Nothing Happens At Ten

I just got back from getting my flat tire fixed. It was not a nail; it was a failed Tire Pressure Sense (TPS) valve stem. That is the sensor that is required on each wheel (spare included) that sends the tire pressure to the main computer in the car.

Apparently  the O-rings in the stems (a 5 cent part) fail and start to leak. The stems are made of cheap aluminum, so when the service tech takes them out to replace the O-ring, the stem breaks and must be replaced.

$145.36

That is what it cost me to fix a flat tire this morning.

$115.26 for the valve stem, and the rest for the normal labor, taxes, tips, fees, graft and corruption.

$145.36 to fix a flat tire. And the flat was caused by the very system (Federally mandated) that is supposed to save me from flat tires.

This is the second time this has happened. Last year I had the same situation. That one cost me $156.88, which was $110.00 for the valve stem and the rest for labor etc. I guess the cost of the valve stems has gone up.

So, here is a listing of all the instances where my Tire Pressure Sense (TPS) system has warned me since I bought this car (2006)

1. A screw in the tire – cost ~$25.00
2. False alarm (spare was flat) – cost ~$0.00
3. A screw in tire and broken TPS sensor – cost $156.88
4. A broken TPS stem – cost $145.36

Two out of the four incidents were caused at least in part by the TPS, for an additional expense of owning this car at $255.36. I’m not sure that it is worth it considering that our other car has no such system, and we are doing fine with it.

Well that’s it. No more tire rants because I suspect that you are tiring of my tires. We must visit the house today to make some decisions about doors etc. and I promise I will post a real house entry next time.

I promise.

P.S. The TPS system was mandated by the Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability and Documentations (TREAD Act) in 2000. You can read the entire abysmal thing here:

TREAD Act 2000

They estimated back then that the cost of the sensors would be $7.50 per wheel. They now really cost $115.26 each. Here is a direct quote from the Act.

“NHTSA estimates that the cost of a direct TPMS that will meet the four-tire, 25 percent compliance option will be $70.35 per vehicle, if the manufacturer chooses to install an individual tire pressure display. This includes $7.50 for each tire pressure sensor ($30 per vehicle), $19 for the control module, $3.85 for an individual tire pressure display, $6 for four valves, and $11.50 for the combination of an instrument panel telltale, assembly, and miscellaneous wiring. The agency assumes that about one percent of vehicles currently comply. Thus, the agency estimates that the incremental cost will be $69.65 per vehicle ($70.35 * 99 percent) if manufacturers install an individual tire pressure display.”

If you don’t believe me, read it for yourself, and weep.

TREAD Cost

Things have gotten interesting in the Fallapartment again. In the downstairs bathroom we have a hangfire toilet. What is that? After you flush it and the water is gone, it sits there doing nothing for about 20 seconds before it starts to refill the tank. I have no idea why that happens, or even how I would design a toilet to make it do that. It flushes, and then there is nothing………… and then it starts to fill. Strange.

It doesn’t flush very well either, so one day I opened it up to see why this strange stuff is happening. I found out that our landlords have installed a “water saver” system in the tank, and that keeps the toilet from flushing. Since I am an artist, I decided to draw a diagram to illustrate how the insides of the toilet work. Here it is.

The “bucket” is the water saving device. It surrounds the flapper valve completely and it keeps most of the water from flowing down to the flapper valve to make the toilet flush. As you can see from the diagram, the piddly two inches of water left above the bucket doesn’t provide enough hydraulic persuasion to move the … uh… material… down the pipe. Hence, the toilet doesn’t flush. You could probably save even more water if you just stuffed a rag into the flapper valve hole without losing much more of the toilet function.

I would remove the device from the tank, except that I am a better artist than a plumber (well…. ok… marginally), and I don’t want to get involved in that.

So, we just flush it twice.

I have not figured out how the water saving device makes the toilet delay the filling of the tank for 20 seconds. That will take some further analysis. And, to make matters worse, the toilet has begun to hang on the flush end as well. We push down the lever, and the toilet sits there for 10 to 20 seconds… and then it flushes………. and then it sits there thinking about it for another 10 to 20 seconds…. and starts to fill up. I think it might be haunted.

The other plumbing news is that this:

started to leak this afternoon. That is the drain from the sink-that-won’t drain. After looking at it, we found that the screwy part (the thing with the knobs) had become unscrewed, and the pipe had fallen apart. We screwed it back together and it appears to work, but we left the bucket there just in case. The sink-that-won’t-drain now doesn’t drain just as well as it used to.

In case you are interested, the big, gray pipe comes in from the worst-dishwasher-in-the-world. I don’t think that the toilet comes into play here, but you never know what is going to happen.