Category Archives: Notes on Approaches

Sous Vide Cooking “as is” Vacuum-Packed Meat

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I’m always looking for short cuts in cooking. I recently bought a Nomiku consumer sous-vide immersion heater. I have been pretty happy with the low-cost Ziploc-brand vacuum bags and manual pump. I don’t really see a compelling reason to buy a $150 vacuum sealer.

However, a lot of cuts of meat come already vacuum packed in a low-density polyethylene (LDPE) wrapper. Can you just cook the meat as-is in that wrapper as it comes from the store. That would sure make things easy. The short answer is yes. I have now done this a dozen or so times with skirt steak, flat-iron steak, and today with a leg of lamb (for Easter).

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Baltic Birch Media Shelf Unit – CNC Routed Parts

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In the Park City house, we have three bedrooms that all are set up nearly identically with wall-mounted TVs. We fed the wires through the wall, but then have the pesky cable box to contend with. I wanted a shallow media shelf of some kind that would accommodate a cable box and a DVD player, but be relatively small and unobtrusive. The main problem with some of the products on the market is that they are too deep. I really wanted something about 11 inches deep, which is plenty for the items to be stored.  So, I designed a shelving unit that could be assembled from tubing and flat shelves. Here’s what I ended up with. It’s 32″ W x 11″ D x 21-1/2″ H.

I originally wanted to do it in MDF with PVC pipe or galvanized pipe, but my wife thought it was too raw. Here’s the prototype I whipped up of that concept using about $15 worth of Home Depot parts. (I used white “Sharkbite” PET tubing and particleboard shelving, with plumbing strapping on the diagonal in back for stiffening.) I kind of like it as is, and in fact, used it for a year in the house with no complaints.

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Resetting Bosch Vision 300 Series Washer

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I could not find this information on the web anywhere, so I’m posting it here in case it is useful to someone. (Disclaimer: This worked for me and many others — some slight variants are posted in comments, which you might try if it doesn’t work for you. No promises, of course.)

My 13-month old Bosch Vision 300 Series Washer displayed error code E:27 (E27). Of course, I was just out of warranty.

This error code is not in the user manual, but some research on line indicates that it is a door latch fault. The problem is that the washer will not operate and the door is latched closed.

You can manually release the latch by removing the lower panel (Torx fasteners, I think) and finding a wire lanyard that releases the latch. However, I had read that there was a diagnostic code that could be used to reset the latch solenoid via the control panel.

There is no service manual available on line, as far as I can tell.

Here is what worked…

1. Set the knob to off.

2. Hold down both the Spin Selector button and the Allergy Rinse button simultaneously.

3. While holding these two buttons down, rotate the knob one click to the left, to the “cold” position.

4. At that point, the display will show a diagnostic code and the unit will enter a self-test mode. In my case, the solenoid latch started clicking repeatedly. I pressed the Spin Selector button once or twice, which resulted in the display of new codes and then the release of the latch.

5. I set the knob back to off, and the washer now appears to be operating.

6. You’re done.

Replacing a Pressure Relief or T&P Valve

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This is not an interesting topic. However, I couldn’t find what I needed for this little project on Google, so figured I’d create a post that is likely to be found when people are searching for a solution to a leaking relief valve.

Your water heater has a T&P valve, which stands for Temperature and Pressure Valve. This valve opens when temperature and/or pressure exceed a pre-defined threshold. This is a safety feature so that your water heater does not explode if the pressure goes too high. I have a Weil Mclain Superstor indirect water heater and the T&P Valve is on the top, as shown below. It usually is designed to open at 210F and/or 150 psi, which is waaay above the safe operating temperature and pressure of a domestic water heater. Watts is the leading brand of these devices.

Your boiler (for your forced water heating system) also has a relief valve. However, this one is just a pressure-relief valve. It usually opens at 30 psi, which is well above the system pressure of most forced-water heating systems. So, while your water heater has a T&P valve, your boiler has a P valve. The valve on my Weil Mclain Ultra is shown below.  The valves in my system all are bronze with 3/4″ threads.

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Excellent Hanging Shelf Hardware

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My architects like hanging shelves and I do too. They often take the “cowboy” approach of using galvanized threaded rod and nuts and washers to support the shelving. I wanted something a little more refined, but didn’t want to pay hundreds of dollars for fussy little European hardware bits. Here’s a solution I came up with, which has proven to be excellent in all respects.

Here’s a detail of the hardware:

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Repairing Spalling in Concrete Floors

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I have finished concrete floors in my lower level. I like them quite a lot. However, the area under my chair at my desk had developed some spalling. The spalling is a crumbling of the top surface of the concrete. I believe this is caused by a failure of the surface layer, which is comprised of the concrete “fines” which float to the top during troweling. I suspect that some gritty material gets on the caster of the office chair and with repeated rolling causes some little compression cracks, which then spread. The spalling was not deep, but I suspected it would get worse if I did not deal with it.

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Marmoleum “Click”

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I chose Forbo Marmoleum for the mini cabin floor. I’ve used Marmoleum in two other projects– my church house kitchen (twice actually) and in a commercial project at work. I like the material quite a lot. Marmoleum is a trade name for  a type of linoleum, which is a composite sheet material made from sawdust, linseed oil, dyes, and a jute backing. It is very forgiving, durable, and comes in a lot of funky colors. The sheet version comes in a 2 meter wide roll, which is really the only weakness of that form, requiring seams for most applications. The material is very heavy, so I knew I couldn’t haul a roll down the trail. Fortunately, the material comes in tiles, which are roughly 1 ft. x 3 ft. This version is called Marmoleum Click, because the tiles are supposed to click together.

The click system comprises tiles which are about 3/8″ thick. The bulk material is basically a sawdust-polymer composite of some kind, with the colored surface making up the top layer. A fussy little profile is milled into the edges so that the tiles are supposed to click together. Except they don’t.

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