Snowblower, Facebook & Heat

 

What's on my mind, Mr. Zuckerberg, is that Facebook Marketplace and the 102 degree heat messed up my day.

 

The ad looked interesting. The lightly used 8 HP snowblower was $100 and only a couple miles from home. My thirty year old Simplicity is tired and the eighteen year old Yard King could use a backup. As listed, the owner was moving to a climate that did not have snow. June seems like a good time to buy used snowblowers.

As I emptied out the pickup to make room for this 'maybe' but 'good deal' purchase I thought it was a bit warm but it was only ninety-six. Throwing the metal ramps into the box was a commitment that it would be coming home with me.

 

Trading texts with the seller I arrived cautious but enthused. It was an electric start so I brought a thirty foot extension cord, not willing to take 'It ran the last time I used it' answer to "How does it run?" As it turns out it was more or lest identical to our existing Yard King. The seller knew nothing about the machine and said it was her father's and that he was old (older than me?) and then added that he'd not used it in five years.

 

After finding an outlet in the garage and verifying gas in the tank...or it used to be gas, the starting process failed to get it running. There was compression and a cough or two but no opportunity to test all six gears, etc. My guess was that a new $25 carb would get it running. OK, $125 is still a pretty good deal. The plan was to get it running and drive it up the ramp into the pickup. Plan B was incomplete: how would I get a 300 pound non-running snowblower up six feet of ramp at forty-five degrees. Perhaps the seller could help push. Given her 4' 8' height and seventy pounds this did not seem likely.

 

So, I said "No thanks" and drove away. As I drove home I thought "Renting a trailer would be $40 and would take 2-3 hours of messing around. The carb would be $25 and at least an hour of time. If my time is worth McDonald's wages of about $20 an hour, I'm at $100 for the blower, $25 for the carb, $40 for the trailer and four hours at $25....that's $245 and no guarantee that it will run."

 

At home the names of two other people were added to the conversation. One had a trailer and the other might want to put the new carb in. That would the cost up at least another $100; each of those people like to chew the fat. By that time it was one hundred and two degrees. 

 

It it had not been for Facebook Marketplace and the hundred plus degree day, better decisions would have been made and something, actually anything, might have been accomplished.

 

But the weather will be cooler TUE and WED and I really don't need a third snowblower; I'm already thinking more clearly. That, Mr. Zuckerberg, is what's on my mind.

Air. Fuel. Water.

 

Air. Fuel. Spark.

 

This past summer my 1951 Ford 8N tractor would not start. Unencumbered by modern electronics which control air, fuel and spark in the internal combustion process, starting has not been an issue for seventy years. The conclusion was a failure of 'spark' in the right place at the right time. The diagnostic process involves tracing the path of current, much simpler with a few pieces of wire with alligator clips, commonly called 'leads.' At some point a handful were purchased and put in a logical location where I could find them.

 

The tractor issue has not been addressed, yet. This week the furnace failure can be attributed to gap in the triad of air, fuel and spark. OK. With the tractor you climb up, open the tank and look inside. The propane tank for the furnace has a gauge. At -13F you tap it a few times to ensure its' mobility. The high-efficiency furnace is really sensitive in the balance of fuel intake, exhaust and air pressures likewise. 'Efficiency' can only be achieve by complex electronics beyond my 'lack of skills' level. Believing the problem to be a failed thermostat I knew I could jumper the 'power' and 'heat' wires at the thermostat location (or on the furnace). That would send the message 'send heat' to the furnace and my <55F existence would end. 

 

Where was the 'logical location' that I had put the new leads? Perhaps logically out in the tractor shed, well-blocked with snowdrifts, perhaps in the the every growing box of 'electrical misc' not to be confused with the box of 'plumbing misc' or 'hardware misc' or the uncategorized box of 'misc misc.'

After looking I gave up. Owning a tractor allows one to proceed with 'farmer fixes,' rarely of good style or permanence but which allow you to proceed. At the simplest level that meant finding some wire and to avoid excessively long expediency, something to cut the wire and maybe strip the insulation. Of course I could not find my designated wire cutter & stripper but found a cutter that 'would do.' The first wire found lacked insulation but I'm only dealing with 24 volts and 'caution' would do. After further analysis which translated to "it's too thick" I decided to sacrifice the wire from a temporary light fixture. I've had temporary light fixtures in place for fifteen years...another story.

 

As I headed to 'the shop' to retrieve a temporary light fixture I glanced at a box at the top of the stairs. The package of leads was sitting in the box known as the 'misc to be put in the correct misc box' box.

It didn't matter. The furnace is shot.

 

 I'm looking forward to getting the tractor started in the spring.

Today Blows (Oil)

 

Oil changes are pretty straightforward. Drain the oil. Remove and replace the oil filter. Put the drain plug back in. Remove the oil fill cap and add the appropriate five quarts of oil. If you are having your neighborhood service guy doing the oil change this is the point where he backs the truck out of the garage.

Then you see the service guy put the truck back in the garage and get the assistant manager out in the shop. They open the hood and walk around the shop looking for something while you peer through the window of the "No Customers Beyond This Point" door.

The service guy disappears and the assistant manager asks you to come look at the engine which is now covered with oil. His explanation is that the seal on the filler cap blew and he's never seen anything like that before.

It's clear that when the service guy started to back the truck out the engine attempted pressurize and the oil light came on after blowing oil all over the engine. The important last step of the oil change is to replace the filler cap.

So I drove home in a 'loner car.' Tomorrow they will clean up the engine. I'm placing a bets between "Sorry, the mechanic left the oil cap off" or "The seal on the filler cap blew and we had to replace it at $nn.nn." My guess is that the manager will force the assistant manager to speak very creatively with much emphasis on "We've never seen this before." Perhaps the oil filler cap should be tethered to the appropriate location, like the gas tank cap.

Of course I dropped the truck off at 8:15 AM for a 10:00 AM appointment. The "I've never seen this before" explanation was at 6 PM....and now we move into Day #2. Good grief.