Speaker 1: KFI AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp the
Speaker 1: House Whisper on demand.
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Speaker 1: Dean Sharp the House Whisper Live every Saturday and Sunday morning. Hey,
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Speaker 1: Very exciting. All right, it is time to go to
Speaker 1: the phones. Let's talk to Let's talk to Rick. Hey, Rick,
Speaker 1: welcome home.
Speaker 3: Hello, and good morning. I have a electrical transformer in
Speaker 3: my backyard. There's one every five houses. I've had the
Speaker 3: DWP come out and they did a two week test
Speaker 3: on it. It does operate within its margins. I also
Speaker 3: called eight hundred dig because I want to put up
Speaker 3: a fence, and eight hundred Dig came out and marked
Speaker 3: the ground down where the underground wires and piping is
Speaker 3: and for where not the dig So I know that,
Speaker 3: and I've been googling lots of fabric and material and
Speaker 3: using wood and a space put material make a space
Speaker 3: to absorb the vibration of the coils of this transformer.
Speaker 3: Speaking to the DWP people, I've expressed that it's not
Speaker 3: the actual noise, it's the vibration hum that penetrates, and
Speaker 3: so he recommended. Also, I call my city council person
Speaker 3: who I'm talking to tomorrow morning, and all the neighbors
Speaker 3: have this same issue, but nobody's ever done anything about it.
Speaker 3: And I'm a new homeowner here, and if I'd known
Speaker 3: about it, I don't think i would have bought the place.
Speaker 3: And that's where I'm at. All types of material is
Speaker 3: out there. A lot of it comes from other states
Speaker 3: back East though, and I don't know whether to build
Speaker 3: some type of a dome or you know, how to
Speaker 3: contain the vibration from the coils the sound. That's my issue.
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, So you've got a ground based transformer
Speaker 1: sitting in the corner of your yard and and it's
Speaker 1: making it's making noise. And again, now are you feeling
Speaker 1: the vibration down through the ground or are You're just
Speaker 1: saying it's the vibration that's making its way through the
Speaker 1: yard and becoming a sound factor.
Speaker 3: Correct. And also my next step is a noise ambient
Speaker 3: noise level complaint. That's that's the next thing. But yes,
Speaker 3: it's just the humming of it. Also found out that
Speaker 3: this is a sixty year old unit and where I
Speaker 3: used to live was also all electric and they were
Speaker 3: updated units and they're so quiet. So that's there's a
Speaker 3: big difference between this ancient device and new gyptology.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, exactly. All right, Well, here's my advice. Do
Speaker 1: not break the bank. Okay, it's wise. It's first of all,
Speaker 1: it's wise to consider a well planned uh sound reduction wall. Okay,
Speaker 1: it's a good idea. So I'm all for it, and
Speaker 1: uh and I want to help you understand how you
Speaker 1: can go about doing it. I I but I also
Speaker 1: don't want you to break the bank on on the
Speaker 1: highly expensive materials to get this done, okay, uh. And
Speaker 1: the reason the reason is this, Uh, there are there
Speaker 1: are not uh a ton of soundproofing materials. In fact,
Speaker 1: I'll go so far as to say I know of zero.
Speaker 1: And this is from somebody who has built sound studios
Speaker 1: before recording studios. I mean, soundproofing is part of you know,
Speaker 1: what we do. I know of no soundproofing material that
Speaker 1: is specifically explicitly designed for exterior use. Okay, it's all
Speaker 1: just a carryover of standard soundproofing materials. And the problem
Speaker 1: with that is that it's never just Soundproofing is a
Speaker 1: layered thing, and it's never just about the material. It's
Speaker 1: never there's no wonder material out there. Sometimes mass loaded vinyl.
Speaker 1: I'm sure you've researched it and come across some info
Speaker 1: that sometimes mass loaded vinyl is kind of touted as
Speaker 1: a wonderkinned material, like the ultimate wonder material when it
Speaker 1: comes to soundproofing. In fact, when you go to and
Speaker 1: I'm giving you this illustration for a reason, when you
Speaker 1: go to the International Builders and Design Show, there's always
Speaker 1: a company selling mass loaded vinyl and you walk by
Speaker 1: their boot and what they've got is a massive speaker,
Speaker 1: I mean just a really loud speaker sitting on their
Speaker 1: counter and there's a box over it. Okay, literally, they've
Speaker 1: built a box that just sets over this speaker, and
Speaker 1: the inside of the box is lined with mass loaded vinyl.
Speaker 1: This incredibly heavy, very thick, very dense material, and it's
Speaker 1: very very useful as a soundproofing material. The box sits
Speaker 1: over the speaker and it's silent, silent, and then they
Speaker 1: pull the box off and you realize that the speaker
Speaker 1: is blaring, I mean, just incredibly loud. But here's the thing.
Speaker 1: If there was a one inch hole in that box, Okay,
Speaker 1: all the mass loaded vinyl in the world would not
Speaker 1: keep that thing.
Speaker 3: Okay, it has a vent on top. It has to
Speaker 3: be vented too.
Speaker 2: Exactly exactly.
Speaker 1: So what I'm doing with this illustration is I am
Speaker 1: adjusting your expectations. I think you are best to build
Speaker 1: a sound baffling wall, but I think you're also best
Speaker 1: to continue your efforts with the city. In fact, you
Speaker 1: know what, Rick, I don't want to go long into
Speaker 1: this break and make the next one short. But there
Speaker 1: are a couple other things that I want to tell
Speaker 1: you about this because a lot of people have sound
Speaker 1: issues in their backyard. Noise pollution is just part of
Speaker 1: twenty first century life. So I want everybody to hear me.
Speaker 1: Can you hang on and we're going to go to
Speaker 1: We're going to here's some news, and we'll come back
Speaker 1: and I will continue to address this with you.
Speaker 2: Is that okay?
Speaker 4: Rick?
Speaker 3: Appreciate it?
Speaker 2: All right?
Speaker 1: Rick, I'm gonna pop you on hold. You hold on,
Speaker 1: and all of you who are listening, who have wrestled
Speaker 1: with noise pollution in your yards, you hold on too,
Speaker 1: and we'll hit this thing head on.
Speaker 5: You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
Speaker 5: KFI A M six forty.
Speaker 1: I've got Rick on hold. Let me get him back
Speaker 1: on the line. Rick, you're still with me, Bud?
Speaker 2: All right? Rick is there? Okay? So Rick, Rick's got
Speaker 2: a town home.
Speaker 1: He's got a an electrical transformer, the transformer for his
Speaker 1: little klump of houses. And now, in a lot of situations,
Speaker 1: some of you are thinking, wait, what what's that? Okay,
Speaker 1: if you happen to if you happen to have poles,
Speaker 1: you know, like power poles around your house, you'll as
Speaker 1: you drive around the neighborhood, you look up to the
Speaker 1: top of the pole and you'll see every few holes
Speaker 1: there's what looks like a gray trash can hanging at
Speaker 1: the top of the pole. That's the transformer that's distributing
Speaker 1: the power from the main lines to a clump of houses.
Speaker 1: And it's usually four or five, maybe six houses per transformer. Okay,
Speaker 1: Rick happens to have a ground based one, an old
Speaker 1: one sitting and uh and it's sitting there and uh
Speaker 1: and it's vibrating and it's making noise, and so uh
Speaker 1: the question now.
Speaker 2: And he's doing he's doing all the right stuff.
Speaker 1: He's calling a city council, he's talking to water and power,
Speaker 1: UH to get this because it's a it's annoyingly noisy.
Speaker 1: So I wanted everybody to hang on because I because
Speaker 1: I wanted to talk have this conversation about noise pollution
Speaker 1: in our yards. So in your situation, Rick, I'm telling
Speaker 1: you about mass loaded vinyl and how you know, Uh,
Speaker 1: soundproofing material providers just want to they want to push
Speaker 1: their stuff at you. And it's very expensive. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's expending stuff. And I don't want you to break
Speaker 1: the bank over it, because if you can't seal down
Speaker 1: the air space around the thing that's making noise, then
Speaker 1: you're not going to silence it. What you are able
Speaker 1: to do, though, is you can achieve some buffering and
Speaker 1: reflection and baffling of the sound. Okay, I just want
Speaker 1: to get your expectations set straight. That does that mean
Speaker 1: that mass loaded vinyl built into a fence around this
Speaker 1: thing wouldn't help. No, I'm not saying that it wouldn't help,
Speaker 1: because mass is important, Okay, mass is important. I'm just
Speaker 1: want you to be aware that if you you know,
Speaker 1: you're spending your life savings on this wonder material and
Speaker 1: you can still you know, it hasn't shut it all
Speaker 1: down when it's said and done, because no material, no
Speaker 1: soundproofing material, when there is still air coming out.
Speaker 2: You know, perfect example right here at kfive.
Speaker 1: You know, uh, millions of dollars get spent soundproofing studios,
Speaker 1: recording studios and broadcast studios, and all you have to
Speaker 1: do to defeat it and is for somebody to leave
Speaker 1: the door to the studio open, right the door. If
Speaker 1: the door of the studio is open and we're on
Speaker 1: the we're on the air talking through our mics, and
Speaker 1: somebody you know, is talking loudly and walks down the hallway,
Speaker 1: it's like, well, now there's noise in the studio. It's
Speaker 1: simply an illustration that if you can't shut all the
Speaker 1: airflow down, you're not going to completely shut it down.
Speaker 1: So with that bed stay that being said, the thicker
Speaker 1: the fence, okay, the better. I would recommend that you
Speaker 1: build a fence the like like you're building a wall,
Speaker 1: not just a typical Oh, put some posts in the
Speaker 1: ground and run flat two eyes and slats on the fence.
Speaker 1: I would recommen that you build the kind of the
Speaker 1: equivalent of an exterior wall, and that is that you
Speaker 1: build the fence with panels that are as wide as possible, okay,
Speaker 1: and the transformer isn't too big, And this is going
Speaker 1: to be a relatively small fence that you're going to
Speaker 1: build as the enclosure around it. So I would probably
Speaker 1: build it out of a two by six material with
Speaker 1: a top plate, bottom plate and studs in between, so
Speaker 1: that then then you could turn around and fill those
Speaker 1: empty that the void of the wall itself with mass.
Speaker 1: With more mass, Now what kind of mass? You could
Speaker 1: use a layer of mass loaded vinyl. Sure, I wouldn't
Speaker 1: use much standard insulation because it's out there in the weather,
Speaker 1: and I don't want to get wet, moldy and mildew
Speaker 1: in all that kind of stuff because it's not weather protected.
Speaker 1: But you could use expanding spray foam insulation that you
Speaker 1: can get right off the shelf at the hardware store.
Speaker 1: Let it expand in those cavities. Let it over expand,
Speaker 1: you know, sheet one side of the wall, so that
Speaker 1: you've got a one side solid you can use the
Speaker 1: expanding foam insulation. Let it expand up, mound up, get
Speaker 1: all thick, so you know that it's going to be
Speaker 1: nice and thick. And it's a MESSI let it harden
Speaker 1: and then you can just take a knife or a
Speaker 1: saw blade and slice off the excess so that it's
Speaker 1: flushed with the backside of the wall, and then encapsulate
Speaker 1: that in between, you know, two pieces of sheathing and
Speaker 1: then put some you know, attractive wood slats on and
Speaker 1: that would be of great use. And you want to
Speaker 1: build that wall as low to the ground as possible
Speaker 1: so that there's a minimal amount of air gap underneath
Speaker 1: it for sound to get through. And you want to
Speaker 1: build it as tall as possible in front of that
Speaker 1: transformer so that that sound coming off the top of
Speaker 1: the transformer still has something to hit and baffle it
Speaker 1: and keep it from cross over into your yard. The
Speaker 1: best thing we can do is muffle what's coming right
Speaker 1: at you and reflect away from you up over your head.
Speaker 1: The stuff that we can't control. And honestly, honestly, Rick,
Speaker 1: that's about as good as we're going to get.
Speaker 6: I really appreciate the info, and I wrote it all down,
Speaker 6: and I was hesitant always. I listened to you on
Speaker 6: the weekend, and I hesitant to call because the topic
Speaker 6: is out of bounds of what I thought people might
Speaker 6: also have that issue. But when you say noise pollution, yeah,
Speaker 6: if you live in town, everybody's got noise pollution in
Speaker 6: some way or form. So I appreciate you going over this.
Speaker 1: No trouble, Rick, my pleasure. Good luck with that. Let
Speaker 1: me know how that turns out. I would be fascinated
Speaker 1: to know what you especially what you end up accomplishing
Speaker 1: with your city council and the Department of Water and
Speaker 1: Power and such. But good luck with that, Rick. But yes,
Speaker 1: this is why we take calls. You know we take calls.
Speaker 1: Of course, I take your call to answer your specific
Speaker 1: question when you call in. But the other reason we
Speaker 1: take calls is because you know what what you're struggling with,
Speaker 1: thousands of other people who are listening are also struggling
Speaker 1: with it, maybe not in that one specific not thousands
Speaker 1: of other people like Rick will have a transformer from
Speaker 1: the Department of Water and Power sitting in their backyard humming.
Speaker 1: But everybody I know wrestles with noise pollution, unless you
Speaker 1: just live out in the country somewhere out in the
Speaker 1: middle of nowhere. Everybody wrestles with noise pollution. And then
Speaker 1: the solutions that are offered to you online or in
Speaker 1: the marketplace out there are relatively uninformed solutions. They're just
Speaker 1: people selling their goods who want you to buy their stuff.
Speaker 1: And there's nothing more frustrating than to have an expectation
Speaker 1: that a very expensive material or component or system is
Speaker 1: going to solve your problem, and then spend the money
Speaker 1: and find out that you know it helps, but it
Speaker 1: didn't solve the problem. So this is all about understanding
Speaker 1: what we need to do when it comes to outside,
Speaker 1: my friends, higher the walls and fences the better, the
Speaker 1: thicker the better, and then what's left over. This is
Speaker 1: one of the reasons if you live in a sound
Speaker 1: pollution area, that I love things like water features because
Speaker 1: it just so happens. For instance, if traffic is your
Speaker 1: noise pollution problem of choice, it just so happens that
Speaker 1: the sound of falling water covers over about ninety five
Speaker 1: percent of the exact same frequencies as traffic noise, which
Speaker 1: is why traffic in the distance kind of sounds like
Speaker 1: rushing water. You put that rushing water in your yard,
Speaker 1: you'll still be hearing the traffic noise, but it blends
Speaker 1: in with the water.
Speaker 2: You would your.
Speaker 1: Mind attributed it to the water, and now it's just
Speaker 1: beautiful water in your backyard and not water plus traffic
Speaker 1: or traffic alone. You see what I'm saying. So we
Speaker 1: can mask, we can mix. We can't shut it completely down,
Speaker 1: but if we step wisely, we can help it a lot.
Speaker 1: All right, more of your calls when we return.
Speaker 5: You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
Speaker 5: KFI AM sixty.
Speaker 1: Your Home with Dean Sharp, the house Whisper. We're talking
Speaker 1: about stuff you've inherited from previous owners of your house.
Speaker 1: Mistakes specifically. I don't mean, like, you know, treasure tests
Speaker 1: full of diamonds and gold, I know, I mean mistakes,
Speaker 1: things that you don't like, things that you tell me
Speaker 1: when we walk through your home. It was like this
Speaker 1: when we bought it. I'm sorry, it wasn't us. That
Speaker 1: kind of stuff. And we're going through a list. This
Speaker 1: is part three today of our three part series, and
Speaker 1: most importantly, I'm showing you how you can get it fixed,
Speaker 1: get it changed. But right now we're taking calls and
Speaker 1: I want to continue to do just that. So I
Speaker 1: want to talk to Perry. Perry, welcome home.
Speaker 7: Oh thank you, sir. I have a quick question about
Speaker 7: my HVAC. So we recently had winter service performed and
Speaker 7: the technician has recommended two upgrades that I really wasn't
Speaker 7: familiar with. So one is a surge protector. The second
Speaker 7: is a UV light to help protect against mold and
Speaker 7: mildew build up in the unit. So I wasn't sure
Speaker 7: that these are really necessary, so I told my wife, well,
Speaker 7: I trust Dean. I'm going to call and ask for
Speaker 7: his honest opinion.
Speaker 1: Oh how very cut. All right, So tell me about
Speaker 1: this surge protector. What was the justification for the surge protector?
Speaker 7: Just to protect against electrical damage to the unit?
Speaker 2: Oh? I see, I see.
Speaker 1: So that they're just saying that we're not talking about
Speaker 1: another breaker at this point, but literally an incoming surge protector.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 1: And and this is a gas furnace, yes, okay. And
Speaker 1: and they're talking about a surge protector on the gas furnace.
Speaker 7: Yes, it's also an electrical air conditioning unit. Okay, so
Speaker 7: it's a mass of electric and gas.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but now are they Are they talking about a
Speaker 1: surge protector for the outside condenser as well, or are
Speaker 1: we just talking about the air handler that's you know,
Speaker 1: the part that's inside the house.
Speaker 7: No, outside of the unit is on the roof, And
Speaker 7: he wants to put the surge protector in the unit
Speaker 7: up on the roof, the same with the UV light
Speaker 7: up there in the unit.
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, so here's the thing. There's nothing wrong
Speaker 1: with those options. I mean, there's nothing wrong with it
Speaker 1: at all. The question has been how long have you
Speaker 1: guys lived in the house and uh, and how long
Speaker 1: have you had unit? And how many electrical company power
Speaker 1: surges have you received?
Speaker 7: Zero power surges? And the unit is seven years old?
Speaker 2: Okay?
Speaker 1: Yeah, so you know there, if you've got disposable income
Speaker 1: and you're like, what the heck?
Speaker 2: Why not? You know, I mean, surge protectors do just that.
Speaker 1: But generally speaking, generally speaking, okay, for instance, the condenser
Speaker 1: that actually starts up, I mean it is designed to
Speaker 1: be hit with a ton of electricity, right, it's two
Speaker 1: hundred and forty volts usually forty sixty amps. That is
Speaker 1: a lot of electricity that surges into an AC unit
Speaker 1: when it starts up and goes running. It is virtually
Speaker 1: impossible to imagine a little bit of a power surge
Speaker 1: from the local power lines overwhelming the AC condenser because
Speaker 1: they're designed to be slammed with a large amount of power,
Speaker 1: and so does a surge protector potentially could it protect
Speaker 1: sensitive electronic equipment out there? Okay, yeah, maybe, but by
Speaker 1: and large is this is probably just an extra to
Speaker 1: be thrown in.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And here's my proof.
Speaker 1: My proof of concept is this, of all the air
Speaker 1: conditioning units that exist, let's just take a pool of
Speaker 1: southern California, which are hundreds of thousands of them. Of
Speaker 1: all the air conditioning units that exist, how many of
Speaker 1: them have SURG protectors on the main condenser unit? I
Speaker 1: would say less than a percent of a percent. And
Speaker 1: how many of those units constantly are getting hit and
Speaker 1: destroyed by power company power surges? You it's just something
Speaker 1: you don't hear about, and so I would say the
Speaker 1: odds of it happening to you are incredibly, incredibly low,
Speaker 1: and so if you don't want to spend that money,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't. Now the UV side of things, and this
Speaker 1: is going to be in the air handling unit. This
Speaker 1: is where the air ducts connect UV. If moisture has
Speaker 1: been a problem, has been a problem, then sure address it.
Speaker 1: But here's the funny thing about that. The funny thing
Speaker 1: about moisture and humidity is that an air conditioner, when
Speaker 1: the AC is running, air conditioners by definition, are dehumidifiers
Speaker 1: that they pull moisture out of the air and then
Speaker 1: deliver it through a condensate line to the outside of
Speaker 1: the house. If the heating element, which also by the way,
Speaker 1: by definition kind of dehumidifies the air. If if the
Speaker 1: heating element during the winter is something where there's a
Speaker 1: lot of humidity building up in the house and there's
Speaker 1: a risk or you've in the past struggled with the
Speaker 1: mold or mildew build up, then yeah, I'm all for
Speaker 1: a technician coming to me and saying, Dean, we saw
Speaker 1: a little mildew build up around the coil, and I
Speaker 1: think this homeowner could benefit because of these conditions, you know,
Speaker 1: they could benefit from a UV light in there.
Speaker 2: I'm like, all right, let's do it.
Speaker 1: But it's one of those things that doesn't come with
Speaker 1: every AC unit, doesn't come with every install and for
Speaker 1: a very good reason. Most of the time they're not needed.
Speaker 1: So again I would just ask you if you guys
Speaker 1: have had that before, if the technician ever said to you, yeah,
Speaker 1: we got a little mold and mildew build up, I
Speaker 1: think we should knock it down with the presence of
Speaker 1: a UV light.
Speaker 7: Thanks you very much. Yeah, I've never had that issue.
Speaker 7: And my thought was if those were so beneficial wire
Speaker 7: in our units, but with them to begin with when
Speaker 7: they're installed, So I aarreciate your honest opinion.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're exactly right, Perry. And and again
Speaker 1: this is not to say either one of those accessories
Speaker 1: and accessories is what they are did either one of
Speaker 1: those accessories is bogus.
Speaker 2: They're not.
Speaker 1: It's just a question of is that a particular problem
Speaker 1: for your unit, in your home, in your area, and
Speaker 1: if it's not, you know, don't waste the money. Don't
Speaker 1: waste the money. You know, it's one of those things
Speaker 1: where again you know, you know, I live in southern California.
Speaker 2: I'm all about well insulating our homes.
Speaker 1: And and you know, I want you to have the
Speaker 1: most efficient windows possible, but you know I don't install
Speaker 1: you know, six pain storm windows for clients that are
Speaker 1: designed for arctic conditions in southern California. Does that mean
Speaker 1: they're bad? Are they ripoffs?
Speaker 2: No, they don't belong here. We don't need them here.
Speaker 1: And so that's at the end of the day of
Speaker 1: the rationale. Perry, thanks for the call, Bud, appreciate And again,
Speaker 1: every time we take a call, other people are listening thinking, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: that makes sense.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 1: Do I have a problem with contractors, especially service contractors,
Speaker 1: swooping in and saying, all right, we got your ten
Speaker 1: point check the list here, and we also recommend that.
Speaker 1: You know, I don't really have a problem with them
Speaker 1: offering a recommendation, but you, as a homeowner, I want
Speaker 1: you to specifically ask them, why why do I need
Speaker 1: this thing? Why do I need it? Don't tell me
Speaker 1: what it does? I get that, I get what it does.
Speaker 1: Why do I need it? Do I have a problem
Speaker 1: with this? Did you see something up there? And if
Speaker 1: the answer is yes, then continue the conversation. Otherwise, if
Speaker 1: the answer is well no, no, we didn't see anything
Speaker 1: in your Okay, thank you very much.
Speaker 2: I'm going to pass on that and let me finish
Speaker 2: out your.
Speaker 1: Bill, all right, Joell when we come back, Yeah, I've
Speaker 1: just decided to use this hour for calls when we
Speaker 1: come back, a couple more calls, and then we'll get
Speaker 1: back to It was this way when we bought it.
Speaker 1: The problems that you've inherited from the previous owner at
Speaker 1: your home.
Speaker 5: You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on Demand from
Speaker 5: KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2: Thanks for joining us on the program.
Speaker 1: We're taking calls right now, and then we're going to
Speaker 1: get back to it was like this when we bought it.
Speaker 1: The mistakes you've inherited from the previous owner or owners
Speaker 1: of your home. Let's go back to the phones. I
Speaker 1: want to talk to Sarah. Hey, Sarah, welcome home.
Speaker 4: Hi, good morning. Hi. I have you spark my brain
Speaker 4: when you were talking about noise canceling. I have two
Speaker 4: waterfalls about six or seven feet apart from each other.
Speaker 4: One of them faces my patio and it's about six
Speaker 4: and a half to seven feet calls. I had it
Speaker 4: installed horizontally correct, so I'm not having a problem with
Speaker 4: the water. However, my smaller three or four foot waterfall
Speaker 4: is also installed horizontally correct, and it's facing my kitchen
Speaker 4: windows so I could listen and see the water when I'm.
Speaker 3: In the house.
Speaker 4: In the beginning, it was working just fine, but now
Speaker 4: it seems like I need to kill the water every day.
Speaker 4: And I don't see any splash factor. I don't see
Speaker 4: any leaking. It can't evaporate that fast, So I don't
Speaker 4: know where to look next to solve my problem.
Speaker 2: Ah, all right, So and.
Speaker 4: I don't know if you can.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I mean I can't look at it right now,
Speaker 1: but I've got it in my mind's eye. So when
Speaker 1: these were installed, the one that's giving you the problem
Speaker 1: at least, does it have like a rubber liner under it?
Speaker 2: Is it? Is it one of those setup side?
Speaker 3: How is it?
Speaker 4: Well, I don't know what's attached to the bottom of
Speaker 4: the waterfall. However, it's sitting up on a like a
Speaker 4: table a platform, and it's covered with the corrugated metal
Speaker 4: to keep the wood of the platform from getting wet
Speaker 4: if it were going to get wet. Okay, all right,
Speaker 4: So it's sitting on metal, okay.
Speaker 2: Uh So, and you don't you don't see and where
Speaker 2: is the pump.
Speaker 4: It's inside the bottom of the So this is.
Speaker 2: A pre this was a pre built unit that you purchased.
Speaker 4: Yes, I bought both of them from the same place,
Speaker 4: made by the same people.
Speaker 2: Okay, and you don't.
Speaker 3: See that Mountain Valley.
Speaker 2: You don't see any leak. Did you get it from
Speaker 2: Recita Fountain?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 2: Ah, I knew it. I love those guys all by
Speaker 2: the way over there, So you.
Speaker 1: Don't see any evidence of of of at all.
Speaker 4: No. And I even put cardboard all around it to
Speaker 4: see where it might be splashing that I might not
Speaker 4: notice it. But there's nothing splashing, and I don't know
Speaker 4: where the water's going.
Speaker 2: And there's nothing leaky underneath.
Speaker 3: No, H got your stump?
Speaker 1: Yeah I would, No, I would. I would give them
Speaker 1: a call. Uh, receive a discount. Pottery and fountains by
Speaker 1: the way, everybody, if you've never been there and you're
Speaker 1: thinking about getting a fountain, you know what, you owe
Speaker 1: it to yourself to get over there and see the
Speaker 1: over one thousand.
Speaker 2: That sounds like I'm doing a commercial. I am.
Speaker 1: They're not sponsors on the show, but uh, over the
Speaker 1: one thousand fountains that they all have running at the
Speaker 1: same time, every single day over there.
Speaker 2: It's amazing. But I would, I would.
Speaker 1: I would get it to them, I really would. I
Speaker 1: would get it back to them, Sarah, because it's since
Speaker 1: it's a since it's a unit that you purchased, getting
Speaker 1: back to them and say, I don't know what's happening here.
Speaker 1: Is there a reservoir at the bottom that's exposed like overnight?
Speaker 1: Like I mean, are you getting visitors in the middle
Speaker 1: of the night who are drinking down the water or
Speaker 1: is it all hidden away?
Speaker 4: It's well, I turn it off at night at sunset
Speaker 4: pretty much. I turn it off, so I don't know
Speaker 4: how they'd be getting into it. The bigger waterfall is
Speaker 4: more accessible, and I see squirrels and birds there, but
Speaker 4: I don't have any big critters.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, my best advice is that you get
Speaker 1: it back to them because something's going hooey.
Speaker 2: There's something weird. And normally when it.
Speaker 1: Comes to a water feature and we see that it's
Speaker 1: starting to lose water, a there's a leak in the
Speaker 1: lining itself. And this is more you know, for people
Speaker 1: who have had water features built into their yard, the
Speaker 1: lining is leaking and so and they can't see it
Speaker 1: because it's just soaking into the soil right underneath them.
Speaker 1: But there's a you know, there's a tear or you know,
Speaker 1: a hole in the lining somehow, and we're losing water
Speaker 1: that way, or it's been constructed in such a way
Speaker 1: that the water is hitting rocks and a good amount
Speaker 1: of water is splashing outside of the feature, so it's
Speaker 1: not you know, it loses water every time it runs
Speaker 1: because of splashing that it doesn't get returned into the reservoir.
Speaker 1: Or there's a busted pipe or a leaky fitting where
Speaker 1: the pump is and as a result, water again is
Speaker 1: soaking into areas where we can't see it. That kind
Speaker 1: of stuff, and or just we use it a lot
Speaker 1: and evaporation. The more you use the fountain, the more
Speaker 1: it evaporates, you know, the more you expose the water
Speaker 1: to evaporation. And in those situations will put in a
Speaker 1: little auto fill valve and we'll run a little quarter
Speaker 1: inch waterline to it with a little plunger so that
Speaker 1: when the water gets low, it activated. It's kind of
Speaker 1: like the the the ballcock in the the valve in
Speaker 1: the in the toilet of your tank, the tank of
Speaker 1: your toilet, toilet of your tank the tank of your toilet.
Speaker 1: You know, when the little float goes down, the valve
Speaker 1: turns on and refills the tank. We use those for
Speaker 1: pools and for fountains, just to keep the water level
Speaker 1: topped off all the time so you never have to
Speaker 1: worry about refilling. And a really cheap way of doing
Speaker 1: this for those of you who have it built into
Speaker 1: the ground is you know, I've you just noticed mild
Speaker 1: evaporation over days of time. Run a little quarter inch
Speaker 1: line from your irrigation system, you know, your drip system
Speaker 1: into where the reservoir is, and that way, every two
Speaker 1: or three days, when your sprinklers come on, your eargation
Speaker 1: system comes on, you know, you get a little top
Speaker 1: off every time we do that. With the bird feeder
Speaker 1: that we have sitting out here, it just gets topped
Speaker 1: off because the irrigation system runs. There's a lot of
Speaker 1: ways of addressing it. But if it's a mystery where
Speaker 1: the water is going and this is the prefabed unit,
Speaker 1: then take it back to them, have them figure it
Speaker 1: out for you. All right, Sarah, thank you for the call,
Speaker 1: and here we are top of the hour. When we
Speaker 1: return back to it was like this when we bought
Speaker 1: it the problems you've inherited from the previous owners of
Speaker 1: your home. You are home with Dean Sharp, the House
Speaker 1: Whisper on KFI. This has been home with Dean Sharp,
Speaker 1: the House Whisper. Tune into the live broadcast on KFI
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