week 2-making things work

(For those not mechanically-inclined, forgive us for a long post about repairs!)

After our week of quarantine, we began the process of making our house our home. We found it took us awhile to settle and unpack. By day 10 we felt like our kitchen was in order, most of our bags were unpacked, and our house was mostly livable. But then comes the part of fixing the little things.

Washing clothes 

We have a washing machine and clothes line. We put a new line on the clothes line, even making a few lines lower so Abby can help hang clothes to dry. This is a chore she loves to do! 

new clothes line and bonus burn barrel in the back.

But we found the washing machine wasn't completing its wash cycle. We realized this was due to not enough water pressure. The previous tenants told us a trick they used to make the washing machine finish. Turns out, the water company must have repaired a main line as now we have great water pressure throughout the day! Problem solved!

The drain for the washing machine was going into the shower. Denise found a drain line we could use instead of the shower, and even found a wire for me to use to hold the drain line in place. I found a clamp and fastened it on the drain line to secure it. So the clothes line and the washing machine are working great! Yay for clean clothes, a properly draining washing machine, and a new clothes line!

Shower rod

Along the lines of the bathroom, our shower rod was not fixed well to wall. It was constantly falling down when we showered. I found some tape to tape it more securely to the wall, and some wire to attach it to a window handle. It is much more secure now.

Drinking water

this is our katadyn water filter.

The water cooler we have is too small for our daily needs. We found we were filling it 4 times a day, which means making ice 4 times a day, and having water to fill it with 4 times a day.  A dear friend let us have her old cooler she is no longer using. It leaked because of an old O-ring but it was the appropriate size. I was able to find a replacement part for the spigot, installed it, and it works beautifully for us! Now we fill the water tank at night, and put ice in it first thing in the morning. It lasts us throughout the day and remains cool.

Generator

We do have a generator for when our power goes out. We bought it without looking at it, and I knew something was broken on it but I didn't know what. Our guard told us one problem was the gas line filter, which is cheap to replace. I put it on and put fuel in the tank, it fired right up! I couldn't believe it! I know it hasn't been started in nearly 2 years. I had to wire the plug to the house and now it is ready for use.. We are glad for the generator so that we can run our frige when the power is out for a long time.

Toilet

We had a toilet seat that broke, and easily installed a new one.

Electric

You know the saying, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." This was the case for our electricity. When our a/c repairman came to clean our a/c units, one unit wasn't working. He told me the problem lies with the breaker. Well, I've changed breakers before, I can do that! As Lee Corso (espn college gameday) once said, "Not so fast, my friend!" When I finished installing the new breaker, I turned on the power but the outlets didn't work in the living room (where our fridges are). I tried again, and the outlets in our bedroom and Josh and Abby's bedroom didn't work. I tried a 3rd time and got it back to the way it was originally with everything working but the a/c unit.

So I hired an electrician to fix the problem for us. Our house is on a 3 phase system, and when the power came into the breaker box it was not being evenly distributed. I purchased a 4 way splitter which the electrician installed. Now the a/c unit in the living room is working! 

But, back to our friend Lee Corso "Not so fast, my friend!" That night when Denise went to turn on the a/c in our bedroom, it didn't work. The next 2 nights she slept on the floor in the kids' room while I slept with a fan running in our room. Our electrician told me he would return the next day, Friday. But Friday came and he didn't come. Saturday I called him and at 930 he said he was getting ready. 1130 he said he was in the market buying things. I asked him to call when he was on his way. At 2pm when he still hasn't arrived, I went to the market myself to buy some things we needed. When I came back to our house, guess who is at our gate? Our electrician! Turns out his phone wasn't working, and he had spent the last 3 hours looking for our house. What a day!

He looked at the electricity. There was power in the breaker box. There was power to the junction box that was in our room, and there was power to the unit. I knew what this meant, likely the circuit board was fried, likely because of the overload on the electric system when he installed the splitter. We have a digital regulator and Denise said she saw it read 370 volts for a brief moment. 

We have a dear family who are neighbors to us, and visited us this very day after he diagnosed the a/c issue. The husband knew a guy who was good with a/c units. The next morning he came to repair it! He pulled out the circuit board and showed a relay and a transponder that were both fried. He tried to refabricate it, but could not make it work right. So they went to the market and got a replacement off an old unit and reinstalled it to ours. Hooray! The a/c now works! 

Well, it worked one night, Sunday. Just as we were going to bed Monday there was a power outage. After an hour and a half the power came on again, and after getting the kids settled again we finally went to bed. Then Denise told me the bad news, the a/c unit in our bedroom was not working. I walked into the living room and smelled the smell of an electric burn. I prayed it was no longer burning but was restless. Also I noticed one breaker was blown; it would no longer stay in the "on" position. 

I replaced that breaker the next morning and success! Our a/c unit runs once more. 

These a/cs make sleeping at night manageable. Our house is cement and seems to absorb heat. During the day it gets up to 110 degrees. Josh has a baby monitor with a digital tempersture guage, and we have never seen it below 86F. All that to say, we still sweat even when the a/c runs! 

Cabinet

We have 2 corner cabinets that rub on the handles when we open them. We had to push against one to open the other. A quick bang-bang with a hammer to a chisel and some sanding, and this is no longer a problem! 

We still have more repairs to do. We want another outside water barrel for storing water. We have some conduit for an underfround wire to replace. I need to replace the faucet in the sink. And we need to make some tables, all for general use around our home.

Thank you for your prayers for our family. We start language this week! Our next post will describe language learning and our nanny.