Lovely Bike Ride from Bloomfield to William Paterson University (and back)

I have cycled from home (Bloomfield) to work (William Paterson University) and back several times lately and have taken a few pictures on the way. You'll see I've thrown in a few screen grabs too, but the pictures are mostly mine.

What surprised me most was how safe the route felt, how much there was to see, and how quick the journey was. About an hour. My average drive to WPUNJ is 25 minutes, but it can take 35 or more if there is heavy traffic. So cycling isn't a *great* deal slower. And I get a work-out!

As long as you plan your route and use common sense, you can spend over 90% of your journey in parks, empty side streets, bike lanes and bike paths.

I won't do it every day, but I'm glad to know that this very pleasant route is there!

Love this feature of MapMyRide!

The Route. Bloomfield - Montclair - Clifton - Paterson - Haledon - Wayne

Clark's Pond, Bloomfield

Brookdale Park

Brookdale Park Meadow

Brookdale Park Archery Field

Yantacaw Brook Park

Yantacaw Brook Park

Yantacaw Brook Road at the Park

Yantacaw Brook Road - seriously, it is always this quiet

Small Bridge over Weasel Brook, Grove St, Clifton

Middle School and Public Park, Grove Street, Clifton

Pylon Route over Grove Street. Would love to see some kind of bike path along this route.

Miserable Drivers going home on Highway 3 in the usual "Stockender Verkehr."

Bad picture (cheap phone), but New York City clearly visible from Grove Street.

Yes - it's a real farm!

. . . and here's some proof!

Grove Street quiet and roomy, with excellent bike lanes!

PATERSON

Bike Lanes well marked in Paterson

Bilingual Paterson

Marshall Street, Paterson. Very quiet; very safe for cyclists.

Under the Interstate (I-80). Again, almost no traffic.

Bustling Paterson. Feels sort of European.

Flags flying in Little Italy, Paterson

Lou Costello Memorial, Paterson

Who's on First?

Passaic River, Paterson. You can see it was a mill town. The old red-brick factories are being restored now . . .

Paterson Museum used to be a factory.

West Side Park, Paterson (footbridge from high school to McBride Avenue in background)

The most awful name for a mattress company ever.

Nice Little Bridge on Lee Avenue, Paterson (again, a very quiet road).

Nice Pedestrian and bike Bridge over Pompton Road gets you to the bus stop on the Hamburg Turnpike and onwards to the reasonably-safe Preakness Avenue route into Paterson.

Lake with fountains at William Paterson University.

Fixing a Leaking GE Washing Machine

We have a pretty standard GE Washing Machine. Looks just like this one (which is just a screen grab off the Internet, and not actually our machine!):

Our model is a WHDSR109J8WW, but honestly they're all very alike.

This washing machine had recently started leaking, and I thought it might be the end for it. But in the spirit of experimentation, I figured I'd try fixing it.

To my knowledge, these machines are well built, and unlikely to corrode. If there were to be a leak, it would likely be in the water inlets (the two hoses on the back attached to your house water supply) or in the water pump/drain system (the larger pipe at the back that attaches to your slop sink or waste-water system). Aside from the pump, these pieces are *very* repairable, and usually require parts that can be bought for several dollars at your local hardware or plumbing supply store.

If the leak is coming from the drum, there's really no point repairing the washing machine. It's just too much work, and the parts are probably quite expensive.

Moving the machine.

Plug the machine out. I'm not kidding. This thing has 240V of electricity, which is double your usual household supply. If you touch the wrong wire you will get a very unpleasant jolt.

Hopefully your machine has extendable plastic hoses, because you're going to need to pull it out from the wall and stand it somewhere where it can still run while you have access to the back of it. You'll need no more than a foot or two of extra space. Pull it out *carefully*. You might need help. Make sure it's standing upright, and use a level, if possible:

The first thing to do is remove the front panel. You'll need something like a putty knife, which you're going to *carefully* slide between the top of the washing machine and the front panel.

Be forceful, but not aggressive, and don't scratch the panel. It will (or should) pop out.

Now have a look around. See can you find the source of the leak. Don't detach anything, don't yank anything - just look around.

In my case, NOTHING SEEMED TO BE LEAKING. The pipes and hoses were clean and dry; the drum looked sound, and the pump was dry.

This was a conundrum. What was causing the leak?

In the absence of an easy solution, I turned to the internet and did several hours research.

In the end, one silly solution presented itself:

The washing machine detects the amount of water in the drum using a pressure gauge. You'll see a small box-like chamber attached to the drum, from which a very narrow hose runs. If you were to follow the hose, you'd find it goes up to the load-size selector switch on the control panel. This hose can fill with lint, and when this happens the pressure gauge fails. When the pressure gauge fails, the machine doesn't know when to stop filling the drum with water, and the machine overflows.

All you need to do is clean out this hose.

Remove the top panel. There are screws on the back. After you've removed these, slide the panel to one side and lift it out. You'll see the other end of the hose attached to the load-size selector on the left. The hose is easily worked off the selector and the pressure box on the drum. Remembering exactly how it ran, remove it and use whatever you have at hand to clean the lint and gunk out of it. Once you're satisfied that the hose is completely clean, run it back through the various conduits it was in and reattach it at both ends.

Note: if this little hose is NOT blocked or gunked up, then the leak is probably coming from somewhere else. I can't help you if that's the case.

Now reassemble everything, plug the machine back in, and try it out. Select a rinse, being sure to select the largest load possible.

If everything works as planned, your leak will have disappeared.

Put the washing machine back into its place. You're done.

Scéal nó dhó as Meiriceá . . .

.. . mar phíosa chraic.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCioKQJZ7fpF2fnzvHBZEwUw

Stolen Ross and Raleigh Bikes in Bloomfield NJ

Two Bikes Stolen Thur 21st April 2016 from Broughton Avenue, Bloomfield NJ.

1)

Ross “Mt Pocono”

Distinctive green decals and handlebars; distinctive “ding-dong” bell on stem of handlebars. Rear carrier.

Padded “Schwinn” saddle with slight tear on one side.

Serial Number: TA92DO5734

Distinctive sticker on base of frame reading “Carl Hart Bicycles”

2) 

Red Women's Hybrid Raleigh C40 - Distinctive black gel-padded seat and folding metal side-basket on rear carrier.

Serial Number: o906560264

Sticker from Williamson Street Bike Shop, Madison Wisconsin.

Any info: pass it on to brianeanna  "AT"  hotmail "DOT" com

Defeated Kryptonite Lock

This happens when you report a defeated Kryptonite lock to that company:

At this rate, the company can claim that they have a 100% satisfaction rating from their customers, I guess.

Useless, shoddy, insulting customer service.