8/16/19
(Above: The third air-conditioner to grace Jacobhouse. It is the cheapest unit thus far, yet it was the easiest installation, blows the coldest air, and generates no negative air pressure.)
Preface: It’s a late-night log again, so I will only be able to do a once-through revision. Fortunately, this lack of time is indicative of a day productively spent.
Building Summary: Today I began my time at Jacobhouse by enclosing the space above the oven hood. This process consisted of cutting a 27-7/16″ x 1″ piece of aluminum angle stock for the front, four 10″ x ¾” pieces for the side of the aluminum pieces Charlie gave me a while back, and two ~ 9″ x ¾” pieces for the postern portion. After jig-sawing a receptacle hole* in the east-piece, I commenced to rivet the strips of angle-stock to the Charlie-aluminum, using them both as a border and a way to fill in the imperfect gaps to either side. After riveting them in place, I did the same for the original 27″ piece. The electrical outlet was then inset back into its hole and the face-plate was installed.
After this, I set about adding hinges to the front step of Jacobhouse. I discovered that I could easily and effectively do this by applying the hinges to the front side of the of the step. It isn’t quite as convenient as a ‘front-lift’ treasure-chest, but the itemsI will be storing inside will not be accessed on a daily occurrence. To finish up the morning, I neatened up Jacobhouses’ tools, swept, taped the ventilation hoses to the ceiling** and headed home in the rain.
As stated in yesterday’s final note, I did venture down this afternoon and worked on installing the window AC unit. It was an overall easy task that took about forty-five minutes.
TIL: It is good to have the ventilation hoses slope upward directly behind the vent outlet. That way, if some wayward water gets in, it cannot pool.
Commentary: The hour is growing quite late, and I still have various activities that I want to tend to before the nightly repose. Saying this, there were two events today that merit a little bit of commentary. The first occurred this morning approximately twenty minutes after I rose from bed. I ventured outside and found it to be raining, yet the world was alight with a pervasive yellow glow. I commenced to walk down the lane toward Jacobhouse, and about midway (when I knew I would be able to see past the trees behind oldhouse), I turned and witnessed an amassment of molten gold. This mass was the sunrise attempting to pierce the veil of an approaching rain front, and even though there was no success in that regard, when I turned back toward Jacobhouse, the entire west was haloed by three faint rainbows.
As for highlight number two, the 8,000 BTU window air conditioner appears as if it will work quite well for Jacobhouse. Granted, it was raining today, but after I installed the appliance, it cooled the kitchen from 74 to 66 in less than 20 minutes. It was downright frigid, so I turned it to ECO / Auto setting. That revealed another perk of the window unit; it turns completely off when cooling isn’t need, granting me power savings that the portable A/C did not. It will be interesting to see how it works on a hot day, but at the moment it appears that the the third time’s the charm in regard to my air-conditioning shenanigans.
Final Note: Tomorrow is Farmer’s Market Saturday. Before and after that weekly adventure, I will be planning and beginning to build the frame for the kitchen counter.
*Receptachole. This was for the outlet into which the ovenhood / future microwave shall be plugged.
**Apparently, the portable A/C wanted to have a last laugh, and over the past couple rainy days had been sucking rainwater into the vent hoses. Thus, when I went to turn on the oven hood, I noticed some odd movements coming from the soffit. I poked at the hoses, and discovered them to be moving. Not normal movements either. It felt like there was an animal trapped in the line and it was trying to escape. Only when I felt that the temperature of the hose was quite cool did I realize what was happening. I proceeded to lift the lines and dump the collected rainwater out the front vents. One of the hoses had a good half gallon of water in them!