Saturday, February 13th, 2010
Hey, guess what we did Tuesday night. No, we didn’t sit in the basement and watch Lost. The rest of the world was watching Lost, but we weren’t. Good thing we saw it on the internet Wednesday evening because I would have been upset if I really missed it.
Instead of watching Lost, we went over to Eastern Connecticut State University (EastConn? – do they call it that?) to see Danny Glover and Felix Justice give a performance called “An Evening with Martin & Langston.” I will admit that it was very good.
Here is a pretty decent description I found at GTN:
“An Evening with Martin & Langston” draws audiences inside the worlds of two of the greatest orators of the 20th century: Martin Luther King, Jr., and Langston Hughes. The evening begins with Justice`s critically acclaimed portrayal of Dr. King; through the words of his most memorable speeches, Justice transforms into the legendary civil-rights leader, recreating the power of the man and his message. Justice then introduces “an old friend of mine I think you may have heard of,” and Glover enters the stage to bring to life the words and poetry of Langston Hughes. Accompanied by readings of his work, Glover portrays one of the great American writers in modern history.
Following their respective performances, Justice joins Glover on stage for a question-and-answer session to complete an evening that is memorable, heart-felt and not to be missed. To quote The Los Angeles Times: “The entire program turned out to be all about dreams…”
-
-
Danny Glover and Felix Justice At Eastern Connecticut University – #1
-
-
Danny Glover and Felix Justice At Eastern Connecticut University – #2
I am going to be very honest here. While the performance was very moving, I didn’t hear it all that well. We kind of sat towards the back and I am hard of hearing at times. My better half apparently heard everything just fine. I am sure she could recite much of it word for word.
I did feel a little guilty just smiling and nodding my head when we discussed the performance later on that evening. It’s not easy to put on that type of charade for as long as I did. I was kind of like, “Yeah, I think so too.” and “Absolutely, that part was great.” Then I would quickly change the subject to something more along the lines of Jiu Jitsu. That usually does the trick.
I hope she doesn’t read this. I am in for a beatdown if she does.
Related posts
Saturday, January 2nd, 2010
I hope everyone had a nice New Year’s Eve. We did. A funny one, but it was nice.
I kept telling people all day that I can stay up past midnight every other night of my life, but when it matters, I would surely fall asleep. Yup, I was woken up six seconds before midnight by a, “Bob, wake up, we almost missed it.” Bob is my nickname. Bet you didn’t know that.
At least I wasn’t alone in dozing off. Seinfeld put us both out.
So what was on our New Year’s eve agenda? It was simple and fun. The plan was to go out and grab some Chinese food, sit down in the toasty warm basement near the pellet stove and watch some episodes of Lost. When it got close to midnight, we would flip on something “New Yearsy” and watch that. We did that, but during the day, I got this crazy urge for Tiramisu from Whole Foods. Last week, I had the best Tiramisu ever and had to have more. It took me about 15 seconds of contemplation before I bolted out the door on my way to the store. Of course when I got there, they were out of Tiramisu. I got some weird milk cake and banana cream pie instead. I will write about the banana cream pie later.
The really exciting event of the evening was the pink champagne that we purchased a few days ago. There is a certain someone who has always wanted to try this type of champagne. I’m not sure why, but hey, if she wants to try pink champagne, who am I to argue? It’s not like she wanted to ride a pink billy goat down the street.
Since I had never seen pink champagne before, I didn’t know if it was going to be hard to find. I guess it’s more popular than I thought because the liquor store across the street from Whole Foods in Glastonbury had a few different brands of it. They varied in price from $14.99 to $18.99. I think the one we got was $16.99 and is called Vilarnau. The only reason we got the one we did was because we were fairly certain that what was inside the bottle was actually pink. We didn’t know if the other brands just had pink bottles.
Let me tell you, pink champagne tastes just like regular champagne. Two half glasses and we were done. The rest we will use for Mimosas. I have actually only had good tasting champagne once in my life and it was Asti Spumante. I liked that because it was sweet. I don’t get along well with dry drinks.
Happy New Year everyone. I hope you all made good New Year’s resolutions!!!
-
-
Champagne bottle cork
-
-
Vilarnau pink champagne – sparkling wine
-
-
Pink sparkling wine in air bubble glass
Related posts
Monday, December 7th, 2009
Well, I did it. I sprung for the MoistAir 14 Gallon Humidifier. It works pretty nicely.
A few weeks ago, there was a snap in the air. I thought, “Oh no. Here we go again.” I had to light up the pellet stove and with that comes dry air. I woke up a few mornings with a dry head.
I had known that I was going to get this humidifier since last year. I wasn’t looking forward to spending over $100 on it though. As you might remember, I purchased another one last year and it couldn’t cut it. I thought the evaporative route might be better traveled.
-
-
MoistAir 14 gallon humidifier
-
-
MoistAir evaporative 2,900 square foot humidifier
This humidifier is supposed to cover 2,900 square feet and evaporate 14 gallons a day. Having run this little machine for a few weeks now, I would agree with the manufacturer’s claim. It certainly pulls the water out of the tanks and puts it into the air. We have the unit set up in the basement and we constantly hear the gurgling of water. The only modification we had to make was the slip a few tiles underneath the front of the unit. For some reason, the water wasn’t coming out of one of the tanks. Since I put the tile under there, it has been working great.
By the way, there are three fan speeds and three humidity level settings. I forget what we have the humidity settings on, but when I see moisture on the windows, I turn it down.
One question: Just wondering why the people who made this humidifier thought it was necessary for it resemble a 1978 station wagon. Fake wood grain went out a few years ago.
Related posts
Sunday, November 22nd, 2009
I am going to tell you a short story. Okay? Okay.
The other day, my lady decided that it would be a good idea to clean out a closet that she had claimed a long time ago. She made it hers way back when we first moved into this place. It happens to be the largest closet upstairs. I was getting on her case about how she stole the closet before I even had a chance to say anything about it. She shut me up by reminding me of all the closet space in the basement that I am currently using for…you know…my garbage cans and wood pellets.
Anyway, as she was cleaning out the closet, she came across a sweatshirt that happened to be sized XL. That’s my size. She asked me if I wanted it and I said, “Not a chance. Look at that thing.” Then, I touched it and noticed that the material was actually pretty thick, like one of those heavyweight Champion sweatshirts. After that, I said, “Okay, you can put it over there.” Since that day (just a few days ago), I have worn the sweatshirt all over the place. I have worn it to Jiu Jitsu practice, worn it walking and I have worn it to bed.
The first time I put it on, I was alone. I looked in the mirror and put my face into my hand. It looked so nerdy. I didn’t care. I walked out of the room to find the nice girl who gave me the shirt. When I found her, she gave me a little smile. She knew what I was thinking. I looked her straight in the eyes and said, “You know, there are only a few times left where I can come up to you and say that what I am wearing looks really geeky and get away with still wearing it. After that, I become that guy.” I continued, “Also, there are only a few times left where I can say, Hey, at least I am aware of it.” I think we all know who “that guy” is. It’s the dude in the restaurant who decides to go to the bathroom, is gone for a while and then comes back to the table with his pants looking all tight pulled halfway up his chest. You know, that guy.
During our walk today, I said that I was going to write about this. I started talking about how people change as they get older. I think what’s most interesting is how fashion becomes less important and utility and feel become more important. We wear what works well and if it doesn’t…well, that’s just plain stupid. I’m not sure if it’s depressing or funny.
Is this normal? Am I the only person who is making different decisions…decisions that are funnier looking…decisions that are kind of embarrassing but feel so good (slippers)?
I will admit that I am very aware of what’s happening. It’s been going on for a few years now. I guess that’s the way it works. All these little steps creep up on you until one day you look in the mirror and say, “Oh jeez, what the hell happened?”
-
-
Nerdy sweatshirt
-
-
Slippers from Wal-mart
Related posts
Friday, September 11th, 2009
I was sitting on the front steps a few days ago when I looked to my left. I noticed a strange white powdery substance on the branches and stems of the Lilac bush right in front of the house. I stood up and walked towards it. As I got closer, I noticed a whitish coating on all of the leaves. I knew something was wrong. I have seen the white stuff on the leaves before, but I just thought that was the way things were supposed to be. The white stuff on the woody parts of the plant gave me concern.
I went inside and started doing some searches on the internet for “white coating on lilac leaves” and so on. I got the results I was looking for rather quickly. Apparently, “Powdery Mildew” is very popular. It infects a variety of plants and trees, with the Lilac being one of them.
There are any number of remedies to deal with Powdery Mildew, but they all boil down to doing one thing…spraying the infected plant with a fungicide. Where was I going to get a fungicide? Oh no, not another trip to Home Depot.
As I sat there in deep thought, I remembered a few years back when our old neighbor, Tim, was cleaning out his garage. He cleverly made a pile of small bottles next to our basement door. He said that I could either keep the stuff or just get rid of them. Gee, thanks Tim. Well, as it turns out, I kept them and I’m glad I did. I recently discovered that a few of the bottles contained a fungicide that can be used to deal with Powdery Mildew, Black Spot, Rust, etc… It’s called “Garden Safe Fungicide 3″ and uses an oil extract from the Neem tree, a native of India. The active ingredient in this fungicide is called clarified hydrophobic extract of neem oil, to be exact. It’s non-toxic and safe for the environment.
-
-
Powdery Mildew on Lilac leaves
-
-
Powdery Mildew on Lilac stems and branches
-
-
Rust spots on shrub leaf
-
-
Garden Safe Fungicide 3
-
-
Clarified hydrophobic extract of neem oil
I decided to give the shrub a nice spraying of this fungicide. I poured some of it into my handy dandy sprayer and hooked it up to the hose. I did my thing and sprayed the Lilac bush. I decided to leave it at that, just in case everything died because of it. The directions say to do this every seven days to eradicate the Powdery Mildew from the plant. A few days have gone by and I’m not noticing all that much of a difference. The good news is that nothing was killed because of the spray. I can now reapply and also tackle another shrub out in the front yard with what looks like rust spots on the leaves.
I’ll let you know how things turn out in a few weeks.
Related posts
Monday, September 7th, 2009
I have always wanted an under sink water filter. I’m not sure why, especially since we have a whole house filter. I guess it’s because the whole house filter is all the way down in the basement and I keep thinking the water gets all screwed up traveling through the pipes. I like the idea of having a filter close to the tap.
I decided that I had the capabilities to install an under sink water filter myself. I mean, I do have the brains and the patience. It’s not really a hard job, just one that you have to psych yourself into doing because you have to clean out under the sink. You know…all those bottles of who knows what and cans of what the heck it this. Throw in a few old sponges and there you have it – the area below a kitchen sink.
There was one little issue that was in the way of me installing a water filter. The faucet we had installed on the kitchen sink was a bit out dated. It was one of those “one handle” ones that sits right in the middle. Some people prefer that style, but I always liked the two handle ones. In this case, the two handles are preferred because the water filter only runs on the cold line. I like knowing that when I turn on the cold water, only the cold water is running. So, I basically needed a water filter and a new kitchen faucet. Not a problem, I’m really cheap when it comes to kitchen faucets and the filter setup was only $34. It even came with the insert.
Off to Lowe’s I went. When I got there, I strolled down the filter aisle and picked out a “Whirlpool Drop in Filtration System – WHKF-DUF.” This is the $34 jobber I just told you about. I knew what to expect because I already picked it out online. I put the filter in the cart and went over to the next aisle that had all the faucets. There they were, all lined up on the wall. I knew I wanted the chrome Peerless for around $44, but I was forced to get the $68 model because we have a four hole sink. That means that we have that extra little sprayer. You know, the one that you can wrap a rubber band around and sit back in its holder. When someone comes by to turn on the sink, they get sprayed. Yeah, that one.
I picked up the model I needed and put it in my cart. Or what I thought was my cart.
Here’s a funny little story. When I rolled my cart into the faucet aisle, I saw a nice family standing there trying to pick out a kitchen faucet. I noticed that they were kind of just randomly picking things out and didn’t know why. There are differentiating factors in faucets such as the one handle or two that I spoke of above. Also, there is the height of the faucet end. Our old faucet was low, so when I tried to get a large pot filled with water, I had to angle it such a way. Anyway, I broke the ice by saying, “Boy, I feel like I’m part of the family.” They laughed and I laughed. The father just looked at me. There were three of them…the mother, the father and the daughter. Okay, on with the story. I told them about the height issue and why and they were just amazed. As far as I was concerned, they thought I was the cat’s meow. I left the aisle to go out to the garden center.
When I got out to the garden center, I picked out two trees and put them into the cart. I stood back and looked at the faucet. Then, I wondered where the filter was. For the first time in my life, I grabbed the wrong cart. I think it was the faucet aisle family’s cart that I had taken. I left the cart outside in the garden area (because I already had the trees in it) and walked back into the faucet aisle. There it was, my cart with the filter in it. I felt bad for the poor family that had to walk away with no cart, carrying the faucet in their hands. They probably thought I was just fluffing them up earlier so I could steal their cart.
Okay, story time is over. Here are some pictures of the kitchen faucet and under sink water filter installation.
-
-
Under kitchen sink looking up at botton of old faucet
-
-
Under kitchen sink looking at hot and cold plumbing pipes
-
-
Top of sink with old faucet removed
-
-
Under sink with old faucet removed
-
-
New Peerless kitchen faucet installed
-
-
Whirlpool under sink water filter installed
-
-
Peerless kitchen faucet box
-
-
Peerless kitchen faucet model P99587-D
-
-
Whirlpool under sink water model WHKF-DUF
Everything works great and the installation took me about an hour and a half.
I have always wondered why there is such a big price difference between faucets, and doorknobs for that matter. Either I have never used a really high quality faucet or doorknob or I am just missing something. Every time I go shopping for either, I always get the cheapest available and find that they work just great. Maybe I am missing something. Perhaps someone can enlighten me.
Related posts
Sunday, February 15th, 2009
Valentine’s day was here. I wanted to wash the car and have it nice and clean, so my lady and I could drive down to Foxwoods in style. It was pretty dirty and needed a good wash.
On my way back from tennis yesterday morning, I dreaded the idea of going downstairs, turning the water valve to “on” and then going back outside to hook up the hose on the water spigot at the front of the house. I think the part I hate the most is hooking up the hose outside and then having to unhook it to put it back in the garage. The reason I would have to go downstairs to turn the valve on is because of freezing in the winter. No valve downstairs, frozen and broken water spigot upstairs come spring.
I had a great idea. Why not install a water spigot inside the garage? This way, I can keep a hose hooked up all the time and not have to worry about the spigot freezing over the winter. I could use the spigots that are outside for watering and things like that over the summer, but for washing the car and things like that, I could use the inside one. I thought it would be very handy.
Since the area I wanted the spigot located in the garage was right on the other side of the washing machine hookups down in the basement, I figured it would be a pretty easy job. Somehow, I would just tap into the cold water feed for the washing machine. I really look forward to these types of projects because I have to get imaginative. I enjoy standing in the pluming aisle at Home Depot trying to figure things out. I really do.
Before I left for the Depot to get all the parts, I decided to drill a hole through the 2×10 that the floor was resting on. This 2×10 is up in the ceiling of the laundry room and down towards knee level in the garage. I would drill a 7/8 inch hole to see what I would find.
I drilled the hole from the basement and saw daylight. Lucky me. I went upstairs to the garage and saw a hole right where I wanted the spigot to be. Really lucky me. I started getting my thoughts together and made a little list. Then, I hopped in the car and drove over to Home Depot.
I am not going to give you the list of parts I bought here because I forget what they are. Hopefully you can see them in the pictures I will show you. As I post the pics, I will probably remember what they were. Take a look at the finished product.
-
-
Water hose splitter and on-off switch on cold water laundry feed
-
-
125 psi hose going through 2×10 from laundry room to the garage upstairs
-
-
Water spigot mounted to 2×4s in garage
Let me do a little explaining. I know the proper way to do this is with copper piping. I may change that some day. For this application, I used hose. Since I am aware that this is not a permanent thing, I put an on/off valve down near the splitter in the laundry room. I saw the hose in the store and couldn’t pass it up. When I am not using the spigot, I can just go downstairs to turn the valve off.
Also, the reason the spigot is mounted to 2×4s is because I wanted it really solid on the wall. I am probably going to tug on the hose as I pull it outside and I didn’t feel like having the spigot tear off the wall. It’s not the prettiest thing, but you should try to give it a wiggle. Nope. I know there is a 2×10 on the other side of the sheetrock, but the hole I drilled was a bit too big and the mounting screws weren’t sitting right.
After everything was all set up, I hooked up a nice brand new no-kink garden hose I bought last autumn to the spigot in the garage. I went downstairs to turn on the easily accessible on/off valve and then came back upstairs to drag the hose out into the driveway. I turned the spigot on and…well, that’s for the next post.
Related posts
Wednesday, January 28th, 2009
Throughout this winter, I have been putting together a short mental list of things I am going to tackle once the good weather arrives. I thought I might share that list with you, partly to entertain you and partly to remind me what in the world I had on my mental list once I have the urge to do some of these things.
EXTERIOR:
1. Order tons of pine trees from ArborDay.org and plant them all over the place.
2. Get the lawn in order.
3. Begin work on Laura’s garden. Need fencing and shrubs.
4. Clean out under porch. Take nails out of 2×4s and stack somewhere else so they are hidden. Throw out vinyl lattice (unless of course you want it).
5. Order more pellets to restock basement for next year.
6. Repair driveway again from this winter’s damage.
7. Admire mailbox.
8. Order 30 yards of mulch.
9. Mulch front garden and top off last year’s mulch.
10. Enlarge garden in front to include those 3 large rocks. Mulch that too.
INTERIOR:
1. Finish painting upstairs bedroom.
2. Remove carpet and tile from downstairs (main floor) and install tile over the whole area.
3. Paint downstairs (main floor).
4. Continue wondering how difficult it would be to replace suspended ceiling in basement with sheetrock.
5. Continue fantasizing about turning the laundry room into a giant bathroom with a giant bathtub and a giant shower.
6. Finish painting upstairs.
Wow, that’s quite a list. Am I going to get all these things done this spring? Heck no. I think I might be able to get those pine trees though. I am getting tired just looking at that list.
Related posts
Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008
I can officially call it winter now that it’s the 22nd. It feels like just a few weeks ago that I had sweat dripping off my face from working outside. Now, sweat is just a distant memory.
When I woke up this morning, I noticed a blue sky peeking through the little half circle window above the closed shades in the bedroom. I was pretty happy because every time it’s sunny during these “dark” months, you pretty much have to take advantage of it. Being trapped inside a house during a very snowy weekend can get on your nerves. Not that it isn’t beautiful outside, it’s just that seeing the same walls over and over again can take its toll.
I decided that today would be a great day to take Holly down into the woods to go for a walk. Since Holly is a Nordic dog, I figured that she would jump at the chance to bounce around in the deep snow. The plan was to hike down the hill behind the house, cross the walking trail, climb over the rock wall and continue down to the river. Maybe Holly could get a quick drink while we were there and then we would figure out a way to get back up that steep, snowy hill. That was the plan.
I went downstairs to get Holly, who was asleep on the warm basement floor. I said, “C’mon Holly…c’mon,” while slapping my hand against my leg. She kind of just lifted her head to look at me. Then, I started jumping around so she would get the message. Holly isn’t the best listener, so it takes a bit of theatrics to get her to do anything. Finally, she got up and followed me up the basement stairs and out the garage door, where I clipped her to her leash. I think she was starting to wake up, because she had a little pep in her step once we hit the driveway pavement.
To get Holly warmed up for the snow hike, I walked her up the driveway to the mailbox and back down to the edge of the woods. Once we were all set to enter the woods, I gave her a tug and jumped in myself. She followed me, but once her paws hit the snow and her body sank about a foot into it, she looked a bit discouraged. She glanced up at me with those, “No way, man” eyes. I wasn’t having that, so I started to tug on her leash a little more. We got about 50 feet into the woods and she stopped. She just stopped. Her head kept on leading back to the driveway. I stood there in utter disappointment. What had this dog turned into? Oh well, today is her birthday and she did just turn 14. I’ll give her a break.
We started heading back up the driveway and she began hopping in the snow. “Oh, so there’s all that energy,” I said. She was saving it to make sure she would make it back to that warm basement floor. She might need it to fall asleep again. Oh well. I brought her back inside and headed down into the woods myself.
Good thing I had my big boots and snow pants on. If I tried to hike around in anything else, I would have been totally covered in snow. We must have over a foot, because the white stuff was well past my shins and right below my kneecaps. It’s not fun when it hits the skin and starts to melt. Winter is all about dressing the right way. I figured that out a long time ago. Believe it or not, the second time I went skiing, I attempted to go down Mt. Snow in jeans. What an idiot. I’ll chalk that up to being an inexperienced youth.
I had my camera in my pocket and was ready to take some really beautiful shots of the New England woods after a snowstorm. I made it a bit down the hill to the treehouse. I figured I would take a few pictures of it to show you. I mentioned to Laura this morning that we should make a point of fixing it up this summer, just in case we ever wanted to sit up there and watch the woods. It’s situated in a nice little cluster of Hemlocks.
Treehouse in Hemlock trees
Treehouse in Hemlock trees
The treehouse is built very well and quite sturdy, so I don’t think we’ll have any problems maintaining it. Laura already climbed up there over the summer to peek out the window. I got about half way up and turned around. I few years ago, I would have been jumping up and down on top of the roof. What the heck happened to me?
I continued down the hill, across the hiking trail, all the way to the river. It’s really not that far, but when you are lifting your knees to your chest, trying to walk, it seems a lot further than it really is.
I made it to the river and took a few photos. This one was the best.
River leading into wetlands
The water wasn’t as active as it was a few days ago, after that huge rainfall we had. It was pretty calm today, but I’m sure we’ll see a change after the rain and warm weather that’s predicted for the next few days.
From there, I stopped to smell the figurative roses. It’s not every day I am able to stand, once again, in silence. It was really nice. There were no footprints anywhere, so I knew I was alone. I took a look around to see what I could take pictures of. It was kind of challenging, because there wasn’t a lot of substance. It’s hard to explain, but in the summer months, there are leaves, trees, flowers, animals, etc…to take pictures of. During winter, there is snow and wood. I did find a few things though…
Branch with buds
Looking into the sun
Small branch with ice on it
Tree branches in winter
Dried leaf with snow on it
Small tree in winter woods
At that point, I figured that I had enough pictures. Trust me, there were many more than what I am showing you, but so many didn’t come out the way I wanted them to. With many of them, I was experimenting with the various settings on the camera.
When my fingers started getting cold, I turned around to head up the hill.
If you have never seen this hill, I’ll tell you that it’s somewhat difficult walking up when there is no snow on the ground. When there is snow, it’s all the more fun. I made it about half way back up when I stopped at the treehouse again. I saw a few low hanging Hemlock branches, so I pulled the camera back to see what I could do with them.
Close up Hemlock branches
That was fun because the Hemlock is my all-time favorite tree.
As I rounded the crest of the hill and got closer to civilization, I felt the cold air against my face. I was using a lot of energy, but not sweating in the least. I continued to walk and thought to myself how beautiful winter and snow can really be. I spend so much of my time complaining about how I can’t go outside and plant things, that I overlook much of what this time of year has to offer. Today was a great day to get outside and remind me of that.
The last picture I took was of one of the Rhodedenrums out in front. It looked to good against the blue sky, I just couldn’t help myself.
Rhodedenrum against blue sky in winter
Related posts
Monday, November 24th, 2008
As I mentioned earlier in the season, we had a St. Croix Prescott EXL pellet stove installed in the basement.
Before the Winter season really began, I had my doubts on whether or not the pellet stove would heat the entire house. I was worried that it’s location would hinder the airflow to all the rooms upstairs. Well, I am happy to inform you that the stove does heat the entire house. I mean, if we keep the master bedroom door shut, it does. The master bedroom is over the garage and the furthest room from the stove. It’s also the coldest room, which is why we keep the door shut. When the time hits 10:30PM, the new digital thermostat cranks the heat in that room up to 65 degrees. That’s good enough for me.
We have had some nights already where the temperature has been in the 20s. I think that’s Winter and enough to tell me that the heating situation is going to be okay. I did try burning a fire in the regular fireplace a few times while running the pellet stove. The fireplace actually made things worse. It sucked so much air out of the house, all the rooms dropped a few degrees. Fireplaces are remarkably inefficient and really shouldn’t be used, in my humble opinion. If you want to run something in your fireplace, run a free standing wood stove or a wood stove insert. Even burning a fireplace for aesthetics on a cold day will freeze out the rest of your house. Nuff said.
Okay, we are having a little issue with the pellet stove.
A few nights ago, I tried to start it up. The start up procedure really isn’t very difficult on the Prescott. It basically consists of pushing the “on” button. Once the “on” button is pushed, the room blower turns on for about 10 seconds and the auger turns until the burn pot is approximately half way full of pellets. As the auger is turning, the ignitor kicks on and the pellets light up. It’s fun to watch and I sit there almost every time I light the stove doing just that. I smile when I see that flame dancing around inside that pellet stove.
Back to a few nights ago…when I tried to light the stove this particular time, I pushed the button. The fan turned on for about 10 seconds and then the stove just shut off. I am not sure if the auger ever turned to drop pellets into the burn pot.
I tried to light the stove a few more times when I noticed the #2 light blinking on the control board. I thought this was a little strange, since I had never seen that light blink before. I pulled out the owner’s manual and looked up that error code. Apparently, a lack of negative pressure causes the stove not to light and the #2 light to blink.
What can cause a lack of negative pressure? Well, a really windy day can do it, an open pellet stove door, a fireplace burning upstairs perhaps, a clogged air feed pipe or a clogged exhaust vent pipe. I am sure there are others, but these are the ones I remember.
Since I had a fire already going upstairs in the fireplace, I chalked the whole thing up to that. I got the pellet stove going in this instance by pulling the rubber tube off the vacuum switch and lightly sucking on it. When I heard a little “click,” I pushed the on button again. From here, things were fine. I held the crimped hose for a few minutes and then I hooked it back up the proper way.
Well, I tried to light the stove again the next night. The same thing happened. Since we had no fire going in the fireplace, I thought perhaps there was a clogged area in the stove somewhere that is causing the lack of vacuum, or negative pressure.
Let’s make a really long and boring story a bit shorter and to the point.
I cleaned out the entire stove about 10 times and nothing has changed. Every night, I suck on that hose to get the stove up and running. I have been reading the owner’s manual as well as some websites that deal with this kind of situation, but nothing has helped. One website said that a clogged exhaust vent is the sure-fire problem. I got excited and took off the clean-out cap. A little pile of ashed dropped out, but nothing changed.
This afternoon, I called the pellet stove dealer. I told them that I had pretty much narrowed the problem down to a faulty pellet stove vacuum switch and that I would need the tech to come out and take a look. Before we swap out the switch, I want him to hook up a vacuum gauge to see if there is proper negative pressure. If there is, we can replace the switch…if not, we have to do a bit more digging.
I keep going downstairs to investigate this issue. It is in my blood that I try to diagnose this problem myself. The only things I don’t have are a vacuum gauge or a new vacuum switch. I guess I need those things to solve the problem.
If you have ever experienced something like this with your pellet stove, please let me know. I am racing against time here. I want to beat the repair guy and figure this out myself.
Related posts
