Baseboard Hot Water Heat Diverter

We have baseboard hot water heat.  In the baby's room his bureau obstructs nearly half of the baseboard heaters in the room.  Since the bureau is topped with bookshelves, it traps the heat against the outside wall.  Typically its not an issue, but in the dead of winter when the temp drops below 30 and goes far lower at night, his room can get to five or six degrees colder than the rest of the floor.

Rather than move the bureau which would mess up the decor and flow of the room, I decided to divert the heat from behind the bureau into the room.

I made an assembly out of some Reflectix insulation I had lying around, using computer fans, and a temperature controller.  The assembly sits on top of the heater behind the bureau suspended by 6 command hooks.  The temperature controller is set to go on at 75 degrees, with the sensor placed inside the baseboard heater.  So very quickly after the heat goes on, the fans start spinning to move warm air from the heater, around the bureau, and out into the room.  A nice feature of this setup is that the fans continue to spin until the temperature at the baseboard returns down to 75 degrees, so long after the heater turns off, the diverter continues to blow warm air into the room.

Results were good.  After 30 minutes the room is 28% warmer using the diverter than without it.  In the middle of a cold night, the room is generally not more than 2 degrees colder than the rest of the house.  When the heat comes on, it heats quicker, and stays warmer for a longer period of time.

Materials:

• Reflectix Insulation
• Duct or foil tape
• Computer fans (I used 3ea 120mm)
• 12V power supply
• 12V molex extensions
• Inkbird ITC-308 temperature controller
• Zip ties or elastic cord (1/8" shock cord)

1. Measure how long the piece of furniture is that you want to divert heat around
2. Cut a piece of Reflectix long enough to pass along the length of heater you wish to divert.
3. Form the Reflectix into a U shape for the length of the heater
4. Fit the computer fans into the Reflectix and secure by cutting holes or slats in the sides of the Reflectix and securing by wrapping around with the zip ties or elastic cord
5. Daisy chain the fans to each other using the Molex extensions
6. Create a mating piece of tube made of of Reflectix to wrap around, or go underneath the furniture, exhausting into the room
7. Connect the one of the fans to the 12V power supply
8. Connect the 12V power supply to the Inkbird controller
9. Set the Inkbird controller to come on 5 degrees warmer than your highest thermostat setting

There are a number of variations that could be done.  If you didn't have Reflectix you could potentially fix the fans directly above the heater and fit a piece of cardboard on top moving the air over the heater and around the furniture.  Instead of cardboard you could use plastic gutter.  You could use aluminum dryer ducting to go around the furniture.  

I also used 120mm computer fans, but think 90mm may be better for a lower profile or to mate with aluminum dryer ducting.

Soften Sunbutter

Today we live in a world of allergies and the one that affects kids the most is peanuts.  No more delicious peanut butter and jelly or fluffer-nutter sandwiches at lunch, or your child is likely relegated to a "special" table, despite being in the majority of non-allergic kids.

There are numerous products to get around the peanut butter problem, and one of the most popular is Sunbutter.

Unfortunately Sunbutter is not very spreadable, even the creamy type.  And you can forget about it if you put it in the refrigerator, which I'm sure some of you do.

Fortunately there is a way to soften it up, you can microwave it.

Now you may have tried this and found that Sunbutter is microwave resistant, meaning it takes a long time to get results softening.

The trick is add water. 

1. Just add a little water to coat the bottom of your microwave safe container and put a dollop of Sunbutter on top. 
2. Microwave 30 seconds.
3. Drain excess liquid.
4. Spread!

Soften Dry Bread for Sandwiches

Sometimes when you get a loaf of bread, it's very dry.  This seems to happen more often with the expensive organic wheat or multi-grain loaves.

Dry bread can be off-putting to the little ones.

Fortunately there is an easy solution which will soften the bread. Once you are finished  you put it in the sandwich bag or container soon after, the bread will stay soft until they eat it for lunch.

To soften dry bread:

1. Take a paper towel and run some water over it to make it damp.
2. Wrap the paper towel around the bread.
3. Microwave on high for 10-15 seconds.

Breaking in Jeans with a Tri-Acid Wash

I received a pair of LL Bean Double L jeans for Christmas.  It's my first pair from Bean and they are a nice heavyweight material good for daily wear.  A negative to the heavy denim is that it was rather stiff.  I turned to the internet to search for ways to soften them up quickly.  There are plenty of articles on how to break in a pair of jeans.
I settled on a vinegar soak and wash followed by extended drying with tennis balls.  Of course this was too simple.  I didn't want to go the extra step to beat them with a bat or run them over with a car in the filthy New England winter.  So what could I do?
If the main acting agent in vinegar was acid, wouldn't more acid be better?  Well its worth a shot, instead of one acid I decided to use three.  Vinegar = acetic acid, Barkeepers Friend = oxalic acid, and pure citric acid.
A soak, acid wash, regular wash, and two dry cycles produced softer jeans with little to no fading on the dark wash jeans.  I did the process with the jeans inside out and the inside surfaces seemed to be softer than the outside indicating that the beating in the dryer had a bigger effect on the exposed surface.  I think repeating the dry cycles with the jeans normal side out would make the outside softer as well, and I might take the extra step next time I have some time.
Another good thing about the LL Bean Jeans is that they are affordable and it emboldened me to take a chance on the multiple acids.


Materials:

• Tennis Balls
• Dryer Balls
• Aluminum foil balls
• 1 Gallon White Vinegar (acetic acid)
• 1 TBS Barkeepers friend (oxalic acid)
• 1/4C Lemishine (citric acid)
• Laundry detergent (I used Woolite dark)

Process:

1. Soak the jeans in warm to hot water mixed with a half gallon of vinegar that just covers the jeans.
2. Dump the jeans and solution into the washer (most washing machines will drain prior to starting anyway)
3. Fill the pre-wash, main wash, and fabric softener dispensers with vinegar.
4. Add the Bar Keepers Friend and Lemishine. I put them on the bottom of the washer not touching the jeans.
5. Run the longest pre-soad/wash combination cycle that you have with warm water.
6. Add small amount of detergent to main wash, vinegar to fabric softener dispenser and run another wash cycle.
7. Put the jeans in the dryer with tennis balls (I used 4), dryer balls (I used 3), and aluminum foil balls (I used 2). You probably don't need the variety of balls, the point is to put a bunch in there. A half dozen of one kind or assorted should do it.  I just happened to have them all on hand. Note that the drying is going to be loud with all those balls in there.
8. Run dryer on low heat for longest cycle (mine was 1:50)
9. Repeat drying cycle 1 or more times as fits your schedule, on the second and subsequent you can switch to just air tumble (I ran them twice for a total of 3 hours and 40 minutes)
10. Enjoy your now softer jeans.

Bonus: All that acid does a great job of cleaning your washer, especially when you have a front loader.

Keeping Wooden Train Track in Place - 1 Year Follow Up

Just a quick note updating the command strip + wooden track project.

1 year later and everything still in place.  No movement of any piece.  Amazingly the kids haven't even pulled any of the taps out.

I highly recommend this method to hold a wooden train track in place.

I'm planning on building an inclined drag race table for an upcoming birthday party soon and plan on using this method again.

Mellisa and Doug Wooden Box Lids

The kids received several Melissa and Doug stamp kits as gifts over the holidays.
Each kit came in a small wooden box with dividers.
They are great for storage as long as you keep them upright. The problem is that they are open top boxes and come shrink wrapped in plastic, missing a key feature... a lid.

This drove me nuts so I decided to remedy the situation.

The result was a see through plastic lid secure enough to invert the kit without losing everything, yet still simple enough for a 2 year old to open.

All it took was about $5 in materials and 10 min of time.

Tools:

• Clamps (or tape) 
• Straight edge metal ruler (a guide) 
• Plastic cutter 
• Pliers
• Materials:
• Magnetic Tape 
• Clear acrylic panel
• Sandpaper, file, or concrete
• Sharpie Marker

Steps:

1.  Put the wood box on the panel and mark off the two sides to cut.
2. Clamp the guide to the panel (or tape it)
3. Score the line against the guide with the plastic cutter, repeat 10 times
    (a flat head screwdriver or any sharp pointed object that will scratch plastic will work)
4. Put the plastic on the edge of a table and snap off the edge
5. Repeat for the second edge
6. If you don't get a clean break you can use the pliers to snap off any jagged edges
7. Remove any sharp edges with sandpaper, a file, or by rubbing against a rough hard surface like concrete or brick
8. Affix a section of magnetic tape to the box. (my tape was too wide so I cut it in half lengthwise)
9. Cut a matching size piece and stick it to the one on the box. This is important to make sure that the pieces are in the correct orientation to attract and not oppose.
10. Repeat on all four sides
11. Remove the adhesive backs to the top magnets
12. Align and place down the plastic panel on top of the magnets
13. Use the sharpie to make a dot on one corner of the box and also matching on the plastic cover. This will make sure you put it back on in the correct orientation and will have no issues with the magnet orientation causing them to oppose and not secure.

Changing the Color of LED String Lights

Halloween was coming and I wanted to use battery powered LED string lights to illuminate around our pumpkins and a witch figure in the yard.

Problem was that I wanted to illuminate the pumpkins with orange lights and the witch with purple lights.  Pickings were slim on Amazon for these color choices, especially the orange.  The orange lights available were either too short, not rated for outdoor use, or a combination of both.

After striking out, I had the idea of changing the light color myself.  I had a fresh batch of standard warm white outdoor rated lights that I had recently purchased for a camping trip.

I asked my wife if she had any orange paint among her craft supplies, and she produced a tangerine orange acrylic paint.  I tried it on a couple of the individual LED lights with promising results, so I dug out a purple paint as well.  Next I laid out the three strands in the garage using some masking tape to provide tension.

I grabbed a couple of Q-Tips and got to work dabbing each light with the acrylic paint.  I could see that I had a problem where some of the lights would be sticking to the paper when the paint dried, so I took a cooler and elevated the strands so that they were suspended in the air.  I touched up the LEDs that still had a whitish color.

Overall the results were impressive.  The orange had a bright orange glow which was exactly what I was looking for.  The purple was OK, but the brightness of the LEDs was diminished by the paint, the purple looks better in the picture because the camera picks them up well despite the fact that they are noticeably dimmer with the human eye.

Overall I was happy with the results and in a pinch it worked out great.  For the price of the LED string sets I'd always check for the color ahead of time, but when you can't find the color, size, or attribute you want creating you own is an option.

My favorite LED string lights are available on Amazon and sold by RTGS, I've had good success with the performance and reliability of these versus some of the other options.
You can find them on Amazon here.

Keeping a Wooden Train Track in Place

For Christmas our 11 month old received a Melissa and Doug Train Set and the accompanying train table to put it on.

It was obvious before it was even put together that it would be an issue to keep the train track together.

I looked at the set and came up with the fix of using 3M Command Strips to temporarily fix it in place.

I purchased a 48 pack of Small 3M Command Strips and got to work.

At each section of track I placed a Command Strip with the wall side on the table and tab facing inward in order to discourage tugging on them by the kids.
I placed the strip at the join between the two tracks so that both pieces of track are on the adhesive.

On the raised section of track I put a strip both below and on top of the pillars.

The results have been excellent.  The kids have played with the trains and tried to pull up the tracks to no avail.  Bonus to not have pieces of track distributed around the playroom.

So if you have a Melissa and Doug, Brio, or some other brand of wooden train set and want to keep it in place temporarily I recommend the 3M Command Strip solution!

Before

After

The Rash - Update

A follow up on Baby Nar Nar's rash.

The rash lasted in some form or another for another few months before fading away.

It never seemed to cause her any discomfort so we did not make a big deal about it.

We kept her lubricated with Aquaphor/Eucerin, Vaseline, and other infant skin-care products.

I will say that I felt that the Aveeno products we were using did not help the situation and actually in my opinion slightly aggravated the rash.

This issue with the Aveeno only lasted as long as the rash though, we have used the shampoo and body wash since then without incident.

What we primarily used to wash in lieu of the Aveeno were the Mustela products which I was happy with.

Our son is now 7 months old and has been using Aveeno pretty much the whole time and has not experienced any rash like his sister's to date.

Underground Yellow Jackets

The other day I was weed-whacking the yard perimeter when I exposed a small hole about the size of a racquetball. Typically in my yard these holes belong to chipmunks.

However this time as I looked at the hole I saw a yellow jacket crawl out.
Instinct took hold and I turned and ran at top speed to the front of the house.

I went inside to observe dozens of yellow jacket wasps swarming around the hole.
This lasted a good four hours or more.

The next day I observed the hole and there was a ton of activity with dozens of wasps going in and out of the hole every minute flying every which direction across my yard on their foraging missions.

Considering this hole was about 15 feet from my children's play-set I knew I had to take action.

This isn't my first time with underground wasps and I learned previously that running a hose for an extended period or spraying cans of insecticide inside were useless to fight this pest.
The first time around I resorted to pouring a little gasoline in the hole and it did the trick.

But that was a different time in a different place, not my own property where I am living.

So how to get rid of the wasps?
I researched the net and decided on a two pronged approach.

I would use a rodent smoke bomb coupled with a bug zapper right above the hole.

So the next clear night I suited up in my ski gear 100% protected as my wife amusedly stood around for support.  I took a flashlight and made a red filter from a translucent red plastic cup.

I went out and placed the bug zapper above the hole (unplugged at the house).

I then lit and inserted a Revenge rodent smoke bomb covering it up with a damp shop towel.

I ran back to the house and went to bed confident I got the job done.

The next morning I woke up and pulled out the binoculars to take a look.
The shop towel was completely gone and the smoke bomb was on the ground just outside of the hole!

Had these super-wasps really carried away a towel and moved a smoke bomb?

As the sun came up and the wasps starting flying I thought I began thinking maybe gasoline was my only choice.

Over the course of the day I observed that I had at least a partial success. Instead of dozens of wasps per minute of activity the nest was down to single digits of wasps per minute of activity.

Still not enough to make it safe for my kids though.

I waited another day and again observed my enemy from the safe distance of binoculars.
Hmm no wasp activity, occasionally I could see one fly in the general vicinity but none heading to and from the familiar hole. I noticed later in the day that the dirt around the hole which had been wet in the morning still looked wet and decided to go take a closer look.

It was a shock to see two sizable holes dug nearby to the wasp's hole and no wasps or nest to be found whatsoever.

I took a few pictures, picked up the bug zapper, and returned to the house to research animals that eat wasps nests.

I found a bunch of information on the net which pointed to three main potential predators and one anecdotally referenced predator.
It could be a. . .
Bear - Doubtful, they are occasionally around but i think highly unlikely
Skunk - Possible, but there has been no skunk odor in the neighborhood for a long time
Raccoon - Likely, haven't seen any for a year or two but they are definitely around
Opossum - Likely, these guys are always hiding out in New England
or maybe
Fox - Possible, used to be several in neighborhood but booming rabbit and chipmunk populations indicate they've probably moved on

My theory is that a raccoon or possum happened on my white shop towel which was under the bug zapper.
The bug zapper black light lit up the shop towel attracting insects all over it.
The critter found the towel and carried it away for a snack, maybe pulling out the smoke bomb to investigate further.
The next night the critter came back for a wasp buffet and dug up the nests finishing the job.

The next time I run into this problem I'll try another solution that I came across which is pouring honey into the hole to begin with and attract a critter to take care of the business for me.

In conclusion my yard is now safe and I think the best way to get rid of ground dwelling wasps is to encourage a local critter to do it for you.

I can say that the bug zapper method was pretty unsuccessful. It got a handful of wasps but not a huge amount and by no means did it anger them to the point where they all attacked it until they were wiped out.