blog

Sorted, kind of..

Posted: 04-08-10

Fixing things. Quake sensors. Networking. Boiling Solar.

Ever since moving-in we've had a handful of issues to deal with that anyone else might've expected to have had sorted by the builder or their contractors. But partly because we did things differently and partly because I enjoy learning about technical things of just about any kind (and the only way I learn myself is through doing things with my own hands) some things have only recently gotten resolved.

Our water filter had been leaking since day one and the plumber could do nothing other than over-tighten a steel clasp in trying - unsuccessfully - to fix it.

So I had a go and sorted it in 30 minutes. We had presumed that some o-rings needed replacing because that's what the supplier had told us. I took one look at them, saw that they were OK and re-assembled it properly. The end had been put on wonkey and twisted allowing water to collect at the bottom and periodically dump all over the floor. I re-assembled it tightly and correctly this time and a week later everything is still as dry as a bone.

The digital timer that controls the towel rails has died but other than that they are finally going. The Rayburn has to have been going for some time to heat the cylinder enough to get the rails going, but when they do go they can go all night without stripping the cylinder of heat - that's what the timer is for to prevent this from happening.

It's taken a heck of a lot of to-ing and fro-ing between a disgruntled sparky, an over-worked system-designer and some slightly annoyed clients but the heating system is going really well now, we're very happy with it. Instead of "taking the edge off" as you hear so many Kiwis say about their heat-pumps or log-burners, it properly heats the house - like - the whole house - not just say, the lounge.

Two of the 3 earthquake sensors have now been installed at the specific locations in the attic, and once the wifi comms link between Te Horo, Kapiti Island and Paekakariki have been completed, they'll be streaming data whenever there's a seismic event around and beneath us. Unfortunately you'll not be able to see the data directly, the sensors form part of a national network of sensors that provide GNS seismologists with valuable data from which to construct models and form theories.

I'm almost done wiring-up the COAX and RJ45 wall-jacks that I decided to put in every room apart from the bogs. I have to remind myself why I put the lot in. Don't get me wrong, there are no regrets here, it's just proved quite expensive (within the budget I set myself but still) and untidy while there are wires hanging loose from almost every wall. But like I said before, I like to get my hands dirty and learn. There are 24 data jacks and 3 BT phone jacks all run through a set of 6 punchdown blocks, a 24 port patch panel and 24 port managed switch. But all this is for nowt if Chorus don't test our phoneline properly this time to ensure it works.

I wired-up the home network to the outside world and commissioned a DSL+phoneline from Orcon but upon lifting the receiver of a phone found the line to be badly crackly with a loud background hum. I disconnected the network and crimped on the BT jack to the outside lines directly to isolate the problem. It turns out there were several issues with the telecom cable itself - some diggers had been playing knives with it - but after several hours, the Chorus technician had fixed it all and now that we have a nice ADSL2 modem, we have internet at last too!

Every so often I'll be working outside (This weekend it was building myself a workbench to go in the new shed) and I'll hear this almighty banging noise coming from the attic of the house. Looking up at the roof I can see steam billowing from the pressure relief valve on the North East collector. Further investigation found that the solar controller was disabling the pumps when the collectors got to high temperatures (140 degrees man!) so I turned off "system protection" mode and the pumps kicked in immediately and gradually soaked up the heat into the cylinder. This is only a part solution as the same happened again a few hours later - there are clearly more settings to play with..

On a different note does anyone have any idea how to stop your cats bringing in three mice each night? Mini kidneys and spring-coiled intestines do wonders for putting one off one's breakfast...