Hot tub cover

September 17, 2023Newshot tubbkrijger

Much to my disappointment I found the Hot Tub in a bad state again; the air mattress inside the cover was again removed and this time intentionally stored under the hot tub deck.

The result is that with any rain, a pool forms at the center, and as the cover then touches the hot tub water, insulation is reduced to a thin sheet of vinyl.

So I engineered the following solution;

This frame is made from pvc charlotte pipe, connected with T and one Plus connnector, forming a dome tent frame.

Obviously that won’t do anything when on top of the cover, but the next picture shows what it looks like now.

Now, when there’s rain, the water will drop off to the edge, where it cannot touch the water inside the hot tub as the cover is a few inches above the water level. Besides lowering my electric bill, it should also keep the white Coleman logo cleaner, as water immediately drips off to the sides. That makes the hot tub a little more inviting than a muddy brown cover pool.

Glueing this frame together wasn’t easy; the charlotte pipe is much more rigid than European PVC pipe, as the walls are 3 times thicker. But using my stove I heated up the pipes to bend them into a curve.

As the great Hannibal used to say ; I love it when a plan comes together.

Prepping for coolness

September 16, 2023Newsairconditioningbkrijger

The new dual zone air conditioner that was supposed to be delivered Friday was delayed until Monday (don’t ask).

But I still needed to get some materials anyway, like a dual circuit breaker ( the old one was a 110V ) and new cable to run from the circuit breaker to the disconnect.

I also bought and mounted a bracket for the condenser. The lines for the master bedroom indoor unit will go under the house. The unit for the upstairs bedroom will be a ceiling unit, and the lines for that one will run from the upstairs bedroom, past the upstairs bathroom, down into the technical room. And there it will go through the floor, close to the grey disconnect box.

Hot tub deck fun

September 15, 2023NewsDeck, hot tubbkrijger

I don’t know what it is exactly, but the hot tub deck seems to be the place to make out. These two were so pre-occupied with each other that I could approach them up to a few inches.

Tools for the trade

September 14, 2023Newsairconditioningbkrijger

I just arrived at Ozuye (after a comfortable premium comfort flight thanks to my brother Arne) for some HVAC repair and installation. As with any job, having the right tools is essential, so on arrival I had the following tools delivered by Amazon;

On the left is a torque wrench. That allows nuts to be tightened with the right amount of force. In the blue case is a manifold gauge set, which allows me to measure the pressure on the HVAC lines.

Top right is a leak detector device, that can be used to look for leaks in the HVAC lines; it beeps when the nozzle is close to a leak.

Bottom right is an infrared temperature gun, so the temperature of the indoor units can be measured. It will also be useful to trace hot and cold spots in the home, as any surface can be measured from a distance.

The AC in the great room still works ok; I managed to get the temperature down to 75 from 85 within about an hour. But I suspect there could be a leak in that unit too, just less bad than in the master bedroom.

Tomorrow (Friday) the new dual zone AC unit will be delivered, which I will use to replace the one in the master bedroom and a ceiling unit will be installed in the upstairs bedroom.

Gutter in action

May 8, 2023NewsDeck, roofbkrijger

Aesthetically not ideal, but functionality sufficient;

After I extended the rain gutter by a few inches, rain is now transported just off the edge of the deck.

One day I will install a downspout that ends up in a wooden barrel. Until that day, this will suffice.

Finally a little bit of rain; thunderstorms have been forecasted for days, but today the rain added up to a whopping 0.25 inch.

On my way back from my visit to HCPL I took the backroad that follows the river. It wasn’t as low as I thought although the river pass was completely dry.

In the gutter

May 5, 2023Newsroofbkrijger

Don’t worry, I did not end up in the gutter. But I did install a rain gutter today;

In case you have a hard time seeing the gutter; that’s because it’s brown. Mounted on the fascia boards. Rather flimsy aluminum, but at least aluminum so it won’t rust or crack.

It will prolong the life of my deck boards, as the rain and condensed water will now be funneled off to the side.

Instead of an ugly down drain, I simply opened up the right end cap so that water can poor out that side. It should hit just off to the right of the deck. There should be little leaves and other debris in the gutter as there are no trees taller than my home nearby.

And yes, the gutter is mounted slightly non level, allowing water to run off to the right side.

Maybe there will be a thunderstorm, in which case I can check if it works as intended.

Not one night stand, but two

May 3, 2023Newsupstairsbkrijger

I’m not a fan of one night stands, so I made two. From the very last leftovers of the cedar wood I had. I had to improvise a little, but I think this looks nice.

Here’s a closer look at one night stand;

As this bedroom has no air conditioning of its own, I added a tower fan that is quiet and has a remote.

Closet Storage Space

May 1, 2023Newsupstairsbkrijger

Today I picked up some free storage space for upstairs; The Armoir fits pretty well here;

The upstairs bedroom had 0 storage room also, so this one fills up the corner nicely;

Next I will need some storage space for the HCPL amenities such as towels, paper towels, shampoo etc. But that’s for local stock to easily re-supply the bathrooms and kitchen, so I might add some shelve space in the technical room.