Nary A Drop . . .

With Jan up at Brandi’s in Katy so she can attend Landon’s school’s Grandparent’s Day tomorrow morning, today was a chore day around the rig.




Unfortunately the afternoon rains kept me from getting a chance to get back on the generator, but there’s always Tuesday.

First up though, I wanted to double-check that my oil leak had been fixed by changing out the filter, so after crawling under the rig to get a ‘before’ photo of the oil filter and positioning one of my mats underneath to catch any drips,

Before:

Rig Oil Filter Before

I cranked up the rig and let it run at low-idle for an hour.

I did check the mat after about 30 minutes and found no oil . . . yet. But I let it run for another 30 minutes just to be sure.

When the time was up I checked again, and again found nothing. No leaks, drips, or drops. Nary a drop.

Just this.

After:

Rig Oil Filter After

We’ll probably do a test drive for an hour or so in the next couple of weeks for a final check, but for right now I’m calling it FIXED.

As to what the problem really was, I don’t know. It was obviously the filter, or at least something to do with the filter. But it wasn’t loose, and the filter and the gasket all looked fine, even upon closer inspection.

I’ve had the same thing happen in both computer and mechanical repairs. You have a component that tests fine and may even work in another unit, but replacing it fixes the problem anyway.

I had mentioned before that I was thinking about replacing the house batteries in the rig with two of these Deka Farm Equipment batteries.

Deka 12 v battery

Though they’re not deep-cycle units, at 1005 Amp Hours each, two of these should handle any short periods of battery usage. We don’t boondock so it shouldn’t be a problem.

But when I double-check the measurements this afternoon I found that two of them would be a little too wide for the tray they sit in. But then I noticed this one.

Deka 12 v battery 2

Not only is it smaller, but at $124, it’s also $25 cheaper, and at 1140 amp hours, it’s a bigger capacity. And another plus is that  all these batteries are maintenance-free, so little or no terminal corrosion problems.

They’re available at Lowe’s and should be in in a couple of weeks, maybe sooner.

Tomorrow after work, I’ll head up to Katy to bring my beautiful bride back home. A good thing since Karma and I are really lonely.





Thought for the Day:
 

The problem with carrying a grudge is they get heavier the longer you carry them.

hdgh