An important aspect of being a homesteader I believe is being able to or at least not afraid of trying to repair broken down equipment. It's not only something that needs to be done on the homestead but just in adult life in general. This week Papa saved us a lot of money by fixing the weed wacker, pressure washer and air compressor. First we went down to the garden to clear up the rows in between the beds of all the obnoxious weeds but the darn weed wacker just wouldn't run right...so off to the side it laid to be checked out later. When I was working on cleaning up the greenhouse door we set up the pressure washer to easily get off most of the chipped paint but the once so powerful pressure washer wouldn't stay on, and out came the regular hose. Then when I was sanding and scraping off the debris and gunk off the door I was using the air compressor for easy air clean up but then I smelt plastic burning so I shut it off until Papa could look at it.
When Papa had a moment free up he brought the weed wacker into the shop for a check up. He took it apart and found out that the fuel line had a leak. On the way to a family get together we stopped at O'reilly's for $3 piece of fuel line and made it home with a full belly of pizza. Since he had it apart already he went ahead and dipped the carburetor and cleaned it up. Once he got it all patched up and clean, he took it out and it fired up like old times, watch out you pesky weeds.
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| This can has saved us lots of money. |
As soon as I told Papa that I thought there was something wrong with his air compressor he hurried over to his big baby to see if it was okay. He soon found out what was wrong and rushed in to tell me...something about in between two parts on the head of the compressor lays another part and one of the two gaskets in-between were stiff and breaking away and pieces were getting caught and that's what I smelt. A trip to the auto parts store for a $7 gasket sheet from Fel Pro is all he needed to repair it. He took the old gasket out and used a compass to draw two perfect circles and half eyeballed and traced the rest. A little snip snip here and an exacto knife there and he made a new gasket. He also made a custom yellow half moon filter for it out of scrubber pads. All the parts went back together and he turned it on, while it filled with air we crossed our fingers and boom bam and it worked again. You know I didn't realize how much we use that big beast until it was out of order.
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| The master repairman hard at work. |
The pressure washer went a little differently, papa started by just quickly opening the carb and giving it a quick clean with carburetor cleaner all while our daughter rode on his back in a pack but when he tried to get it going again, it was still a no go. While we were at Lowe's for some more supplies, lately I think we've been there every week...Papa noticed pressure washers on clearance. He came back to the car saying hey they have some good deals on washers for just having a cracked handle. After leaving he kept mentioning the discounted washers, which meant he really wanted one. I don't like spending big bucks if I don't have to plus I know how good he is at repairing things. So when Papa mentioned if he should dip the carb I jumped on it and said yes. The carb was cleaned one more time and buttoned up for a test run. We attached the hose, Papa gave it a yank and the sound of not spending money rang. Oh what a relief to save our money for another homestead project.
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Papa did it again, equipment working again.
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Throughout our many years together I'm not sure how much money the hubby has saved us but I'm sure it's in the thousands by now. I'm going to blush now while I have a proud wife moment...Papa amazes me everyday with what he is capable of. His nickname should be Mr. Fix it, and yes he's had some training from his dad and grandfather but his best skill is not being afraid to try. And that's what I want people to know is that you just have to try. I've heard him tell people that all you have to do is take things apart and look for an issue...sometimes something is loose, out of place or just needs to be cleaned. Even with him taking care of our equipment and putting stabil in gas tanks in the winter, come spring he still fights with some of it because of the darn ethanol in gas. I think I'll loosen the purse strings and start buying ethanol free gas to give him a break from dipping carbs. So the next time something stops working whether it be a lawnmower or light fixture maybe just try taking it apart and figuring out what went wrong instead of just throwing it away and buying a new one. Alright now back to the homestead.
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