The Money Pit

Today's post is kind of unrelated to biodiesel....sorry to disappoint you...

Over this past weekend business was kind of slower than normal (chaulk it up to everyone getting their credit card bills from Christmas and getting sticker shock), so, right on cue, something in the house decided to croak & die.

When I was in college I met a wise man that told me something I've never forgotten about a house.

He said:
A House Is Nothing More Than A Hole In The Ground That You Throw Money Into

Oh how true those words feel sometimes....

Over the weekend, the house knew I had some extra time so the kitchen disposal decided to go belly up. Now, it didn't just die, noooooo......it had to spring a leak...several of them!

Turns out the side's of that stupid disposal actually had corroded through so that there were these holes all a round the side of it w/ corrosion on them (yep, wierd, I know, the guy at the plumbing store told me the same thing, "Wierd man, never heard of something like that happening". )

So, every time we ran the dish washer or ran the water in the sink, the water would squirt out of these corroded holes on the side of the disposal making a nasty mess under the sink!

Well, it so happens that since I'm kind of in the plumbing business indirectly (I buy a TON of plumbing supplies for biodiesel processors) I have a good in w/ a plumbing supplier. When I went in to stock up on some inventory for the business, I had them also pull a disposal....it was funny.

"A disposal?"
"Yep"
"How are you going to make biodiesel w/ a disposal"
(I pondered the thought for a minute & then thought, ok, tell the guy...)
"Uhm, it's for the house"
"Ew, that sucks!"
"Yep! I'm not too excited about it either"

So, me, my new disposal, and a bunch of other plumbing fittings hopped back in the truck & away we drove back home (happy happy, joy joy...I was sooooo excited! NOT!)

So I got the thing home, climbed under the sink & started tinkering w/ the old one. Got it unhooked (wow, that was easy) and then proceeded to put the new one in, totally ignoring the sticker on the "dish washer drain inlet" that said, "Before installing, READ THE MANUAL" Manual Schmanual...I don't need no stinkin manual!

Well, so I got it all installed, all proud of myself & figured I'd pull the manual out just to make sure everything was alright.....I'd even tested it & there were no leaks (yeah!)

Turns out that stupid hook up for the dishwasher drain had a plastic plug in it that I was supposed to have knocked out before installing it (well, ok, I guess sometimes reading the manual may help).

I was so dang proud of myself for getting it all installed w/o the manual that I pretty much instantly got deflated....

"Crap" I thought, "This means I gotta take the sucker back out!"

So, out it came, I punched the hole in the thing, & back in it went.
Whoala! It now works (even with the dishwasher).

And the bonus points from the wife just got bigger.
Happy Wife, Happy Life..a motto I live by in my house.
That and, "If momma ain't happy, there ain't no body happy"
(just remember all you married guys, if you're hungry & don't wanna eat burnt steak or somethign like that, treat the "boss" well and you'll get fed good. --works for me!)

While pondering over this task and thinking, "Boy my wise friend from college is smart!" (remember, that bit about a hole in the ground) I got to looking at the installation instructions & thought, dang, these look pretty simple! I bet I could do something like this for Biodiesel!

So, I guess even though this post wasn't SUPPOSED to be about biodiesel, somehow I find way's to tie it all back (I know, I know, it's an addiction, I admit it). So, the moral of the story is, "There's a silver 'biodiesel' lining in every money pit adventure in home repair".

I'll be implementing some of the cool concepts they used in that stupid manual (you know, the one I SHOULD'VE read first) for my biodiesel processor instructions.

And that, my friends, is my tale of how I spent $65 bucks on something I really didn't want to do.

Do you own a house too?
Just wait, that dang money monster will grab at ya sooner or later.

Just remember, it's just a hole in the ground for you to throw money into.

-Graydon
The Crazed Biodiesel Nut (and kitchen disposal installation specialist now too!)