Jul2026

July 18, 2026, Saturday

Attic Lights
- Removed the faceplate in the upper-north heater closet, and discovered two BLACK disconnected wires in the empty right-hand gang bay. One was hot coming from the switch for the heater closet light, and one was un-charged. I guessed that a switch between these to wires would activate the attic lights
- first, I turned off the breaker in the south heater closet labelled "DN OFT" which removed power from that circuit. Interesting, the breaker labeled "Attic Lights" did NOT kill the circuit I was looking at.
- with a ladder I poked my head through the attic access in the ceiling and could see ROMEX coming up from the switch area, running directly to a light socket with bulb installed. It looked to me that this cable was coming from the light switch box going to the attic lights.
- interestingly, the BLACK wires, both the hot one, and the non-hot one, were each terminated with a wire nut, but no insulation had been removed from the wire ends underneath. So, these wires have NOT been used in the past, it seems. So how were/are the bulbs in the attic powered, resulting in them being burned out???
- with the power removed, I installed a regular rocker ("Designer") light switch between the HOT BLACK wire and the other BLACK wire going to the attic bulbs.
- resetting the circuit breaker didn't present any problem, and back in the north closet, I toggled the switch. Sure enough, the bulb immediately above lighted! But, the other bulb that I could see from the trap door did not light. I could see the ROMEX run out of sight to the south, but could see no illumination from that area. I guess all other bulbs are burned out.
- I'll have to go up there eventually and replace all the bulbs down the line, and maybe see if there is another switch down the way.

July 13, 2026, Monday

Pool
- Over-the-steps Plug
  - Created a new over-the-steps plug using 2" Styrofoam insulation panel left over from previous year.
  - Dimensions: 48" (could be 48-1/2" to 49") x 30-1/2" (could be 30-3/8")
  - Used Scotch packing tape to wrap all of the edges, to seal it and prevent Styrofoam beads from flaking off
- Spa water level
  - Even after the maintenance done by "Barry" and "Nick" last Friday, the spa is still losing water a about an inch per day.
  - I believe it is being lost to the main pool through the automatic diversion valves for the 'Spillway' in the pump room
  - A couple of ideas:
    - Could go whole hog and have the pool guys figure it out, or at least attempt to, for plenty of dough, probably
    - Can check the setting of the automatic valve and make sure it is fully closed electronically
    - Can set timed event in the control panel to cycle the waterfall for 2 or 3 minutes every other day to refill the spa from the pool
Lutron Lighting System
- have confirmed using electrical toner that RS-232 cable attached to Panel #2 in Exercise Room leads to the red RJ-45 jack under the Office's computer cubby
- found that only three wires were used, pins 2 (Tx), 3 (Rx), and 5 (GND)
- replaced the male DE9 cable end, with a new one, using all eight wires using the Ethernet T586A color scheme
- removed RJ45 connector in office, replacing it with a female DE9 cable connector, straight through.
- this will allow me to program and control the lighting system from the office, as was done by the original owner (I think)

July 11, 2026, Saturday

Kitchen sink updates:
- replaced the old drain/strainer from the right-hand side of the main kitchen sink.
  - Turns out the original was not installed correctly and that helps to explain the crud that was building up around the drain flange; the rubber gasket had been installed between the old drain body and the upper side of the sink, should have been on the underside of the sink; and no putty anywhere. doh!
  - Installed a new drain from Allen+Roth in stainless steel.
  - Used new putty to set the body on the upperside of the sink.
  - Re-used the plastic drain lines that were already there.
- replaced the under-sink disposal under the main sink; since installing a new Insinkerator Badger 5 when first moved in, the unit had made a lot of noise in operation, and didn't seen balance.
  - dismounted the 'old' unit, leaving the 'old' mounting flange
  - dismounted the 'old' island unit
  - knocked out the dishwasher port plug from the island unit
  - installed the island unit in place of the main sink unit, hooking up the dishwasher drain hose, and re-using the plastic drain lines.
  - the unit still makes a loud vibration noise like the old one, but the chewing palls are loose work better than the 'old' one
- Installed a new Badger 5XL under the island sink, taking the place of the one moved to the main sink.
  - had to cut off the power cord from the 'bad' main sink unit and install it into this new unit
  - mounted the new unit using the 'old' flange
  - reused the original plastic drain lines.
  - TODO: need to plug the unused dishwasher drain port

July 10, 2026, Friday

Pool cover repair
- "Barry" and "Nick" came to repair the pool cover
  - installed the second new rope and made adjustments so the cover runs fairly smoothly
  - helped to adjust valves in pump room for desired flow rates witht he lions ("Waterfall") and the spa Spillway
  - did not fix the Southern underwater pool light, still on order

July 2, 2026, Thursday

Discovered that the under-eaves security lights use 100W 120v GY8.6 Halogen bulb. Unfortunately, I was unable to locate an LED equivalent bulb, which I hoped would have a longer life. The replacement bulb that I located at Lowe's is a FEIT #77169 with is dimmable and goes for $9 each.