HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

 

Happy new year? Well I'm happy the holiday's are now over and life can get back to somewhat normal. So we took all the decorations down outside the past two day's, we usually don't do that until after the new year but being it was going to be ugly out the next few day's we decided to take them down while it was nice outside.

Now we get to pack everything away and put everything up in the attic... but it's not done yet, there are a lot of things in the house that need packed away and put in the attic as well as taking the Christmas tree down.

Talking about Christmas trees. We went with a fake tree many years ago, got tired of finding pine needles and icicles in the carpet, pretty much all year round, so we finally went with a fake tree. We had a nice fake tree years ago which was pretty easy to put up. All you needed to do was put the pole up, hand the branches from the top of the pole spread out the small limbs, put the top on and your done! That tree got ruined in a flood years ago being it was stored in the basement.

The last fake tree we got many years ago is a nice looking tree but a real pain in the butt putting up. There are approx. 50 branches that has to be put on the pole, starting at the bottom and working around the pole you have to insert branches starting with the longer ones and as you go up they get shorter. This is what the tree looks like when it's put together.

So the tree is old and it's a pain putting it up, time to get a new one? Well we thought about that but we didn't look to far into it when we seen what the prices of fake trees were! The newer trees look easy to set up, being it looked like the branches were on like hinges and you just folded them down. Maybe some year will get a new tree if the price is right and we like the tree we are interested in.

Did I Say It Was Cold.... Bad Christmas Evening

 So, everything went fine before Christmas as well as Christmas Eve when we had our family get-together. Christmas day was also fine until about 7:00 P.M, (or later) that evening. I thought it was getting a little cool in the house so I looked at the temp which was down to 68 Deg. F. Seems the furnace quit working again. :-(

First thing I did was to bled the line thinking that maybe there was some air was trapped in the line that reached the pump. While bleeding the line all I got was air and spurts of fuel. My next thought was maybe the filter either clogged or froze again. So I go out in the cold (about 20 Deg. F.) removed the filter and it looked fine, not frozen and no sludge. I was hoping the pump didn't get messed up from the first time.

Ok, so I'm not getting fuel from the tank to the furnace, maybe the line is froze? So I go out and get the compressor, brought it in the house, and plugged it in until it shut off. I also disconnected the fuel line from the fuel tank and the furnace then held the nozzle on the line inside the house and tried blowing 150 psi of air through it, nothing, the line was clogged from being frozen.

Now what? The problem is, is that the line runs under the house to the basement, a place you can't even crawl under. At this point I pretty much did everything I could do being nothing was even open. We was lucky to have a gas stove in the living room for supplemental heat. Of course it's only to heat the living room and any heat from it only transfer from room to room by the movement of the air.

So I turned on the water in the bathroom and kitchen hoping none of the pipes wouldn't freeze. The next morning nothing had frozen through the night even though the temp got down to 16 Deg. F. In the kitchen the temp was 65 Deg. F., and the further you went from the kitchen you could feel these rooms were even colder.

Ok, we made it through the night without the water pipes or us freezing, so what to do now? I hated to think of pulling the fuel line out from under the house and worse yet, I hated to shell out $$ for a new line, being copper line isn't cheap.

Then I got an idea! Why not hook a hose up the the water heater and try spraying on the line going under the house? There in only a foot or less of space where the line goes under the house so you can't get under there. I went out to get a hose out of the one shed but gave that idea up real quick. The two hoses in the shed are heavy duty contractor hoses and they were stiff as a board! So we went to Lowes and bought a new cheap one (50 foot). 

After hooking the hose up to the water heater and running it way over to were the tank is (the 50 foot hose just made it), I sprayed hot water under the house where I figured the hose might be. I then went back in the house and tried blowing compressed air through the line again, this time it worked! Just to be sure I got down and blew through the line just to be sure.

My only concern then was hoping the copper line didn't split were it was frozen. After hooking the line back up to the furnace and to the filter on the tank, I tried bleeding the line again. After the first try fuel was coming through the line and I didn't see any air bubbles from maybe a split line. From that point on the furnace has been working fine.

Two places were the water and or sludge probably came from, either the new (used) tank that was sitting outside, our from our old tank when we pumped the fuel from the old tank into the new tank. The old tank has been out there for about 30+ years, so it's hard to tell how much crap might have been in it.

When we switched tanks I did notice something that kind of concerned me. The shut off valve on the old tank was for an inside tank which is made that if a fire would happen, there is plastic inside that causes the valve to automatically shut off. I wanted to keep that valve because if I remember right, it to wasn't cheap.

Knowing that the tank was empty being we tilted the tank up to drain everything out of the valve, I then decided to unscrew the valve from the tank. Oh! What the hell!!! When I unscrewed the valve from the tank fuel was running everywhere! I grabbed a large can and caught most of it which was probably about two gallon or more. When I looked at the valve, the opening on it was almost clogged shut from I guess built up fuel from the wax in it?

In any case I don't think we would have made it through this winter without problems being the opening in the valve was built up with so much stuff, it was almost completely closed. Anyways... the new tank has a stop valve on it and since that night things have been fine.... so far.

It's Cold Outside!

 Yea, it got pretty cold last night, down to 3 deg. F. Right now of this pasting it did get up to 18 Deg. F. But even though that's bad enough, had to do some work outside in the cold yesterday. Being we had trouble with our fuel in the tank the other week, I didn't want to go through that again and wake up in the middle of the night and it would be freezing cold in here!

So we ended going to Lowes and buying a heat tape, not the kind I wanted but it's the only type they had. I wanted the kind that used to be the color blue and it didn't matter id you crossed over the heat tape with another part of the heat tape, it wouldn't hurt it. The older heat tape and the one I bought, if it crosses of each other it will burn out.

So I got the heat tape and started where the fuel line goes under the house, then wrapped two coils of it around the tank filter and what was left I wrapped around the front of the tank, about three wraps. I then put a moving blanket on top of it as well as tied a piece of plywood at the end of the tank to keep the wind from hitting the tank but rather the plywood.

Regular #2 fuel oil jells at about 15-16 Deg. F., but I don't know what the 50/50 mix jells at but being with the wind chill was to make t feel like -55 Deg. below zero, I wasn't taking a chance. So when I woke up this morning everything was ok, so either the fuel just didn't jell or no water in the tank, or the heat tape did it's job. In any case I'm just glad things worked out.

We do have a gas Jotel stove in the living room which does a good job, but it doesn't help to keep the pipes in the basement from freezing.

Anyways.... everything is fine and within the next hours will be having our Christmas get-to-gather where will eat lots of good food then open presents!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

275 Gallon Fuel Tanks, Some Thoughts.

 

275 gallon fuel tanks for home heating, there not cheap and even more expensive to fill. Last year (2021) we got flooded and our oil tank was sitting on only three legs and up against the house and it had around a 1/3 of fuel in it. The problem was I needed to get the fuel out of the tank so I could move it to get it set back up.

Turns out I got lucky and found another 275 gallon tank for free and it was in much better condition then the one we had. Our tank was pretty rusty looking and the one leg where it screws into the tank was stripped... or should I say the threads were rusted out.

So I got the new tank and this is were the fun started. I first had to pump the fuel out of the old tank into the new tank so I could move the old tank out of the way. After getting the old tank moved, I had to then put the fuel from the new tank back into the old tank so I could put the new tank where the old tank sat.

Once I got the new tank in position I again had to put the fuel from the old tank back into the new tank! Finally I was done.

Everything was fine until it started getting cold outside and I woke up one morning and the furnace didn't kick on sometime during the night. I'm just glad it wasn't super cold out yet. My first thought was maybe there was air in the line so I went on to bleed the line. When I started bleeding the line I got sludge, and crap coming out of it and at times nothing at all. At this point I knew I had a bigger problem.

At this point I went and got two new filter and two new nozzles, one for a spare just in case. When I went to turn the valve off for the fuel at the tank it felt kind of frozen like ice was in the valve. So I got the valve shut and removed the filter and it was like frozen hard from water or moisture and there was a good bit of sludge in it.

I cleaned out the filter canister put in a new filter and put it back on the tank. I then went in and replaced the nozzle in the furnace. When I took the nozzle out there was even sludge on the nozzles filter at which point I was hoping it didn't hurt the pump. So I put the new nozzle in then proceeded to open the valve at the tank and bleed the fuel line.

What came out of the fuel line didn't look good at all, instead of a clear pink color, it was a milky looking crap. I ended up bleeding the line a good while until the milky crap stopped and the fuel looked a clear pink again. At that point the furnace started and I set the fuel/air mixture and it's been running fine ever since. I just hope that's it.

HOW TO SET YOUR TANK:

When people put in a tank they do in one of three way's. The tank leaning a little towards the filter (output of the tank), level, or have it tilted a little towards the back. I have mine tilted towards the filter a little so any fuel will run towards the output of the tank. People say you'll get more dirt and crap that way. If you tilt it towards the back, all the crap settles to the back of the tank. Yea right! Then when there is a lot of dirt and crap built up in the back and it starts to cause a problem when it reaches the filter, you might have a long process to get it out. Where with the tank leaning towards the filter you only get a little dirt and crap at a time if you happen to get any.

DOES IT REALLY MATTER HOW YOU TILT YOUR TANK?

Probably not. Think about it, no matter how you tilt your tank or leave it level, the next time you get fuel in your tank it's going to mix all that crap in with your new fuel. When fuel is delivered it come out from the truck pretty fast, so it doesn't matter where the dirt and crap settle in your tank, it's going to get moved around and mixed all up again with the new fuel. In the end, if you change your filter every fall you should be in pretty good shape. Another good thing (which I should do also) is to have your filter inside out of the cold. A lot problems can be traced to filters mounted outside.

SO WHERE DID ALL THE SLUDGE AND CRAP COME FROM IN MY TANK?

Good question. Ok, first of all when I had my problem it's been three or four years (maybe going on five) since I did anything to the furnace. We replaced our old furnace which was 36 years old and I just never got around to servicing the new one. I was going to the year before but that's when we got flooded (see the post on flooded). Being we got flooded and it was winter out, I left it go as we worked on fixing the house up so we could move back in it.

I take it the sludge and crap either came from the old tank or the delivery truck. I would rather think it came from the old tank being the delivery trucks have filters on them but I guess if there filters wasn't changed sludge and crap could possibility get past them?

Then during the summer months your tank can sweat causing condensation inside the tank which will result in water in your fuel, that's why it's better to have a full or almost full tank in the summer. My tank pretty much sits in the shade so I don't really think condensation was a problem.

WHAT KIND OF FUEL DO YOU USE?

Most common fuels for furnaces is kerosene, mixed, and #1 & #2 fuel oil. When I get fuel I get "mixed" being my tank is outside and it's cheaper then kerosene. I'd rather use fuel oil being you get more heat from fuel oil but it would "jell" out in the cold. When we first moved here and where was used to get our oil, they came and filled out tank with fuel oil and that night it got down below zero and it jelled up and wouldn't flow.

I ended up having to go out in the freezing could and removed the filter as well as wrapped the tank with a heating tape and put a blanket over it to try and keep it from jelling. The next morning the came and pumped out the fuel oil and put kerosene in the tank. I wouldn't want to repeat that again! To damn cold!

Powermatic III Cigarette Roller

 I've been smoking since I was 15 years old and I put away a lot of cigarettes through the years which is a pretty bad habit, not alone money going up in smoke, and is dirty and smelly. Anyways.... this isn't about me smoking, but about the Powermatic III Plus cigarette rolling machine.

Through the years I went through a lot of cigarette rolling machines from the very cheap rollers up until I got my Powermatic III Plus. I didn't buy my Powermatic III Plus, it was given to me as a gift which I hand now for at least two years if not longer.

In the time I've owned my Powermatic III Plus machine I have made 50,500 cigarettes, and yes, a few times I "jammed" it up pretty good. The idea is finding a good tobacco for the machine or any machine as far as that goes. I tried different tobacco's, some were ok, while other were to fine, to stringy, and some when smoked just burned up to quick. So, the best tobacco I found that works good in this machine is 4Aces tobacco. I can go through 16 oz. bags usually with no problems, though once in a while I will get a "jam" when I get down to the fine "shake" stuff, but it's not very often.

Ok, back to the Powermatic III Plus. As I have said, I really had no real problems with the Powermatic III Plus other then a jam now and then... it's going to happen sooner or later. At least I had no real problems until the other night. On a Saturday night the machine worked as usual, the next night, Sunday, I had a problem. Was I going to have to buy a new machine? Send it out to get it fixed, or what?

The problem I was having was that the machine would "pack" the tobacco, but it wouldn't eject it into the cigarette tube. The only way to get it to eject the tobacco into the tube was to do this... after it packed the tobacco and not eject it into the tube, I had to lift the hopper lid, then push the jam button on the left, then it would push the tobacco into the tube. Of course this got to be a pain in the butt real quick.

The following day I figured I tear it apart to see what I could see, if anything. I figured I could either fix it or destroy it and have to buy a new one. 

On the bottom of the machine there are 8 screws you have to remove (one is under the sticker) and the top of the machine lifts off. When lifting the top off you have to be careful because the counter button and the jam button just sit there and may fall out. Also on the bottom of the buttons is a little rubber piece you have to watch doesn't come off the buttons and you lose it.

After getting the top off the machine I was surprised at the amount of tobacco inside of the machine! There was a lot! So I took the machine and dumped out the tobacco that worked it's way into the machine and cleaned it up some. I also noticed there was (what I could see) three sensors in the machine which I took a damp swap and cleaned off. At this point there wasn't much more I could do with it but was thinking that maybe all the tobacco that was in the machine was effecting one of the sensors.

So after getting as much tobacco out of the machine as I could and cleaning the sensors off, I put the top back on and replaced the 8 screws. A little later, about an hour, I decided to go ahead an try making my cigarettes for the evening though I had no idea if the machine was going to work or not. Ended up I made 4 packs of cigarettes (80) and didn't have one problem, it worked perfectly.

So in the end I'm thinking the tobacco that got worked into the inside of the machine finally got enough tobacco in it that it caused one of the sensor's not to work properly. So, if your having a problem with your Powermatic III Plus machine, maybe it a good time to take the top off and clean out the lose tobacco inside and clean off those sensors.?

As I have said, I got my Powermatic III Plus machine as a gift. Before I got the machine I thought about buying one but hated to think of spending $200.00 (more or less) for a machine that didn't live up to the way it was advertised. In the end I'm glad I did get it as a gift and when the time comes that it does quit on me, I won't hesitate to dish out the $200 for another one.