Tuesday 9/9/14 - Troubleshooting - Hubby's Specialty

My Hubby - the troubleshooter (I think it's his middle name).  In July I wrote about our future plans of selling our house and downsizing.  Since that time, we've (I) made a list of projects that have been neglected over the years - things that we have just accepted and overlooked.  I took a fresh look around our house and decided that these things needed to be fixed before we could put the house on the market.  These are items that Hubby has to complete - not in my field of expertise.  He has worked and accomplished the majority of the list.  I am very thankful and proud of his persistence in whittling down the list.

In working on the list, he has had to utilize his troubleshooting skills.  When he worked as a mechanic for the USAF, this was a skill that he used daily and honed to perfection.  Even after being retired from the USAF since 1997, he hasn't lost his ability to troubleshoot.  Here's a few examples of what he has worked on in the last couple of weeks.

The front panel of our oven that indicates the oven temp, clock, timer, etc. had faded and finally gave up the ghost.  The oven still worked and I just had to know what temp I was setting and I used a different timer.  There were plenty of clocks around, so we really didn't "need" it.  He had researched it back when the digits disappeared and it would cost about $200 plus a service call to get it fixed - we could live without it.  But, it would probably be important to a buyer.  He did more research and found some comments on a blog and found a solution that he wanted to try before calling a repairman.  He went to Radio Shack and purchased a small capacitor for $1.47, undid the front panel (after shutting off the power to the oven), unsolder-ed the capacitor, replaced it and put it back together.  We said a prayer and he turn the power back on.  Voila!  It worked.

The latest item on the list is fixing our hot tub - it had a leak and needed to be fixed.  Research again was done, calls were made, parts were ordered.  He took out the old parts and installed the new ones.  He got the last hose yesterday and put it on.  Again, a prayer was said that this would fix the leaks.  We started filling it and all was looking good - no leaks and then a drip appeared in two different spots.  Shut the water off, drained the tub, put on some more goop (my word) and wait for it to dry.  At least the pieces he replaced are fixed.  Now we'll wait for the goop to dry and fill it again.  And say another prayer.  Looks like a few more parts are required before it is totally fixed.

We asked our friends to say a prayer that there wouldn't be any leaks and they said that God had more important things to work on, but I replied that God told us to pray for what we wanted/needed and I think this is a priority. 

We have one more big project to complete before it goes on the market.  Hubby has researched this also and found the correct procedure to fix the problem.  I am so thankful that God has given my Hubby the ability to troubleshoot.