The power of 20A smart switch

My DB box, same as before except type C is changed to type B. The Master room water heater is now used.

(The fifth MCB from the left is linked to the eighth MCB.)

Air-con

20A smart switch for my water heater. There is another one for my air-con. I forgot to take a pic before it was blocked by the dryer.

When one FCU is in use, it uses 6.9 A. This is expected, the air-con catalogue already shows it. (It uses 7.0 A for two FCUs.) Because the compressor is non-inverter, it is either on or off, there is no variable speed. (The new air-con consumes 2 – 3 A when maintaining temperature.)

If it is on for the entire hour, it will consume 1.6 kWh, but it consumes around 1.2 kWh (based on smart meter reading), so its duty cycle is 75%. (*) A calculation shows its monthly usage is around 350 kWh! :horror:

(*) It depends on the ambient temperature. On a cool night (by Singapore's standard), the duty cycle may be only 40%.

The unexpected thing is that the air-con consumes 100 mA even when no FCUs are running. The app shows 12.8 W, half of VA — this is likely to be real power. This means 12.8 Wh or 0.3 kWh per day, or 9 kWh per month. It is not much, but it is not nothing. The new air-con and other appliances on standby consume 0.01 kWh per day at most.

As mentioned before, my compressor is on its last legs. When all FCUs are off but the compressor fan remains on, it consumes 750 mA. It is happening again.

Water heater

Bennington C600 water heater

The real surprise is my water heater. It trips the 20A smart switch — it shows a current of 21.5 A!

Upon reading the operating manual for the first time, I found that I have been using it wrongly since day one! The knob can only be set to four positions. I thought it was a variable thermostat. I set it to somewhere between II and III.

After using it correctly, 0 = 0 A, I = 5.9 A, II = 15.7 A and III = 21.3 A. III continues to trip the switch, but luckily II is sufficiently hot.

I'm not surprised if I had been running it at 21 A. No wonder I spoiled two of them... this is the third one. :horror:

I was lucky the wire held up! 21.5 A + dryer at 9 A, it was almost at the limit.

Missus ran the dryer and the plug is now only lukewarm. Previously it felt hot. To continue to monitor.

An Electrician's feedback

I got an electrician to do some rewiring and repairs. He came down twice, first to survey, second to do the works with his workers.

The Master room water heater circuit is routed to the water heater, so it is on its own 20A circuit. This is super easy. The trunking already exists, the only thing is to extend the wire from the bathroom to the service balcony.

(I feel the electrician overcharged me here, cos originally he thought he needed to drill a hole through the wall.)

The existing water heater switch remains, but it is changed to a Smart Control. This will allow me to monitor its power usage. As the Smart Control is touch-based and not a physical switch, I kept the Master room water heater switch. It must be kept on. Originally I wanted to bypass it.

The adjacent double power point is also changed as it is slightly burnt. Personally, I think it is perfectly usable.

To monitor if the dryer still overheats. If it does, will need to change to a heat pump dryer. They use less than half the power. Bad news: a heat pump dryer is expensive.

I also got the electrician to add a Smart Control to the existing air-con, above its 20A isolator switch. Again, this is to monitor its power usage.

Light switch, worse than before?

For the spoilt light switches in the kitchen, one of them makes cracking sound, so it is replaced. Unfortunately, the electrician replaced it with a different model. I should have known. Electricians do not care about aesthetics. I could have bought a new one and replaced it on my own.

The other light switch is working, something else is broken downstream. The electrician said it is rare for light switches to spoil.

As this is connected to a LED power supply (a 12V 3A adapter), he said it was spoilt. But I had tested that the adapter works when attached to another light switch (the one with the cracking sound). Finally, he tested more thoroughly and found the cable connecting the power point to the adapter was spoilt.

I was rather surprised. A simple power cable can spoil? Two of them at that.

Funnily enough, when doing more testing, I attached an adapter to the light switch that was working and when I turned it on, I saw the power cable moved. It no longer worked.

So the situation now is that I have repaired the light switch, but have three spoilt power cables. Two adapters still work (tested with my monitor's power cable — I don't have any spare cables at home!), a third one cannot be removed from the cabinet for testing.

One adapter is making whining sound, so it is also not far from dying.

Distribution Board box demystified

Not really, there are still more questions than answers.

The 20A CB that is not connected to anything? This is the easiest. It is connected to the common bathroom's instant water heater.

I recalled this when the electrician opened a blank panel outside the common bathroom and I told him it was for the old water heater. That was when I realized what the unused 20A CB was for. I vaguely remembered it controlled both instant heaters and the Master room switch was never used.

The electrician said my CBs are all type C except for two. He said all should be type B. Type B is used in residental homes and allows 2 – 3 times over-current. Type C is used in commerical places and allows 5 – 10 times over-current! Wah, doesn't this mean it will never trip?

I remembered wrongly about the linked 20A and 32A CB. Both must be off to turn off the circuit. If either is on, the circuit has power. The electrician verifies it again by checking every power point in the circuit.

According to the electrician, they should be two separate circuits, one for the living room and one for the rooms. But a previous electrician had combined them for some reason. There are two likely explanations:

• He mixed up the wires
• A wire was broken in one circuit, instead of fixing it, he worked around it by connecting it to another circuit

He said will need to tear the whole circuit apart to find where they are linked, it is not worth the effort or cost, just use as-is.

I asked if I can turn on just one CB, he said to keep both on. I also asked if the limit is 20A, I got an unclear answer. He seemed to imply the limit is 52A (20A + 32A), but there is a 32A CB in the circuit, so it will trip first. I was thinking, shouldn't the 20A CB trip first?

What about the air-con?

When the electrician came down for the survey, he felt it was too difficult to lay a dedicated line due to my flat's layout and reno, so he suggested putting it off first.

I'm fine with the air-con using a shared circuit, just need to be careful using high power appliances — only iron (10A) — on this circuit.

After I remembered the unused common bathroom water heater, I wondered if it can be routed to the study room's air-con. It is quite near and I feel the existing trunking (both electrical and the unused parts of the old air-con piping) can be reused. But one of electrician's workers said it is not as easy as it looks. It is doable, but will need to drill some holes to pull the wire.

He then said it is in fact simpler to lay a new wire from the DB and put it in the fiber optic trunking — the same one that I wanted to conceal, but they won't touch it. The trunking already goes near the living room FCU. From there, will pass it through the same hole as the air-con piping to enter the study room.

The downside is that there will be extra trunking in the study room and the air-con power point needs to be moved.

They offered a discounted price if I agreed to do it on the same day. I thought for a while and ultimately declined.

The living room remains pretty neat. I like it. The problem is the extra trunking and new power point location in the study room. They are ugly.

Air-con wiring plan

I have not given up on a dedicated circuit for the air-con! I feel both ways are possible: route from common bathroom water heater, or lay a new wire from DB.

If laying a new wire from DB, it can reuse the fiber optic trunking, but it must go through the existing hole into the study room, reuse the existing trunking and the same power point.

I'm now inclined to keep the fiber optic trunking. It can be indistinguishable from the ceiling cornice if painted. But the places where it bridges the existing trunkings, hopefully they can be tided up.

Linked CB mystery

I want to get to the bottom of the linked 20A and 32A CB eventually. The question is, how to find which power points are on each circuit and where they are joined?

Three stages of PHV-COE situation

The three stages of PHV-COE situation: denial, tweak, acceptance.

First, MOT (Ministry of Transport) denied that PHV caused COE price to be high. It was fairly obvious to everyone else.

Then, they tried to increase the monthly COE quota, but the little that they added was laughable.

Finally, now they say it is better to give COE to PHV as it will be better utilized.

Haven't we been down this road? Taxis used to be in cat A and caused cat A COE to be high. LTA finally removed taxis from cat A. So people asked if PHV could have its own category as well. This suggestion was rejected by LTA.

PHV and non-PHV are two different segments. PHV is commerical. Non-PHV is for personal non-monetizing use. As such, PHV can always outbid most of non-PHV because they have the means to recover the cost of high COE.

To PHC, a $100k COE may translate into daily rental of $130. $50k COE is $100/day. So PHC does not mind bidding up.

Mr Siow's statement that "they drive down demand for COEs" is simply false. If $100k COE is low demand, is he saying without PHC to 'depress' COE price, it would be $200k? No, COE was S$20k before PHC.

It is the same reasoning for motorbikes. Why does cat D COE hover stubbornly around $10k? Because it can be monetarized. Before this, cat D COE was less than $2k.

LTA does not have a lot of room to maneuver because Singapore has already hit 'peak car' population. There are around 600k cars in Singapore; roads are already extremely congested.

As indicated in the article, MOT is banking on two things: ERP 2.0 (distance-based charging) and autonomous vehicles.

Not all cars are the same. A car that travels 5k km a year vs one that travels 30k km a year, which one jams up the road more? This is the guiding principle behind 'low cost of car ownership, high cost of usage'.

(Singapore wanted to do it since ERP 1.0, but failed cos it does not dare to set high usage charges. The highest ERP charge is only $6.)

Public bus service is a prime candidate for AV. They have fixed routes and the main limitation to expanding a bus fleet is drivers. AV for feeder service makes sense as smaller buses can be used and frequency can be increased to improve last-mile connectivity. But AV is at least ten years away.

Air-con remote controls

My Daikin air-con comes with the RC on the left. I have four of them. IIRC, they have light illuminating function, but it illuminates from one side only and becomes ineffective as the LCD darkens. One spoilt completely, so I have three left. This is the last to darken.

When the first RC failed, I went to TaoBao to buy a replacement. Most have Chinese labels, but there are English ones. I was not able to find the exact model, the closest I could find was the second from the left. It worked.

Later, I bought another unit to replace the ones with darkened display. I was not able to find the same replacement model, so I bought a similar one. Obviously the extra functions do nothing on my air-con. The clock drifts off very quickly on this model.

The RC on the right is from my Mitsubishi Electric Starmex air-con. Some differences:

• On button is on the left (not used to it)
• Temperature control is left/right instead of more inituitive up/down. The buttons are sloped to indicate up/down. Nice touch
• On, up/down buttons are glow-in-the-dark, but need strong light to 'charge' them first
• LCD is non-illuminating
• Cannot change settings when air-con is off

Both brands can only use absolute time for timers. I wish they allow relative time, e.g. off in 2 hours.

The ME air-con manual recommends setting to Fan mode after Cool mode. This is to allow its inside to dry out. As such, it would be nice if the remote has such a quick setting: Fan mode at medium speed for 30 mins.

I bought a replacement RC for its backlight. I was tricked! The image shows even backlit illumination, the actual one is a single LED on one side!

The buttons are also stiffer and the up/down buttons are not glow-in-the-dark. There are also only 3 fan speeds instead of 4, but I knew that upfront. It is a waste of 26 yuan (S$4.65).

I'll continue to look for my ideal RC. It is not much:

• Evenly illuminated display
• Illuminated buttons (at least the frequently used ones)

Why do I want illuminated display? So that I can see the settings in the dark.

There is another way this can be done: by making the FCU beep differently at default settings. For example, the FCU can sound a different beep at these settings: cool mode, 24°C, auto-fan speed, auto-swing vane. The user can then use counting to get to the setting he wants. But UX designers today dislike this kind of 'advanced' usage. They are overwhelmingly visual oriented.

King's Day

If you are an American citizen and you participate, you are either stupid or you are paid.

Regardless, you are someone's useful idiot.

Who? We'll know when they crawl out to speak out after the event.

You take the blame, they reap the benefits.

Peaceful protests will be met with peaceful response. Just saying.

Instant hot water dispenser

Missus bought an instant hot water dispenser with 3L water tank, but she threw it away after the kids refilled the tank endlessly and it irritated her.

I found it very convenient, so I bought the same model (though different brand) from TaoBao for 158 yuan (~S$30 then), excluding shipping.

It is fast to use. Press 'Unlock', choose the temperature (room, 45°C, 55°C, 85°C, boiling) — it remembers your last choice — then select volume (160 ml, 260 ml). That's it.

Unfortunately, it spoiled in less than 8 months.

I noticed it could not dispense water out easily a few weeks ago and I could hear air bubbling sound (meaning the tube has air). It only dispensed half the volume compared to the past. I also saw a pool of water below the appliance once, but I chalked it up to my son overfilling his cup.

Finally, one day it could not draw any water at all but my son kept trying — it used to recover, he said. White smoke emitted from it with burnt plastic smell.

Upon opening it (long after it has cooled down, of course), I saw the plastic covering for the boiler had melted. Some screws were heavily rusted, meaning there had been water leakage for some time.

I feel this water dispenser failed because my son has a habit of dispensing until the tank is empty.

Instant hot water dispenser is super convenient. With it, I hardly boil water anymore. There is one downside to anything with a water tank though: alage grows in the tank after a couple of weeks.

After a few days without the water dispenser, Missus bought a Cornell 2.7L Instant Water Dispenser. She hardly used the water dispenser, but the kids used it all the time.

This one is harder to use, need to press 3s to unlock, one button each for temperature and volume to cycle through the options, then press 'Start'.

While the UI is slower to use, the hardware is better designed:

• Filter is easy to install securely, no fear of water bypassing it. It is also easy to remove
• Bottom of water tank is flat with no obstruction, easy to clean
• Has real empty tank sensor, so won't start boiler w/o water (great way to overheat!)

Cons: it has metallic and glossy surface, prone to fingerprints.

Nice touch: at higher temperatures (e.g. 55°C), it heats up the water for a short while before dispensing.

It is sold online for S$119, but this is an OEM model, so probably can be gotten cheaper on TaoBao.

Air Quality Monitor

This is small and has an attractive display. It measures 8 things (though some of them may be derived). I got it at ~S$42, now it is closer to S$55.

Would I buy it again?

Probably not.

First, it can only last ~4 hours on battery. This means it has to be connected to a USB charger all the time. But in general, such monitors don't last over a day on battery.

But the most critical thing is, it is not built to last. I have four units. In just a year, only one is still fully working.

The battery has spoilt on two units. They power off the moment they are disconnected from power.

The CO2 sensor has spoilt on two units. They always show max reading.

I read that CO2 sensor has a lifespan of a couple of years, but this is too short. CO2 reading is important in small enclosed rooms.

Unit 2 is currently overheating, it will go up to 38°C in ambient temperature. I don't dare to use it unattended for now. This has happened before and it went away on its own.

I need 4 measurements in a sensor:

• Temperature
• Humidity
• PM2.5
• CO2

(PM1.0 and PM10 are bonus.)

There are other monitors, but they are bigger and uglier.

At the other extreme are battery-powered sensors that only measure temperature and humidity.

This sensor is very small, it measures only 5.5 x 5.5 cm and is powered by two AAA batteries. Each set lasts 2 to 6 weeks, depending on its update frequency. There is another model without LCD display, it should last even longer.

I put one in the master bathroom (which suffers from poor ventilation) and one in the fridge! It works in the fridge, no problem. The only thing to watch out for is removing it from the fridge — taking it out for a short time is fine. Condensation will kill the circuit board. To prevent condensation, put it in a sealed bag before removing it and wait for it to reach ambient temperature.

This is a push-only device. You cannot query its status locally, can only query through Tuya Cloud. It makes sense as it is in power-off mode most of the time to conserve battery.

This sensor measures temperature to one decimal place — it is more precise than the 8-in-1 Air Quality Monitor.

Rewiring plan

At the minimum, the water heater needs to be on its own 20A circuit. Water heater needs 20A, no doubt about it. This may be easy to do cos there is already a 20A circuit to the master room water heater switch — it is near the water heater and is unused. It may be possible to reuse this wire.

Next, the dryer and 2nd air-con should be on their own 20A circuits. Will need to pull new circuits from the Circuit Breaker. It won't be cheap.

If I were to go wild, I'll create new zones for finer control. Instead of one 'left-side' power point circuit:

• One for living room left side
• One for balcony (optional, if not, share w/ living room)
• One for study, B3 and B2 rooms
• One for air-con in study room

Instead of one 'right-side' power point circuit:

• One for living room right side and msr room
• Three for svc balcony (water heater, dryer, washing machine)

But there is no need to do so because ultimately, the whole flat is limited to 40A. It is dicey to run several high-current appliances together even if they are on separate circuits.

Also, I want to find answers to these:

• The 'left side' power point circuit is connected in series to a 20A and 32A CB. Would like to use just one, preferably 32A. Will free up one slot too.
• There is a 20A CB that is not connected to any outlet. Would like to find if it is the case. If not, where does it go?

There are three light switches in the kitchen I want to fix as well. They were installed when the kitchen was renovated and were connected to LED light strips. Two are not working at all. One has a loose connection and makes a cracking sound when turned on.

I just found there is 20A Tuya Smart Control meant for high current appliances such as water heater. I should be able to use it to monitor power usage for the water heater and existing air-con (need one each). The air-con isolator switch is at an extreme corner of the flat. Luckily the WiFi reception there still seems okay.

Lastly, it would be nice to conceal the fiber optic cable in the false ceiling.

Mapping my flat's wiring

From left to right:

The takeaway

There are only two circuits for power points excluding the kitchen. Need to be careful not to overload them.

Although the 'left' circuit uses 20A to serve a total of 21 power points (plus several extension cords!), it was originally very safe as they were all low-power appliances, the exception being the iron. Even the dehumidifier uses ~1.3A only.

This is no longer true with the addition of air-con. It uses 12.38A max, though nominal is 6.39A. Iron uses 9 - 13A. Need to take care not to use the iron together with the air-con.

The 'right' circuit uses 32A to power 14 power points. It is in danger of overloading! Or it already has, as shown below:

This is the second time it has happened. The first time, the dryer was attached to a Smart Plug. The Smart Plug got fried — I thought it could not support full 13A. Then it happened again without the Smart Plug.

Now that I know how the circuit runs, I have a good idea what happened — the wire is not thick enough to support the high current.

There are 5 high-current appliances on this circuit:

• Water heater
• Dryer
• Washing machine (if not using cold water)
• Hair dryer
• Dehumidifier

We almost never use the washing machine concurrently with dryer, but it is possible for someone to be bathing with hot water (not me!) while the dryer is in use, plus the dehumidifier.

The overloading does not happen all the time, only when multiple high-current appliances are in use — I believe dryer and water heater together are sufficient.

If the dryer or water heater is in use, no other high-current appliance should be used on this circuit.

Long-lost jigsaw puzzle

They turned up when I moved my display cabinet.

The piece on the left is from GWR 2022 jigsaw puzzle. It has one less missing piece now. :lol:

The piece on the right, I've donated the puzzle away already. Can tell from the edges that it has been soaked in water — condensate water from the study room air-con. It was drained directly to the balcony floor. A proper pipe is now installed.

Air-con in living room finally!

Living room

Study room

The good:

• Workmanship is good, but see below.

The not-so-good:

• There is supposed to be a significant gap — by several inches — between the horz trunking and the FCU in study room. When the technician first installed it, it was flushed against the FCU. After I pointed it out, he lowered it as much as he could, but it was only 2 cm as the hole was already drilled.

  Anyway, the original plan was not quite feasible. This is about as good as it gets.

• They cut the metal grill protecting the condenser fins. Is it needed?
• The compressor is 50 cm away from the window. It is a little far. It can be closer at 40 cm.
• The stickers were quite hard to remove cleanly, two per FCU

The bad:

• They used a suction machine to suck gas out of my existing outdoor unit. It ran for 10 minutes, vibrating all the way. It made a circular scratch on my floor tile. When they were running the machine to fill gas for the new outdoor unit, I told them to put a piece of cloth beneath it.
• They did not cover the back of an open shelf, so the debris from the drilled hole fell throughout the back of it. The shelf was right under the drilled hole, I thought this was so obvious that I did not check!
• To install a new 15A socket, they looked for the Circuit Breaker for the study room. It turned out the same circuit drives half the power points in the flat! :-O
• They did not bolt down the outdoor unit to the bracket. The supervisor said it is not necessary.
• They did not patch the bottom of the drain pipe. They either overlooked or they thought it was too low to see.

The ugly:

• I realized they used a thicker horz trunking (4x4") than we agreed. The supervisor felt there was not much difference, so he told his men to use 4x4" throughout — he thinks it looks better if all are the same size. I disagree. 4x4" is super thick. He agreed to change to 4x3" without any charge. But his men did the rework quite sloppily. They did not even scrape off the old silicone sealant. The new trunking was also not well aligned and had big gaps. They just applied a thicker layer of sealant. :duh:

  Now that I think about it, 4x2.5" should be enough for one set of pipes, and 4x3" for two sets. 4x4" is overkill.

Overall, I'm happy with the installation.

First impressions of the air-con:

• Is able to cool the living room decently.
• The living room FCU is noisy (50 dBA) when it is cooling the room. After that, it drops to 30 dBA in quiet mode. It is quiet, but not silent.
• I thought the air-con has horizontal auto-swing. Nope.
• When the horiztonal vane is closed, it does not cover the opening fully and there is still a big gap. It does not look nice.
• The Power button on ME remote control is on the left side. Not used to it as it is on the right for Daikin.

Compressor issues:

• There is a compressor three levels above my flat. When it is turned on, it drips water and is pretty loud at night. Need to close the window.
• When it rains, the rain will splash off the compressor and into the study. The windows must be closed. Previously, the windows can be left ajar cos there is a small roof above blocking the rain.
• Water from one of the flat's rain drainage outlets (all the way up on the roof) hits the compressor on its way down. It is like concentrated rain from the whole flat and it continues for some time after the rain has eased off.

A little regret didn't opt for Daikin:

• It has Smart Control built-in
• The FCUs have horizontal auto-swing
• When not in use, there is no opening in the FCU
• The remote control is backlit and has slightly better controls

Achilles heel of washing machines

Electrolux Vapour Action 7.5 kg

My washing machine's door lock started to fail earlier this year. The WM could lock the door, but it was unable to unlock it. You have to keep trying to make it open/close the door (by pressing the Start button) and it will eventually release.

It recovered after I sprayed WD-40 into the door lock, so I thought it was fixed. It came back again after a few months. No problem, I thought, just spray WD-40. Except it did not work this time.

In an attempt to adjust the door lock, I dislodged it instead. Now the door could not close securely. The WM did not detect the door was closed, so it refused to start.

I could open up the WM and put the door sensor back, but it would be quite troublesome to do so. I have never opened up a WM before, so it may take some time.

My WM does not have a manual door lock release. When this started to happen, I googled to see how to open the door manually. I thought it was a standard feature. Well, not for my model. If there is a manual door release, I could have continued to use my WM.

Time to shop for a new model.

My requirements are simple:

• Front loading
• 7 – 8 kg
• No dryer

The make is not important, but since my current make is Electrolux, I'll go with it. I read its quality is now much poorer, though.

I quickly settled on the equivalent model, the Electrolux 8kg UltimateCare 300, priced at $649. This is the B model, there is a newer C model at $849. As far as I can tell, the main difference is that the older model has Full Wash 60, but the new one has Full Wash 45. The number indicates the time in mins. Some programs are also different.

Is 15 mins faster worth $200? It is one spin cycle less, so will save water as well.

But the B model has Daily 39, so it can be faster. In fact, I find the B model to be more flexible: Quick 15, Daily 39, Full Wash 60 and Mixed (2 hours). The C model has Quick 15 and Full Wash 45 only.

I decided it was good enough. Gain City has same-day delivery for $50, so I opted for it.

Aside: Gain City Megastore @ Sungei Kadut is 11 storey high and has roof access (it is an open-air carpark). It has almost 360 degree view. Can see pretty far cos nearby buildings are all low-rise. Worth a visit.

My original model has Mixed (2 hours), Quick Mixed (1 hour), Quick Delicate (34 mins), Quick (20 mins). The new model does not have Quick Mixed (use Full Wash 60), nor Quick Delicate (use Daily 39). The biggest limitation for me is that it cannot use cold water for Full Wash 60 and Daily 39 (min 30°C).

On the plus side, the new model supports 1200 RPM spin (previously 800 RPM max) and 50°C and 90°C water (previously 60°C max).

Electrolux Vapour Action 7.5 kg, ~13 years, died before its time was up. RIP.

Air-con plan, cont

The air-con man came down for an onsite survey.

Good news first.

Only need 15A switch. Does not need dedicated thick wire. It does mean all the power points linked to that wire, and ultimately to the CB, can only support 20A concurrently. He said no problem, the air-con uses ~9A at most, the others won't add up to 3A. I'm not so sure — I don't know how many outlets the wire is shared with.

Piping is straightforward. There are several possible places to place the FCUs, but the original proposed places are the most convenient and straightforward.

The compressor is placed outside the study room. The study room FCU will be put in the same place, but shifted up (after removing the original trunking) so that living room pipe can pass straight under it. No L-shape bend needed. Every bend is a weak point.

The living room FCU will be placed on the same wall as the study room FCU, so its pipes pass through a hole to the study room directly. No trunking in living room. This is the most optimal from aesthetics POV.

The condensate is drained at the balcony just like before. There is already an opening from the study room to the living room to the balcony. It takes this long path because the wall between the study room and the balcony is a beam wall.

The air-con man recommended using 24k BTU for the living room. Even though it is L-shape, he said it is sufficient and do not need to use 2 FCUs. I feel 18k is enough, but it is true my living room shape is non-optimal. The living room is linked to the doorway, balcony, corridor, kitchen and even service balcony! Basically everywhere except the rooms and common toilet. I'll probably need to install door curtains.

So, will use 24k and 9k BTU FCUs and a 28k outdoor unit. 28k is a little under-powered because I intend to turn on both at the same time.

Mitsubishi vs Daikin, will choose Mitsubishi this time. Read Daikin quality has gone down, don't know true or not.

On my existing air-con system, he said it is possible to reuse the piping. He said R32 gas can use SWG 23 pipe (0.61 mm wall thickness), though the norm is SWG 22 (0.71 mm). I find it strange cos the recommended grade for R32 is SWG 21 (0.81 mm).

Anyway, he looked at the trunking layout and said the pipes can be changed, no problem. The concealed sections are all straight paths, so the pipes can be pushed through. I'm not sure if the existing trunking is wide enough, though. My existing trunking is 4x3", modern ones are 4x4" for 2 sets.

Air-con plan

My home's air-con system is on its last leg.

The compressor died in Jul 2018, I replaced it. The compressor fan broke in Apr 2023, I replaced it.

One day, I found the compressor did not turn off after all FCUs were turned off — the compressor sound was unmistakable. It turned out only the fan was spinning, so it did not consume much power, but it was definitely not normal. Turning off and on the isolator switch did not work. This went away on its own one day, but it came back from time to time.

A few months ago, the study room's FCU malfunctioned. The compressor would keep working for around an hour until it overheated. It would work again after it cooled down — after an hour or more. Normally the compressor has a XY-min cycle (on for X mins, off for Y mins). The air-con technician found that the sensor was 'wet', so he dried it. It worked for a couple of weeks, then the problem came back.

I've always wanted to change the air-con, but the biggest obstacle is replacing the pipes. There are 3 possibilities:

• Reuse the pipes, change only if they leak
• Reuse old pipes in concealed sections, weld them together
• Use new pipes, either break concealed covers or re-route

Also, if I wanted to install a FCU in the living room, I either have to do without air-con in one of the rooms or get System 5.

The first is no-go. However, System-5 outdoor unit is also said to be too big/heavy for HDB flats.

There is another — uglier — way. I see some flats install the outdoor unit on their front facade. It is ugly, but it is the most straightforward way to add air-con to the living room and study room — the pipes will be very short.

Will most likely need to run a thicker wire from the Circuit Breaker and add a 20A isolator switch.

I prefer to get System-2 to cool both living room and study room. Two likely configurations:

• 18k/9k, 28k BTU compressor
• 12k/9k, 20k BTU compressor

My living room is L-shaped, so by right will need 24k BTU or two 12k BTU FCUs. I don't like both options.

When my existing air-con system fails, I intend to change it from 20k BTU System-4 (2 simultaneous) to 28k BTU System-3 (3 simultaneous).

New gen kites

I decided to buy some new kites to replace my existing kites.

Wishing Star

This will replace the triangle starter kite that can fly in little wind. This shape should be very easy to fly, though it may need a bit more wind due to its weight. Width is 85 cm. It has 3 permanent tails. I don't feel they are necessary, but they fit the wishing star motif. Costs 35 yuan (S$6.60).

Modern Fighter

This will replace the ugly Fighter Plane kite. I'm buying the right color this time — blue! They are about the same size — its width is 1.4 m. Should be just as easy to fly. Costs 19 yuan (S$3.60).

Some pics show a detachable tail, but the one I got is not. I will cut it off. The tail breaks the fighter plane immersion.

Retro Bomber

Wingspan of 3 m. This will be my largest kite. It looks abstract, but is not ugly. There are two versions: 210T polyester (格子布) for 66 yuan (S$12.45), 40D nylon (雨伞布) for 86 yuan (S$16.30). I think it is better to go with nylon at this size.

Has an optional 6 m tail that costs 20 yuan, but I did not buy it. I don't like tails, though I think this kite will benefit from it, just like the Seagull — both have long and narrow wings, so they are easily unbalanced.

There is a 3.5 m wide Space Station kite. I thought of getting it, but I felt it would not be easy to fly. Also, the Retro Bomber kite looks way better.

Pirate Ship

This looks so much better than the rainbow Sailing Ship kite! It is slightly more expensive: 163 yuan (S$30.75) vs ~125 yuan, but it is well worth it. Unfortunately, it is out of stock everywhere. Need to wait for next batch, don't know how long it'll take.

Stearman Biplane

This does not just look better than the Biplane kite, it is better. First, its wing is 100 cm across, so it has more surface area. Second, it is made of nylon cloth, so it is lighter. The spinning propeller is a nice touch.

Unfortunately, there is no OEM version. This costs US$66 — excluding shipping — at a USA website, now raised to US$92 due to tariff. This is way over my budget, so this remains on my wishing list.

There is also a Sopwith Camel variant. The plane is more famous, but I feel the artwork is too busy.

The Seagull returns

I bought a 3 mm rod from TaoBao to replace the rod I lost — together with an end-cap. It matches perfectly, color aside, after cutting. I like white. The Seagull will be able to fly again!

Except I already bought a replacement Seagull kite, so I'll probably sell this away. I did not consider buying a replacement rod earlier since it was not cost effective. However, I bought something else that made shipping free for the rod.

The new Seagull's material feels coarser, it is polyester. The old one feels softer, is it polyester or nylon? Is it softer due to age? I can't tell — I'll sell the new one if the old one is nylon.

I also bought a plastic 'ring' to glue onto a broken ring on my Sailing Ship kite. I had looked high and low for such a part but could not find it. It finally dawned to me that it was cut from a hollow plastic tube. I bought the tube. As I had guessed, it was an exact match.

黄城夜韵 2025

Overall: good.

Show 1

A scammer decided to go on a show to expose how scams work due to a pang of conscience. In the first segment, the scammer shared why he became a scammer.

He was scammed by a 'successful' old friend who introduced him to 'investment'. This part is accurate. He became a scammer to repay his debt, but ended up addicted to the money. It does not work that way. Scammers are not local and they do not get rich from scamming. They are probably abducted to operate in scam centres overseas.

In the second segment, he showed how he tricked an old woman by impersonating a police officer. The presenter was very upset and cut it short. It was revealed the old woman was her mother and she was depressed over the lost money even now.

I think this can hit too close to home to be comfortable. I feel Chinese nationals are especially susceptible to Government Official Impersonation scams, locals probably malware apps.

The producer forced the presenter to continue with the show as it was a hit. He threatened that she was dispensable.

In the third segment, the scammer explained why he had a change of heart. His daughter was disappointed her father was always busy, then she found out the nature of his work. She won a composition writing competition in school and her work was, "My father, a hero", which of course was antithesis of what her father was actually doing. When she had to pose with him on stage, she could not do it. She threw her compo at him and ran off the stage.

The presenter advised the scammer to turn himself in.

Show 2

Show 2 started with a boy waking up from a hospital bed, then went on to save his mother in various outlandish scenarios. He always failed to do so cos he hesitated at the crucial moment. He never gave up and tried again the next day, but when he peeled off the calendar, it was always Sunday.

Next, he was on a bus with his mother and the bus met with an accident. He was rescued, but rushed back into the bus to save his mother. As he carried his mother out, there was an explosion...

The next scene was him lying on a hospital bed. His mother said she always complained he was hesitant, but he did not hesitate during the crash, so he managed to save her.

The doctor delivered the bad news that there was no hope for the boy, but the mother refused to give up. She would continue to wait for her son to wake up. She then tore the calender to reveal the next day, Monday.

The story is pretty good. Good fighting choreography. The musical segments, though very short, were a bonus.

Show 3

Show 3 was a story about three friends, two boys and one girl. It started with them as kids in the 60s. Their parents were illegal hawkers. They then time jumped 10 years as teenagers in the 70s. Their parents now operate in hawker centres.

One boy was really good at cooking and already had multiple branches. The other boy just wanted to take over his father's chicken rice stall. The girl was good at studying and went to University of Cambridge for studies. The two boys went to the airport to send her off.

I thought it was a love story and the next time jump would be 10 years later, as young adults. Who would the girl choose?

A love story would resonate with the audience, most of whom are in this stage of life.

No, the time jump was 40 years later.

The chicken rice stall was now run by the boy, now an old man. It was still very traditional, accepting cash only. The boy's son wanted to innovate, but met with resistance from his father.

The successful boy came back, but he was dressed quite shabbily. We soon found out why, his business failed during COVID and he was left with only his original stall. He said his son would come back to run it and they would be neighbours once again.

The girl appeared next, pushed in a wheelchair by her daughter. She came to reminisce her childhood.

The three of them had a dramatic reunion. But this was problematic. It meant the girl never met up with them even once in 40 years.

Throw in a backdrop of transiting to English in the 60s, male chauvinist attitude of the older generation, keeping up with the times (electronic payment) and business failures during COVID.

Too clever for own good

Logitech slim keyboard

I wanted to clean the keys thoroughly, so I removed them. When I try to put them back, the plastic clips broke.

The keyboard is still usable, provided I don't tilt it far enough for the keys to drop out.

There goes my last wired keyboard.

I still have two USB wireless keyboards. I won't be removing their keys for cleaning any time soon!

I kept a wired keyboard around cos I had issues entering the BIOS with wireless USB keyboard. By right it should work just as well, but there are too many ways it can fail.

Bread-and-butter issues

Cost of living, employment and housing.

Sharply rising rental causes everything to be expensive. PAP does not like price control. Instead, they give vouchers to "subsidize". The ironic effect of "free money" is that it causes prices to go up!

Job security is always an issue. PAP is always about companies and businesses. Jobs will come "naturally". But locals do not have the right skillset, so need to import. And the trend does not last long enough for a new generation to be trained. By the time they graduate, their skills are already irrelevant. Older folks are not better off. If your industry disappears, your skillset becomes useless. Can you really re-skill?

The demand for HDB flats is very high and some people — new citizens? — are willing to pay very high for them. Can BTO flats be priced lower so that they are affordable? No, because they can be sold for a tidy profit once MOP is up — this shows the inherent demand for flats — and PAP can't have that. So they give 'grants' instead. Like all subsidies, grants have the opposite effect: they make prices go up. Also, grants are not free, you need to pay interest on it.