How'd it go today?

Glad you saved the house Jim!

I can't smell, and have always worried about a fire...hence completely rewiring this place soon as it was mine.
 
Good thinking Dave. I have been slowly getting my wiring in shape, it was wired in the cowboy days of electricity.

It is a bit puzzling about dad's water heater. His house was professionally wired when he remodeled 34 years ago. It looks pretty good to me.

From what I can figure the bottom element or thermostat malfunctioned. It caused the top thermostat to burn and melt. Not entirely sure why it did not trip the breaker.

Could be a bad breaker. I should replace it.

Maybe the current never got high enough to trip, just high enough to get too hot and burn. Dad had replaced the top thermostat that morning, and it took probably 3 hours for it to get hot enough to catch fire.


I will have to do some more thinking. They are good now, with a new water heater.....but I would like to find out what exactly happened.
 
Ouch Jim. There should be an overload and thermostat control that would have tripped quicker. Only problem with those now I think about it only breaks one line of the 220v. Hmmm any pics?

Had a funeral today, gf's distant cousin, 18 died this week in a bad car crash. He was the driver. Stole his grand fathers car. Very sad.
 
Rough deal Peter. I was not going to let my kids drive until 25, but Grandpa already has my 8 year old daughter driving home from the bus.

The overload on the burnt up thermostat was not tripped.

Unless dad threw it out, I should be able to post up some pics. I am pretty sure that the problem was not with the upper thermostat that he had just changed. I believe it was the lower unit.
 
Hi Steve, thanks for the link to the grey box psyllid.We are working in Plumpton park on some of the many hundreds if not a thousand plus dead trees. It's sad that I cant tow a trailer as the timber is nice to work with, although it is hard on the tools it turns up quite nice.
Cheers Patrick
 
If I was there I'd take all the box you could give me, it's great firewood and selling for about $200 a ton in Sydney and a bit more here if you can get it. I'm in Armidale.

Got my battery charged but it's been pouring rain all day so no stump job this weekend. Couldn't jump start it because it was in the garage and couldn't get the truck close enough, won't happen again now I'm getting organised.
 
Another busy and reasonably successful week negotiated, no breakdowns, no injuries, all jobs completed and chèques banked.

Sometimes we forget the achievement of just pulling that out of the bag!


Pricing this afternoon, bit of maintenance and gardening Sunday.
 
Just got hime after having eye surgery and four days of hospitalization. Never been hospitalized before except when a kid and smashing my finger. I couldn't believe the special room devoted to eye surgery, rather dark in there and various stations where they are working on people. All very high tech looking, I could have been on the starship Enterprise. Couldn't help feeling a little nervous. They sit you down and tilt you back, and completely cover your face except for a hole where your eye shows through, then they swab around your peeper with an antiseptic and after administering something that completely numbs your eye, the surgeon steps forward and has at you. You can't really see anything except dull white light, especially after they take out the lens, or in my case, break it up into little pieces for replacement with an artificial one. I think that they have a magnifier or a microscope over your eye most of the time too, so the doc can see what he is doing. Not much pain, kind of a dull one when they were burning something.

An interesting experience, at least the surgery part, having to lay around not so much. Medical technology is really something else. They wouldn't let me go down to the lower level Starbucks for a coffee after that, or to a 7-11 on another floor, said I had to stay on the ward, one especially devoted to eye patients. If you get an infection in your eye after surgery you can be fooked. Back in next week for the other eye, but at least I know a few of the nurses now, sweet thangs that they are.
 
With the national coverage on surgery and hospitalization, everything within a specific month, no matter what it is or how many times, costs me a one time $550. If it runs into the next month, then the cost obligation starts again. Funny how they run that, not by the thirty or so days, but by specific months. So, with multiple surgeries or whatever, trying to get scheduled so it all happens within a specific month is the cheapest way. Not always so easy, hospitals are real busy, though I managed it, or I should say that the doc helped arrange it. Some additional minor charges, like two something dollars per meal, and if you want a more private room, that isn't covered by insurance. There were three other guys in my room, it was free, but I had a nice corner curtained off with a big window with a view of a roof garden and the plain behind. Each space has a tv and a small fridge, which to get running requires a ten dollar time card. A nice shower that you can reserve for thirty minutes each day out there in the ward. You could get some good rest there if you didn't have to deal with medical stuff.

Thanks, Steve. With the lens replacement, man things have become clear, like between day and night. The main purpose of the surgery though, to get the eye pressure down, it may not have worked. Glaucoma is a difficult disease to control at times, even with surgery. Still things that they haven't figured out about it. I'll know better the results when I go back next week. Results weren't looking too good when I left, the doc was scratching his head. It can take awhile for things to stabilize though, with internal bleeding and all after they stick you and then put you back together.
 
MB, you know with cataract surgery now, you have different replacement lens choices to improve your vision weakness. It can completely eliminate the need for glasses. I wouldn't hesitate a bit to have it done when the time arrives. I don't think you even need to be hospitalized anymore in the states, something like a twenty or thirty minute procedure done as an outpatient. A lot of research goes into replacement lenses since there is such a big market for them, they are coming up with some amazing things.

The only hesitation I'd have with cataract surgery is to not have a beginner do it. Eye surgery is delicate and there is a learning curve.
 
Good luck with your recovery Jay. That is an intense story. Any idea what caused your eye troubles?
 
Thanks, guys. High eye pressure, what can lead to glaucoma, can be caused by having diabetes, or often for some reason that can never be known. It's that the drainage system in your eye isn't working right, somewhere somehow plugged up, so pressure builds up on the optic nerve and will damage it. It can happen pretty quick when pressure is real high, that's why it's good to have your eyes regularly checked, especially as you age. You don't normally know yourself if your pressure is high, or if you have started to have vision loss as a result of it. It isn't just an older person's thing though. In my case, and as is quite common, it's an inherited disorder. My gramps had it and so did my brother, possibly other family members. That's a particularly good reason to get checked out, if there is a family history for it.

Most eye surgery for basic things is pretty straightforward and surgeons highly skilled can whip right through it. Obviously there can be some heavy duty thing going on too, like cancer. The one thing is that you definitely don't want some guy blowing it when they are into your eye, and apparently that happens on occasion.
 
Dang, Jay. Glad you've got the care and got it figured out.

Wow, Stephen a running fire up that hill, sounds not fun, it was a little steep and consistent.
 
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