NewTAN's Third Law of Motion (Page 43)

I am sick of this cold weather. It is NOT suppose to get down to 7 degrees in Memphis!

The stainless pan for our fire pit blew off the dock last summer.  I tried online to find a place that sold a replacement pan.  The fire pit  is made in China and no place sold anything but the complete fire pit. The lake level drops annually in the winter time under TVA control.  I sort of expected I would be able to find the pan when the water got low enough.  I saw it this past weekend.  It was in about three feet of water.  We are about minimum level and it is about time for the level to begin to rise again. I thought it was now or never so I decided to wade in and get it.   I had to wade out about 15 feet from the shore then bend over about neck deep to pick it up.  Let me tell you, it was cold.  There was some ice around the edge of the lake.  This may come under the heading of "hold my beer for a second" stupidity, but I retrieved the pan.  Then, I stumbled up to the house without being able to feel my feet.  Maybe I should have applied my engineering expertise to this problem. 

What would you have done?

TW

called the supplier and asked how to get just the pan?  purchase some stainless and find someone with a workshop that can bend up the edges and build a new one (i'm assuming its just a simple catch pan for the ashes, no?)

done my engineering for the day!  WOO HOO!

I applaud the "hold mah beer" approach.

I may have tried some string and a rare earth magnet (figuring that it probably isn't very high quality stainless) to see if I could fish it out that way.... then, I would have waded in and or just dove in..... or maybe just tried to see if a mixing bowl could make for a suitable replacement.

Clearly, you are a production engineer and I am a research engineer.

I did my due diligence for a replacement when I searched for the supplier and could not find the pan available as a replacement part.  The supplier is like Alibaba or something, not exactly a place you can call with a special request.

The pan is not a simple catch pan for ashes.  The pan is a large (~30-36") diameter stainless bowl, like the large lettuce bowl at a salad bar.  The bowl actually is what holds the logs for the fire.  It is shown in my Album, Fire on the Water.  

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/photos/get-photo.asp?photoid=128920

These things can be stamped out by the thousands with a die.  Not too easy if you are trying to form a single one with hand tools like an English wheel. 

I probably could have Macgyvered some retrieving device but I didn't come up with anything on the spot.  The problems are that the pan is big but relatively light so it would be hard to pull through the water without a firm grip but somewhat easily damaged by too much force.  It was on the bottom so even a little of activity around it would stir up a lot of mud so you could not see what you are doing. It is non-magnetic stainless steel so a big magnet would not work.

It'd be pretty hard to find a replacement for that piece that fits as well as the original for that thing. I, too, would have gone in the water after it.

I wish you had been there.

My wife was helping adjust cables so she was there.  Her assessment was temporary insanity.  

Sometimes stainless steel is mildly magnetic.  This pan was not.  I didn't actually know this at the time I went after it.  I just knew it was stainless and probably not sufficiently magnetic.    I did not have a magnet strong enough for retrieval at the lake house anyway.  I did check the magnetization after I retrieved it with a small magnetic socket holder in my toolbox.  It didn't stick.  

I think I may invest in one of those heavy duty magnets for the future.  Could be fun just dragging the cove with it. 

Ever have one of those arguments that happen to start off with one slight problem that needed to be mentioned twist and morph into something completely huge and bizarre?

Having that at work.  I wanted to complain about ONE person's attitude that was rubbing everyone wrong in the office.  I mean EVERYONE, and now with some kind of clever spinning or dodging, has turned into a complete revamp, and forms, and checklist about how to do quality control...  To the point I'm going to quit...  I'm TEMPTED to just walk about and fudge having a new job but figure it's better to look, land something to go to, then quit. 

We just put a for sale sign in the front yard today. First time ever selling a house!!!  While it is exciting, it also scares me!!!

I'm a bit terrified of selling my house. How much extra work did you do before that sign went up?

We did quite a bit of work, but it was all stuff we needed to do. We painted the trim of the house, and fixed some other things that I just never did. We spent the majority of the time de-cluttering the house! That took the most time. We have so much junk we do not use!  Now that the house is not cluttered, painted and super cleaned, I almost hate to move out of it cause it looks so good. The realtor came and took pictures yesterday so we made sure it looked clean as we could.

I bought quite a few from here: http://www.supermagnetman.net/ that have been kinda handy at times. Lots to choose from.

Ugh, the decluttering to stage the house suuuuuuuuucks.  What's even worse is living in the house while it's listed and needing to get it "show ready" every time someone wants to come through.  
Best of luck to you on getting it sold!!

How about this solution.  Throw something heavy and bright colored on it to hold it in place til spring/summer when the water warms up.  THEN go in after it???

Sue. you are a genius.  This might work.  The only problem might be that the water will be 23' deep on May 31 when the water is starting to warm up.  The level fluctuates that much winter to summer.  Plus, it would be pretty cold at the bottom at this depth all summer long.   The best time to retrieve it would have been next fall when the level has dropped but the temperature is still fairly warm.  I would probably tie a float with a long rope to the heavy bright object so I could track it down from the surface. I should have thought of that.

I am trying to get a house ready to sell.  We built this house about 28 years ago, raised our kids there, then basically left it when the kids were gone about 15 years ago.  I have lots of work to do because stuff is now either old and worn out or old and out of style or both.  I actually like doing home projects so I want to do it but it still takes a huge amount of time.  JWKMH wants to travel but get the work done at the same time.  

I remember this when my parents were selling when I was 15. You'd be amazed at how much stuff I could shove under my bed

My big accomplishment of the day was replacing the garbage disposal in the Atlanta apartment.  It took about 5 hours. This is much longer than a normal replacement.  The old disposal had a threaded flange that had become glued to the ring that pulls the flange down snug into the drain.  Disposal flanges aren't this made this way any more.  I guess that is why.  I had to make two trips to Home Depot to get various tools to get the old flange out.  A hammer and chisel were ultimately successful.  Then, I had to go back to Home Depot a third time because the drain line on the new disposal did not line up with the sink drain.  All of these trips were in Atlanta Friday afternoon traffic. 

JHKMH is happy with the new one.  It is so much quieter.  I keep telling her to say, "Hail the conquering hero. What service does his master wish."  No luck so far.

TW

Been a busy weekend of people checking out our house, but no offers yet. Our agent is out of town on an anniversary trip and gets back tomorrow so I am hoping she will have some good news for us. All in all it has not even been a week yet, so I can't worry about no offers or anything!

We did have a realtor come by Sunday without an appt. I was napping on the couch and I heard a "hello? hello??" I stood up to see a woman and a couple standing in my house. She asked me if I got the apt request? I said obviously not and asked if they could come back and we'd get out. I have a feeling there maybe a lot of pop ins/oh you didn't get my apt request!

Start napping in tighty-whities. That'll keep 'em at bay.