Heat's Back On

Ever since the wood stove's fire bricks wore away, the oil stove has been our only source of home heat. That's especially bad because it requires both oil to burn and electricity to run the blower -- if we are without either, we're out of heat. We really need to do something about that.

So far, we've been pretty lucky, but today the oil stopped flowing. Sounding of the oil tank confirmed that it wasn't empty, but when Kathe disconnected the supply pipe only a little oil dribbled out, so we knew it was the culprit.

But what was blocking the pipe? Sediment? Ice? And how could we clear it?

I only had one idea, and it seemed pretty dubious to me. Still, it was all I had. I went out and bought a little bit of diesel fuel and requisitioned the big veterinary syringe that I'd used for years to wash out my ear canals. I loaded the syringe with fuel oil, jammed it into the supply pipe and flushed the pipe with oil, then drew back, just like washing out a nasogastric line.

I got a syringe full of dirty oil, plus a big glob of nasty black crud. I repeated the process with a couple of cups' worth of diesel, and the line began to run freely.

I lit the stove and Kathe congratulated me on a successful experiment. I remembered the time that she had finished a difficult repair and celebrated with a Tarzan yell, and said,

"Right now I am made of win like Charlie McCarthy is made of wood and Joan is Maid of Orleans!"

You don't get very many chances to say something like that.

Oh, one more thing: when Kathe gave that yell, she also called out, "Everything in this house that works, works because I made it work!"

You've got to share that title now, sweetie.

//The Magic Eight Ball says, "Memento mori."\\