Yesterday I tackled a problem that's been bugging me for a week or so. The pool pump had quit working and in three months that will be very important as spring rolls around. I had decided that the breaker that provides power to the pool had gone South, so yesterday morning I went out to the breaker box that hangs on the fence by the pump, made sure all the power was off, and snatched that breaker.
I went to the electrical supply company up the road and told the guy I needed a 220v, 20 amp GFI breaker. Electricity and water don't mix and because that breaker supplies power to a big water pump I want to keep the electricity out of the pool and a ground-fault breaker is mandatory. That breaker cost me $100.00 and change. I went home, installed it, turned the power on, then flipped the switch to the pump. The pump started whirring and water started flowing and in just a few minutes the pool was back in business.
Later, we went to the auction and I picked up another Mr. Buddy heater. These things are great for portable heat in a deer blind and as more grandkids get old enough to sit in their own stands, I need more heaters. This makes three I own and as I intended to built another deer blind this summer, I thought I should pick up the heater at the auction where I could get it for well under retail. I paid about half what I expect to pay at the box stores.
Today, Milady's siblings are getting together to help Brother Bill unpack boxes after his latest move. Last night I put a pork butt in the crock pot. After the second cup of coffee, I'll pull that pork butt and we'll bring that over to Bill's new digs for pulled pork sandwiches at lunch.
I hope you have better luck with your Big Buddy heaters than I have had with mine. Just recently, I had the SECOND Big Buddy heater go all splodey-flamey on me. The failure was in the regulator, specifically in the rubber diaphragm in the regulator. Apparently, the Chinese regulators are not made out of the very best materials, and 2-3 years' service out of one of these regulators is about all one should expect.
ReplyDeleteI'd be fine with that, if there were no better regulators out there, but most ARE better. The problem only seems to happen when using bulk bottles. The 1# bottles don't have this issue. That's as far as I can go on my level of science and engineering with this subject.
I've occasionally left the main tank valve open and shut the heater off at the regulator's valve. Maybe it's time to stop doing that and make sure the heater bleeds down all it's propane pressure each time.
Fine heater, but hard to get by that nagging "is today going to be the day it blows" feeling.
Enjoy the food, and good idea on the breaker!
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