Category: Housing

Kenmore fridge defrost

I came back from vacation to a fridge that wouldn’t get cold and a freezer that was iced over in the back. I have a bottom-freeze model so I knew the issue – ice was clogging the duct that allows cold air up to the fridge. I’m guessing the defrost cycle didn’t kick in enough to defrost the back so I used some hot air to try and clear the path. That worked but there’s no easy way to trigger a manual defrost from the manual. Until I found this video which worked!

After a couple of cycles everything seems to be working better. I still have a Raspberry Pi monitoring the temperatures so I can keep an eye on it before I do some actual fixing. But so far, so good. See this post for that project: https://chriseaston.com/2023/01/30/fridge-and-freezer-temperature-monitoring/

A little warm after the defrost cycle but more in line…

Fun with Sensors

I started woodworking some more in the garage, since I plan on doing this for decades to come I should worry a bit about air quality. I found a cheap sensor on eBay that can read particles the size of 1.0 μm, 2.5μm, and 10μm and provide both the AQI for that as well as a particle count. I bought a similar all in one device on Amazon which is nice for a visual I can move around the shop and another bare device I wired into the Raspberry Pi. The result of using my table and miter saw are below. The base-line is because I run a box fan and air filter setup to try and keep the air somewhat clean.

Miter peak at AQI 50 @ 10μm and tablesaw peak of 139 AQI @ μm as graphed with grafana.

As shown the air quality is pretty bad when using these tools. Which means I will be wearing a N95 mask while using them to be on the safe side. But it looks like setting up the cuts I need to probably be less worried due to my box fan air cleaners. Next up is collecting more data around cleaning up (I use a leaf blower to kick up stray dust for my box fans to catch) and sanding. The result will hopefully be a nice coffee table. The progress of which after this weekend is about ready for finishing:

Coffee table progress.

Sensor is the Plantower PMS5003 (spec sheet) (amazon affiliate link) — This one includes a handy breakout board so you don’t need to solder from Adafruit and some code: Link here.

One with a screen I found on Amazon, there are cheaper ones available (Mine was about 50 bucks I think at the time): (amazon affilate link)

I realize again I need to blog more.

I’m not sure why, but I feel the need to blog a bit more, so I’m going to try and make a post a day. I’ll be on vacation coming up soon which might make it tough but I’ll try!

So far: I’ve done 6 days of p90x3 — starting up again and hope to continue.

Getting some things done around the house: Solar panels have been installed w/ new panel. Next up:

  1. New Patio including concrete, side walkway, and patio cover.
  2. Air Conditioning.
  3. Master bath remodel late August

Some minor things I need to do this weekend:

  1. Hang medicine cabinet I bought months ago.
  2. Landscaping in the front.
  3. Closet organizers for master and Inny’s room.
  4. Cabinet for A/V equipment.
  5. Prime and Paint stucco around windows and old panel.