Lessons learned the stupid way

[jigs_n_fixtures]

The red dye in Dextron ATF, which my snow plow uses as hydraulic fluid, will dye translucent polyethylene.

i found this out the hard way, when the hydraulics on my plow quit working because the reservoir ran dry, and I pumped air into the cylinders.

I’d look at the reservoir and it was red 7 inches up on the 8-inch reservoir. Full enough my mind said. Really confused me when it ran dry. Had to laugh at myself when I finally figured it out.

Got it bled and working. Now I have to figure out some kind of a sightglass so I can tell how much fluid is actually in the reservoir.

 

[ddbackhoe]

The red snow wasn't a clue?

 

[oosik]

When I use to cut firewood on my property. Went out to fell a couple ancient Ponderosa pines. The tree leaned - chainsaw got stuck in the cut.

All the way back to the shop to get my second chainsaw.

Future firewood activities always involved both saws.

 

[oosik]

Some years a fairly large pond forms on this end of my driveway. It's about quarter of an acre and two feet deep. It will flood across this end on my driveway. I usually use my 3" trash pump - over the hill and discharge into the large lake. It usually will lower the pond within three - four days - - 36 - 48 hours of pumping.

So ....... one year I got a real brain fart. Hooked up the PTO driven Wallenstein chipper. Backed the tractor out into the pond and ran the unit at 540 PTO rpm.

Man - it was discharging water, over the hill, like a 6" firehose. So .. I just made sure everything was set properly for a long bit of running. I settled into the tractor seat for a nap in the spring sun. No need to jump out into two feet of water and leave the tractor. I'd pump for a couple hours or so and see what it did.

I was RUDELY AWAKENED by the most horrific torrent of water - and it was ICE cold. For whatever reason this operation caused the discharge chute to slowly rotate. It was a bath that I really didn't need. I can still remember how very cold it was.

 

[ddbackhoe]

Some years a fairly large pond forms on this end of my driveway. It's about half an acre and two feet deep. It will flood across this end on my driveway. I usually use my 3" trash pump - over the hill and discharge into the large lake. It usually will lower the pond within three days - 36 hours of pumping.

So ....... one year I got a real brain fart. Hooked up the PTO driven Wallenstein chipper. Backed the tractor out into the pond and ran the unit at 540 PTO rpm.

Man - it was discharging water, over the hill, like a 6" firehose. So .. I just made sure everything was set properly for a long bit of running. I settled into the tractor seat for a nap in the spring sun.

I was RUDELY AWAKENED by the most horrific torrent of water - and it was ICE cold. For whatever reason this operation caused the discharge chute to slowly rotate. It was a bath that I really didn't need. I can still remember how very cold it was.

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

The red snow wasn't a clue?

It had been two, possibly three, seasons since I checked the fluid level. And, that was when I changed out the hoses.

It has never developed a visible leak. The fluid level had slowly dropped over three seasons, and since the reservoir was 88% red I assumed that was the fluid level. Big OOOPS!!

What makes it worse, is it started acting low on fluid, and on most equipment I’m overly, **** about fluids and lube. Check fluids before starting. Then lube while things warm up.

I had a quart of ATF in the tool box, that has been there a couple of years, and I didn’t pickup on low fluid when it first acted like it was pumping air. If i had topped it off then, I wouldn’t have had sit out in the ass freezing cold bleeding the air out.

 

[workinonit]

How does a wood chipper pump water? What happened to the oil if the machine didn't have a leak? Oil doesn't eveaporate. And it was obviously in there long enough to dye the oil level on the container. I'm not sure if I leaned something this morning or just got confused.

 

[Dftodd]

The red dye in Dextron ATF, which my snow plow uses as hydraulic fluid, will dye translucent polyethylene.

i found this out the hard way, when the hydraulics on my plow quit working because the reservoir ran dry, and I pumped air into the cylinders.

I’d look at the reservoir and it was red 7 inches up on the 8-inch reservoir. Full enough my mind said. Really confused me when it ran dry. Had to laugh at myself when I finally figured it out.

Got it bled and working. Now I have to figure out some kind of a sightglass so I can tell how much fluid is actually in the reservoir.

If the site glass is plastic, it will still eventually stain it.

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

Look at a pump with the top off. All that is in here is a centripetal impeller. Look at a the back of a snow blower, all that is in there is an impeller. The snow blower treats the snow as a fluid. The snow blower will treat water as a fluid to, and will pump it. Not as well as a closed pump, but it will definitely move water, if the impeller is covered.

 

[workinonit]

First of all, I don't own a snow blower or wood chipper for that matter. The snow blower I get, but he didn't say snow blower, he said wood chipper. I suppose a wood chipper has a blower as well. Who knew.