Archive for Life
Troubleshooting Ceiling Fan Problem – Fan Works But Only On One Speed Low
Live serves up its lessons in funny ways sometimes.
In the master bedroom there is a ceiling fan. It has a rotating fan switch that allows you to select multiple speed for the fan from the wall switch, High, Medium, and Low. There is no need to pull the chain.
It worked when we moved in and worked for years afterwards. Shortly after having our kitchen and bathroom remodeled it started acting a little funny. The ceiling fan would turn on by using the wall switch, but it would only work on one speed, Low speed. Turning the knob to High or Medium did nothing.
Because it occurred within a few months of the remodel and because our house’s wiring has always been a little bit flakey anyway, I figured that there must be some sort of electrical problem.
I checked the wiring in the switch box. All good.
I checked the wiring in the ceiling fan box. All good.
I checked the fuse box (which is actually a circuit breaker box, who knew?). Good as far as I could tell.
I boned up on electricity and how home electrical systems work. I did Internet research. I read books. I checked out more books from the library. I read How To websites. I read forums for electricians, homeowners, contractors, and do it yourselfers.
I bought a Voltmeter to test with. All good.
I bought an electrical outlet tester to make sure no outlets were miswired, or missing their ground connection, or whatever.
Finally, for whatever reason, I bought a new ceiling fan switch. I knew it wouldn’t work, but it was cheap and I figured what the heck.
I changed the ceiling fan switch out, and rewired it exactly like it was before.
Guess what?
IT WORKED!
I fixed the ceiling fan by doing the most obvious thing there was. I would have started there in our last house which was a new construction house in the suburbs, but because our house was older, with some quirks and because we had recently remodeled, I assumed it was something to do with the house, not something obvious.
Today’s Life Lesson
Don’t make things harder than they are.
The simplest answer is usually the right one.
Everyone already knows this. Don’t let the circumstances or current situation distract you from this truth. Whether it’s a problem at work, at home, with your car, or with your house, always start at the easiest possible thing to try and then work your way up to the harder stuff. It will save you a lot of trouble.
Talk to your boss or your spouse. Fill up your car’s gas tank and check the oil and other fluids. Do these things before moving on to elaborate schemes, carefully crafted letters or emails, or changing things like the serpentine belt.
Start easy. It will work most of the time, and that means that more of your problems will be easier to solve instead of more of your problems being harder to solve.
What Is A 3-Alarm Fire
I did some research for an article recently that was kind of interesting.
The definition of a three-alarm fire or the definition of a 3-alarm fire is not set thing across all fire departments. The term three-alarm fire simply means that 3 different sets of units were requested to handle a particular fire.
In fact, it appears to be one of those terms repeatedly thrown around in the media because it is an official sounding term that carries a lot of “zip” for the average reader.
What is a 3-Alarm Fire or Multiple-Alarm Fire Really?
Firefighters, of course, respond to many different kinds of emergency calls ranging from false alarms from a building’s alarm system, to car accidents, and in most cities, as medical support as well. The purpose for which firefighters are most known is fighting fires, particularly those in buildings.
A fire in a building is referred to generically as a structural fire.
When a structural fire is reported, a single unit is dispatched to the scene, unless there are special factors like being a large or multi-story building, or chemicals, and so on. For a regular run of the mill fire though, a single unit responds.
How big a unit is, and what kind of trucks and equipment are in it depends upon the fire department and the type of fire. Bigger fire departments have bigger units. Fire departments like those in Manhattan have completely different units because almost every fire will be a multi-story fire, and they need to have the proper personnel and equipment.
This first response, however large that is, is termed Initial Full Alarm by the NPFA, or National Fire Protection Association. The NPFA publishes NFPA 1710 which is a guide for standard fire department organization and deployment.
Once that first unit arrives on scene it begins to assess the fire situation. If the fire is big enough, or if there are going to rescue operations, or some other factor makes the situation more dangerous or volatile than a small house fire, they will put out a call for more help. This call is the second alarm and turns that particular fire into a two alarm fire.
Ironically, two-alarm fires are often more rare than three-alarm fires because if help is needed, then you usually need more than just a little help. Thus, multiple-alarm fires are almost always at least 3-alarm fires except in the biggest cities or in rural areas where a third alarm mean getting firefighters from another town.
Hypothetically, if only one extra unit responded to the scene and then more help was needed, that third call would be the third-alarm and would make it a 3-alarm fire.
Additional units responding would be the 4th alarm, and 5th alarm and so on.
An article at Slate recounts a 10-alarm fire in New York. In New York, a two-alarm fire means that 25 units and 106 firefighters are dispatched, while a three-alarm fire would send 33 units and 138 firefighters.
In Broward County, FL, the first-alarm response to a residential fire is three engines, an aerial unit, a rescue unit, and a battalion chief, which works out to about 15 firefighters for the initial response.
Now, you know what a three-alarm fire means and what it doesn’t mean. If you are really curious about what it means it in your home town, contact your local fire department and ask. Tell them you are doing research and they’ll be happy to tell you.
Binaural Beats the True Scientific Results
I am frequently looking into various medications, technologies, and research with an eye on self-improvement. Frankly, there isn’t much wrong with me, so generally, I go looking for something that might be a little extra bonus. There isn’t much out there for that.
Recently I came across something called binaural beats which are two different beats, or sounds, played simultaneously to each ear that differ in frequency by some amount. The theory is that the brain perceives this stimulus in a specific manner and that this brain response can be used to create or improve certain mood states. Some sites claim an ability to mimic illegal drug affects by essentially making your brain feel like it is on cocaine through these beats. Less far-fetched claims include the ability to sleep better, improve mood, and give you more energy and alertness.
A quick Google search turns up two red flags. Red flag number one is that the only sites popping up are those from ardent proponents who are, of course, selling the secret to these beats. Red flag number two is that the Wikipedia entry is littered with those this section needs actual data type messages.
In cases like these, I turn to PubMed, the government’s online database of published research studies. At PubMed you can read the actual research and not just the pull quotes supporters use to make it sound like their science is a foregone conclusion.
It didn’t take long to find a slew of “No effect” conclusions from the research studies undertaken. This is where the pushers jump in with their “Yeah, but…”. Ironically, the “Yeah, but…” to everyone of their points is, “Yeah, but, no one actually has even the slightest proof that what you are saying is true, except for one scientist whose research is at least fifty years old.”
The newer and more current the research gets (the better the technology and methodology used) the worse the results get.
The real shocker about these beats was this binaural beat technology research study which found that there was an increase in depression and worse memory recall after using the binaural beats. Yikes!
I guess you can tell, this one is not something I’ll be getting into.
Bugs Bunny Cartoons Teach Classical Music Appreciation
I couldn’t decide if this was really sad, or really funny. I’ve decided to be the optomistic glass half-full type this morning, so I’m going with funny.
From DealNews.com:
Amazon.com offers its 5 Hours of Classical Favorites, an assortment of 49 DRM-free classical music MP3 tracks, for $3.99. That’s easily the best total price we could find for such a collection. You may not recognize the individual names, but if you’ve watched a handful of Bugs Bunny cartoons, you’ve probably heard most of these. Amazon MP3 Downloader is required.
