I'm half-good and half-knowledgeable and half-capable with a lot of things. But, I'm not fully expert at anything.
This is both a blessing and a curse.
When my lawnmower goes kaput, or my air conditioner goes conks, or my roof dribbles, or my sewer pipe spittles, or my overhead lamp flickers, I shrug and I sigh. I want to call a pro and get it fixed. Yet, I don't.
I know a little bit about each. This reveals both my blessing and my curse. If I knew nothing about each, I would call a professional to make repairs. But, I know a little bit about each, enough to say, "This is isn't a complex problem, and simple problems have simple solutions." This is a blessing. But, the fact that I then dive in attempting to fix it myself is my curse.
I've been blessed/cursed with a mind that most of the time thinks in a logical, machine-like manner. This has gotten me into trouble more than once. Sometimes logic and linear can blind me to things that intuition and common sense just, somehow, feel and know. Yet, with problems around the house, linear and logical thinking seem to often be of value.
When the A/C goes out and it's hot and humid as Hades in July, the initial reaction at 2 a.m. is, "Call the A/C guy!" Then, I start thinking...
- real quick, let's problem-solve
- the air handler is running
- yet, the air is not cool
- the compressor is not running
- it ran yesterday, yet it is not today, hmm
- let me look
- Oh, I see the solenoid switched did not trip to the "on" position
- let me manually push it to "on"
- yep, it works when I do that
- so, the problem is between the thermostat and the solenoid switch
- let me trace the thermostat line...
- ...yep, a mouse chewed through the line...
- ...repair the line, A/C now works
I've done the above more than once. Another thing that has happened:
- A/C is out
- the machine is straining to start, the fan's not blowing
- me: it's the capacitor, again
- A/C machines have two main capacitors a start capacitor and a run capicator
- one of them goes out and the system strains
- replace the capacitor (simply unplug and then replug) and the problem is solved
- this was learned from much trial and error, mostly error
Case study...generator rehab
Small engines are amazing machines. I've written about them before. There are only a certain number of things that can go wrong. Let me correct that, there are likely a million things that can go wrong, and they can be very frustrating. Yet, there are most often rather only a few things that do go wrong.
The recipe of a small engine is: compression, ignition (spark), and carburetion (gas and air mixed). Check compression first, if it's there, it's there and you're good. If there is then carburetion, a spark will create combustion. This is simple physics of nature...you cannot throw gas onto a fire without a reaction.
A couple of weeks ago, I went for a Friday evening bike ride after a week of work. On my way home, I saw a portable, gas-powered generator someone had put out by the side of the road.
This is where my curse kicks in.
"That's a nice looking generator. Really, someone is putting it out to trash? That's a nice looking generator."
I circled back to look at it. It was a nice looking generator. I know enough to know that electrical generators don't have a whole lot of things that go wrong. It is, after all, a coil of wires flying around through a magnetic field, and POOF!...electricity. Most likely, the gas-powered engine would not run. I pulled the start rope. There was compression...that's always test #1 with small engines.
Also, the folks in the neighborhood seemed to be the type who would, when something doesn't run, just throw it out and buy a new one. When you've got some money you don't need to know too much about machinery..."It doesn't work, toss it out and buy a new one!" So, since it was a nice looking generator, I went home, got my car, went back, and hefted the heavy beast it into my car trunk.
I either now had a free generator, or a very heavy piece of trash. Here it be:
So, time to trouble-shoot.
Compression? Pull the rope...feel, listen for "Woofs." Check. Yes, we have compression.
Ignition? (is there a spark?). I pulled the spark plug. It looked fine, but, you never know. I held it to the ground (the engine frame) and pulled the rope to start. There was no spark.
Be sure to NOT touch the metal while doing this, else you might get zapped. Trust me, being a slow learner, I've been zapped a time or two before.
Hmm. No spark.
Can it be as simple as putting in a new spark plug? I went to the auto parts store, bought a new plug, returned and put it in. The results were the same...no spark.
Hmm. Think. Scratch chin. Dumb me...the on/off switch was off. Magic was done with a finger push.
Since the original plug was fine, I'll return the new one I'd purchased. (This is why you keep receipts.)
We have compression, we have spark (ignition).
With the air filter off, I spray a couple-three shots of "carb cleaner" (aka, starter fluid) into the carburetor. I pull the rope. It runs! For a second or two. What happened was that it simply burnt the fuel that I'd just sprayed into the carb...but got no more fuel.
Since the engine would run only for a second or two (while it burnt the starter fluid I'd sprayed into the carb), there has to be a carburetion issue. This is good. We're narrowing possible errors. There are no other options. It's the carb. More specifically, it is not getting fuel. That's is, it's clogged. So, time to take off the carburetor and check it.
When I pull off the bowl at the bottom of the carb, you can see all the gunk built up inside. A carburetor needs to be clean and gunk-free so that fuel and oil can move and mix freely. This one, clearly, had gunk issues.
I took the carburetor off, did a quick clean, then replaced it. I was hopeful that it would fire off now and run. It did not. That's okay...it's not getting fuel, I simply need to do a more thorough carb cleaning.
Then, something unexpected happened. When I went to shut off the fuel at the shut-off valve under the gas tank, the fuel line simply fell out of the gas tank! The half gallon of gas I'd just put in the tank started draining out, fast. The rubber grommet holding the fuel line was toast.
I got a new grommet and shut off valve (different style) and put it in.
Cleaning the carburetor mainly involves cleaning the needle and the jets. That's usually what gets gummed out. I took them out and sprayed them well with carb cleaner and blew on the fuel intake as best I could.
I cleaned things, reassembled things, then replaced the carb.
I gave the rope a pull. It fired right off and ran!
Side note with Hive
If you're reading this, you're probably on the Hive blockchain. You might even recognize my username of @crrdlx. If you do, you might even recognize me as the "LUV guy" or the "guy who made @Hivebits." My newest Hive endeavor is @Wusang: Isle of Blaq. If you're aware of any of those things, you might conclude that I'm a developer of sorts. You'd be wrong.
I'm not a dev. I'm just a fellow who's half-good and half-knowledgeable and half-capable with some things. But, I'm not fully adept at anything. Regarding code, I can sometimes, maybe, take what someone else has built and then, maybe, build upon it. That's about the extent of my "dev" skills.
I know enough to get myself wallowed up to my knees into something. Sometimes it's a curse, oftentimes it's a blessing.
And I'll take that.
-@crrdlx :)
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