June 8, 2010
Hi All,
First, please forgive all the redundant spellings and overuse of the phrase “AO Smith ProMax” in this article. I really want the search engines to pick this article up.
I moved into my new home about 4 years ago, and installed in the basement is an AO Smith ProMax hot water heater. When we purchased the house we didn’t think anything about it. Hot water heater is a hot water heater huh? They generally last about 15 years, so didn’t think much about it.
About 7 months ago we woke up to no hot water. ”Oh man, did we pay the gas bill!?!” Check the stove top .. yep gas is on. ”Oh man, I hope the hot water heater didn’t spring a leak.” Head to the basement. No immediate visible damage. Check the pilot light and it’s out. I figured maybe a gust of wind or something must have blown it out. I relight it and go on about my way.
Next morning. No hot water again. ”Seriously?!” I check the pilot light and it out again. Ok, no way it was just a gust of wind. So I light it again and check back in about 30 minutes. It’s out again. I start googling around to see what’s up.
Lots of people immediately tell me it’s the thermocouple went bad on my AO Smith ProMax hotwater heater. I’m doubtful because the pilot light will actually light and stay lit. It’s not until sometime later during the actual heating cycle that the flame and pilot light goes out. If the thermocouple went bad, I don’t think the pilot light would even light.
I post a question on Yahoo Answers, and this super helpful guy tells me there is this screen at the bottom, under the burner assembly that gets clogged up. Clean the screen, and the problem will go away. I look, and sure enough on the AO Smith ProMax water heater, there is a mesh screen under the burner assembly. I later found out this is a flame arrestor. Anyway, evidently this thing gets clogged up with dust, dirt, particles, whatever, and restricts airflow and causes the burner to go out.
I clean the flame arrestor screen on the AO Smith Promax heater, light the pilot, and sure enough the thing stays lit for about 6 months.
Well, here we are with the SAME problem again only 6 months later. I light, relight, clean, light, clean, I do everything to make sure that thing is clean. Day after day after day of no hot water. Basically it got to the point where I had to re-light the pilot light multiple times a day. I finally just got in the habit of lighting the pilot each night before bed, and there’s usually enough hot water for a couple showers in the morning.
I even cleaned the screen with my air compressor and an attachment I bent to place the compressed air almost directly on the screen. I’m positive that screen is as clean or cleaner then the day it came of the assembly line in Mexico, or wherever AO Smith ProMax water heaters are manufactured.
Now it’s getting more and more difficult to get the pilot light lit, which makes me start to wonder, maybe it is the thermocouple. So I break down and call a plumber to come take a look. Super nice guy from Fulton Plumbers comes out and I give him the whole sordid history. He looks, and tells me the thing is still under warranty and I should contact AO Smith and make a warranty claim.
This is where they fun starts. I submit my warranty claim to www.hotwater.com .. I think their support email is support@hotwater.com.
The first thing they do is tell me I probably cleaned the screen wrong, and they send me a cleaning kit with a specialty attachment for a vacuum to clean that screen. They also send a different, wrap around filter to supposedly keep the screen clean for longer.
No you have to consider that they knew this was a serious problem. At the drop of a hat they immediate knew what the problem was. They immediately pointed me to a website where they even made a video showing what the problem is and how to clean that screen. The AO Smith ProMax has such a substantial problem they immediatey shipped out several boxes of junk to try and fix the problem.
I of course play along and use the attachment and the new wrap around filter. Next day, pilot light is out, no hot water.
I send this email to the support email at AO Smith:
Good Morning,
I have received the cleaning kit and the wrap around filter. I have thoroughly cleaned the flame arrestor screen using the provided attachments and brushes. I have also installed the wrap around filter, however my pilot light will still not stay lit.
Please help! I am getting very frustrated with waking up in the mornings with no hot water.
Thanks,
Chris
And SERIOUSLY! Get a load of the response from AO Smith:
Hello Chris, I do apologize but without having a manifold and supply gas pressure readings or millivolt readings on the Thermocouple it is difficult to determine whether a part is faulty. Pilot outages can happen due to various reasons. You could have an obstruction in the venting causing a downdraft, condensation could cause pilot outages, or there could be a lack of combustion air to satisfy the air requirements for proper combustion.
AO Smith didn’t refer any local plumbers to assist. They didn’t offer suggestions as to who to call. They didn’t offer any additional advice. AO Smith basically spews some techno babble at the customer and says “Sorry” we’re not going to do anything about the warranty.
I think if you like your water heater to actually make and keep the water HOT, you should avoid AO Smith ProMax. I’ll continue fighting this with them, simply for the principle of the matter, but their customer service is atrocious. And it would appear that AO Smith will take measures to avoid honoring their warranty. I think it’s ridiculous that less and 5 years of use and this AO Smith ProMax water heater is basically worthless and the company isn’t honoring their warranty.
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October 25, 2009
Did you know that it’s really called “Daylight Saving” and not “Daylight Savings” time? This year, the official Day Light Saving Time is November 1st 2009 at 2:00 AM. So on Halloween night before you go to bed, you should set your clock back 1 hour.
There are some other interesting facts about Daylight Saving time. For example, did you know that not all US States and territories observe daylight saving time? The Virgin Islands, Guam, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Hawaii, and even Arizona! Well, in reality, Navajo Nation does still observe. Alaska has passed a bill as well to stop following it.
So how long will this period last? After you set your clocks back on November 1st or last thing October 31st, the clocks won’t need an adjustment until March 14th, 2010, when Daylight Saving time begins again on the second Sunday in March.
It’s also a great idea to use this time to also check your smoke detectors. You should always check your detectors at least twice a year, and how convenient, you need to adjust your clocks twice a year! Did you know that working, properly placed smoke detectors DOUBLE a family’s chance of survival?
Modern daylight savings time was first proposed by a New Zealand entomologist named George Vernon Hudson in 1895. There are many controversial aspects of daylight savings time, which was originally designed to add daylight time to the afternoon and less to the mornings. The practice typically benefits retail outlets, sports or other activities that need daylight after normal working hours. However it doesn’t benefit evening entertainment venues or other evening activities that depend on the sun.
Daylight savings has some complex effects on the health of populations subject to daylight savings time. Since the primary physical affect revolves around sun exposure, the benefit of additional exposure would be increased vitamin D synthesis, while the drawback would be increased likelihood of skin cancer. Some people also argue that levels of depression are decreased during periods of daylight savings time as a result of people rising earlier. On the reverse, some argue that sufferes of night blindness are hurt by the effects of daylight savings time.
Love it or hate it, chances are it’s here to stay. So be ready on November 1st, 2009 to get your extra hour of sleep!
Posted in Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Saving Time 2009, Daylight Savings Time, Daylight Savings Time 2009 No Comments »
October 24, 2009
Potty Training in ONE DAY!!!
by: Chris Hackett
This is a real story, from a real person, ME!
I have two boys, ages 5 and 3 now. They were BOTH super easy to potty train, and we did it in ONE day.
I’m not kidding you. With our first son, we planned for it, and then on one Saturday morning, we started, and by Saturday night he was out of his diaper, and we never put a diaper on him again.
Nick was 2 and a half when we potty trained. Matthew was also about 2 and a half when we potty trained him, also. Same story. Woke up one morning, and said ‘This is going to be the last day Matthew wears a diaper.’ And it was.
Here’s what we did!
The first thing to make sure of is that your child is showing all the correct signs that they’re ready to be potty trained. I believe that if you force a child who isn’t ready to be potty trained you’ll just set your progress back even further than if you wait until they’re ready. I think there are reports and studies about potty training that say this bodily function is one of only a very few things in a toddler’s life that they can control, and if they’re not ready to give up that control, they’ll exploit it to make the experience miserable for you and for them. It won’t be pleasant if you try and potty train them before they’re ready. What are the signs?
1. Make sure they’re able to follow and obey simple commands like “Come here” or “Stand here”
2. Be sure they are able to pull their pants down by them selves.
3. They should be waking up from their nighttime sleep with a dry diaper.
I think that’s pretty much it. If they can do these things, I think you’re pretty much ready to go for it!
We purchased a doll that goes potty to show our children how a person goes potty and to show the kids that when the pants of the doll are dry, we’re very pleased and make a big deal about the dry pants. I think it’s more important to positively reinforce dry pants than to negatively reinforce wet pants. We definitely focused more on staying dry as opposed to avoiding being wet. Stay focused on the goal and not the behavior that you’re trying to eliminate.
We let our son pick a name for the doll so it would develop a bit of an attachment to it. We spent about an hour showing our son how the doll had dry pants and we would say things like “Wow, look at Mike, he’s got dry pants! He’s such a big boy keeping his pants dry!” Then occasionally, we would say “Hey! Mike has to go potty! Hurry, lets take Mike to the potty.” Then we would deliberately go through all the necessary steps to go potty. First we actually walk (or run) to the potty. Then we would have our son help “Mike” pull his pants down, and then Mike (who had a small squeeze bottle inside) would actually go potty. Then we help Mike pull his pants up, flush the potty, and wash his hands.
I think that having our son “help” Mike with what to do, was key part of getting everything mentally straight with our son.
All the while we are doing this, we’re loading our son up on water, and juice. I would recommend that you stay away from juice, or at lease seriously dilute it. It turned out ok for us, but it will give most children diarrhea.
Another important thing to do is to make sure you relate the doll’s dry pants to your child’s pants. We would always check “Mike’s” pants, and then immediately check our son’s pants and make a big deal about them being dry.
When he would start to go potty, we would help him hurry to the potty, help him take his pants down, and help him “aim” properly. If we managed to help him keep his pants dry, we would praise him a lot and tell him what a good job he did with keeping his pants dry.
If he didn’t make it to the potty, we would encourage him to try and keep his pants dry next time. And here’s an IMPORTANT step when our child didn’t keep his pants dry. “Rehearse” the episode three or four times, or as many times as you can without inducing a meltdown. Start at the place where the child was when they first noticed they had to go potty, help them hurry to the potty, help them pull their pants down, and help them up onto their step stool or whatever. Do this several times, and always encourage the dry pants.
For us, I think the key to success was several things:
1. BE sure they’re ready. Don’t force it if they’re not ready
2. Be patient and encouraging. Don’t yell at them or reprimand them. This is new and intimidating for them, and they have 100% control over this aspect of their life. If they decide they don’t want to be potty trained, no amount of training will work. So be sure to keep it positive, fun, and encouraging.
3. Be consistent. Don’t start the project if you’re not mentally ready, or if you don’t have the whole day to dedicate to it.
For us it was totally worth it, and it worked really well. I think when we did our second child, we even took our older one to his grandparents for the day so we would not be distracted.
We used a book called “Potty Training in a Day” and I would highly recommend that you pick up a copy. It really worked for us. And it didn’t just work one time, we were successful with it twice!!!
Check out our next article about how we got both our kids to sleep through the night by 6 WEEKS!!! Wow .. I would have gone insane without this!
Posted in potty train, potty train boys, potty training, toilet training No Comments »
February 1, 2009
Hello Internet Marketers!
I probably get 20 – 30 email messsages a day, admittadly many of them are duplicates, all with the promise of easy money with some new affiliate marketing strategy or a super secret Google AdWords loophole or something. I think my favorite is the “Adsense Arbitrage” strategy. Sounds so legitimate!
Well, I think there are some people making money with Internet Marketing. Of course the folks who are probably making the best money are the ones launching “make money” programs. I suspect it’s the modern day version of the small classified ads in the back of newspapers that says “Make Millions, send $5.00 to ….” and the response is simply to run the same ad with your mailing address in the add. Swell.
Anyway, my offer is pretty darn straightforward. If you’re a legitimate on-line marketer and if you’re selling a program, let me know. I have some money to invest in web development (although this is almost always advertised as not neecssary), advertising and some marketing research. If you think you have a profitable program, contact me and lets work it out. If I make money, I’ll:
- Purchase your product at full-price (assuming the profit earned is at least equal to the cost of the program
- Split any profits (after marketing / advertising costs) with you 50 / 50
- I’ll write about the experience here and recommend others to purchase the program
- Of course I’ll do all the work. You teach, I’ll learn.
Seems pretty fair to me. If you think you’ve got the “secret” and are trying to get the word out, put your money where your mouth is, and lets see what happens.
You can write to me at adwords@chackett.com
Good Luck!
Posted in Actual Strategy, Adsense Arbitrage, Affiliate - Marketing, Earnings, Ideas, internet marketing, job offer No Comments »
November 29, 2008
HomeMade Rag Quilt:
You can do it with stuff you have laying around the house. One great idea I had was to make one out of the old baby clothes our kids had grown out of and give that to our parents. You know how much grandparents love their grandkids! Can you imagine giving your parents a handmade rag quilt made of the sweet old baby clothes their precious grandkids have out grown? I think my mother would have to be hospitalized!
If you’re thinking you don’t know how to make a rag quilt, you’re wrong. As it turns out anyone can do it. Here is a link to an eBook that will show you exactly how to cut and sew the rag quilt.
HomeMade Candles
Candles are one of the most soothing and pleasent things around. There’s not much that is as nice as lighting a candle and enjoying it fill up your home or office with your favorite scent. This step-by-step guide will show you everything you need to know to make beautiful candles just like the really expensive ones you see in the stores, and of course since you’re making them yourself, you’ll get it done at a fraction of the cost. There are even a bunch of people earning a nice part-time income making candles!
Homemade Pet Treats
Now this is a cool deal for the pet lovers in your family. This is a great way to make home made pet treats that you can give as gifts! How cool. Evidently this guy has put together a recipe for dog treats that is totally save and healthy for your friends and family pets. I think a gift basket of healthy treats! This guy has special recipies for young dogs, old dogs, and gourmet biscuit recipes. Bark Bark! Click Here!
Homemade Gift Boxes
Now this is really cool and interesting. This is a little different because it’s more about how to make a homemade gift box rather than the gift it’s self. Basically they give you a bunch of templates that you can print, cut and fold into realy cute and personal home made gift boxes. It’s really neat and you should check it out!
Homemade Bath And Body
This goes right along with the home made candles. Maybe you could put together a “de-stresser” pack for that frassled friend of yours. Make some soothing bath salts or body oils and a candle to burn. The possibilities are endless! This looks like a really professional site and the products look a lot like the high-end mall type “Bath and Body” stores. There is a note that says this particular eBook won’t be available after December 15th. I guess they’re moving to a video format. Anyway, this really looks like it’s worth checking out.
Posted in Uncategorized, gift ideas, home made Christmas gifts, home made gift ideas, homemade christmas gifts, make christmas gift No Comments »
November 16, 2008
*** UPDATE***
Click HERE to go straight to the ideas and skip my heartwarming personal story of home made gifts and the lives they have touched 
As I mentioned in another post, times are tough this year. Every year at about this time, my wife and I have the “We’re not going overboard with Christmas this time” conversation. We think back to previous Christmas seasons where the house is a total wreck with wrapping paper, bows, needles from the tree. The kids are usually totally engrossed with some $2.00 stocking stuffer and aren’t paying any attention to the $300.00 Wii or whatever it happens to be.
Keeping things under control this year is going to be a lot easier. The other day on the radio I heard a retailer start out their commercial by saying something about how “This season, things are going to be different.” You know its going to be rough when even the retailers are advertising by acknowledging that we’re in tough economic times.
It got me to thinking about the things we’ve done in the past when times get tough. Home made gifts are probably going to be on a lot of folks lists this year, whether they know it or not!
I remember a photo collage that I made once for my mom. I spent a couple hours going through old photo boxes and folders on my computer looking for pictures of the family. I finally picked out about a dozen or so and put them in a photo frame I got from Target for about $10.00. There’s no doubt it was one of the most meaningful gifts she had gotten in a long time. It’s too bad that we need these difficult times to push us into doing what we probably ought to be doing anyway.
Soooo .. I’ve put this list of great ideas for ways you can make a real meaningful statement in the gifts you give this year. By putting together some genuine thoughtfulness and a couple dollars, you can make this Christmas one of the most meaningful and timeless holiday seasons on record yet. So without further adoo, here are some great ideas for things you can make this holiday season that will show those you care about that you really put some effort and personal thought into their home made gift this year:
You can do it with stuff you have laying around the house. One great idea I had was to make one out of the old baby clothes our kids had grown out of and give that to our parents. You know how much grandparents love their grandkids! Can you imagine giving your parents a handmade rag quilt made of the sweet old baby clothes their precious grandkids have out grown? I think my mother would have to be hospitalized!
If you’re thinking you don’t know how to make a rag quilt, you’re wrong. As it turns out anyone can do it. Here is a link to an eBook that will show you exactly how to cut and sew the rag quilt.
Candles are one of the most soothing and pleasent things around. There’s not much that is as nice as lighting a candle and enjoying it fill up your home or office with your favorite scent. This step-by-step guide will show you everything you need to know to make beautiful candles just like the really expensive ones you see in the stores, and of course since you’re making them yourself, you’ll get it done at a fraction of the cost. There are even a bunch of people earning a nice part-time income making candles!
Now this is a cool deal for the pet lovers in your family. This is a great way to make home made pet treats that you can give as gifts! How cool. Evidently this guy has put together a recipe for dog treats that is totally save and healthy for your friends and family pets. I think a gift basket of healthy treats! This guy has special recipies for young dogs, old dogs, and gourmet biscuit recipes. Bark Bark! Click Here!
Now this is really cool and interesting. This is a little different because it’s more about how to make a homemade gift box rather than the gift it’s self. Basically they give you a bunch of templates that you can print, cut and fold into realy cute and personal home made gift boxes. It’s really neat and you should check it out!
This goes right along with the home made candles. Maybe you could put together a “de-stresser” pack for that frassled friend of yours. Make some soothing bath salts or body oils and a candle to burn. The possibilities are endless! This looks like a really professional site and the products look a lot like the high-end mall type “Bath and Body” stores. There is a note that says this particular eBook won’t be available after December 15th. I guess they’re moving to a video format. Anyway, this really looks like it’s worth checking out.
Posted in Uncategorized, cheap christmas present, cheap ideas for christmas, home made christmas present, home made gifts, homemade christmas present, homemade gifts, ideas for home made presents, ideas for homemade presents No Comments »
November 16, 2008
Times are tough this season, there’s not doubt about it. You know every year around this time, my wife and I have a conversation where we say “We’re just not doing Christmas this year like we did last year.” We always have way too much stuff. To be honest, sometimes when it’s over, I look around at the house with toys strewn around, giant black trash bags full of wrapping paper. My wife trying to collect re-usable bows and ribbons. The kids playing with the least expensive stocking stuffer and the most expensive gift overlooked.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas. Starting at about Thanksgiving and going through to the end of the year we have more fun,family and food than I’ve had for the entire year so far. The house is full of life and love and family. It’s really great. But dagummit there’s just so much stuff. Too much stuff. Having all that junk cluttering up our houses and our lives, makes it darn near impossible to enjoy the truly meaningful and thoughtful gifts.
Things have been pretty tough for my family and I this past couple years. We were in the real estate market and doing well for a while. Then of course the bubble burst and we were left holding the bag on a number of empty houses. Last year we didn’t have much money to spend on Christmas so we really had to dig deep and think of ways we could have a meaningful Christmas without breaking the bank. I spent a couple days digging through my computer and found about 12 pictures of my family. I edited them, printed them on my computer, cut them out and put them in a $10 collage picture frame we bought at Target. When I gave it to my mom, she knew how much that gift was going to mean to her before she even opened it. Once she did open it she couldn’t help but cry, even though I knew she didn’t really want to.
My point is that you don’t have to spend money to have a Christmas you and your family will remember forever. The meaning of your gifts and the thought you put into them is far more important than how much you spent. Gifts that you can’t return are almost guaranteed to be the ones that no one would ever want to.
Another really great idea is to make a rag quilt. You can do it with stuff you have laying around the house. One great idea I had was to make one out of the old baby clothes our kids had grown out of and give that to our parents. You know how much grandparents love their grandkids! Can you imagine giving your parents a handmade rag quilt made of the sweet old baby clothes their precious grandkids have out grown? I think my mother would have to be hospitalized!
If you’re thinking you don’t know how to make a rag quilt, you’re wrong. As it turns out anyone can do it. Here is a link to an eBook that will show you exactly how to cut and sew the rag quilt.
- You can make your rag quilt in ONE weekend
- You already have what you need laying around the house. The key to making your rag quilt a huge success is to keep it personal. The more personal the more meaningful.
- This eBook is jam packed and GUARANTEED to be just what you need to make your project a success, or your money back. No questions asked. And besides, for only $17.00 just think of how many lives you can touch making personal gifts
- Who knows, maybe after you make one or two of these, it could turn into a real business for you. I bet that after one or two people see what you’ve created, they’ll want one for themselves too.
Posted in Uncategorized, home made christmas presents, home made gifts, homemade christmas present, homemade gifts No Comments »
November 8, 2008
Hello,
I’ve built and launched several internet businesses. Some of them have worked well, some of them, not so much.
I’ve decided to put together a video series that will show you, exactly, step by step, how to build and launch a real internet business. It’s totally free, and it’s totally legitimate. There’s no bait and switch, no trick or gimmick, no nothing. It’s just me, and my screen recording utility showing you exactly how to start a rea, legitimate on-line business.
I got pretty sick and tired of seeing all these schemes that are basically just ways to take advantage of people who are desperate for money. What I’m giving you is the blueprint for a legitimate on-line business. It’s free and it couldn’t possibly be any easier.
The main reason I’m putting this together is because I want to show you that there are legitimate on-line business models out there. This isn’t a “lazy millionaire” program. It’s a real business with real customers and real products.
Please check it out and leave some comments for me. I know I’m not the most dynamic speaker you’ve come across in a while, but give it a whirl and put the information to work for you. I think you’ll be glad you did.
Chris
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November 8, 2008
Posted in Actual Strategy, Adsense Arbitrage, Affiliate - Marketing, Earnings, Jobs, Media, People, People, Tech, Tools, google, hosting, job offer, random Enter your password to view comments
October 6, 2008
I come from a family of entrepreneurs and so does my wife. It’s only natural that my kids would have the gene for that too. Recently it’s really started to show with my 7 year old. He’s always doing the usual stuff like wanting to have a lemonade stand. A couple weeks ago, he used the video camera to “make a movie” with some of the other kids in the neighborhood. Then they went and sold tickets to the movie.
Now he wants to start a “pressure washing business.” Which I happen to think is a really great idea, and would be an excellent introduction into building and running a business. It’s pretty simple in terms of the business concept. People have dirty houses and driveways and decks. We have a pressure washer. They pay us to clean their stuff. Simple.
But there are a lot of great concepts at work here. We’ll have capital expenses (more on this later please), marketing costs. Plus we have partners (me, my 7 year old son, and I can’t leave out my 5 year old), so we have to talk about ownership and how we split the money we earn. Plus we have simple operating costs like the gas it costs to run the pressure washer, soap, and any repairs we’ll need. Overall, I think it’s a really great little business for teaching entrepreneur concepts to kids.
So it got me to thinking. How cool would it be to have a non-profit organization or school or something that would teach kids how to start and operate businesses? It could teach kids at a young age how to do things like market research, find a need, fill a need. Learn about expenses and profits operatinng modesl, etc. WE could have courses on lawn cutting business, pressure washing business. Maybe even things like tutoring businesses. Kids are smart, motivated, and eager to learn. This would be a great opportunity to teach them stuff they can’t (or don’t) learn in school.
Now. Here’s where I ask for something. I really want to get this business off the ground, so I’m asking for donations. We need to buy our first pressure washer to get started. My son and I did a lot of research at epinions.com, homedepot.com, walmart.com, lowes.com and other places on the internet, trying to find the most economical pressure washer that got high marks in reviews from others, and this is the pressure washer we came up with:
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200347873_200347873
So. If you’re an entrepreneur or a kind hearted person would would like to help us get this business started, let me know and I’ll tell you how you can donate!
Chris
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