I wasn’t initially sure if I really wanted the Blundstone boots for two reasons:

1. They are boots.
2. They aren’t cheap.

The first problem was quickly addressed when I pulled a pair on. I used to wear boots all the time back when I was a slightly rebelling teenager. I had a couple pairs of Doc Martens that lasted me many years. It’s sort of strange how much more comfortable boots can be. I like them because I don’t have any rubbing in my heel/ankle from the top of a shoe.

Anyways, back to the Blundstones – they aren’t cheap. My last pair of shoes cost me at least $50 and the Blundstones were almost 4 times that. Now, what I’m banking on is that the Blundstone boots will last at least 4 times longer than the shoes did. The shoes only really lasted a year but I squeezed 6 months more out of them (such a bad idea!).

Buying the Blundstone boots was an interesting adventure. First, I wanted to buy them locally in Kemptville but the one shop that has them doesn’t have very good hours. Tough luck for them.

I ended up searching on the Blundstone website for Ottawa and found a store at Bayshore than had them. After trying some on and getting what I thought was the right size, I bought them and drove home. At home I wore them around the house for the evening and it became painfully obvious that they were too small.  What had happened is that particular store did something funny with their inventory. The Blundstone boots are in UK sizes which are about 1 size smaller than US sizes. No problem normally. What was a problem is the store had the UK size 10 listed as a size 10 but the UK size 8.5 they listed as a size 9.5.  They didn’t actually have any UK 9.5 or UK 9 at all, even in the computer. Anyhoo, I had to return the UK 8.5 boots I bought.  Just too small.

Going back to the Blundstone website, I discovered that they still have Ottawa broken down into Ottawa, Kanata, Nepean and Orleans – with different stores listed for each search option! Turns out there was a second store in Bayshore that also carried  Blundstone. Back I went a second time and success! I got my UK 9.5 Blundstone boots. Interestingly enough, they were actually cheaper at that store. ;)

[ The post "Blundstone Boots" originally appeared on Ivany. Why not subscribe to our RSS feed directly if you haven't already?]

Polaris gas hot water tank

I now have a stack of yellow receipts that I just leave on top of the hot water tank so each of the Direct Energy techs can see what they have done in the past. It’s sort of funny when one of the guys (Joel is his name) comes as he’s been here a few times. I almost feel like I should offer him a beer as he’s been to my house more often than some of my work buddies!

Anyways, Pressure Switch Closed is supposed to be a self clearing fault on the Polaris HWT but in my experience, it never clears itself. I’ve had numerous parts replaced – some have been done multiple times. I think the total value of replaced parts on the Polaris HWT is now over $4000. Yeah, I know, good thing I’m renting it and I don’t have to pay for those parts!

My “buddy” Joel tried a bunch of things the last time he was here (which was only last fall) and he had a couple new parts ordered and installed. I was hopeful at the time because both he and the second tech both seem to understand the Polaris HWT and it’s quirks. Unfortunately, they also both said that most people in the area with the Polaris hot water tanks are now pulling them out because they suck so badly. That really is unfortunate because the tank really does work well. It’s just too bad that they are not more reliable. Well, maybe they are reliable for some people but just not in this neck of the woods.

[ The post "Polaris High Efficiency Gas Hot Water Tank – Part 6" originally appeared on Ivany. Why not subscribe to our RSS feed directly if you haven't already?]

My parents were nice enough to give me a fantastic new self igniting MAPP gas torch at Christmas.  Now I’m all set to tackle the next plumbing job – proper heat traps on the hot water tank. That project should help keep the cold water in our cold taps from being hot!

Since installing the new coil, we’ve done some tweaking of our forced air system to try and address issues we had with heating.  We now have it balanced reasonably well with all rooms getting a decent amount of heat.  The only thing I’m considering is upgrading the blower to a more powerful unit to try and move the air a little better to the farthest reaches of the house.  Our long runs to upstairs are still not quite getting enough air flow. It’s not a huge difference but if the doors are left closed for too long it becomes noticeable.

Oh, and I guess I missed my chance to off load the old hydronic heating coil.  Copper and aluminum prices have dropped back down due to the “economic crisis” we are currently going through. That’s what I get for being lazy. :)

[ The post "Hydronic Heating Coil One Year Later" originally appeared on Ivany. Why not subscribe to our RSS feed directly if you haven't already?]

I came home and did a inventory check through their website and discovered that even some of the bigger stores in Ottawa were also sold out of the multi-colour light sets.

We were in town on Monday so I took the opportunity to swing by one of the bigger stores that was supposed to have stock.  Yes, they did have about 5 boxes but they must have all been returns as the boxes were all beat to shit.  No way am I going to buy a set of LED lights that someone else has returned.  I’ve been lucky so far with my Noma LED lights and I’m not going to take a chance on ones that someone else got pissed off with.

Anyways, I was looking for more lights to “complete” my plans for this year on the house.  Looks like that will have to wait for next year now.

Amazing though, LED Christmas lights sold out by the first weekend in December.

[ The post "Noma LED Christmas Lights Sold Out!" originally appeared on Ivany. Why not subscribe to our RSS feed directly if you haven't already?]

For the first time ever, I am disputing a charge on my credit card. I’ve been really lucky I guess because I’ve never had a problem before. It’s actually a very minor charge for a pizza we bought from a local place a month or so ago. Turns out I got double charged even though the first transaction was canceled due to a “communication error” with the card reader. I even got the receipt stating it was canceled.

Unfortunately I didn’t keep that receipt.

I contacted the credit card company after I noticed the transaction when I was looking at my stuff online a couple weeks later. I called them up only to find out that yes, I can dispute the transaction but it would be much quicker if I had the receipts. Well, unfortunately I didn’t keep them so now it looks like I’m going to be out. Apparently there is a reasonable chance that I’ll get my money back but without the receipts it’s going to take a fair bit longer.

Keep your receipts!

[ The post "Keep your Receipts" originally appeared on Ivany. Why not subscribe to our RSS feed directly if you haven't already?]