After a ground-up rebuild of the master bath john (did the other two years ago), I thought I’d give myself a few notes in the event I have to tackle a rebuild again (in this house.)

There are only 3 screws holding the flange down to the floor. There should be 4, but by the time I got there, I didn’t have a screw, so there are still 3.

Because the flange was above the floor by about 3/4″, I did not need the funnel thing in the wax ring I had purchased. (Found this out via YouTube.) That is only needed if the flange is flush (so to speak) with the floor. So I bought another simple wax ring, and that seemed to work better.

The flange bolts were cut so that the cosmetic caps could fit over them. One of the cuts was rough, making it very hard to back the nut off. I had to also cut the new ones, but at least I cut them a bit higher to allow for a file-down if the problem persists with the new bolts. Tip: Buy taller caps?

Don’t use blue cleaner bricks in the tank. They are a mess and seeped into everything. Cleaning up blue gunk from many places.

Stuff some tissue down sewer pipe while working on flange / base to keep gases from coming up into the bathroom and knocking you out.

A while ago our dishwasher door quit going down smoothly when the spring on the right seemed to have broken. Then it got worse last week when the left spring seemed to have gone.

I backed out four screws and was able to slide / roll (back wheels) the dishwasher out half way. The electric cable prevented it from coming out any further, but that gave me enough access to see and get to the door springs.

The heavy-duty metal springs were fine. Instead, the “hinge cable” broke on the right and the “tension wheel” slipped on the left. The cable is no cable at all. It’s a small, thin braided rope clamped with plastic hook/loop things on the ends. I can’t believe they even last 10 pulls under tension.

In the attached photo, the rope slipped out of the hinge hook on the right. The tension wheel has a plastic peg (on back in this photo) that sits in a hole in the frame. The peg bent under pressure and will not stay in place.

I feel ridiculous ordering the replacement parts because they seem so poorly engineered. If I was a *real* engineer, I’d rebuild using galvanized cables and pulleys. But I’m not. $25.71 with shipping from RepairClinic.com.

Helpful video by Steve at PartSelect.

Our model is KitchenAid KUDL02FRSS0. Whirpool has the same model number.

Bought this knock off water filter for our refrigerator. Two-pack for half the price. Kathy says it didn’t work like the original filter.

So don’t buy WaterSentinel. (Picture.)

Instead get WF1CB PureSource Refrigerator Water Filter.

When we bought the house, there was a stagnant pod with a little stream of water streaming up in the middle. One of my early projects was to clean out the pond and clean the pump. It worked fine for several years until I had to replace it with Pump #2… which went out this winter after about three years. I’m amazed that these little pumps can run continuously under water for years.

Photo of pump #3 that is now installed and circulating the water. Just in time for spring. Note the little slica gell pack. Keeps moisture down. Wouldn’t want a pond pump getting moist.

Our garage door opener started making a thumping noise that got worse, and then it did not want to open our door. It sounded like the sound was coming from within the motor housing, so I figured something was busted bad. Started researching new openers.

I had previously fixed our opener when a chain guide sprocket had broken. Had to order over the internet. I thought I would take the housing apart to see what was wrong before going off to buy a new one. Piece of rubber fell out of the housing. About 5 inches of the inside of the drive belt had torn away. The thumping noise was the stripped part of the belt slipping on the drive wheel.

Ace Hardware. Lots of belts, but not the 3L 290 size. Lowe’s. Lawnmower belts only. Guy there said try Pep Boys, Autozone, or Napa. Pep Boys guy looked at it and brought out something that looked like a close match. Had to adjust the motor a tad for tension and the belt seems a bit too wide, but the garage door is going up and down fine. $12.70 beats $200.

Reference: Original belt is optibelt 3L 290 (H). Made in Germany (like my Passat.) Opener is an Allister II. Replacement belt Dayco Top Cog 15295 (11A0750). Has ribs on the outside where the 3L 290 was smooth. Doesn’t seem to matter. Looks like a much tougher auto belt. Aaargh.

Two plumbers came by on separate visits today to give us a quote on installing a gas valve in our kitchen so that we can get a new gas stove/range. (Currently have electric.) One quoted $475 and the other quoted $525. There is a gas pipe running under the floor where the stove is today carrying gas to the dryer. It is probably 12″ away from where we need the valve to be. That’s a lot of money for a little bit of pipe.

Grant thinks I should try to do it myself. So does this guy….

Moving A Gas Pipe

And here is an article on flexible piping.