What Did Ya Get Done This Weekend?

[smallfoot]

Shutting that section off...what did you lose as far as water in the house?

[maverickmk]

Among a bunch of little things, I installed a new HEI distributor in the old turd.

[Dr Crankenstein]

Originally Posted by DozerII

Why is it that when we are as close as a guy can get to loosing it, women pick that time to squirt a little gas on the fire.

I can't explain it. She was a nice, quiet, shy girl before she met me.

Originally Posted by smallfoot

Shutting that section off...what did you lose as far as water in the house?

Critical functions! The line supplies my boiler and the rear bathroom. The boiler heats my house and shop. It also provides hot tap water, so shutting it down is a problem, to put it mildly... however, when I built the shop and installed the combination boiler, I made provisions for a temporary bypass.

The bypass allowed me to test the new boiler "closed loop" with the old stand alone water heater still online. (Of course, I did this in the summer when heating the buildings wasn't necessary.) Once I had the building loops tested under fire, I removed the old water heater, made the hard connections and brought the boiler fully online. Confused? Me, too...

The temporary bypass runs from a valve in the front utility/laundry room to a valve in the rear utility room, above the floor, through a heavy duty hose! We're living on that hose right now. It "back feeds" the rear plumbing which is now fully isolated, given yesterday's ball valve episode.

.

[Tripper]

Body work... my fav! Not!!!

BoB

[05snopro440]

Originally Posted by Dr Crankenstein

I discovered a water leak.

The pressure seemed a little weak, so I had to investigate...

My house has no basement, only shallow crawlspaces. The foundation is "divided" due to necessary support wall footings, so there is no access to the middle section, unless you're a cat.



I have an access hatch in the back section and another in the front section. I opened the back hatch and the space was dry, but I could faintly hear a hiss. Fabulous. I went to the front section, opened trapdoor #2 and... Lake Superior.

Naturally, the main shut off is in that section and the lake is about 20" deep. I figger the valve is 10 - 12 inches above the surface of the lake. I know from experience, the hole is deepest at the door and quickly tapers up. I also know I have to lie down and squirm a few feet to reach the main valve, so I'm looking at total submersion in literally freezing cold water. I think not.

So, I dropped a pump into my arctic basin and ran it 'til it sucked wind, which leaves a couple inches behind. Time to play in the mud. (Yes, it's mud. Dirt when it's dry.) I quickly found the issue, slithered to the main valve and shut it off. Now, I'm going to cut the line and install a ball valve to isolate the leaking section.

As luck would have it, there's another depression in the dirt/mud, right where I need to lie and work. This pond is about 8" deep and large enough to fit me from ass to ear. I flopped myself into the pool, immediately gasped for breath and retreated. My wife and son were standing guard, heard me trying to catch my breath and she said, "If you have a heart attack down there, we can't get you out." Very funny, Mrs. Crank. I snapped back, "If I have a heart attack, close the damn door and throw some flowers on it." (That'll shut 'er up.)

Back in the pool, turning numb by the second, still fighting to breathe, but I'm breathing... I promptly dropped my bloody mini tube cutter in the bloody slimy mud. Now I'm a little hot. My hair started to steam, but the rest of me was still freezing and I was losing feeling in my hands. Comedian wife threw me a towel and I wiped the cutter, but it was still slick and difficult to tighten. What seemed like an eternity, a few frantic minutes later, I had the tube cut. A few more frantic minutes and I had the ball valve cinched onto the line... I closed the new ball valve, greased back over to the main valve and OPEN. No leaky.

I crawled out of the hole and briefly considered throwing the wife in. Maybe next time. When the hole dries up, I'll go back and replace the line.

.

Sounds like quite a frustrating adventure Doc, glad you got it fixed even if only temporarily.

[Old Iron]

Dadgum man, that cold of water can definitely cause trouble.

[23crate]

so i spent most of my spare time this weekend fitting the facet electric fuel pump. .. for me is an easy project potentially any that could / would go wrong,, making mounts and a deflector (which i need to paint ) to keep the water rocks and other crap away from the pump, - mounted to the underfloor right behind the Diif head..

no real problems other than 'oops a spare hole for something in the floor' , which turned out to be the perfect spot for the wiring anyway ..

now heres the the learn,, because im a little slowed up by my recent operation -small as it was- has taught me to slow down , this made it really enjoyable as i had time to think through the project .

job done - happiness filled - next job , we have a 6 monthly vehicle check over here that'll be tomorrow..

[maverickmk]

Spent some time on the turd today. Finally got a gas tank in it. Installed a new mirror on the drivers door, worked on under hood wiring, installing an internal regulated alternator, put the headlights on relays and while I was there, etc. etc.
Had to work out in the sun and got a little sun burn
I'm getting a terrible case of project creep.

[lowbudget50]

So this afternoon I did new brake master cylinder, rebuild my power steering pump and installed a heater core in tank my Cadillac. He has an appointment to go in for a windshield next Friday and will most likely be put on the market for sale. Moving some things out of the way so I can bring another project home hahaha

[bob w]

I drove from Tampa, Florida to Stillwater, Minnesota with 3 dogs and one wife in a minivan.