I have had my MTD Yardman snowblower (snowthrower) for a few years now. I grew up in the Seattle area, and generally we didn’t get enough snow to merit a snow shovel, much less a snow blower. When I moved back to Rochester, NY, I had heard of snowblowers, but I didn’t know what one looked like. I thought maybe it was like a leaf blower, except maybe stronger. I couldn’t figure out how it would work. And even when we moved to Rochester, we lived in an appartment, and never needed to clear snow.
But then 5 years ago we bought our house. We have a circular drive probably close to 100 feet long total. The first year, the snow was light. I got out there and shovelled. I remember thinking, this is great exercise. We didn’t need a snowblower! Just get out there for about an hour, and get the driveway cleared, no problem. My wife would help a little, but she we end up complaining about being sore. Me, I am in good shape. I am tough! I was having fun!
The next year, we got our first good snow. We were out there for over an hour, and only got enough of the driveway cleared to get our cars out. My back was aching! At this point, shovelling snow wasn’t fun anymore.
I started watching store ads, classifieds, and eBay for snowblowers. Our driveway is on a hill, so it had to be self propelled. The I finally got a great deal on a used MTD Yardman Snowblower off of eBay. It only cost me $315. The guy said it had only been used about 8 times. When I saw it, it didn’t look like it had been used at all. Apparently the guy had back problems, and got a plow for his truck or something like that. So I got a practically new snowblower for $315. A friend of mine with a truck and trailer, helped me get it home. It’s self-propelled, two-stage, and is 22 inches wide. It has a 5hp Tecumseh engine.
My Yardman snowblower always stars on the first pull. I just move the lever to the top, crank the choke all the way clockwise, pump the primer bulb 3 quick times, and pull the cord. It starts immediately. Then I turn the choke two clicks counter-clockwise, and start throwing snow.
I love this thing. It really chews through the snow! I can usually clear the whole driveway in 15 minutes or less. Maybe 20 minutes if the snow is pretty heavy. I consider the purchase of my MTD Yardman snowblower to have been a very good one, and I am thankful everytime I am out using it!
About a week ago, our refrigerator started leaking water on to the floor. It was a slow leak. We would clean up the water before going to bed. And in the morning there would be a little pool of water on the floor in front of the fridge. I pulled off the grill on the front of the bottom of the fridge, and vacuumed under there. I couldn’t see where the water was coming from. I thought it might be coming from the freezer defrosting, but the little pan under there for water to go into was empty.
We emptied stuff out of the refridgerator, and stored the more sensitive stuff in a cooler. We cleaned out the inside of the refrigerator but saw no sign of where the water might be coming from. So we pulled the fridge out from the wall, and I quickly saw where the water was leaking from. It was leaking from where the water goes in for the ice maker and water dispenser. It fact, what had probably had been a slow drip, had turned into a stream as the action of moving the refrigerator made the leak worse. There was a copper tube that led to a small saddle valve attached to a copper pipe. I turned the little valve. But by messing the messing with the saddle valve, it too started to leak. I quickly ran downstairs and shut off the water to the house and the main shut off valve.
At this point I am starting to panic a little thinking I might need to call a plumber on a Saturday. I manage to get a hold of myself. I disconnect the copper pipe from the back of the fridge. It was small diameter copper pipe going to a large fitting that attached the the fridge. The fitting was like what you would find for a garden hose. I found the gasket was rotted out. Ok, easy fix there. I removed the small tap valve, and found the rubber gasket there was also rotted out.
I headed to the Home Depot. The copper tubing was also kinked a little, and was concerned it might break, or spring a leak. The guys there helped me. They seemed to think the garden hose type fitting on the back of the fridge was unusual. They were going to set me up witha kith that had poly tubing (plastic), but it didn’t have the garden hose type fitting. It looked for a second like I would have to go with copper tubing. But then we figured out I could buy the kit, and a separate fitting. The Home Depot guy insisted on attaching the hose fitting. I told him I could do it, but he insisted. I bought the stuff and took it home.
I first attached the saddle valve. There was already a hole in the pipe wghere the old one was, so I just fit the new valve int he same place, and tightened it down. I connected the poly tubing, and attached the hose fitting at the other end. I connected that line to the fridge. I turned on the water, and came upstairs. Water was spraying, so I ran back down and shut it off again. The poly line had shot off the saddle valve connection. I removed it, and reattached it. A nice tight fitting this time. I turned of the water, and it was leaking from the home fitting. I only needed to shut off the saddle valve this time. I removed the hose fitting, and found this little piece inside had been damaged. The Home Depot guy apparently screwed it up. I looked through the extra parts from the kit, and managed to use one of those parts. I reconnected it, turned on the saddle valve, and it was not leaking! Great! We pushing in the fridge. We tested the water dispenser…no water. Crap! We pulled out the fridge again, and turned up the water. I ended up needed to open the saddle valve all the way to get good water flow for the dispenser. We pushed the refrigerator back in, making sure not to crimp the new water line. We still had water. Cool. So we refilled the fridge, and haven’t had a problem since!