Source of smell, Joe’s Printer, Follow up

So Cindy has been complaining of an intermittent mildew smell in the house for a little while.  I have only smelled it twice but she evidently has a heightened nose ability.  Her complaints of the smell prompted me to get my normal AC company out to do normal preventative maintenance.  You may recall I scheduled the work the day prior and then the next morning no one showed up at that time.  I called the owner and she had evidently forgotten to actually put the appointment in her book when I talked to her less than 24 hours prior.   The end result of this was her getting one of her guys to still come over that day but in his personal car which had very limited tools inside of it compared to their normal van.  He didn’t even have a shop vac to suck out the drain line.

Anyway, during his visit I mentioned the smell.  He said he cleaned everything but it all looked good.  I asked him about the UV light, whose job it is to sterilize the air handler.  He said he checked it and it was dim but still working.  He advised I replace it the next maintenance cycle.  So after the PM Cindy still complained of the smell.

So last night I went and pulled the bulb out to take a look for myself.  It was not lit and something was rattling around inside.  Either the bulb had just failed since the PM or the guy didn’t really check it in the first place.  It was also brought to my attention by Daniel and reinforced by my research on replacement bulbs that our UV light was not installed as it should be. Our light was stuck into a hole in the supply side of the duct above the air handler.  Everything I read said the light is supposed to be installed INSIDE of the air handler where it can do the most effective sterilization of the coils.  I found this very annoying since I paid roughly $600 to have the light done, which upon my bulb research, I could have pretty easily done myself, correctly for about 25% of that amount.

So at this point I am pretty sure the onset of smell coincided with the bulb going bad.  I ordered a replacement bulb AND another complete UV light kit.  If things work out as I hope the end result will be having not one but two UV lights in the air pipeline.

Yesterday I finally pulled the trigger and bought a genuine Prusa MK3S printer.  Cindy and I met Joe Prusa at Maker Faire Miami last year.  Prusa is the benchmark that most 3D printers are measured against.  I have wanted one for a long time.  I opted for the kit version which saves about $250, allowing me to pay for the purchase completely out of 3D store funds, which is the way it should be.  Despite it coming all the way from the Czech Republic, the printer is supposed to be at my door on Monday.  It should be a fun build. To make space for the printer I will be giving away my original 3D printer, the FlashForge Finder to a new home.

Today I have a follow up with our employee clinic regarding my latest test results, more specifically the high thallium indication which is a real head scratcher.  This is something that is very unusual and trying to determine it’s source is likely to be very difficult as well.

Overall I would say my fatigue the last few months has been less prominent.  Although I do still feel it most when exercising, it isn’t as severe as it has been during certain time periods over the last year.  I am just tired of endless tests that lead to more tests that have an end result of basically shoulder shrugging.