Shopsmith Forums

If your reading this you already have the skill and tools to do these two things that should be done once each year, every year and few people ever do. This will save you a lot of money. Simple and easy. Just takes some time which you have plenty of right now. Clean the coils on your refrigerator. The fan pulls dust bunnies onto the coils which causes overheating and premature failure. Most will have them underneath and you will have to remove the grill. If you don’t have the owner’s manual google your model number to get instructions. I’ve found the quickest and best way is to use the exhaust port on a shop vac. An electric leaf blower also works well. Don’t do this after your wife has just dusted. You will add dusting to your list.

Drain your water heater and flush it. Google that too if you don’t know how. If it is more than 4-5 years old remove the anode rod and inspect it. The anode rod is that 1 1/16 inch hexagon silver plug on the top of the water heater. Google “what is an anode rod” and you will see why this is important and know why people who install water heaters never tell you about the anode rod. Once it’s mostly gone your water heater starts rusting. Home Depot sells these for about $10. If you have a water softener you definitely need to do this; these things like kids eat French fries.

Good suggestions.

After doing those and you find you still have more time on your hands check your clothes dryer and clean out the lint inside and in the vent ducting. Lint buildup is a common cause of dryer fires.

Also have you checked your Smoke Detectors lately? Something we are normally supposed to do twice a year when we change from standard to daylight time and back. If yours is the battery powered type and the battery is dead and you happened to miss that annoying beep every so often it is time to replace it. Smoke Detectors come with 10 year batteries and should be replaced not just change the battery. Their ability to sense smoke decreases over time. Many Smoke Detectors are "hard" wired in with or without a backup battery. If your "hard" wired detectors are older than 10 years consider replacing them. Call your local Fire Department for advice.

Russ
Retired Firefighter/EMT-B/OR-USAR

Valid chores but I was hoping for something a bit more fun.

If I were to work very hard 12 hours a day for the next ten years I would still be ten years behind. My mind can't begin to fathom having nothing to do.
As I planned my retirement I built in plenty to do but I think I over shot the job.


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I grew up on a farm in the 40s-50s. There was (is) never nothing to do. Looking for a bit more fun? Not on a farm None of it was (is) fun. Just work. Unlike today's environment were people looking for jobs (not necessarily work) want to have fun. That's not everyone, just some - Probably a minority -I hope.