sort of.
I've been busy most of the week doing all sorts of odd stuff that has piled up since the overtime started. Getting caught up with old stuff seems to be my way of unwinding while off. Even when I am feeling cruddy with cold/allergy/sinus/something annoying me. And, as usual, thing have been going just wonderfully.
Some idea of the carnage: Thursday, I had Chew help me load three mattresses and a box spring up in the truck. Took them to one of the charities. They couldn't get them off the truck quick enough.
Hit the hardware store for some supplies, the drugstore for some allergy stuff, the grocery store, somewhere else (I don't remember). Then home to use all the hardware stuff. Other stuff happened as well. But they were just a delaying factor.
On Friday, I spent most of the day clearing out the garage and cleaning it. All that just to make room for an air compressor I've wanted for a while, to fit in it. After cleaning the whole thing out, I had the room I needed. And it looks really good. The garage, that is.
Filled the trash can up, and loaded up the back of the truck with more stuff for the local charity to have. Headed to the charity before heading down to pick up the compressor. The charity rejected about half the load as stuff they wouldn't take. Well now, isn't that a fine howdy-do. Since when did they stop taking good parts and equipment and tools. Some were still in the original packaging, and unopened? They used to take the stuff. Not any more.
Ended up going back to the house and unloading the truck to make room for the compressor.
Got to the place and picked up the compressor. Once home, I started getting it set up. The first thing I noticed was the motor wasn't anchored to the tank. OK. Easy to fix. Two screws out, slide the motor into a mounting notch, then put the screws back in. But one of the screws was stripped. Just pulled it right out with my fingers.
That could be an issue. Then I noticed the regulator was loose. Actually, it was the nipple connecting it to the tank that was loose. After checking it out, I realized the only way to fix it was to disassemble the whole unit.
Alright, the whole thing is going back. Tomorrow. Tonight (Friday), someone might get hurt.
Today (Saturday), it started out with me ready to load the compressor into the back of the truck. And I stood there watching it rain. Had to wait for the rain to stop before I could get that done. Once I got it back, they only had floor models left. That works. They were all good units so I loaded one up and took it.
Got it home, went through the break in process. Ran it for the specified number of minutes, closed the drain valve and waited for it to fill up and cut off by the pressure switch. Didn't take too long and that made me happy. It does its job just fine. Then to finish off the procedure, you pop the pressure relief valve, drain it to 20 psi, then open the drain valve again to blow out the condensate.
Cool.
Reached up and grabbed the ring on the pressure relief valve. Got it straightened out, barely tugged on it and...
BANG!!!!
It popped out, followed with a great, LOUD hiss of air. 150 psi worth of air. Scared the hell out of me. I'm sure there were several inches of sunlight under my feet.
When I got my act together, I finished draining it to 20 psi, then opened the drain valve. I was surprised at the amount of condensate that came out. But it did drain. Finished up the program and headed in.
Inside, Dudette was waiting for me with a great big grin on her face. Puzzled, I just looked at her.
D: "I heard the bang. Do you need to clean the garage again?"
Me: "Funny. Very funny." I immediately thought of Jackie Gleason saying, "One of these days, Alice. POW! Right to the moon."
D: "I would have loved to have seen what happened out there. I can almost see the look on your face."
In reality, I had to laugh about it to. I wish I had it on video. I would love to have seen the look on my face as well.
Tomorrow is another day full of fun and surprises.
Despite our best efforts,
Stuff still happens.
Gee, WD, I nearly said that it's too bad that we all missed the fun in your garage; but, on second thought, we didn't miss it. You filled us in, nicely!
Posted by: Cop Car | October 02, 2005 at 03:05 AM
Man, I missed the good times when you are on vacation. They usually end up with a wound/bruise/bump of some kind on you.
Posted by: CK | October 02, 2005 at 11:07 PM