You know, Saturdays tend to be boom or bust for me. I either get some stuff done, or I get nothing done. There’s never really any middle ground like ‘I sorta got a few things started, but lost ambition…’

That’s probably a Good Thing, but I did manage to get a few things done today. For starters, I finally got the box for the old air conditioner built. And insulated. And mostly painted.

I have two coats of paint done on three of the four box sides (there’s no bottom, as that will be insulated separately, and then there’s the side which is the house)…so tomorrow’s project is to paint the remaining side and give the top an extra coat or two of paint for brevity. Ideally I can get it installed before it gets dark on Monday evening (when it’s supposed to be just a little warmer than other days this upcoming week) and that project can be complete.

After I was done with the table saw and had moved some things around in the basement, I cleaned up (specifically swept) down there. It looks almost like a wholly different basement, really. Of course, not having three sheets of pink extruded styrofoam in the middle of the basement kinda helps open it up a bit. Two of those sheets (and the remnants I didn’t use for the old A/C box) are in the cistern now against a wall.

I also finally took the time just about an hour ago to drain and flush the water heater. I didn’t do it last fall, and it’s one of those projects I like to do annually if possible. Not that it really needs it, but it does help to flush out any accumulated scale or other foreign material that may have made its way past the filter and softener. The water heater was pretty empty (of its 105 gallon capacity, approximately 30 gallons was truly hot by the time I got to draining it tonight), which is what I was shooting for.

I noticed when I was outside today feeding the dogs that the power company had indeed shut off the water heater, which they don’t always do on the weekends, so I decided to take advantage of the fact it hadn’t been heating water most of the day. Gotta love load management stuff. 🙂

It takes longer to drain the water heater than to fill it, by about 2 to 1. It takes about 20 minutes to drain completely. I usually end up spending five to ten minutes flushing (with brief ‘shots’ of about a gallon of water each time), and it takes about nine minutes to fill. Not too bad, but it does take some time.

So that was basically my day. Of course, I took a pseudo nap in the midday and spent quality time in the morning just hanging around the house…so I would have to say it’s been a pretty productive day.

With all that said, until next time…

“There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life.”
– Frank Zappa

–MZ