Fix our windows

The rails on my window come off. To get them to come off intentionally put the clips on the side top out and push up. Sometimes the rail comes off and goes into the top. You have to pry the block at the top out and pull down on it until it gets in the position.

• The top of the window (sash cam) is replaceable by using and H 3943 from primeline.net.
• The mechanism on the sides of the window with the spring and the cable are called a block and tackle balance.  Ours are CMC 5/8" Caldwell series 86BT with a 15P142 Winged top and 15P102 Winged bottom.  I was able to replace them using the website windowrepairparts.us.

Pressure washing a pool

I have acid washed my pool a couple of times and the results were not good.  I saw streaks where the acid went and still got algae back.  This time a pool guy said we should pressure or power wash it.  The pool was bad.  The water was green, the sides were black and the bottom was slimy.  We couldn't keep the chlorine up.  The in floor jet system was getting junk caught in the screen.

The pool guy replaced our DE filters and fixed our backwash valve (which you are supposed to grease every time you backwash).  We then drained the pool using a sump pump since the normal pump couldn't keep a vacuum to get all the water out of the bottom.  We had to finish emptying the pool using the neighbor's shop vac.  Then my wife decided to use a bug sprayer filled with chlorine on a mist setting to spray the sides (don't breath it or get too much on your skin).  She then shot the sides with a 3000 PSI pressure washer with a 40 degree nozzle.  She said she had to repeat this 3 times but the pool looks great.

The pool is 20 years old and apparently plaster is only supposed to last 12 years so we lost more plaster and the pool surface is rough.  The roughness makes it easier for algae to form.

Adding hosts to Nagios Core 4.3.4 on Linux

Nagios wants you to buy Nagios XI which makes it easy to add hosts using the web page.  If you want to use the free Nagios Core and want to add a windows host, edit /usr/local/nagios/etc/objects/windows.cfg, copy the first "define host" section and add it below the first define host.  You then need to change the {IP} "address", the host_name and the "alias" to something new.  Save the file and restart Nagios (systemctl restart nagios?)

If you are adding a linux host, the cheap way is to edit /usr/local/nagios/etc/objects/localhost.cfg and repeat the above with the first defined host.

Adding a switch requires you to edit /usr/local/nagios/etc/nagios.cfg and uncomment the switch.cfg line.  Then edit /usr/local/nagios/etc/objects/switch.cfg.