Repair "Hospital"

And They Were Both Broken

So, my tractor is at the tractor hospital and my generator is at the generator hospital.

Hopefully I won't need either one in the immediate future. We are supposed to get another snow "event" but so far predictions are only 1"-3", so that's not too bad around here.

My heart is aching for the people in our Southern States who are getting hit with snow and ice. They are totally unprepared for it with limited snow removal equipment, sand, salt, and lack of driving skills on the slippery stuff. I am sending prayers their way this morning.

Meantime, my tractor's prognosis is good. Not only was my battery really bad....totally dead...but there was a bad connection to the starter and a blown fuse. All is repaired in that department, and the shop is waiting to get a battery maintainer I can plug in to keep the new battery hot and ready to go the next time I need to use the tractor.

As for the generator? I had tried to start it several weeks ago to no avail. I thought maybe it was just that it needed fuel or the starter battery was dead. I sent it off to the shop around the corner on the weekend. They called me yesterday to ask if the generator had been putting out power.

I told them I'd had a problem with it when I first got it but it had been repaired and I'd used it during hurricane Sandy--well, after the storm.

They told me the governor was bent--a problem caused during shipping--and that it had never been repaired.

What the heck??? Now I'm wondering if the generator was ever putting out full power during the time I did use it. If so, why? And how in the world could the governor be bent now?

I am totally confused. But, I am also pretty confident in the current repair shop. These guys are kind of those "old time" mechanics who really know how to fix things right. I asked them to make sure the generator was putting out full power for me before they brought it back.

I know have the house wired with all the proper connections to run everything, including my pump, and I do need that 8000w to do the job properly.

When my Dad was alive, he used to repair nearly everything around here. Some of this stuff may have been over his head, but I doubt it. He was an electrical engineer and worked on the electrification of the Pennsylvania Railroad. I don't think I quite appreciated all of his amazing skills, but I certainly knew I could always depend on him to find a solution to most problems.

Wish I had some more of that knowledge. I can actually fix some things, but my skill level is far, far too low to deal with this kind of stuff.

Glad I have good service centers nearby. Even if I do have to pay them.