So our new house, as blessed as we are to live in it, is not without troubles. Many of these are somewhat daunting either in the skill (I don’t have) in the funds (I don’t have) to repair them.

For this reason it was very heartening to be able to correctly diagnose and actually solve a problem, as trivial as it may sound. I made the doorbell work! (Looks around and realizes that nobody is applauding.)

Amber and I don’t watch TV, largely because of time (we don’t have) and cable (we don’t have.) However, we have found via DVD, etc that we absolutely love the show ‘House.’ If you haven’t seen it yet, do yourself a favor and don’t. There are 20 45 minute episodes in the first season and once you start it’ll be a black hole — the word ‘addictive’ indeed covers it. When faced with the choice “45 minutes of sleep or 45 minutes of house” I have frequently chosen the latter.

Anyway, the whole “solve the buggy doorbell” experience smacked of House to me. Doorbell presents with faint and usually non-existent dinger. Diagnostics suggest no power is getting to the bell unit when button is pressed, implicating the (invisible, in the attic) transformer. Doorbell’s installers have moved on so we have no paitent history. Why would a solid state transformer just die? It doesn’t make sense. Nothing has changed in the attic, wiring seems sound. Ah ha! The button is outside, exposed to the elements. Perhaps though the button is being pushed, the circuit is never being completed! Quick work with the screwdriver reveals the situation more clearly than an MRI showing a previously invisible thyroid tumor. The former owners had painted the front area without properly masking the doorbell button. This led to overspray getting all over the copper contacts, other than the part which was covered by the wiring itself. As the button was pushed, the wires wiggled around a bit, and were now contacting more and more paint instead of copper, leading to the degraded and finally non-existent performance. (This of course would all be illustrated with dramatic 3d animation.) A few swipes with some antibiotic sandpaper, and House Dr. strides (limps) back inside smiling, the welcoming carillion chiming victory.

Jan 25, 12:50 AM − Posted in Ramble