Marty Bird Blog » finance

Furnace Fix Update – Draft Inducer Motor Replaced

Marty — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 13:55:40 +0000

As a follow up to my previous post regarding fixing my furnace, the draft inducer motor part arrived quickly, but I waited a few days since the weather was hovering around zero degrees Fahrenheit when it arrived. And, I didn’t want to risk a screw up and possibly living without heat for a night.

Since it was 55 degrees out on Saturday, I took care of the replacement. Pretty simple, the only scary part was the thought of losing one of the sheet metal screws into the depths of the furnace. Here’s a photo of the final result (note the new style cooling fan).

Money-Saving Furnace Fix

Marty — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:30:19 +0000

FYI see the update to this post here. The gas furnace in my house is only 7 years old. A couple weeks ago, it started singing to me. Normally a baritone, the furnace decided to expand into the tenor vocal range. Then a certain pain was evident in its song until I finally translated it as “help me . . . help me . . . help me.”

Sure, I could call the number on the side of the furnace and get charged for premium weekend service, but I decided to dive right in and see if I could fix this myself. After all, how hard could it be? I have the internet plus an awesome set of tools.

I started by simply removing the access panel and observing and listening. From there, I found several different manuals available for download via the web and pinned the noise down to the draft inducer motor. Apparently somewhat common, the sealed bearings were worn, causing the shaft to bind and cause the noisy squealing.

I called my friend Steve, who dropped by and we pulled the motor and put a temporary fix in place. We unsealed the bearings, cleaned them, and re-packed them with lithium grease and reassembled. Lo and behold, no more noise! I found the part online for less than $100 and will replace it when it arrives.

I can imagine a service call would have resulted in one charge, then the part would have been ordered and the next service call to install the new motor likely would have totaled over $500.

The draft inducer motor is just behind the plastic cooling fan above.

The part that is to be replaced is the motor (the black part) Carrier part number 318984-753.
I found it online at Shortys HVAC Supplies.

Calculate Your Comeback

Marty — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 02:04:20 +0000

If your portfolio losses look like this, then check out the Comeback Calculator courtesy of the New York Times. It’s not as bleak as it may seem, and history is certainly on your side. Stay the course with your asset allocation based on your age, projected age of retirement and risk tolerance and continue to fund your IRA, 401K or other retirement portfolio and hold tight.

Oh, and please seek the advice of your investment counselor before making any sudden or substantial money moves.

My Water Filter Quest Quenched

Marty — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 21:19:00 +0000

I have one of those Brita water pitchers in my fridge that requires a filter change at a recommended 2 month interval. I really like the fresh-tasting water and having it readily available encourages me to drink more. But, I tend to procrastinate when I have extinguished my supply of water filters, so the last filter has been stretched to last about 6 months (with no ill effects – that I know of).

Why do I procrastinate? Those water filters are expensive! Think of replacement ink jet cartridge expensive – you’ve purchased an inexpensive appliance but in order to continue to use it you are required to purchase costly consumables. So, you’re stuck.

Alas, in the same vein as my earlier post about finding a great deal on a magazine subscription, I found a great price on replacement filters by doing some research on the web. I found an eBay store and clicked on “buy it now” to save more than 50% off the retail price I was finding at popular discount big-box stores. The purchase arrived quickly and safely, and the filters are great. Cheers!

A Positive Customer Service Experience with AT&T

Marty — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 01:02:00 +0000

Since all we see are complaints, I thought I’d provide a little balance by sharing something positive. My AT&T mobile phone bill has consistently been predictable, landing somewhere around $89. This morning I received the emailed “you have a new bill” notice and opened it to find a $9.99 charge from “m-Qube Inc.” What? A quick Google search resulted in many entries showing unauthorized charges and complaints against this company. So I immediately knew this was not an isolated case.

I called the number in the “merchant contact” column on my bill next to this entry which turned out to be AT&T customer service. I explained I had an unauthorized charge on my bill. Very quickly, the agent let me know the charge would be credited, would not return (since it turned out it was a “subscription”), and the agent even added a feature to my account at no cost that requires a PIN be entered to approve any text-message based charges. Nice! The charge has been wiped out, not to return. This took about 2 minutes of my day this morning, less time than it took to write this post!

A Rebate For More Than Purchase Price

Marty — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 23:06:00 +0000

I just filled out and submitted at rebate form for a 4GB compact flash card I purchased. Do the math:

Purchase price including shipping was $69.84.
The rebate is $70.
Final price is -.16.

How does that work? Does the company “make it up in volume?” Are they trying to get rid of old stock? Is the card used or defective or “gray market?” I purchased the card since I needed more capacity in my digital camera (sample photo at right pulled from the new card – so it works fine).

All businesses need to make a profit to stay in business and while I’ll take the rebate, I don’t understand this offer.

Magazine Subscriptions – Renewed AutoWeek Today

Marty — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 23:49:00 +0000

AutoWeek has been reminding me for the last several months that my magazine subscription is about to expire. I’ve been a long-time customer of theirs and fully planned on renewing my subscription. After three or four mailings requesting my renewal and two issues exclaiming “this is your last issue” via a cover wrap I decided to do something.

My normal course of action is to do some research first before paying the full price that is initially offered. First step was to pull up my account via AutoWeek.com and see if there was a renewal deal. Nope. Still $29.99 per year. I do think that’s a good value for 52 issues so I’d be willing to pay that . . . but searching and finding a better price via the Internet gives me some great sense of accomplishment. Not that I want to “stick it” to AutoWeek (I don’t), it’s really just fun to hunt down that cheaper price and then swoop in for the kill. (Hunting instinct carried out on the web?)

It’s my form of shopping, checking things out before I lay down the cash. So, after 5 minutes of Google searches, what did I pay for a year’s subscription? $9.32! Woo Hoo! If you like to hunt down deals like I do, a Google search is all it takes to save you some dough. By the way, I found this deal at www.magazinemaster.com. For whatever reason, if you go directly to their website and search for AutoWeek, you don’t get the special pricing. But when you search via Google you get a special link that includes the coupon code. Enjoy your hunt!

Like to roll around in your money? Next best thing: Mint.com

Marty — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:04:00 +0000

I’ve been using Mint.com for a few weeks now and I’m hooked. They do a great job of helping you visualize where you money is now, where it’s been and where it’s going. If you’re one that can get past the somewhat insecure feeling you get when entering all your login data for your various income and expense accounts into one website (like me), then give it a try. I learned out this from a NY Times article by Ron Lieber, you might need a login at this link, give it a shot.

They recently added an Investments section – how timely to see how your 401(K) or IRA is tanking. You do see the good side, your contributions now are purchasing stock, bonds, etc. at cut-rate prices.

Using Mint.com also supports my habit to never use cash since it recognizes all your debit and credit card transactions and places them in the correct spending categories (after some training, if needed). If you use cash you have to then remember what you purchased and self-categorize (umm – no). There are so many other features, you’ll have to explore and discover them on your own – you’ll love it.