snand waterpark – snand.org

shout out to Blue Yeti Plumbing

we purchased a Rinnai tankless water heater last year on the recommendation of a plumber we were working with. I bought one from Lowe’s and he installed it for us, been working great until this last weekend.

error 32, a fault with the output temperature sensor, so I popped it open to see what I could do (easy enough to swap a sensor). unfortunately the unit was full of water (ironically?), and it was immediately obvious which soaking wet sensor was to blame. so, I unplugged, shut it off and pulled the power and gently toweled out all the water. this cured the sensor fault but the next morning I looked and it was once again dripping.

I traced the leak to the core of the unit, where I dared not disassemble anything but since I could tell it was from the unit, not the installation, I tried to open a case with Rinnai.

I’m not a plumber, so they refused to talk to me. they told me that they could only speak with a licensed Rinnai technician and gave me a list of 8 local companies to choose from. Of those 8, I was only get one of them to respond and when they got here all they could do was confirm what I had already found. they were not able to perform any warranty work since they had not installed it so they were not even sure why Rinnai gave me their contact info. Further diagnostics would have been out of pocket and would have cost more than the unit’s initial purchase price.

I must have called 15 more plumbers but none would come out to look. most heard I had a tankless and just ended the call, the ones who said they could work on them all said it would be 100% out of pocket because they didn’t do the install (and most said they wouldn’t have even done the install because Maple Grove water sucks).

so, without any further recourse I got back ahold of Rinnai and they came up with 3 more options. The first had their number disconnected, one would not return my phone calls; but the last one, they saved the f’in day (at least so far).

not only was the dude promptly on-time, he was super friendly, and was able to very quickly get the issue diagnosed, and replacement service arranged for the part. they are being shipped to him and they will get reimbursed by Rinnai. turns out it’s a known issue with a gasket and Rinnai immediately approved the repair.

I can confidently say, in the last 3 days, they have been the single most helpful company I’ve dealt with. I will be calling them from now on when I need plumbing assistance (and I do have some projects coming up). you should too.

movin’ right along..

accepted a job offer and been making basement progress. next up finish the office floor.

weekend plan accomplished

get the LED channel all up and wired. still needs some detail work but it’s good enough to move on to trim and the cabinet.

oof, end is just around the corner. can’t see it but the utility room has had a lot of progress made as well.

I love it when a plan comes together.

my LED project in the basement is turning out great!

excuse the mess, we’re still under construction. big step out of the way though.

this is about 12 meters of dual color COB LED strips (warm white & cool white). they are running a 24v system with a Tuya controller from BTF-Lighting. there’s a 300w 24v DC power supply feeding it from both ends. there’s 18 gauge wire running the length of the channel to feed power from the other side invisibly (it keeps uniform brightness across the strip).

I still have the other side of the room to do. I think I’m gong to mid-power the next strip from one of the inside corners I have. so, hopefully I shouldn’t need to run wire through the channels again.

beats crown moulding, easier and looks awesome!

weekend update

more progress!

finished the floor (up to my office, but I’m tackling that separately).

I also figured out and ordered the ceiling transition. I was going to do crown moulding since I haven’t true first clue how to do a decent ceiling transition. had a better idea the other day though, going to do lights all around the perimeter:

solves a problem, gives me a DIY LED project and will look spectacular. I ordered 30 meters of white aluminum diffusion channel (60x80mm), 30 meters of 2700k-6500k adjustable COB strips and a couple 240 watt zigbee CCT controllers.

the basement has started to become a genuine pleasure to work on. hard, but I’m very happy with how it’s coming along.

basement progress

come a ways, still has a ways to go. pace of budget is not quick.

progress

might as well stick with keeping it positive.. on a roll lately:

made a nifty lamp

projects galore!

weekend update

in an effort to be positive, progress.

just means I need to spend more money on cabinets and countertops. good thing I just got a new job 🙂

basement coming along.

put up the feature wall. finished the wardrobe. started painting.

taking shape anyway. Michele started crying when she saw the progress, I think she can see the end of this now too.

it has an aesthetic.

used up the rest of the paint and built the shelf. making a list for more supplies but check it out, almost like I had a plan:

corner adjustable shelf for the workout room.

3d printed hardware, glow in the dark (wife’s suggestion).
used what I thought was a 45 degree chamfer in the corner but angle was slightly off leaving a small gap. oh well, strong and functional, just how it needs to be.

installed this very low tech shelf in the corner of the workout room. I was going to use reclaimed lumber but after thinking about it, I decided to just use plain ol’ pine to match the exposed ceiling. this is a workout room so I figured I’d keep it homeowner industrial chic. honestly, for something that I quite literally hacked together (miter saw to badly cut out each shelf, exposed plastic glow in the dark hardware), it turned out great and should be even more useful than I figured. I made the shelves removeable and can be slotted into the hardware at 1 foot intervals, so it’s customizable and the shelves are surprisingly strong. I might add a little pin in each corner to ensure the shelves stay in, I used a larger bracket on the top of the mounts so I’d have that extra space in case I need it.

you can probably see the pink walls too, I did that on purpose as well. I wanted it to be essentially white but with just a hint of warmth. since the rest of the basement is going to be a dusty blue this was chosen to keep it separate but also feel comfortable and warm while working out.

this has been a slow process for sure, but I am finally seeing things come together. with paint going up, I can see that I did a better job spackling than I gave myself credit for, and now that there’s a door, and I’m working on some of the finish work, it’s starting to feel more like a potential room and less of a construction site. I wonder what the kids will look back on this like. I sure remember my dad working on the house, but that was when I was like 2 or 3 years old.