Erik's Journal

Spa and pool lore

2008-07-18T06:11:44Z

Okay, so it's been a while since that last post about the spa.

I have learned a great deal since then.

First, if you have a spa or pool, the forum to check out is Trouble Free Pool. Those folks know their stuff, and unlike most pool/spa forums on the web, there is plenty of traffic, and just about all questions will be responded to promptly.

While draining the spa this time (only the second full drain down), I discovered that the conduit fitting in the light niche had been corroding. When the water level got down to the niche and it started draining, thick rusty water started coming out. I pulled the light, and a LOT of thick, opaque orange water came out.

So that changed things a bit.

First, it explained the iron contamination of my water. The clarifier and metal sequesterant I was pouring in were just barely staying ahead of it.

Second, I now believe that it was responsible for the fast depletion of bromine residual, and with the bromine being eaten up, other stuff was going wrong, too.

So I decided to postpone experimenting with other sanitizers, and give the 2-part bromine another chance. All bets are really off if you have something rusting away in your spa.

I repaired some more grout, just using the latex grout-in-a-tube that seemed to work fine last time.

Found a nylon conduit fitting to replace the steel one.

Nancy and I went over the rust stains on the inside with ascorbic acid and oxalic acid.

Upon refill, it was instantly apparent how bad the water had gotten. Since it had developed a tint rather than cloudiness, and it did it over a long period of time, we had gotten used to it.

I put in one packet of HTH Brom-Start, and a couple of ounces of MPS to get it started. Couple of cups of baking soda for TA, cup and a half of borax, and an ounce of dry acid to bring the pH back down.

I had installed a skimmer sock to keep podicarpus leaves from getting to the pump basket, and it turned orange from the rust that was still stuck to the walls, so I added one dose of sequesterant.

The water looks gorgeous. Very little bromine odor, too. The dry skin seems to have been related to lower pH, so I keep the pH up. Wanted it on the lower end for a while to free up any remaining rust, but it usually sits around 7.6.

My vintage Beachport spa

2008-06-27T02:12:27Z

So the big home improvement project around here has been finally getting my Craig's List freebie vintage octagonal spa operational.

It's an old school commercial-style setup, with a freestanding gas heater, pump, and filter, rather than the newer kind that has all of its guts (including electric heater) stuffed under the skirt.

It sat for years next to the cottage that houses Euthymia Labs, and I finally decided that now was the time.

The shell is a fiberglass/gelcoat Beachport from the early '80's, the heater is a Raypak 155B, the pump is a 1HP Sta-Rite Dura-Glas (plenty for the 4 jets in the spa), and the filter is a 100sq. ft. Posi-Flo. All top-of-the-line shit; you could run a decent size in-ground pool with that support system. I found an old Len Gordon air switch controller/timer for free on Craig's List and that's what runs it.

During the recent heat, we've let the spa drop down to 90 degrees, using it as a cool plunge. The Raypak can bring it up to 105 in about 15 minutes, so we don't bother to run the heater between hot soaks.

So. My question for those of you who have pools and or spas: how do you take care of your water?

I've started out with 2-part bromine, putting bromine salts in the water and shocking with potassium monoxypersulphate after each soak (I'm in the thing about twice a day at this point).

I'm not totally happy with this. Bromine does have an odor and can dry the skin, although it's not as susceptible to those effects as chlorine (after being traumatized by poorly-maintained chlorine pools in childhood, I can't stand the smell of the stuff-also, it is said not to like heat).

Also, my water has clouded up a few times, despite maintaining about a 7.6 to 7.8 pH and 100-ish TA according to my 4-in-1 test kit. No stale smell, just cloudiness. I've dribbled in some of that polymeric clarifier stuff and it went away.

I battled the pH and TA for a while, bouncing between too high pH and too low TA until I figured out that I just needed to bring up the TA with baking soda and then drop the pH with sodium bisulfate and keep doing that until it settled down.

There seems to be iron in our fill water, so I put some Metal Gon sequestering agent in yesterday.

I've been thinking of trying to switch over to Pristine Blue next drain-down.

All of the sanitizer systems seem to work great for some and poorly for others. Some folks swear by Baquicil, others scoff at anything other than good ol' chlorine, there are some bromine haters, and others whose tubs practically gave their families leprosy until they tried (insert name of favorite system here) after which they merely had to toss in a capful of stuff once a week and otherwise forget about it.

So what have you used? What do you like? Do you know someone who's had particularly good luck with this or that system?

Rockin' the Steven Segal hairdo, checking the temperature, air button in hand:

There's actually a name for it?

2007-09-28T08:39:19Z

This description fits me pretty much perfectly, from about high school on.

Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome

A man, a Strat, and 3 Sharpies

2007-09-28T08:35:07Z

I was going to call it "The Pollockaster," for Jackson Pollock, but then I realized that I had the colors of coleslaw on there, so it's "The Slawcaster."

The purple is in honor of Prince, and the orange was Nancy's idea. Green went well with them.

Wise sayings

2007-08-31T01:10:37Z

Over the course of my career, I've coined a couple of sayings, and I've been told some wise things that I have never heard anywhere else.

One refers to what I call "Allison's Ratio," in honor of Kevin Allison, the guy who first explained it to me by saying:

"When the shit-to-money ratio gets too high, you bail."

I have since come to realize that all employment has an accompanying shit-to-money ratio. So perhaps we'll call that "Miller's Elaboration on Allison's Ratio."

"All gainful employment carries a shit-to-money ratio."

The next is one that I came up with myself, although with input from a number of bosses and companies:

It's called "Miller's Reminder" and it states that "The company is not your friend."

I first remember stating it one holiday season while watching coworkers spit bullets about how in past years, they got cash bonuses in the thousands of dollars, but that year, they each got an umbrella with the company logo silkscreened on it (nice umbrella, I still use mine 12 years later). They had worked overtime, skipped lunch hours, etc. all with the expectation that each December, the company would give them the financial pat-on-the back. It was unfair, said they, they felt deceived and cheated.

What they seemed to be forgetting is that their relationship with the company was a business one, and that the company would always do what was best for it as a whole, not them as individuals. When the company gave them generous cash bonuses, it was not because they "deserved" them for working so hard, it was because the company wanted them to continue to work hard and feel good about doing so. Workers who feel good about what they do tend to do better work.

An addendum to Miller's Reminder states that the company will act in a friendly manner in order to get you to do things that it wants you to do, but its acting in such a manner should not be mistaken for any kind of altruism. Some bosses will indeed pretend that the company is your friend; perhaps they even believe it themselves. Individuals within the company, even the owner(s) may actually indeed be your friend(s), but this, too should not be confused with the company as an entity being your friend.

Swap 2

2007-08-31T00:46:41Z

It was a success, and here is a set of photos.

Sunny afternoon in Alameda

2007-05-30T23:41:04Z

She broke a toenail earlier, so we can't throw the disc. Can't stop a dog from dreaming, though. There's always cool grass to chew on if the human won't entertain us:

Meet British Steel ("Brit" for short)

2007-05-29T04:22:29Z

Here's the 1963 Raleigh from the last post.

I stripped the frame with Jasco, sanded the rust off and put a couple of dabs of Bondo on, and took it around the corner to our local auto body shop. They charged my $50 to paint it as well as transfer the chainguard braze-ons from the Professor frame to this one.

Headset and bottom bracket overhauled, new cable for the brake, new shift cable, new indicator spindle for the Sturmey hub, chain bathed in degreaser, chrome polished, gel seat from the bargain bin at Alameda Bicycle, bell from the bargain bin at Cycle City, lights from the LED Guys' table at the LARK Swap, chainguard from the old bent Professor Raleigh bike I had to scrap (damn that thing has been a great source of parts), temporary front wheel from a rustbucket Japanese 3-speed I got for free (runs pretty well after a hub repacking).

Still to do: Find a suitable axle for the front wheel. It came with a replacement axle and cone set where the cones are too small to protect the bearings from dirt. It will probably have to be an original Raleigh unit.

Also want to get some good tires for it. The rear tire is the bike's old front tire (Dae Yung brand, say it out loud), bald and cracking, and the front tire is the one that was on the heinous rustbucket 3-speed. I either want a pair of Bontrager Sport skinwalls or Continental CityRide whitewalls. Tires are harder to find in the 26 x 1 3/8 size, but not impossible.

The front brake is completely missing, and this time I don't want to just go with the $6 Longs Drug replacement. There are a couple of suitable better-quality replacements, and I'll probably need to order one.

Took it out today for its first nice long ride (from home, around Bay Farm Island and back), and it goes like a dream. It has this feeling of effortlessness, as if I'm doing more guiding than powering. It's the first bike I've ever owned that I can ride hands free. Dunno why, but my Sting Ray wouldn't do it, my salvage 3-speed in Sunnyvale couldn't do it, and none of the more recent 3-speeds would do it, including Krishna, the blue Raleigh Sports, theoretically the same model of bicycle as British Steel.

I'll get a daylight photo up, but I'm so psyched I couldn't wait to show it off.

The newest English 3-speed (a Huffy Sportsman?)

2007-05-04T04:15:01Z

Another free bicycle! This one's a keeper for sure.

The frame had a big "Made in England" decal on the downtube, and I couldn't make it out at first, but the seatpost decal said "Sportsman."

It has the "generic" chainwheel rather than the Raleigh heron.

Turns out that in the late '50's, Huffy started importing Sports models made by Raleigh, calling the model The Sportsman.

I stripped the frame (amazing how quickly that goes with experience) and took it over to the auto body shop around the corner from my home. They say they'll paint it black (with primer and clearcoat) for $40 if I do the surface prep, which I think is a hell of a deal.

There is some surface rust, and someone sloppily slapped some black paint on top, so the original finish is a total loss. I took most of the paint off with gel stripper, and am hand-sanding for the final prep. I'm also going to Bondo in a couple of slight dings before I take it to the body shop.

It has the flat Endrick rims, which Raleigh supplied on all of the non-Raleigh branded bikes of that era.

My plan is to turn it into a Raleigh, using the heron chainwheel, heron headbadge, and Raleigh chainguard from the old professor.

The generic chainwheel will go nicely on my Phillips-built Indian Scout.

It's that time of year again!

2007-03-04T19:47:43Z

Yes, the anniversary of my first trip to London. 16 years it's been and it STILL freaks me out.

Every year, getting the creeps, people wondering about the haunted look in my eyes, distraction.

I'd really rather be living in the present.

Oh well, at least Leonard Cohen understands.

"I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you
And even though
It all went wrong
I'll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah"

Pictures of the swap

2007-01-15T21:39:45Z

The first Bay Area Musicians and DIY Electronics Swap Meet at 924 Gilman Street in Berkeley was a great success, and I managed to remember to take some pictures.

We'll be doing more of them; I don't know when yet, but they will happen.

Here are the photos.

Most recent book read

2007-01-13T08:23:18Z

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell.

Nancy turned me on to this author, having picked up his latest, Black Swan Green in the "new" section at the library.

I read that book and enjoyed it a great deal; it was a pretty straightforward account of a year in the life of a young boy in 1980's England. A few magical elements, but nothing over the top.

I checked out Number9 Dream and read it, and after having a hard time getting past the first chapter, enjoyed it a great deal. That one, unlike Black Swan Green, is almost a science fiction novel, set in Japan in the near future. There are at least 2 stories-within-the-story in the form of some children's short stories the protagonist encounters, and a wartime diary he encounters. Really amazing in structure and content.

Cloud Atlas is 6 stories each told in two parts, the first starting in the 19th century, going through the more recent past and into the near and then distant future, and back again. The stories also relate to each other, both superficially when characters in one story read or watch another of the stories, and more fundamentally in theme. Never quite read anything like it, and I highly recommend it. One character in Black Swan Green appears, and another from Number9 Dream is referred to.

Electra 3-speed poetry in motion

2006-12-04T00:22:36Z

Looks like Electra has come out with an update on the classic 3-speed.

The Amsterdam.

It comes with either a steel or aluminum frame.

Robertson Davies

2006-12-04T00:05:51Z

I recently finished Robertson Davies' Murther and Walking Spirits.

He is so good.

Sometimes I read a book and get a quote that I would like to keep. When Davies is on, there's about one every two or three pages that jumps off the page and lands in my heart.

Euthymia Concertina amplifier

2006-10-26T21:14:44Z

It's a handwired tube amp, designed and built by me, for under $1000:

And my dog, too.

Bridgeside Center scouting report

2006-10-03T03:04:51Z

Took the dog out for a walk and went by Bridgeside Shopping Center, which is quickly approaching move-in readiness.

This is the shopping center nearest my home, a 2 block walk away. It was near derelict when I moved here 7 years ago, having lost its supermarket anchor, Lucky.

Lucky/Albertson's didn't want to compete with itself when they opened at Fruitvale Center across the freeway in Oakland, so they pulled the plug on the store at Bridgeside.

After that, soon exited the bank, cleaners, liquor store, etc., until by the time I saw it, there was a Rite Aid (surviving co-anchor), Subway, Round Table Pizza, Baskin-Robbins, and Winchell's Donuts. Also a coin laundromat.

I used to pick up donuts to share with my coworkers until one morning I beheld a "closed" sign.

The city of Alameda, unable to deal with the Canadian owners of the property, finally had the site officially declared "derelict," and solicited proposals.

The overwhelming favorite was by Foothill Partners to develop the site as a (more intelligently managed) shopping center.

I watched them demolish the old center and have been watching as they bring up the new one. Looking pretty good, with pavement and even landscaping in now.

The fence was open, so I took the dog in to have a preliminary stroll, and noticed that some of the storefronts even have signs telling what's going in them. The roster so far: The UPS Store, Lynn's Nails, Beauty Source, Ohana Hawaiian BBQ, The Cheese Steak Store, Starbucks, Pet Food Express, Subway, Baskin-Robbins, Round Table Pizza, Fresh Cleaners, Nob Hill Foods, and Nob Hill Gas Station.

My thoughts on this lineup? "Eh."

In the meetings, they talked about having a sit-down restaurant at the bridge end of the center, on the water. Looks like Pet Food Express got that space. There's no site there that I can see for a restaurant.

Of course, just getting the Nob Hill is HUGE, not to have to use an automobile to go grocery shopping will be brilliant, and I'll like having a UPS Store. But nothing else on the list piques my interest at all. Whoopee, the usual list of fast food places.

Nice to get the Baskin-Robbins back; we don't have too many of those in the East Bay. I don't think Oakland has even one.

We're also supposed to get a drug store; no indication what kind yet.

My new VTVM

2006-09-02T02:55:41Z

My tube dealer and I worked the ASVARO Electronics Swap Meet in Cupertino last month and had a good day. He sold tons of tubes, as well as a bunch of surplus electronic parts he's had sitting in his basement for months.

I finally sold some of the bags of silver Teflon wire I'd made up, 100' of 5 different colors for $10. A heck of a deal, really, and I'd been bringing them for months to LARK with no takers.

I came home with a dozen vintage electronics books, including a Radiotron Designer's Handbook v. 3 and an RCA Receiving Tube Manual RC-20. I already have the RC-30 reprint, but the RC-20 has some pinout diagrams that were left out of later editions. Very handy to have around the repair shop when older stuff comes in.

We've been to our last LARK Swap for a couple of months; that Robertson Park location has just driven off the business and ASVARO is so much better both for selling and for shopping.

One thing I did pick up at the last LARK was a Triplett 850 vacuum tube voltmeter. I always keep a VTVM powered up on the amp bench. One takes voltage measurements so often in amp work that it's good to have a dedicated meter for it, and analog works great in this application, and VTVM's are just cool anyway. This Triplett has a huge scale, and the set of ranges I like on my Heathkit IM-11.

I paid $15 for it, and the guy threw in a couple of books that I wanted. I didn't really need another VTVM, but it looked so great I just grabbed it.

I've been busy setting up my electronics shop in its new location in the cottage at the rear of my property, and just got around to checking out this VTVM. Downloaded the manual, replaced the ground wire, hooked up a probe I made for my (so far) ill-fated Senior Volt-Ohmyst, and set about calibrating it. Good sign: where most VTVM's have 3 pots for calibration, this one has 6! Some omit a separate pot for calibrating the -DC scale, but with bias, it's a pretty important scale.

Calibrated it against my Fluke 8025B, damn, this thing is scary accurate. Best I've seen in a VTVM. Less than 1%.

Psyched, I did a Google search for "Triplett 850" and found this page:

http://www.slack.com/Photo/asvaro3/target20.html

This guy goes to the local electronics swaps and takes pictures of stuff that he finds interesting. Seems to have a fondness for old VTVM's.

This picture is from the ASVARO Swap prior to the one I just attended. And it is MY Triplett 850. The scratch on the meter lens at the upper left, and the letters "PT..." engraved on the control plate match mine.

My newest piece of test equipment is already Internet Famous.

Yo La Tengo pedal board

2006-08-12T05:23:39Z

This afternoon, a friend of mine who happens to be Yo La Tengo's guitar tech dropped by Euthymia Labs' new facility with a new pedal board he had just assembled for Ira.

He needed to use some of our equipment and I helped him debug the signal flow of a new custom switch box (seen on the top row).

Sorry for the pinch in the middle; it's a stitched panorama. I took an overall shot, but it was blurry.

Newest addition to the household

2006-08-01T19:14:03Z

Her name is Kittery (or "Kitt") and she's about to turn 5.

Perfect for the grocery store

2006-07-26T08:59:45Z

The Boston Roadster

If you don't mind leaving an $1800 bicycle in the rack at Trader Joe's, that is.

That is a bad-ass ride, to be sure, but I think for the coins, he could do better than that $10.00 Wald chainguard.

The Indian Scout bicycle

2006-07-23T10:24:19Z

Found out some information on that Indian Scout English 3-speed I obtained a couple of weeks ago.

I had my mechanic remove the bottom bracket assembly so that I could get the frame painted, and he just threw everything in a plastic bag. Today, I decided to examine the parts more closely, to see if the cups were original (the spindle, chainwheel, and cranks were oddballs marked "Bridgestone.").

Too much crud to see anything, so I got out the degreaser and gave everything a bath. The bearing cups were original, and as it turns out, my suspicions were confirmed: it's a pre-Raleigh Phillips.

Had some fun dry-fitting everything back together. I put the bearings, cups, and spindle all back together with no grease and tied the whole thing with a rubber band. Educational to see how it goes together outside the actual bottom bracket tube. The bearings were in really bad shape, black corrosion or something that wouldn't come off with the degreaser. Everything else was in good shape, though.

I guess when I put it together, I'll use the cranks and spindle from the Malaysian Raleigh 3-speed I bought and partsed out. In this case, the distinctive "heron" chainwheel will be a giveaway that the Indian Scout ain't all there, but I can keep a lookout for a more generic one.

Perhaps a trip to Faber's would prove fruitful....

Makes me think of my career in IT

2006-07-18T22:04:11Z

"Tell Mr. Man with impossible plans to just leave me alone"

-Elliot Smith "Waltz #2 (XO)"

1979 Raleigh Sports 21" Gents'

2006-07-12T07:44:23Z

This one's actually from Nottingham, England.

I think I'm going to call it Krishna because of the color. It's either that or Nightcrawler (as in the X-Man).

Compare this photo to the earlier photo of The Professor (Rust in Pieces) below, and you'll perhaps notice that Krishna's head tube is shorter.

The only thing wrong with Krishna was a missing front brake assembly, and it took me just minutes to put on the one from The Professor.

So what of yesterday's plans to build up a bike from the Indian frame, etc.?

I checked Craig's List today and a guy who said he was in Alameda had 3 Raleigh Sportses for sale. I emailed him that I wanted to see them, and he phoned me about 30 seconds after I hit "Send." We chatted about the bikes, and on a hunch, I asked him if he was a musician.

Turns out that not only was he a musician, he had been to my place with a friend who was getting an amp fixed, AND he had a couple of broken amps of his own that needed repair.

So I'm not paying any cash for the above bike; it's all service barter.

I still plan to build up another bike around the Indian Chief frame, but I'll be doing it at my leisure.

How's the ride on Krishna? Well, as I told Nancy, it's no Mrs. Green, but it's the real thing.

Mrs. Green is just a freaking amazing machine. Tight, nimble, runs like the proverbial Swiss watch.

Krishna has a little different feel, more like Mrs. Brown, Nancy's 1981 Ladies'. I'm very happy with the bicycle. I'll be selling off the Schwinn Suburban and Mr. B Natural. At the moment we have 6 bikes in the basement....

One more note

2006-07-11T06:36:20Z

To add to the weirdness factor, while I was dismantling The Professor this evening, I discovered that it's NOT strictly an English Raleigh. Yep, on the seat tube is a sticker saying that it was manufactured in Malaysia.

I wonder if the guy I bought it from picked it up while touring Asia.

More adventures in 3-speed land

2006-07-11T06:29:51Z

Last update was a photo of a sweet '72 Raleigh Sports I bought from a retired Stanford professor.

Right after buying it, I took it into a bike shop near Stanford to obtain a new Sturmey-Archer indicator spindle. That's the little chain thingie that comes out of the 3-speed hub's axle and which gets pulled on to shift.

Anyway, the guys in the shop, older dudes, really liked the bike and we struck up a conversation about vintage 3-speeds. One of them was really into rod brakes, and it just so happens I rescued a rod brake Phillips roadster from the dumpster last week (which gave up its Dynohub and AWC hubs). I told him that the next time I was in the area, I'd bring him the rest of the bike. The other guy told me about his backyard collection of vintage bike parts, including some English 3-speed frames. Said if I was looking for anything else in that line, to get in touch.

When I finally took the Professor out for a spin, I noticed that the front wheel really wanted to pull to the right, and that the bike as a whole did not like to turn left. Crappy handling; very much not what I would expect from a bike of its pedigree. I also noticed that the standover height of the crossbar was kinda close to the family jewels.

More research ensued, during which I found out that the weird handling was probably due to a bent fork, which is fairly easily adjustable on a steel bike. Also, I determined that the frame was a 23" frame, not the 21" that is best suited to my height. I had been riding Nancy's 19" Ladies' Sportsters, and they were on the small side, although still very comfortable.

Anyway, I took the bike down to my bike mechanic, who is one of my amp repair clients. He oohed and aahed over the bike, saying what great shape it was in, etc. Got a phone call from him a couple days later, and it turns out that the frame is bent. He showed me, and we puzzled it out and figure that someone backed into it with a car. The bike showed no signs of having been in an accident severe enough to throw its frame out of whack.

The final ugly conclusion was that the Professor's frame was junk.

Got on the phone to the guy who said he had all the English 3-speed parts, and he expressed confidence that he could dig up a frame to which I could transfer the rest of the Professor's components. Called me the next day to say that he had found most of an Indian Scout 3-speed.

Apparently, the Indian motorcycle company used to import English 3-speeds (from Phillips and Raleigh, I think) with their name on them for sale in the U.S.

Hopped in the truck this afternoon with the remains of the Phillips Roadster in the back and headed for this guy's place in San Mateo. He traded me straight across for the Indian Scout.

The Indian Scout appears to have been a project bike someone lost interest in. The crankset had been replaced with a modern Bridgestone castoff, and the cabling was poorly installed. No seat. But both mudguards, a pair of (non-original) wheels with a SA hub on the back, and the ghost of a really cool "Indian" decal on the seatpost. Some surface rust, badly oxidized paint.

I set about stripping everything from the frame except for the crankset, which I did not have the tools to remove. The headset cones and bearings were dry, with the fossilized remains of some kind of grease glued to the cone surfaces. The chain was rusty.

But the frame looked great stripped down, with a stamped aluminum Indian chief headbadge. Nancy encouraged me to go ahead and get the frame repainted, and set about looking on Indian motorcycle enthusiast sites for a reproduction decal (which we found).

I took the stripped frame and fork to my mechanic when I went to pick up the Professor, and he enthused about the prospect of helping me restore it. He also did me the kindness of popping out the headset cones and removing the crankset, etc.

All I need to do now is prepare the surface of the frame for painting and find someone to paint it black for me. There is an auto body shop near my home (close enough to get the slightest whiff of paint solvent when the wind is right), and I'm going to take it over to them and see what they say.

One issue I noticed is that in order to transfer the chainguard from the Professor to the Indian, I'll need to find some way to attach it to the downtube and seat tube. It lacks the braze-ons that the Raleigh has. Perhaps a bike shop could braze on the brackets before I have it painted....

Anyway, the saga continues, and it looks like I'm going to wind up with a really cool unique bike when the dust and rust clear.

Advice welcome.