Rick's b.log - 2021/03/31
It is the 20th of April 2024 You are 3.137.192.3, pleased to meet you!

Fixing the blog

Search now works. It was a mass of regular expressions, all using the older (now removed) form of regex (eregi, split, etc). I must have copied that from a book or website.
Not a lot of that was retained. Because if I want to look for "needle" in "there is a needle in this haystack", then it's simpler to use a case insensitive string search than to figure out what regular expression will do what I want.
So, search now works like it did before. There's nothing fancy. It'll just look for words.

Update at 6pm: Mobile view works. Thanks Rob!

And... the toilet doesn't work

Long story short, I emptied the toilet with the mop and took the grinder off and opened it up. The motor doesn't turn unless it is turned by hand to get it going.
But I noticed something I hadn't noticed before. It was stiff.
So I hooked it up to my drill and gave it a spin unpowered and I could hear a sort of grinding coming from the motor that was hidden under the noise that it makes normally.

I think the problem isn't the capacitor, I think the problem might be the bearings or some sort of seal is on the way out. Or maybe it's rusty underneath? I don't know, I'm not going to look too deeply.

I'll leave it until the weekend to dry up a little back there, then I'll put everything back. I guess as long as it looks correct for the inspection, I don't imagine the person will want to see the toilet flush. What he'll be interested in is the lack of treatment, which is the other end of the pipe.

In the longer term... It's a Watermatic W12N (if I remember correctly). I can get a more modern version of that off Amazon for about €350. Or I can get a cheaper generic model for €120ish. But if I get the generic, I may need to have a plumber come out to fit it, as the outflow pipe is in a different place. There is a pipe running under the cistern (the old grinder ejected on the right, the current one on the left) but I don't really feel confident doing stuff with PVC piping that is expected to work under pressure. I'll just need to figure out whether the Watermatic is still going to be more expensive than the cheaper model plus plumber costs (apparently €30-70 per hour, plus €20-40 call out charge)...

Well, it's overcast and nowhere near as warm as it was yesterday. AccuWeather reckons the 5^th of April will have a low of -5°C, with -4°C the following night. If that is correct, it'll be devastating to the fruit trees, and it isn't until the end of May that temperatures may start to return to what they are right now.

So... tea and... I think I'll make myself a pizza.

Your comments:

John, 31st March 2021, 16:39

I think the proper word for a shot gibbler is "macerator".

Rick, 31st March 2021, 18:00

Yes, that is the correct word, but it seems English speaking people generally refer to it as a "grinder", which is why I used that term.  Still broken, whatever it is called... :-(

Rick, 31st March 2021, 18:16

Didn't have pizza in the end. Had a salad and some homemade cookies.  Thinking I might have a bowl of porridge for dinner.  As I suspected, I'm pretty washed out today. I'm still adjusting to summer time. With any luck, it'll just stay like this from now on with no more farting around switching the time twice a year for... remind me, what was the actual reason for that? It's only America, Canada, and much of western Europe (plus a bit of Australia) that changes their time. And, wasn't around the two wars that this was introduced, to save on coal and other fuels that were in short supply?    I've just had a look, and it seems that the EU is showing great leadership by kicking the issue to member states, meaning that the whole thing is effectively blocked. Wonderful.