I feel *good*!

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) Preparation Forum : One Thread

Relatively speaking, of course. [g]

We got a 500 gallon propane tank installed today. It will be filled by mid-week, and they should have the lines to our generators hooked up by end of week. They should have the lines to the water heater and stove hooked up shortly thereafter. They are putting a priority on the generator lines because we don't have the stove and water heater yet (we should by then, and may work out a deal with them where we get a free heater if we sign a 4 year contract with them) -- and, because it seems that they recognize the importance of generators!

Plus, when I asked about getting a wet hose installed in case we get a larger generator to replace the two small ones we have now, he lifted the cover to see if it would be easy, turned around, and told me it already *has* a wet hose! Yippie! (Every other company we talked to either said "no way", or claimed to not even know what we were talking about, or argued for a half hour, then said "ok, but it'll run you about $2,000". Sheesh! (I won't name any names about that last one, but I do assure you that my statement is on the Level.)

Plus, after having the idiot cooperative (the one that supplies what passes for electricity around here) yank us around for over a week with one contradictory lie after another -- and tell us that after giving us a break on price, they'd "only" charge $800 to install two transfer switches -- THAT WE ALREADY OWN! -- I found a local electrician who came over, installed them both (took him part of two days), and -- including beaucoup heavy gauge wire, a 30 amp breaker, and an outside inlet w/box -- charged us under $250. Guess who will be getting my business from now on any time I need wiring work done?

PS: yes, I could have installed them myself -- with several trips to the store for parts etc. -- but I wanted to 1) have it done *right*, and 2) avoid any code problems with TPTB. Since before he moved here (due to his wife getting a big time administrative job at the hospital) he was the electrical inspector for a fair sized city, I think I did OK! [g]

Lessons: never overlook the little guy, even if you have to look *hard* to find him.

PS: when I told the propane guy about our horror story with the coop, he had a knowing smile. I guess their reputation precedes them. I wish I'd heard about them *other* than by experience.

-- Ron Schwarz (rs@clubvb.com.delete.this), December 12, 1999

Answers

Ron: What is a "wet hose" in propane-tank-terms?

-- alex (cognitiveone@yahoo.com), December 12, 1999.

Good going , Ron. It's the littel guys who made the world go around, and who willhave to kick-start it again. Earlier this year I was patronizing an antique store owned by a real old geezer with a chew in his lip, out on a vacant stretch of the local highway. Got to talking, and he turned out ot be an expert in antique cast iron cookware ... so I picked up a few excellent pieces (at a STEEP price!) as the weeks went by. Later, when efforts to buy a woodburning cookstove by mail order feel through, I went back to see "Joe" on the hunch that he might have an inside line on such a piece of Y2k home furnishings. Turns out he'd installed stoves fro 40 years. He said "Give me 10 days ...." Two weeks later we drove down south to an abandoned dairy, and he took me inside this giant hulk of a vacant barn, where there were three rusted out MONARCH woodburning cookstoves. Bought one from the owner for $300. "Joe" then took it home, completely refurbished it, added new plates whererust had done its work; completely rechromed the fittings, and presented it to me, better than new, for a "modest" fee. Cook oven; warming plates, warming ovens, water-heater coil, etc. etc. P{Lus,. a great friend in the bargain.

It's the little guys like this who'll be holding the cards next year - - if anyone will.

>"<

-- SH (squirrel@huntr.com), December 12, 1999.


A wet hose is a fitting with a tube going to the bottom of the tank, to provide a liquid feed. Smaller generators use the gas feed from the top, but bigger generators need a liquid feed.

-- Ron Schwarz (rs@clubvb.com.delete.this), December 12, 1999.

Good move Ron.
Also don't forget to buy a carbon monoxide
tester.

If you get a propane refrigerator you'll need
to clean the flu every 6 months.

-- spider (spider0@usa.net), December 13, 1999.


spider - huh?

I have a propane refrig - what flue? Where? How do I clean it? Boy don't I feel dumb. . . .

Thanks in advance -

-- peg (peg@futureandahope.com), December 14, 1999.



peg,

On the back of your propane refrigerator
there is a long vent tube that is above the
flame. This will build up with soot with
time. You need to completely remove the
flue and clean it with a brush on a long
wire. Make sure you don't get any soot
on the burner. If you need to, clean the burner
and the gas diffuser. The diffuser is a twisted
piece of metal on a long wire in side the flue.

Symptoms of soot build-up are:
1. The refrigerator is not cold enough, even on high.
2. There is a strange smell in the house.
(Carbon monoxide is odorless but the soot has an odor)
3. You are getting headaches.
(At this point you already have consumed too carbon monoxide)

You need to have a carbon monoxide tester in
same room as the appliance.

You should have a manual that came with the
refrigerator that explains how to clean the flue.

-- spider (spider0@usa.net), December 14, 1999.


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