Honey-Do lists and ER visits

[P7M13]

Yah, I cannot believe the burrs they leave on the metal edges from the shears on new appliances these days. They used to be deburred for safety reasons. Recently had to tear into my dryer because no heat would come on. Diagnostic code said phase loss. WTF? Take it apart and the screw holding on the power internally had completely come out, as if it was never tightened.

Helping a buddy tear down their back porch, which had been completely infested by carpenter ants. There's sheet metal flashing on it, covering the boards. I pull the nails, lift to remove and it tears, slicing right into my right calf and ankle. 47 stitches. What was particularly disgusting was how swollen your flesh gets when they are injecting the lidocaine.

Helping another buddy fix his boat trailer. I'm underneath it torquing U bolts. He's on the other side, stick welding. His rod gets stuck and he heats it to cherry red. He frees it, and drops it to the ground. It rolls right under me. Evidently I don't have much nerves on the back of my arm - I call out, "why do I smell flesh burning?" Big asz racing stripe on the back side of my tricep.

My 18y.o. daughter asked me to get a piercing with her. Me: NO. Her: Why not? Me: I have more scars than you'll ever have piercings. (at least I hope - I have 15 that I can remember)...
[edit] remembering more, I'm up to 20 now...

 

[P7M13]

I was all set to repair my hot water heater on Monday. Maybe I better rethink things!
As you said, repair bill is cheaper than medical bill.

Huh? Water heaters are easy! (that is, unless you have really old galvanized piping....)

 

[NWGlockgal]

Huh? Water heaters are easy! (that is, unless you have really old galvanized piping....)

Maybe for you they are easy.....just going to remove the old thermostats and heating coils and replace. Having no experience with anything even remotely resembling plumbing or wiring, it should be interesting. Having dreams about either electrocuting or drowning myself

 

[P7M13]

Maybe for you they are easy.....just going to remove the old thermostats and heating coils and replace. Having no experience with anything even remotely resembling plumbing or wiring, it should be interesting. Having dreams about either electrocuting or drowning myself

That's probably the easiest of repairs to make on a hot water heater.
Be sure to refill it before turning the electrical back on.

 

[Caveman Jim]

The most stitches I've had is 3. Looks like I have some catching up to do...

Rookie....

 

[Goosebrown]

Thank you for sharing this. I will show my wife so she can see how dangerous honey dos are.

 

[Crohnos01]

Wow.... I guess I am doing my repairs all wrong... I can't sit here and think of a single one that caused me anything worse than a pulled muscle or smacking my knuckles on a car engine when the wrench slipped. I am in the process of changing the themostat and housing on the wife's car, I will let you know if I find a creative way to see the ER doc.

The worst thing I have ever had was a 6 inch or so scar down my left forearm, but I received that years ago working as a plumber on a city of Vancouver well house. The two journeymen inside the house had me the lowly apprentice on the outside with a hammer and a chisel making the opening in the cmu wall bigger for a 24" pipe to slip through as they were pushing on it. When the pipe through, it came through FAST and knocked me backwards. I realized I was going to fall into the 15 foot deep ditch behind me unless I pushed off and threw myself over a short cmu wall next to me. Back in those days they didn't have these nice plastic mushroom caps on the top of vertical rebar sticking up and as I went over the wall, I hooked my left forearm on one sticking up.... that smarter for several weeks... probably should have had stitches, but I was too tough for anything like a doctor visit back then

 

[2A2Dend]

I'm in a good deal of pain, right now. From laughing. At all chapters in the book, Fixit It - Yourself. My dad had every edition! I'd bet. Right next to the woodshop manuals, and below them, the Haynes and other automotive manuals. And right next to that shelf, a rack that held ducktape, bailing wire, muffler patch, and heavy black bungie cords. LOL! All them Do-It-Yourself books, should come with a waiver that needs to be signed before opening!! I read them all. I still got battle scars!

 

[jbett98]

Maybe for you they are easy.....just going to remove the old thermostats and heating coils and replace. Having no experience with anything even remotely resembling plumbing or wiring, it should be interesting. Having dreams about either electrocuting or drowning myself

Make sure you orientate the new heating coils vertically, otherwise they will droop and crack if installed horizontally.

 

[Stomper]

Welcome to my world!!

As a HVAC service tech, working inside equipment and control cabinets is my main game. Back in 1990 I started in residential install then onto the commercial/industrial world with LOTS of sheetmetal work (etc). I have scars upon scars on my hands, and some of them are BEAUTIES where I could actually see the tendons moving back and forth as I flexed my fingers. A little super glue on the edges of the skin (not into the wound) squeezed together, then wrapped firmly with duct tape, (hard core Army vet, HUAH!) and carry on!

Also, back in the early-mid 90's our "safety glasses" were squinting enough to keep crap out of our eyes, these days I ALWAYS wear safety glasses (with 2x cheaters at the bottoms), cut resistant gloves, and when needed I also use hearing protection to help preserve what's left of my hearing (I already have tinnitus) when I work on anything on the job or at home.

I had to REALLY force myself to "mentally accept" wearing protective gloves and get used to the "tactile feedback" while wearing them, but it can be done for 99% of tasks.

Remarkably, I have never had a time-loss injury from a job site accident, nor had to go to 1st aid or the ER.

 

[NWGlockgal]

That's probably the easiest of repairs to make on a hot water heater.
Be sure to refill it before turning the electrical back on.

For sure. Have been looking on line and visiting youtube.

 

[NWGlockgal]

Make sure you orientate the new heating coils vertically, otherwise they will droop and crack if installed horizontally.

Thanks for the tip! I don't think I have seen that mentioned in my youtubing.
I figured I would take pictures and mark everything before I remove it so hopefully I can
get it all back in the same place/order.

 

[jbett98]

What specifically is the problem with your water heater?

 

[Stomper]

What specifically is the problem with your water heater?

Uuuhhhhh it doesn't heat the water?



Just kidding!

 

[etrain16]

Welcome to my world!!

As a HVAC service tech, working inside equipment and control cabinets is my main game. Back in 1990 I started in residential install then onto the commercial/industrial world with LOTS of sheetmetal work (etc). I have scars upon scars on my hands, and
some of them are BEAUTIES where you could I could actually see the tendons moving back and forth as I flexed my fingers. A little super glue on the edges of the skin (not into the wound) squeezed together, then wrapped firmly with duct tape, (hard core Army vet, HUAH!) and carry on!

Also, back in the early-mid 90's our "safety glasses" were squinting enough to keep crap out of our eyes, these days I ALWAYS wear safety glasses (with 2x cheaters at the bottoms), cut resistant gloves, and when needed I also use hearing protection to help preserve what's left of my hearing (I already have tinnitus) when I work on anything on the job or at home.

I had to REALLY force myself to "mentally accept" wearing protective gloves and get used to the "tactile feedback" while wearing them, but it can be done for 99% of tasks.

Remarkably, I have never had a time-loss injury from a job site accident, nor had to go to 1st aid or the ER.

I remember some of those changes in PPE. Working at the Rose Garden when it was being built, my job for months kept me up in the rafters on the catwalks hanging lights - our safety, when exposed to fall risk, was a belt harness only - a fall probably would have killed us from the belt alone. It wasn't until a year or so later that I finally experienced a full body harness.

What gets me now is that one of the tools I used daily, a simple razor knife, has been replaced with a spring loaded version that retracts the blade automatically. It means you have to keep forward pressure on the switch to keep the blade deployed - I've used them numerous times and found they are actually more dangerous to use because it forces you to use a less natural grip on the damn knife. Some of these safety 'improvements' have made work more dangerous IMHO. I still find it hard to do many jobs while wearing gloves - I've adjusted to it for some jobs.

As for my incidents - never time lost. When I broke my toe and when I had the ceiling wire go through my hand, I did a rough patch in the field, finished my day and stopped by the ER on the way home to finish the patch jobs.

 

[NWGlockgal]

What specifically is the problem with your water heater?

It does heat some hot water, enough that I can take a quick shower or wash dishes by hand.
Past that, it runs out of hot water. Can't do laundry or take my beloved hot baths for instance. Since it heats some water, but not enough to do anything that uses a lot of hot water, I am guessing one of the heating elements is burned out. So figured I would replace both and see what happens. The thing is 24 years old so if I have to replace it, it's understandable. I just don't have an extra $1000 to do it at this time.

 

[Stomper]

For sure. Have been looking on line and visiting youtube.

"Smart phones" are an AWESOME tool! You'd be surprised how much I use YouTube to watch a procedure on something so I don't have to "reinvent the wheel". Because there are SO MANY makes and models of "things" out there, no one person can POSSIBLY know everything about EVERYTHING. What makes for a good service tech is knowing WHERE to find the right info to complete a job.

Thanks for the tip! I don't think I have seen that mentioned in my youtubing.
I figured I would take pictures and mark everything before I remove it so hopefully I can
get it all back in the same place/order.

Well done!! When I dismantle complex machinery of any sort, I first take a photo of the assembly with my iPhone, then I "benchmark" each component to keep track of sequence of assembly and orientation.

 

[Lilhigbee]

It does heat some hot water, enough that I can take a quick shower or wash dishes by hand.
Past that, it runs out of hot water. Can't do laundry or take my beloved hot baths for instance. Since it heats some water, but not enough to do anything that uses a lot of hot water, I am guessing one of the heating elements is burned out. So figured I would replace both and see what happens. The thing is 24 years old so if I have to replace it, it's understandable. I just don't have an extra $1000 to do it at this time.

usually heating elements either work or don't, no halfway. You might investigate the dip tube first. The dip tube forces the incoming cold water to the bottom of the tank while the hot water is removed from the top. When the dip tube breaks the incoming cold water mixes with the hot water at the top and you wind up with the lower half of the tank full of hot water while you are using the cold water out of the top.
The elements are normally wired so that the bottom one is used to maintain the tank at operating temperature and the upper one is used for fast recovery when the tank is cold. If you have hot water to start with the bottom element and thermostat are probably fine.
If the water temperature tapers off and quite a bit sooner than it used to, it is probably the tube. If the hot water lasts almost as long as it used to but takes a long time to recover, it is probably the upper element. Hope this helps. Good luck!!

 

[NWGlockgal]

usually heating elements either work or don't, no halfway. You might investigate the dip tube first. The dip tube forces the incoming cold water to the bottom of the tank while the hot water is removed from the top. When the dip tube breaks the incoming cold water mixes with the hot water at the top and you wind up with the lower half of the tank full of hot water while you are using the cold water out of the top.
The elements are normally wired so that the bottom one is used to maintain the tank at operating temperature and the upper one is used for fast recovery when the tank is cold. If you have hot water to start with the bottom element and thermostat are probably fine.
If the water temperature tapers off and quite a bit sooner than it used to, it is probably the tube. If the hot water lasts almost as long as it used to but takes a long time to recover, it is probably the upper element. Hope this helps. Good luck!!

Thanks. It sounds like it might be the tube. I have hot water but only temporary, it tapers off much quicker than it used to. Since I don't know anything about drip tubes, if the element change doesn't work I'll have to replace it eventually I guess.

 

[jbett98]

You take off the cold water inlet supply line and then use a wooden dowel that fits the inner diameter of the plastic dip tube and then gently wiggle the dowel back and forth until the tube breaks loose and can be lifted straight up.
They are real cheap to buy, but hopefully you have the head room to lift the tube up and out.
Otherwise it's a real pain to turn off the power, drain the tank, disconnect the lines and tilt the tank enough to remove it.
There was a 4 or 5 year time span 25 or so years ago that all the dip tubes were made out of a cheap plastic and they all cracked.