John's Blog

My plans were dashed by something very unexpected.

See for yourself. I was busy with the garden hose near the AC compressors when I noticed that the fan for the downstairs compressor wasn’t running right.
.
The fan, that’s supposed to spin at one speed, was ‘hunting’. A few seconds of barely turning, then it’d speed up to full speed, then spin down to a stop. I stood there and studied it. Random speeds for random lengths of time. Not. Good. At. All.
.
I dropped the garden hose, gathered some tools, and got to work.
.
I dealt with interruptions. When I lifted the cumbersome top from the compressor I upset the wasps that had built their nest under the cover.
.
One wasp became quite pissy, vectored straight for my face, stabbed me in jaw, then vectored outbound, mission complete. That had the intended effect. I set the cover down as gently as I could and quickly put distance between me and them.
.
I had no bug killer at the house and I was not about to go buy some. What I did have was a can of brake cleaner. Pinpoint aim, shoots far, maybe it’d work. It did. Bonus points for cleaning as I sprayed. As the afternoon progressed I occasionally stopped to spray another wasp.
.
Shortly after that I had to stop and help Kim collect a few doggos that had escaped confinement and were busy inspecting the neighborhood with their noses.
.
I’ll finish this article by stating that I think fixed it. As of this morning it’s still working like it should.
.
Today’s priority is the fence gate (about an hour to do), local test drive of the trailer (another hour or so), then get the kayaks (a few hours). We’ll see how it goes.
.
If you’re interested in what (I think) made the fan misbehave, drop a comment and I’ll share it here or at coffee. Or both.