At Home In The Woods

[srs]

There will be at least 1 foot of dirt above the big piece of concrete. I hope that's enough for any scrubs we might put there.
Obed

I don't think so! I'd dig it up now before the ground settles around it. Sorry!

 

[firefighter9208]

I don't think so! I'd dig it up now before the ground settles around it. Sorry!

I have to agree. I have added nearly 4 feet of soil on top of our septic tank over the past 12 years and still can't get anything to grow there. When it's wet it's o.k., but as soon as it gets a little dry there's a big brown spot in the yard.

Chris

 

[shane]

I have to agree. I have added nearly 4 feet of soil on top of our septic tank over the past 12 years and still can't get anything to grow there. When it's wet it's o.k., but as soon as it gets a little dry there's a big brown spot in the yard.

Chris

I know the feeling. And, it's frustrating.

 

[radioman]

I have to agree. I have added nearly 4 feet of soil on top of our septic tank over the past 12 years and still can't get anything to grow there. When it's wet it's o.k., but as soon as it gets a little dry there's a big brown spot in the yard.

Chris

same here- my grass grows poorly right over the tank, all around it is fine. At least I know where it is. :laughing:

 

[Diamondpilot]

My property had a house on it 100 years ago. When it gets real dry out I can still see the outline of the old footers and construction debris buried under the soil a foot or so. I just will not hold the water like it should and drys up. I can also see the septic tank and the sewer distribution box.

I would move that chunk.

By the way Obed. You just need one more post till the big 1000. Congrats.

Chris

 

[Obed]

Let There Be Light!

It sure is nice having lights in the house! We had the electrician put up keyless lights temporarilly until we get the final fixtures installed. Then the keyless lights will get installed in the attic and closets. We had the option to get flourescent fixtures in the garage that have either 2 or 4 bulbs. I initially was going to get the 2 bulb fixtures but my wife talked me into getting the 4 bulb fixtures. The garage lights up like day light with three 4 bulb flourscent light fixtures.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Congrats on the lights, thats a big step getting the electrical going.

You also got 1,000 post....

Chris

 

[Obed]

Phantom Voltage

I got some night lights like Pete has. I installed one in the master bath and one in the main hallway. They have daylight sensors so they only turn on when it is dark. The night light in the hallway is on 3-way switches on each end of the hall. I love having these night lights. It was neat being able to work on something "nice to have".

I spent several hours working on the hall night light. While I was wiring the switches, I checked the voltage with a voltmeter. With the light on, one terminal on the 3-way switch read 120V to ground which I expected. When I checked the other terminal, I expected it to read zero volts but instead it showed 35V. That didn't seem right to me. I checked the voltages on the other switch and got the same behavior. I got concerned and wondered if I had some frayed insulation causing a partial short somewhere in my wires. I spent forever unwiring things trying to find the issue to no avail.

Finally I decided to touch a finger across the 35V circuit figuring I should feel 35V but it wouldn't kill me. When I put my finger across the circuit I felt nothing. So I repeated the process while simultaneously reading the voltage. When I put my finger across the circuit the voltage dropped from 35V to zero volts. When I observed this behavior I came to the conclusion that I was seeing some sort of phantom voltage created by and inductive magnetic field caused by the alternating current. Last night I measured the voltage of a 3-way switch at my inlaws' house and observed the same behavior. The observation confirmed my assumption that I did not have an electrical problem.

Tonight I found some other people on the internet who encountered this same scenario.

 

[dstig1]

Yep. It's essentially crosstalk, but I see you went out and found that out yourself...

Drove me nuts the first time I encountered it until someone explained it to me.

 

[dex3361]

Phantom Voltage

I got some night lights like Pete has. I installed one in the master bath and one in the main hallway. They have daylight sensors so they only turn on when it is dark. The night light in the hallway is on 3-way switches on each end of the hall. I love having these night lights. It was neat being able to work on something "nice to have".

I spent several hours working on the hall night light. While I was wiring the switches, I checked the voltage with a voltmeter. With the light on, one terminal on the 3-way switch read 120V to ground which I expected. When I checked the other terminal, I expected it to read zero volts but instead it showed 35V. That didn't seem right to me. I checked the voltages on the other switch and got the same behavior. I got concerned and wondered if I had some frayed insulation causing a partial short somewhere in my wires. I spent forever unwiring things trying to find the issue to no avail.

Finally I decided to touch a finger across the 35V circuit figuring I should feel 35V but it wouldn't kill me. When I put my finger across the circuit I felt nothing. So I repeated the process while simultaneously reading the voltage. When I put my finger across the circuit the voltage dropped from 35V to zero volts. When I observed this behavior I came to the conclusion that I was seeing some sort of phantom voltage created by and inductive magnetic field caused by the alternating current. Last night I measured the voltage of a 3-way switch at my inlaws' house and observed the same behavior. The observation confirmed my assumption that I did not have an electrical problem.

Tonight I found some other people on the internet who encountered this same scenario.

Pretty common to run into and its referred to as Induced Voltage. Its caused by the wires running close together for a long distance. Just like a transformer.

 

[scoutcub]

Obed -

You're getting closer.....looking great!!

Frank

 

[walleyed]

Obed,

Place is looking very nice.:thumbsup:

Did the tile work get grouted yet? I was wondering if you could take a picture of that tile design you have (carpet tile) with the grout finished? Please.. No rush

Does anyone know of other names for this type of tile work. I keep trying to find more on google but haven't had any luck.

 

[Obed]

A Narrow Escape!
Guys, today has been a very long day. While moving some dirt from the back yard, the tractor got away from me and started accelerating down a steep grade.

I had dumped several loads of dirt in this area today driving the tractor in low gear and using 4WD. When I took a load of debris to the trash trailer, I changed to middle gear and 2WD. Then when I got my next load of dirt, I forgot to change gears back to low and 4WD. As I started down the hill, the tractor crossed a steep dip which pointed the tractor downhill even more steeply and caused the tractor to accelerate. Being in middle gear, the engine didn't help slow down the tractor and my brakes would not stop it. Keep in mind that with the hydrostatic transmission, I almost never use the brakes to slow down or stop so my reflexes to hit the brakes with my left foot may have been slower than otherwise.

As the tractor approached the end of the dirt pile, the left tires left the dirt pile and caused the tractor to lean treacherously to the left. At that moment I bailed and jumped off the tractor. Just a few feet later the FEL contacted a leaning tree fell over against some other trees this summer. The FEL slid up the tree trunk and came to a stop with both front tires off the ground.

 

[Obed]

Once I gathered my wits, I accessed the situation. The tractor did not show obvious damage so that was something in my favor. However, tractor was in an extremely tricky position that would make extricating it quite a challenge. After I jumped off the tractor I was amazed that the tractor had not turned over; further inspection revealed why. The left side of the FEL arm was leaning against a tree which prevented the tractor from tipping. That was another good thing.

However, what you can't see in the picture is the tree on the left side that the tractor was leaning against would not allow the tractor to back up; the back side of the bucket was wedged against the tree trunk preventing any reverse movement. So the tractor couldn't go forward and it couldn't go backwards. And even if it could go backwards, the tractor could possibly tip over once it got free of the tree the FEL frame was leaning against.

Things looked pretty hopeless.

 

[Obed]

I didn't have a clue how to rescue the tractor. I didn't want to turn off the tractor because the hydraulics (FEL and backhoe) were helping keep the tractor from moving. I didn't know whom to call on a Sunday at 3 PM. I didn't even know what kind of equipment would be needed and what kind of company I could ask for help. Keep in mind that the tractor was on a steep slope that would make it difficult for other equipment to reach it.

I hooked two chains together and and connected the rear of the tractor to a tree up the hill just in case the tractor tried to move. I decided to call my wife who was running errands with our dually pickup truck. There might be some way to pull the tractor out using the truck. My wife just happened to be a Lowe's when I called. She asked if I wanted her to buy a come-along. She suggested we might hook the come-along to a tree and pull the FEL sideways enough that it would be free of the tree that was blocking backward movement. So she bought the only come-along the store had; it was only rated at 1000 lbs force. She also bought two 20 foot steel cables.

While I waited for my wife to get home, I walked over to my neighbor's house to see if he could help. I asked him to bring his 4WD pickup and his chainsaw. I wasn't certain how cutting one of the trees would work but wanted to keep that as an option. When my neighbor and my wife arrived, we hooked the come-along to the tractor frame at the front of the tractor. We hooked the other end of the come-along to a tree at a 90 degree angle from the tractor. We also hooked up the rear of the tractor to our dually pickup truck using a couple chains.

My neighbor put tension on the come-along until he couldn't tighten it anymore. The FEL was failing to move away from the offending tree. Then both my neighbor and I tried to tighten the come-along when the Chinese made piece of junk handle bent 90 degrees. Things were looking pretty grim and daylight was waning.

We bent the come-along handle to as straight as we could get it. We decided to try something else. We would hook the come-along to the FEL arm, not the tractor frame. We would hook the truck up to the tractor frame near the front of the tractor. We would try to use both the come-along and the truck to pull the front of the tractor sideways. As we maneuvered our crew-cab duelly around the septic tank in the back yard, it became evident that woud could not get the long truck positioned in a useful spot. Also, we lost a lot of time trying to maneuver our long truck and darkness was close. We moved our crew-cab truck out of the way and positioned my neighbor's 4WD truck in its place.

While the trucks were being moved, I lifted the left rear wheel of the tractor up with the backhoe and was able to get a couple 4" blocks under the wheel which helped level the tractor. With the come-along hooked to the FEL frame instead of the tractor frame, we were able to get the FEL away from the tree that was blocking backward movement. With the FEL free, we hooked my neighbor's truck to the rear of the tractor at a 45 degree angle with the chains. Using a combination of the come-along, the backhoe, and my neighbor's truck we were able to drag the tractor back up the hill.

The sun was behind the hills and darkness had arrived. If our last attempt hadn't worked or took longer than it did, we'd have had to leave the tractor and find some company to free the tractor.

I'm very thankful that this stressful day turned out to be just an inconvenience and not a major mishap. I said a prayer for help to get the tractor freed. As tightly wedged against the trees as the tractor was, I'm still amazed we got the tractor out. Lots of things could have gone wrong. I'm fortunate I still have a tractor. I'm also fortune I'm not in the hospital or morgue.

 

[dex3361]

Glad you are ok.

 

[Obed]

Obed,

Place is looking very nice.:thumbsup:

Did the tile work get grouted yet? I was wondering if you could take a picture of that tile design you have (carpet tile) with the grout finished? Please.. No rush

Does anyone know of other names for this type of tile work. I keep trying to find more on google but haven't had any luck.

Gord,
I Googled for tile pictures looking for tile designs and saw some designs I liked. The tile guy said they were called "carpet tiles". Here's a place I got some ideas Flooring Design Gallery - Kitchen Tile Ideas by SouthCypress.com.

I'll take a picture of our kitchen tile with the grout installed and post it for you.

Obed

 

[dcyrilc]

Obed,

Glad to hear you got the tractor free without damage. I think part of your issue was trying to hook the come-along too low on the tractor. Leverage is your friend in this type of situation.

My first thought when reading your posts was to hook a come-along to the ROPS just above the fender and at a 90 degree angle to secure the tractor from rolling. Then use the backhoe and outriggers to level and reposition the tractor.

Another point to bring up here is that on a run-away tractor with a FEL, you can drop the bucket and begin uncurling until the front of the bucket begins to grab dirt and provide braking for the tractor. The cutting edge on the bucket digging into the dirt does a lot to stop the tractor from moving.

Again, glad to hear that everything worked out OK.:thumbsup:

 

[Obed]

Obed,

Glad to hear you got the tractor free without damage. I think part of your issue was trying to hook the come-along too low on the tractor. Leverage is your friend in this type of situation.

My first thought when reading your posts was to hook a come-along to the ROPS just above the fender and at a 90 degree angle to secure the tractor from rolling. Then use the backhoe and outriggers to level and reposition the tractor.

Another point to bring up here is that on a run-away tractor with a FEL, you can drop the bucket and begin uncurling until the front of the bucket begins to grab dirt and provide braking for the tractor. The cutting edge on the bucket digging into the dirt does a lot to stop the tractor from moving.

Again, glad to hear that everything worked out OK.:thumbsup:

Cyril,
Good observations. Yes, leverage worked once we hooked the come-along to the FEL arm that was higher than the tractor. I didn't think about using the FEL as a brake. Good idea.

The whole episode just took 2 or 3 seconds from start to finish ... plus the 3 hours it took to retrieve the tractor. Now that I know about the FEL braking trick, I might be able to use it. However, I hope I never need that trick in the future.

Obed

 

[CurlyDave]

WOW!

I am very happy to hear that you and the tractor made it out OK.

Well, I learned something from this also. I have a steep driveway, and I have been in the habit of going down it in high gear and 2 WD. No more. 4 WD everywhere, and no higher than middle range.

P.S. While dropping the FEL will provide extra braking power, lowering the cutting edge is sort of a crapshoot. I haven't had to use it as a brake, but from experience scraping up dirt, there is a critical angle--too little down angle and the blade just skims the surface, too much and it digs in and wants to keep going down. This could cause a very abrupt stop. While I have never head of a forward flip over from this cause, I think a runaway tractor and a sudden stop with the FEL buried in the earth might cause one.