Monday, December 04, 2006
I'm not a plumber!
Rob called Saturday morning and said he had found a pin hole leak in a water line under his kitchen cabinets. Being the good friend I am, I told him not to touch anything until I got there to have a look. The leak was in a tight spot, but I felt confident that with the right tools I would be able to fix it. So, we took his cabinet apart, we had to break the shelf to get it out. Next, we cut a hole in the drywall in the bathroom, he had already removed the toilet. Now we had access to the pipe with the leak. Needing the right tools and parts to repair the leak, we were off to Canadian Tire. With our new torch and a glass of water I started to heat the joint so I could take out the section of pipe with the hole. After heating it for a long time and starting a small controllable fire in the cabinet, I decided it was time to cut out the bad section of pipe and repair it with couplings. Another trip to Canadian Tire for more parts. Did I mention that this leak was in a tight spot? Having remove the section of pipe that was leaking, carefully measuring and cutting the replacement piece, with a glass of water and now a spray bottle (in case of fire) I go back at it with the torch. This seems to go well and everythinig looks good, time to test it, we turn on the water, and find a leak just a bit bigger than the one we had been trying to fix. I have to take what I had just put together apart so the water could drain out. I put it all back together, solder all of the parts again, test it, find more leaks, take it apart again. I'm not a fast learner, it took me four tries at this to finially decide he needs to call a plumber. I went home and had a hot shower, if Rob can find a plumber, he might be able to have a hot shower Monday. What are friends for?
Rob called Saturday morning and said he had found a pin hole leak in a water line under his kitchen cabinets. Being the good friend I am, I told him not to touch anything until I got there to have a look. The leak was in a tight spot, but I felt confident that with the right tools I would be able to fix it. So, we took his cabinet apart, we had to break the shelf to get it out. Next, we cut a hole in the drywall in the bathroom, he had already removed the toilet. Now we had access to the pipe with the leak. Needing the right tools and parts to repair the leak, we were off to Canadian Tire. With our new torch and a glass of water I started to heat the joint so I could take out the section of pipe with the hole. After heating it for a long time and starting a small controllable fire in the cabinet, I decided it was time to cut out the bad section of pipe and repair it with couplings. Another trip to Canadian Tire for more parts. Did I mention that this leak was in a tight spot? Having remove the section of pipe that was leaking, carefully measuring and cutting the replacement piece, with a glass of water and now a spray bottle (in case of fire) I go back at it with the torch. This seems to go well and everythinig looks good, time to test it, we turn on the water, and find a leak just a bit bigger than the one we had been trying to fix. I have to take what I had just put together apart so the water could drain out. I put it all back together, solder all of the parts again, test it, find more leaks, take it apart again. I'm not a fast learner, it took me four tries at this to finially decide he needs to call a plumber. I went home and had a hot shower, if Rob can find a plumber, he might be able to have a hot shower Monday. What are friends for?
Friday, December 01, 2006
Look out! I'm on a roll.
My truck died on Wednesday, it didn't seem to be well in the morning but by night I had to boost it to get it going. I called the local Ford dealer and told the service man how it was behaving, he told me to bring it in right away. I got there at 5:50 pm, they close at 6:00, It needed a boost so they could put it there shop overnight, and it was ready to get picked up by 9:30 am the next morning. I just thought that was so unusual in this day and age to take something to a repair shop and have someone actually go out of their way to make sure I got taken care of! That is all good, but the best part was, I thought I was off warranty, I'm not, so this didn't cost me anything.
It just restores my faith in mankind, well that might be a bit much, but I do feel better about my Ford dealer.
My truck died on Wednesday, it didn't seem to be well in the morning but by night I had to boost it to get it going. I called the local Ford dealer and told the service man how it was behaving, he told me to bring it in right away. I got there at 5:50 pm, they close at 6:00, It needed a boost so they could put it there shop overnight, and it was ready to get picked up by 9:30 am the next morning. I just thought that was so unusual in this day and age to take something to a repair shop and have someone actually go out of their way to make sure I got taken care of! That is all good, but the best part was, I thought I was off warranty, I'm not, so this didn't cost me anything.
It just restores my faith in mankind, well that might be a bit much, but I do feel better about my Ford dealer.
