the first camper we ran in to seemed rather calm about it all, given that the bear was no more than 300 feet away from his campsite at that very moment. Bully for you I thought, but no way am I camping here.

So we drove on down the mile or so to the Nature Conservancy's McCloud River Preserve where you have to park and walk maybe half a mile on a semi-improved trail. It's definitely walking stick country here and no restrooms. Fishing is by special permit, artificial lures and flies only, and of course, catch and release. A staff person lives on site where solar panels and propane are the only source of energy. The latter is apparently carried in on the backs of volunteers since there is no way a mule could navigate the trail (in my opinion anyway, but maybe they float the 10 gallong tanks down the river in a raft).

Pristine, quiet, and very peaceful. No wonder the rich and famous came here. There apparently were several private fishing reserves along this stretch in the first half of the 1900's and much of the land is still private so if you visit please respect not only the nature that provides it but the owners as well.

There is an election in progress and residents by now have received their ballots and voting instructions which, by the way are a little tricky. For example if you sign your name on the smaller, inner envelope your vote will not be counted. But you MUST sign the outer, larger envelope for your vote to be counted.

The annual LSPOA meeting on August 8 is the deadline for voting and mailed ballots must be received by the 6th. To help acquaint members with the candidates' positions on the various issues all five will speak and answer questions this coming Monday night the 13th at the Community Center at 6:30.

I decided to ask each one if they would talk with me before then since I can't hear hardly at all in a crowded room and they all were very gracious sit down with me. It is not my purpose here to endorse a candidate nor to discuss their individual positions on things. Instead I wanted to learn their position on the issues and perhaps share a few general feelings that I have been picking up from our clients in real estate and property management.

One theme that most of these candidates perceived was a lack of interest from the membership ____ low meeting attendance, low vote counts, low turnout at sponsored events. More understandable for absentee owners of course but this connected with a concern I have been hearing from clients _____ a generalized sense that communication, true two-way communication, may need a fresh look by our new administration.

I recall one client saying it was top-down, meaning that she felt instructions seemed to be issued by LSPOA without encouraging response and input other than attending meetings. In other words we lack a format for feedback that is convenient for members who are busy with careers or family. In an age of social networking it might be time for government on all levels to follow the Obama internet model with email, blogs, and other electronic means of listening to the membership.

Two candidates volunteered that LSPOA could be made more approachable and open to our members as part of this effort. Good customer service is one important ingredient and most of the candidates agreed that our association should focus and train more on good customer service. A simple example is that it would be much nicer to dial the office and get a real person. Within three rings. One candidate said that if he wanted an automated operator he could dial any number of big corporations and get that treatment. But this is Lake Shastina. Population 2,400. Do we really need an automated operator in this setting?

Which tied in with a concern I wanted to share with each candidate. I am noticing a change in the tone of the community and most agreed. Each of them expressed that there are more young, working people than before, perhaps even the majority is not the retired population it once was.

Yet, with some working two or even more jobs to make ends meet in this depression we're in few if any have the time to be active in our association. At least in the traditional sense of going to meetings. From our business contacts Sally and I both sense a little unease with the relationship resident members feel with the association. Rather than general contentment there is a feeling some of them are off the radar.

I was also probing for listening skills because the tone of announcements and newspaper articles seems rather strident lately. If instead our association leadership used more of the carrot-and-stick approach, let's sit down for coffee, type of administration I suspect those members who now feel cautious might begin to approach the leadership and speak out more.

There also was much talk about rules and procedures. The majority of these candidates expressed concern in one way or another about the importance of abiding by established protocol. One man explained his conviction that without this awareness by directors their already limited time would be squandered on hopeless tasks.

"We are experiencing an unusually . . . "

I was trying to reach a local office of a fuel business the other (week)day but kept getting routed to some national emergency hotline which, unless you pressed "1" for a fuel leak or explosion, said "We are experiencing a heavier than normal volume of calls . . . " but went on to say "We pride ourselves in providing the highest standard of customer service in the industry and your call is VERY important to us" (pause) "Your estimated waiting time is ten minutes".

I'm glad I wasn't reporting an explosion or fire.