We are definitely looking forward to this coming week of fine spring like days with temperatures promised to reach into the high sixties...if not all the way into the seventies tomorrow. I have several projects underway that I will resolve this week...one of them being the pellet stove, which I am overhauling for next winter...now...while the pain of missing it for the last four weeks, is still fresh in our minds. All too often it is easy to forget about things like this since it is warm again and the threat of getting into heating season next fall before the overhaul is completed happens all too often. So...I have disassembled the fireplace insert and will make sure it is ready for the fall. Below are pictures of the insert, which looks like it might have exploded all over the living room.
I am trying to locate the bearings for the auger, but am running into the same problems I did while working in the industry, and that is the use of dedicated in-house numbers for these bearings. In other words, Travis Industries, the manufacturer of Lopi stoves, cuts a deal with SKF Bearings to buy a large amount of these bearings, as long as they only sell them to Travis. That way, if you want one, you have to buy from Travis and pay their outrageous price. You may pay fifty dollars for a three dollar bearing. Nice huh? Almost like a monopoly right? Just a legal robbery...kind of like the politicians manipulate for themselves. Yep, money talks and robbers walk!
Looks like I’m gonna perform the same maneuvers I did when working in the industry, which will be to go buy a pair of regular sealed bearings, buy some hi-temp grease and repack the old bearings and use the rubber seals from the regular bearings to reseal these “special” bearings. They are not bad...the grease just baked dry inside and it seized up. The bearings on this auger move at about one revolution every three minutes, running continuously...and it never runs all the time, so it might make a revolution every six to ten minutes under normal operation. Yeah...the bearings will never wear out, but after nineteen years, the grease dried up and turned to powder. Ahhh....enough tech talk.
Friends of ours are on their way to Cooperstown to deal on some farm equipment today. They have a really great list of stuff for sale and we would have loved to go along with Phil & Shelly, but we are broke...and what fun is window shopping? Phil will probably call me later to discuss a tractor they have for sale and I’ll help him decide if it is suitable for his alpaca farm operation as soon as he knows what kind and size it is.
In the mean time, I will probably go for the bearings and feed for the animals, then clean a barn or two while it is warm and comfy out there.
Sometimes I work until my knees start to ache and I stop for a breather, sitting on something to relax my knees. That is when I will be whisked away with the nature around me and find myself day dreaming about summer, projects, a cold drink and the contented animals all around us. The sounds and smells of summers return to my senses and I am totally lost to my rambling dreaming until something breaks the trance and I’m returned to the present and the task at hand.
If I take a few pills, I’ll be able to run the shovel and wheel-barrow or tractor to clean chicken poo without too much agony, thus ....little daydreaming! What a fun filled day.
It’s a crappy job....but someone has to do it!
046341 Cluckin' "A" Critter Farm, LLC
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