My central air conditioner broke !

Last week my central air conditioner just stopped working. You could hear the house fan come on, but nothing cool came out. I went outside and noticed that the 5 ton York air conditioning unit was making only a slight humming noise. Not good , considering my family quickly began to panic.
I quickly went to the phone and began calling authorized service contractors. After about an hour, it became apparent that it was going to cost me $175 plus parts plus labor. Frankly I didn't have that kind of money for a repair. I was also afraid they were going to come out, go through the motions, and then tell me I needed a new one. So, I thought long and hard and remembered that a friend of mine was in the business (HVAC). I gave him a call and this is what he told me to do.
First, turn off the house circuit breaker. Then go outside and pull out the outside circuit breaker located next to the unit on the house. This will insure that there is no power going to the unit. Next you want to see if there is any ice on the unit, this could be thermostat or condenser related. No ice on mine. Now we check to see if it is the fan motor. Take a long screwdriver and put it through the grate on top now try to turn the fan using the screwdriver. If it won't turn, then your fan motor is shot. Mine turned. Next we want to check the solenoid. To do this locate the service panel on the unit. It has labels and model #'s and easily comes off with a screwdriver or a small wrench. I removed the panel and immediately noticed what looked like a small grey soda can. It had a crack in it and was leaking grease. Success!!! I had found the problem at no cost.
Now how to fix it? Just unplug it , bring it to your nearby HVAC parts store and buy a replacement. It only cost $35 dollars! Now plug it in and reattach the service panel. Replace the outside circuit breaker. Flip the inside breaker back on. Now, hold your breath and turn on the A/C. IT WORKED. I saved hundreds of dollars and felt pretty good about myself. I was also lucky it wasn't one of the more expensive options. Hope this helps some of you.

Wax Paper for Spring Cleaning

You know when you really...and I mean really...clean your kitchen and you try to clean the tops of you cabinets. The grime up ther could rival a sandblaster!! Well someone gave me the best tip ever and I will pass it along to you. When your cabinet top if finally clean roll out a long sheet of wax paper and lay it down on top of the cabinet, curl side down. It lays flat and it is the exact width of the cabinet. No one can see it!! Then when you clean the next time, you just carefully take it off...it will be very grungy...and throw it away. Lay down new wax paper and your good to go! Could you find a better way to spend the mere 2.99$ that it costs for the wax paper!!!


Remember that for your spring cleaning

Easy Bathroom Lighting Remodels

My house is 10 years old...not very old. However, the builder installed inexpensive 3 bulb Broadway lighting fixtures in the bathrooms. They look like a really big make-up mirror. After a while, they began to look pretty outdated. So a couple of weeks ago, I went at my local do-it-yourself retailer in search of a possible inexpensive solution. I found beautiful Victorian fixture with glass shades, but it was so nice I didn't think I could afford it. I checked and it was on sale for just $25!! So I grabbed a couple, got home, and realized I had never installed a light fixture before.

Now I must figure out how to get the old fixture off and the new fixture on. I called a couple of electricians , but they were a bit pricey. There were directions in the box, but they were kind specific to the wiring. Finally I called my Dad, who is an electrical engineer. He said he could walk me through it on the phone. Here is what he told me.

1. First you must remove the old fixture. Get a flashlight and then turn off the power to the light , by flipping the circuit breaker for it. Next you have to locate the 2 or 3 screw caps on the fixture. They are small ,round and have a serrated outer pattern. They are also the same color as the light so that they will blend in. You simply unscrew these caps. You usually need some pliers to initially loosen them.


2. Next pull the light fixture away from the wall , so that the wiring is exposed. You will see 3 wires. A red one, a white one and a black or exposed ground wire. These are connected to your light with plastic wire caps and maybe some black electrical tape. Unscrew them and remove your old light fixture.Save the wire caps and dispose of the old light as you would like.


3. Now for the new light. You must attach the base plate to the wall. This should be in your directions. If everything lines up you can just use your old screws and put it right up. If not, put the plate up on the wall where you want it and color in the installation holes with pencil.


4. You need to install those grey screw holders that came with your new light. Simply drill a small hole into the pencil markings. I didn't have a drill that I could find so I just poked a small hole into the drywall with a very skinny screwdriver. Now push your grey screw holders into the holes so they are snug . Next take the wires coming out of the wall and run it through the larger hole in the plate and screw the plate to the wall.


5. Go get your new light fixture. Attach to red the red, white to white , and ground to ground by twisting the wires together. Then, screw a wire cap onto the exposed twisted wires. I also wrapped a little electrical tape around the wire caps and wire for good measure. You should also put some of the exposed ground wire under the top of one of the screws you put into the wall and re-tighten the screw.


6. Next attach your fixture to its base using the screw caps in the box that match your light. Tighten them up and put on the shades , if you have them. Now put the power back on, and flip the light switch. Voila! you have a new room.

That took about an hour and a half. Not too bad for my first time. It took me a couple of weeks, but I found some inexpensive replacements for my exterior porch lights. They had become pitted over the years. I replaced them with some nice black enamel weather proof porch lanterns. Because I could do it myself, I did not have to spend the money to bring in an electrician to install them. I wouldn't have been able to afford them otherwise. It is amazing what a new light fixture can do for your home. I hope this helps someone else.
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Organizing youth sports equipment

Do your kids play youth football ? I have one in high school and he has a locker at school for all of the equipment. I have another that plays Pop Warner football and his "locker" is my dining room floor and hallway. I got SO tired of looking at all the pads and uniforms and cleats every day that I found a good inexpensive solution to it all. I went to my local Homegoods store and I bought one of those collapsible canvas hampers. They are very sturdy but can fold up flat when you don't need them. Well let me tell you that for $14.99 this hamper perfectly fits all of the equipment he uses. The shoulder pads fit like a glove when you slide them in vertically and the other stuff just fits right in there. Best of all I keep it in the mud room so when the stuff come out of the wash i just put it right in there and it is all in one place for the next night. I even found one the same color as the wall so it kind of disappears into the wall. When football season is over and all of the equipment is returned, I just put it away until lacrosse season starts!!

Update your computer with more memory NOW

Here is a quick one for you. With all the new possibilities for your computer, you might think you need a new one. Between Windows new operating system Vista and the Internet your computer may seem ancient. If it is less than five years old and running Windows XP, it's not. Especially if you have a Pentium processor.
I have a Dell dimension that is four years old. It was having problems keeping up sometimes. It would get stuck , freeze, just be generally slow. I wondered if I needed a new computer. One night I decided to look at the owner's manual. I noticed that memory is measured in megabytes of ram (whatever that means). I also noticed that mine had 512mb of memory and a 40 gb hard drive. That didn't seem like a lot, since Microsoft was recommending at least 1 gb (1000 mbs) of memory in order to run Vista. So, I looked at the specs in the back of the manual. I said my computer could hold up to 4gb memory AND had a spot for a second hard drive. By the way, the hard drive is where all the data programs, music, etc gets stored.If your family is complaining that the computer is full , you need a new hard drive. Hard drives nowadays are at least 160gb.
I realized my computer had 1/8 of its memory capacity and it was full. No wonder it was slow.
Now, here is the best part. All of the memory modules and hard drives have DROPPED IN PRICE. Like a rock. I took my owner's manual to my local big box electronics store and they gave me another 1gb of memory for $50! And a 160 gb hard drive for $50! They would have each been around $250 to have put into my computer when I bought it. It's not hard to put in either. Just read your manual (you can get one online if you lost yours). The memory just plugs in. Done in 5 minutes. The hard drive has a few screws and 2 plug in cables, but comes with very simple directions.
With the extra memory (1.5gb of ram total) my computer is noticeably faster and smoother. I would do this first. The hard drive took about an hour to put in, but my computer now has plenty of room for my kids music, games, and yes HOMEWORK. Take advantage of all the price drops now and make your computer young again. It will get you a lot more mileage out of your investment. I hope this helps some of you.
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Recovering Dining Room Chairs-A new look and its so easy!

I really wanted to change the look of my dining room but didn't really have a good idea of where to start. I have my grandmother's antique dining room set from about 1910....beautiful!.....but it is showing its' age a bit. The fabric over the cushions doesn't really go with the rug or the paint color but it was OK enough. Recently our local fabric supply store was going out of business. They were selling everything, even the fixtures. I went in and saw yards and yards of fabrics. I tried going to the remnant table and I saw a small bolt of fabric that would go well with my room. The sign said $3 to $4/yd. This was upholstery grade (I asked) and I also asked how much I would need. You need 2 yards for 4 chairs with an average seat cushion. This was 12 yards and I only needed 5-6 (I was doing six chairs. But knowing I might make a mistake, I asked how much it would be if I take the whole 12 yards...and the clerk said-1/2 price of that! So I got the whole 12 yards of of fabric for 21$ (1.75/yd)!! it never hurts to ask. Key points to remember if you have never done this before: PICK A PATTERN THAT IS SIMPLE AND CONSISTENT. Try to avoid picking one with a pattern that you'll have to center. It makes it more complicated. Pick a fabric that is upholstery grade and get the right yardage...2 yards will do 4 chairs. Allow a little more if you have big over sized chairs. Be safe and just ask the clerks. The fabric store clerks know everything!

You'll need a screw diver, a staple gun and 3/8 inch staples, and a scissor to do this job.

To begin to recover the chairs, just unscrew the cushion from the bottom-usually 4 screws. Carefully flip the cushion over and you'll need to take out all of the staples that are holding the current fabric in place. You can use a flat screwdriver for this. Do one chair at a time so you don't mix up the bottoms with the chairs. If you need to replace the foam fill the fabric store sells that too. Make sure that the foam overhangs the wood a little so that the fabric over it will create a nice smooth look when pulled taught. You don't want to see any hard wood edges. Lay the cushion over the fabric and cut out around the cushion leaving at least enough fabric to have 2 inches hanging over the wood backing on all four sides. Make sure it is straight and taught and then you can begin to staple the fabric in the following way. ALWAYS start in the center of the top or bottom side and go around and do all four centers first. Then you gradually work your way out to the corners in the same way..rotating sides...putting a staple about every inch to inch and a half while pulling the fabric taught. Not too tight you don't want to make uneven pull marks. Do the corners last. Rotating this way and starting in the center and working out will minimize any uneven pulling or gaps. For the corners pull the center of the corner over the edge, staple it and the do the edge to the right and to the left of it and staple each of them. This will give you a nice finished look. when you are done stapling make sure you are happy with the finished look. If you have an uneven area just pull out those staples and re-do it. Once you are happy with the look of your cushion you can then trim off any excess fabric along the staple line and then screw the finished cushion back on to the chair. Voila!! You won't believe the change it brings. I promise you it really isn't hard, especially with a simple fabric pattern. If your nervous about doing it there are so many people that do this that can help you and lets face it, if you get the fabric at a price like the one I paid, you can allow for a learning curve. I actually didn't make any mistakes and I used the extra fabric I had to recover my hope chest cushion in my bedroom, and to make throw pillows for the living room which coordinate with the dining room. I may even try to do a cornice board for the window! If I do that and it works I'll write about that one too! Don't be afraid to try it and GOOD LUCK!
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Litter Box Review

Cleaning the litter box has to be the worst job in the house next to cleaning dirty toilet bowls. I found the best solution yet short of getting rid of the cat altogether. You are probably thinking that I got the automated mechanical cat box. Well I did but my cat was totally freaked by it. I had to get rid of it. the best non mechanical solution I found, and I have had cats for over 20 years, is the CAT SIFTING PAN LITTER BOX. I found it at Walmart. They were the only ones who had it. This is how it works. The box has two pans, a sifter and a hood. It absolute genius! You set it up like this : The two solid pans sit one inside the other. The sifter pan goes inside that. Then you add the clumping cat litter. You MUST use clumping cat litter to make the clean-up easy. The you put the hood on top and your cat is good to go...no pun intended. When it's time to clean it out, remove the hood. Take the bottom solid pan off of the bottom of the assembly. Then you lift the sifter (which has all of the clumped cat litter waste) and tap it gently to get the good cat litter out. Then dump the waste into a trash bag. Now here's the key, you put the sifter back into the empty solid pan and then pour all of the remaining good cat litter back into the other pan over the sifter. Top of with some new cat litter if necessary. Then replace the empty pan back under the new assembly and re-attach the hood. The whole thing literally takes 2 minutes and its not smelly of gross. No scooping!! I can't believe I was scooping gross cat litter for SO long!
Get this system, it only costs $20 dollars compared to the automated litter box cleans that costs over $150. Good Luck and love your kitty!
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My refrigerator is leaking water from the bottom of the door

The appliance ghost wreaking havoc in my house lately. However I have been lucky and been able to fix everything myself. I thought I would pass this along to you.
Last month my son noticed a small puddle under the freezer door of my side by side Maytag refrigerator. It is 5 years old and pretty much been problem free. I immediately thought of the ice cube maker. We checked to see if it was making cubes, dispensing them, and making new ones. The answer was yes to all of the above. We even pulled out the tray to see if there was water under it. It was dry. I was actually disappointed, because the is a common problem that can be remedied when you have the money . Your whole refrigerator isn't going to stop working because of the ice maker.
So, now we will have to empty the frezzer in order to find the leak. We put everything in coolers and looked around with a flashlight. The water was coming out of a small grate at the bottom of a removable back panel in the freezer. I unplugged the fridge and took off the panel. All I could see was a puddle of water. I was at a dead end.
Time to call your authorized service contractor. I got out the phone book and started dialing. After a few calls, I figured this was gonna cost a bundle, at least the $175 just to get someone in the door. It could be a multitude of problems, all expensive. I kept calling trying to at least get a better price on the call. Suddenly, I got real lucky. I called a dealer and got an actual repairman on the line. I think he was eating his lunch. Anyway, he asked me what was wrong and I told him. He immediately said that my defroster pipe was frozen. Simple common problem he said, just unplug the fridge and get the ice out of the pipe.
Now to get to this pipe you must unscrew the bottom half of the backing on your fridge. Not difficult to do. It is only a thick cardboard screwed in. Once this is done you can see the pipe. It is a clear flexible PVC plastic peice that goes from the bottom part of the freezer down and then across to the refrigerator condenser and empties out onto a pan that gets heat from the condenser which then causes the water to evaporate. Apparently, when the freezer defrosts itself this is where the water goes. So, with the help of my son, we slowly poured warm water down the pipe after we had let it sit unplugged for 2 hours. Ice came right out. Problem solved and it hasn't come back.
Thanks to the nice repairman having lunch, I was able to fix my refrigerator in a few hours at no cost. I hope this article helps someone else.

Mom's Solutions

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