As I mentioned in my last post, our garage door broke. Thanks to my friend Greg, we were able to get it completely fixed with just a few hours of work. It all started when the garage door opener died. The main drive sprocket shelled out, which meant that I had to buy a new garage door opener. I did some comparison shopping, and chose the Chamberlain 1/2 horsepower Whisper Drive garage door opener. After looking at the various models (belt drive, screw drive and chain drive) I selected the belt drive because it's supposed to be quietest, because it's supposed to be maintenance-free, and because the screw drive models reportedly fail to work in very cold weather. (My garage is heated, so that will probably never be an issue, but I didn't want to risk it.) I chose my specific model based on price, reviews, and local availability.
On Friday, I removed the old garage door opener, in preparation for installing the new one on Saturday. I figured that we could manually open and close the garage door in the interim. Unfortunately, when Mrs. Evan returned from her weekly grocery shopping on Saturday morning, the garage door had a major malfunction. The garage door cable slipped from its pulley on the right side, and at the same time, the tracks on the left twisted slightly, causing the garage door wheels to slide from the tracks. (Wow, she's one strong lady!) The top panel was hanging precariously. I was afraid that it would fall, which could injure someone and/or destroy the panel. I called Greg for assistance, and he came right over. Greg and I have done a lot of similar projects, and we've almost got telepathy when it comes to two-man jobs. Furthermore, with his engineering knowledge, I expected that he'd be able to help me get the garage door closed without any further damage.
I was right. We got the door closed. Next came the big decision... should we try to fix things ourselves, or should I let the pros handle it? Knowing that the door's torsion springs can cause severe injury if something goes wrong, I seriously considered letting the professionals fix the door. But a little internet research, coupled with my having seen a pro work on the torsion springs before, convinced me that we could fix things ourselves. It was the correct choice.
**NOTE: Please understand that playing with these springs can cause serious injury or death. If you're not confident in your abilities, don't do it! And also notice that I'm not giving you instructions on how to do this. In other words, if you do this yourself and end up hurt, it's your own damn fault. Don't come crying to me.
Using the internet instructions and my memory, we released the tension on the springs. We then reseated and adjusted the cable on the pulley and repaired the twisted track. The track was fixed by simply repairing a single support bracket. And re-tensioning the torsion springs was easy as well. Next came installing the new garage door opener. Now comes the part where I evaluate the Chamberlain 1/2 horsepower Whisper Drive garage door opener.
There are really two aspects to the evaluation... installing the opener, and how well it works. I'll start my evaluation with the summary. Both aspects met with or exceeded my expectations. Installing the opener went off without a hitch. It can be done with one person, but it certainly goes faster with two people. Also, realize that I didn't do a new installation. I re-used as many of the old parts as possible, so I didn't need to install the headers and sensors, or run the wiring. That took an hour or two off of my overall install time. The instructions were detailed and straight-forward. Installation and preliminary testing took roughly an hour. Fine adjustments took another 15 minutes or so. Finalization and clean-up took another 30 minutes
The opener works as I'd expect as well, but it's not quite as silent as I thought it would be. When I read the reviews, many people commented on the silence. Some even said "I can't even hear the opener... all I hear is the garage door on its tracks." That's not my experience. I was able to hear the motor. But it IS significantly quieter than my previous chain-driven model. I was able to hear the previous opener from about anywhere in the house. It wasn't annoyingly loud, but I was able to hear it. I can clearly hear the new opener's motor when I'm in the garage, but inside the house, all is silent. In fact, the sound of the car driving into the garage is now louder than the sound of the door opening.
Having had the device for less than a week, I can't speak for the long-term durability of the opener, but I am satisfied with how it performs thus far. And if you're deliberating whether to install the opener yourself or have the pros do it, I'd say do it yourself.
Oh yeah, I need to thank Mrs. Evan for being a real trooper. She was feeling a little under the weather, but she agreed to watch Greg's kids while we worked on the garage door.
Showing posts with label Home Improvement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Home Improvement. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Sunday, November 27, 2005
Shower Faucet Repair - Epilogue
I was so pleased with the results of my shower repair that I tackled my kitchen faucet a few days later...
The sprayer in my kitchen sink hasn't worked for over a year. During the last year, I had replaced the sprayer and the sprayer hose; neither replacement fixed the sprayer. I looked into replacing the guts of the kitchen faucet, but decided against it.
Being emboldened by the success of my shower faucet repair, I decided it was time to tackle the kitchen. I bought a new kitchen faucet and just replaced the whole damned assembly. I had it successfully done in about an hour. I got the sprayer working again just in time to use it over Thanksgiving.
The sprayer in my kitchen sink hasn't worked for over a year. During the last year, I had replaced the sprayer and the sprayer hose; neither replacement fixed the sprayer. I looked into replacing the guts of the kitchen faucet, but decided against it.
Being emboldened by the success of my shower faucet repair, I decided it was time to tackle the kitchen. I bought a new kitchen faucet and just replaced the whole damned assembly. I had it successfully done in about an hour. I got the sprayer working again just in time to use it over Thanksgiving.
Shower Faucet - After
I repeated the process for the cold water handle, except I had everything I needed up front and knew what I was doing, so it only took 20 minutes instead of four days. I also bought a new shower head, and new flanges.
Instead of caulking the flanges on this time, I caulked under the flanges, and let the flanges float. This will prevent the rust you saw at the beginning of the project.
Instead of caulking the flanges on this time, I caulked under the flanges, and let the flanges float. This will prevent the rust you saw at the beginning of the project.
Shower Faucet Cartridge Reassembled
The shower faucet cartridge has yet another new gasket on the end (the first flat one got really chewed up by the old pitted shower faucet seat), and the threads are coated with teflon tape to prevent leaking.
Shower Faucet Seat
This is the shower faucet seat. The surface that made contact with the gasket was pitted from years of corrosion.
Shower Faucet Tool
Day four...
This is the third time I've taken this thing apart. I'm getting pretty good at it now. I'm taking this slow for the following reasons...
-There are no leaks, so other than the fact that the women-folk have to take a shower in the "creepy" shower, there's no reason to rush.
-I want to do it right, but I don't feel like making several special trips to the hardware store. I'd rather drop by on my way to or from work.
-This way the house isn't without water for an extended period of time.
But anyway...
This is the third time I've taken the cartridge out of the shower. I look at the flat gasket and see that it's been chewed up, so I went to the hardware store and bought the tool you see in this picture, so I could remove the shower faucet seat.
This is the third time I've taken this thing apart. I'm getting pretty good at it now. I'm taking this slow for the following reasons...
-There are no leaks, so other than the fact that the women-folk have to take a shower in the "creepy" shower, there's no reason to rush.
-I want to do it right, but I don't feel like making several special trips to the hardware store. I'd rather drop by on my way to or from work.
-This way the house isn't without water for an extended period of time.
But anyway...
This is the third time I've taken the cartridge out of the shower. I look at the flat gasket and see that it's been chewed up, so I went to the hardware store and bought the tool you see in this picture, so I could remove the shower faucet seat.
Digressing a Bit
This repair work actually took place over the course of four days. I did the preparatory disassembly on Wednesday.
I made my first attempt at repairing on Thursday. The repair stopped the leak, but I could tell by feel that the repair wasn't right. That's what I get for taking Mendards' advice instead of going to a reputable hardware store.
Friday I disassembled things again, and took it to a hardware store. The hardware store guy told me what was wrong the first time (the wrong-shaped gasket), and told me about the seat located inside of the shower assembly. I got the right gasket and found out what to do next if that didn't fix things...
I made my first attempt at repairing on Thursday. The repair stopped the leak, but I could tell by feel that the repair wasn't right. That's what I get for taking Mendards' advice instead of going to a reputable hardware store.
Friday I disassembled things again, and took it to a hardware store. The hardware store guy told me what was wrong the first time (the wrong-shaped gasket), and told me about the seat located inside of the shower assembly. I got the right gasket and found out what to do next if that didn't fix things...
Shower Faucet Cartridge Disassembled
The shower faucet cartridge disassembles even further. I've got no idea why.
My next step was to go to Menards to see if they had a replacement shower cartridge. They didn't. They did, however, recommend that I replace the rubber gasket on the end of the shower faucet cartridge... they gave me the wrong one.
They gave me a cone-shaped gasket, when I needed a flat gasket. After re-assembling everything and testing it out, I found out that the leak was stopped, but the faucet didn't feel right. I stopped work for the night.
My next step was to go to Menards to see if they had a replacement shower cartridge. They didn't. They did, however, recommend that I replace the rubber gasket on the end of the shower faucet cartridge... they gave me the wrong one.
They gave me a cone-shaped gasket, when I needed a flat gasket. After re-assembling everything and testing it out, I found out that the leak was stopped, but the faucet didn't feel right. I stopped work for the night.
No More Chrome
The chrome sleeve came off by hand. The brass internal parts needed to be removed with a wrench.
This should be a no-brainer, but I'm going to say it anyway... turn off the water before you remove this piece.
The piece is referred to as a shower faucet cartridge.
This should be a no-brainer, but I'm going to say it anyway... turn off the water before you remove this piece.
The piece is referred to as a shower faucet cartridge.
Moving Right Along
After removing the handle and flange, I went to Menards for advice. They recommended that I remove this chrome shaft.
Disclaimer
Of course I've got to do the disclaimer...
This series of entries is designed to discuss my experience. I'm not a plumber, and you folks probably don't have the same type of faucet as me. If you try to repair your faucet, you can feel free to use this as a guide, but it's not an instruction manual. If it helps, great. If not, don't come crying to me.
Now that the disclaimer is out of the way, look at this picture. I removed the flange and the handle.
This series of entries is designed to discuss my experience. I'm not a plumber, and you folks probably don't have the same type of faucet as me. If you try to repair your faucet, you can feel free to use this as a guide, but it's not an instruction manual. If it helps, great. If not, don't come crying to me.
Now that the disclaimer is out of the way, look at this picture. I removed the flange and the handle.
Amateur Plumbing
Today's entry will chronicle the journey of repairing a leaking shower.
I've got two showers in my house... the downstairs shower that nobody uses because the girls think it's "icky," and the main one. The main shower has had a leaky faucet for about a year or so. You know the type; you can stop the leak, but only if you really crank the handles. I finally got tired of hearing "drip... drip... drip" in the middle of the night. I finally got sick of the puddles in the bathroom. I finally got fed up with the wasted water and decided to do something about it...
On with the adventure.
I've got two showers in my house... the downstairs shower that nobody uses because the girls think it's "icky," and the main one. The main shower has had a leaky faucet for about a year or so. You know the type; you can stop the leak, but only if you really crank the handles. I finally got tired of hearing "drip... drip... drip" in the middle of the night. I finally got sick of the puddles in the bathroom. I finally got fed up with the wasted water and decided to do something about it...
On with the adventure.
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