You're effing kidding me right?

[SeaCat]

I know I mentioned to you about the electric motor in my A/C and how I'm trying to replace it. Well this morning I went to the second place south of me and talked with them.

They told me they didn't have one in stock but they could order one for me. They quoted me a price of $240.00. I took a look at their paperwork and it was the same style of motor the other place wanted to sell me. Then they told me they could have it in next week and would have a tech come out and install it for me with a total price tag of $650.00. Say what? (They didn't want to have me come in and pick it up obviously.) I told them I would have to think it over then left.

Well damn this wasn't going to be as easy as I thought it would be. Maybe I would have to take the hit and modify one of my 110 motors to do the job. (The hit being the Wattage being used would go way up.)

After we arrived at home my wife picked up the phone book and started leafing through it while I went digging through my stocks. She came into the back room a short time later and pointed to an ad in the yellow pages for a company that specialises in electric motors and claims to have what you need in stock. What the hell, nothing ventured nothing gained right?

We tossed the motor in the back of the car again and headed down to this place. When we walked in and dropped the motor on the counter the guy took one look at it and went into the back room. He came back out within a couple of minutes and set another motor on the counter. He told me I could walk out the door with it for $94.00 after taxes.

This guy showed me the wiring I would need to do to get the motor running in my A/C. After I had paid he took both motors into the backroom and not only removed the fan blades from the old one but chopped the shaft to size on the new one. As he was doing this we talked a bit and I mentioned the run around I had been getting from the A/C Companies and he nodded in understanding. He asked the names of the companies and shook his head when I told him. He told me they had stopped selling to those companies because of that.

So now I have a brand new motor sitting on my patio waiting for tomorrow morning when I will install it.

Oh, out of curiosity we cracked open the case of the old motor and he whistled. More than half the windings on the old motor had melted. There was nothing in it that could be salvaged.

Cat

 

[neonlyte]

I know I mentioned to you about the electric motor in my A/C and how I'm trying to replace it. Well this morning I went to the second place south of me and talked with them.

They told me they didn't have one in stock but they could order one for me. They quoted me a price of $240.00. I took a look at their paperwork and it was the same style of motor the other place wanted to sell me. Then they told me they could have it in next week and would have a tech come out and install it for me with a total price tag of $650.00. Say what? (They didn't want to have me come in and pick it up obviously.) I told them I would have to think it over then left.

Well damn this wasn't going to be as easy as I thought it would be. Maybe I would have to take the hit and modify one of my 110 motors to do the job. (The hit being the Wattage being used would go way up.)

After we arrived at home my wife picked up the phone book and started leafing through it while I went digging through my stocks. She came into the back room a short time later and pointed to an ad in the yellow pages for a company that specialises in electric motors and claims to have what you need in stock. What the hell, nothing ventured nothing gained right?

We tossed the motor in the back of the car again and headed down to this place. When we walked in and dropped the motor on the counter the guy took one look at it and went into the back room. He came back out within a couple of minutes and set another motor on the counter. He told me I could walk out the door with it for $94.00 after taxes.

This guy showed me the wiring I would need to do to get the motor running in my A/C. After I had paid he took both motors into the backroom and not only removed the fan blades from the old one but chopped the shaft to size on the new one. As he was doing this we talked a bit and I mentioned the run around I had been getting from the A/C Companies and he nodded in understanding. He asked the names of the companies and shook his head when I told him. He told me they had stopped selling to those companies because of that.

So now I have a brand new motor sitting on my patio waiting for tomorrow morning when I will install it.

Oh, out of curiosity we cracked open the case of the old motor and he whistled. More than half the windings on the old motor had melted. There was nothing in it that could be salvaged.

Cat

Sure pays to phone around: timber quotes received this week £265 delivered to £1980 + £95 delivery. Guess which one we went for

 

[DeeZire]

We got 3 bids for running some new gas line to the heater and stove of a residence: $1600, $1200, and $950. I cheated on the last bid, telling the guy the low bid so far was $1200. Then, a fourth guy bid $750, but that was without getting the permit from the City, something I'd rather not have to deal with. The City requires a plan drawing with BTU's and such - totally out of my realm of expertise.

Total amount of man hours to complete the job was under 12, including the permit, which they do via fax these days. So, 12 hours times $20 per hour for the plumber (probably less) and the company netted an extra $700 to cover overhead and materials. (Plumbers don't make $60 per hour, the company charges $60 per hour and then turns around and pays the worker whatever the going rate is - at least here in AZ, which is a "right to work" state.)

I think I got into the wrong line of work.

 

[SeaCat]

We got 3 bids for running some new gas line to the heater and stove of a residence: $1600, $1200, and $950. I cheated on the last bid, telling the guy the low bid so far was $1200. Then, a fourth guy bid $750, but that was without getting the permit from the City, something I'd rather not have to deal with. The City requires a plan drawing with BTU's and such - totally out of my realm of expertise.

Total amount of man hours to complete the job was under 12, including the permit, which they do via fax these days. So, 12 hours times $20 per hour for the plumber (probably less) and the company netted an extra $700 to cover overhead and materials. (Plumbers don't make $60 per hour, the company charges $60 per hour and then turns around and pays the worker whatever the going rate is - at least here in AZ, which is a "right to work" state.)

I think I got into the wrong line of work.

LOL

When I first moved into this place the Hot Water Heater and the stove were electric. I didn't want either of them. I went down to the local Home Improvement place and picked up the tubing and Pressure fitting I would need. On to the R.V. place I went where I picked up the valve assembly needed to hook up two 20 pound Propane Tanks.

It took me a day to run the piping and get everything hooked up. I now have a gas fired stove and Hot Water Heater. Total cost was right around $100.00.

Cat

 

[R. Richard]

I use a Norelco electric razor, at least when I'm home. The shaving (triple) head lasts about a year, before it begins to degrade. I can buy a new shaving head for about $1 to $2 less than the normal cost of a new razor. I watch the sales and buy a new razor when it's on sale and usually save $5.

When I need parts, I try to buy a new unit and extract just what I need, saving the rest for later. It's usually cheaper.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

We got 3 bids for running some new gas line to the heater and stove of a residence: $1600, $1200, and $950. I cheated on the last bid, telling the guy the low bid so far was $1200. Then, a fourth guy bid $750, but that was without getting the permit from the City, something I'd rather not have to deal with. The City requires a plan drawing with BTU's and such - totally out of my realm of expertise.

Total amount of man hours to complete the job was under 12, including the permit, which they do via fax these days. So, 12 hours times $20 per hour for the plumber (probably less) and the company netted an extra $700 to cover overhead and materials. (Plumbers don't make $60 per hour, the company charges $60 per hour and then turns around and pays the worker whatever the going rate is - at least here in AZ, which is a "right to work" state.)

I think I got into the wrong line of work.

When dealing with bidders on a job, it is always best to ignore the lowest bid, and go one or two up. Especially when the average bis is 20,000, and the lowest bid is only 7,000

 

[jacks4u]

I use a Norelco electric razor, at least when I'm home. The shaving (triple) head lasts about a year, before it begins to degrade. I can buy a new shaving head for about $1 to $2 less than the normal cost of a new razor. I watch the sales and buy a new razor when it's on sale and usually save $5.

When I need parts, I try to buy a new unit and extract just what I need, saving the rest for later. It's usually cheaper.

This is like ink jet cartridges. With a full change (color and b/w) costing better than $50, and a whole fucking printer, with cart's costing $49.95 - it's often better to junk an old printer, rather than buy new ink! This is because HP & similar have a 'printers' devision, and an 'ink jet' devision. 'Printers' is laserjet, and strive to build quality laserjet printers. But 'Ink Jet' is just trying to sell ink, and will give away a shitty printer to get you hooked on their product. Once you have their printer, you're locked into their product. Same way apparently, with electric shavers. But the companies that do this are betting you'll but new parts for a familiar shaver, rather than risk buying a new shaver that may be sub-standard.

 

[DeeZire]

...It took me a day to run the piping and get everything hooked up. I now have a gas fired stove and Hot Water Heater. Total cost was right around $100.00.

Cat

I would have done the same thing, but there was a leak in the line coming from the meter in the alley, so the gas company shut it off. In order to get it turned back on, we needed to pay the gas co. to run a new line to the house and move the meter, and then have a licensed contractor bring the existing plumbing up to code and fix a leak in the house. It took the City three days to get around to issuing our permit - thanks to budget cuts that have reduced staff levels. (There are consequences when tax revenues don't meet expenditures, but that's for another thread.) GF spent ten days huddled next to a space heater waiting for the gas to get turned back on. At least she still had hot water and a microwave.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

There is no such animal as a 'hot water heater;' theyre 'water heaters.'

Wattage does not vary between 240volts or 120volts. Volt is the unit of electrical pressure NOT quantity.

Local plumbers get $400 to replace 30 gallon, single element water heaters. The water heater costs about $175 at Home Depot, 3 hours of labor is $180, plus sales tax, disposal fee, etc. What I do is buy the water heater and pay someone $75-$100 to install it. Its not a complicated task. Solder two pipes, connect 2-3 wires, connect a drain pipe to the overflow basin....maybe. Ask a plumbing inspector for names of competent handymen who do simple remove-replace repairs. Price the item at Home Depot, then figure the plumber will try and fuck you on the time...most repairs take an hour unless its something like a dishwasher installation. Air conditioning guys are notorious for sitting in your attic,burning cigarettes, to justify their time.

http://www.emotorpro.com/dayton-electric-motors.aspx
DAYTON electric motor price guide.

 

[SeaCat]

Well the new motor was put in place and works just fine. (I gave it a test run for 30 minutes. The old motor would shut down after just a couple of minutes.)

Then I got curious. I could have sworn I saw Heating Elements when I put in the new ducting. I checked and sure enough there they were looking brand new. So A) Why didn't they work and B) why did my system tag say it didn't have a heater hooked up?

I started looking and found that everything was hooked up. Unfortunately there was a part that looks a lot like a switch that was in two pieces.

Hmmmm maybe I'll be able to get that fixed as well. Wouldn't it be nice to have something like central heat in this place instead of using space heaters?

Cat