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- Joined
- Aug 8, 2007
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- Location
- Anchorage, Alaska
- Vehicle Year
- 2019
- Make / Model
- Ford
- Transmission
- Automatic
Well, I worked call at my job over Christmas so the deal was I’d have a nice 4 day weekend over New Years to make up for it. I had grand plans! We were going to have some friends over for New Year’s Eve. I had a hanger reserved for Thursday to do some long overdue maintenance on the plane and then we had a park service cabin reserved for Saturday out at Nancy Lake.
The first signal all will not go as planned was when the oven died. I should have taken it as an omen.
New Years Eve went great. Everyone had a great time and all was well. It all started going badly on Friday morning. The airplane sits on 31” Bushwheels and they were a little low on air. Now Bushwheels are kind of like bias ply TSLs if they sit too long. They get flat spots, especially at -20*!!! I didn’t want to haul my compressor to the airport, it is just too big to load and unload. Bright idea! I had an old propane tank sitting on the back deck! One of the old ones they won’t refill anymore, I’ll convert it to an air tank!
I buy all the hardware to convert the little tank and get busy. There is no propane in this tank. It has been sitting on the deck for several years but I crack the valve just to be sure. Nothing. Not even a tiny hiss. So, off comes the valve. Well, evidently there is a back flash valve in there because there is indeed a bit of pressure left. Just a little though. Just enough to make the garage smell like propane. Great. Any smell released in the garage is immediately transported throughout the house by the furnace right next to the workbench. Trisha is not a happy camper.
I install the hardware on the tank and fill it with air. All is well until I notice the air coming out of the tire chuck smells like propane. Hmm. Second bright idea! Propane is heavier than air and I never tipped the tank to release the residual fuel! I’ll vent the tank a second time and finish the job! Undoubtedly some of you can see what is coming.
I dumped the air and unscrewed the valve. I carry the tank over to the garage door and open the door about a foot. I did say it was 20 degrees below zero outside, right? Anyway, I proceed to tip the tank on its top to drain whatever tiny amount of gas that might be left in the bottom thinking it will get sucked out of the garage by the escaping heat…
As soon as I tip the tank over and set it on the handle, noxious oily ooze comes spilling out onto the garage floor. Probably about 100ml or so. Quite a bit. The stench is unbelievable and my carefully laid plans for any smell to get sucked out of the open garage door was foiled by that very slight North wind blowing everything back inside!
Being the lucky guy I am, I hear the furnace pick that exact moment to kick on and begin circulating said stink all over the inside of the house. Nice. Trisha, thinking the house is about to blow up, grabs the cat and jumps in the car! The house and everything in it now smells like Propane. Even after cleaning the floor of the oily ooze. Very tenacious stuff. They picked a good smell to alert you of a propane leak. You do not want to be around it! It is a nasty little chemical called Methanethiol and it smells like rotten cabbage. NICE!!!
I leave the garage door up about a foot to try and vent some of the stench and open the sliding door on the deck to vent the house. I did mention it was -20 right? Well, later that night we find out the washing machine frozen. Now it is full of cloths that are frozen solid to the sides and the machine won’t run at all. Great. The plants near the sliding door are showing signs of frost bite. Even better! The damage to them will become more apparent in the next few days. Everything in the house smells like propane, including us and we can’t get rid of it or mask it with anything we have tried!
Screw it. I head to the airport because the money for the hanger is already spent. My plan was to change the oil, install an oil filter system (Most airplanes don’t have one. Go figure!), install an oil quick drain, install an engine pre-heater and some harness to replace the lap belts it came with. Well, in fitting in with the rest of this fine holiday theme, things didn’t go exactly as planned.
The oil change went smoothly though I found some sludge in the oil screen I wasn’t happy with. No metal though. That is good! They sent me the wrong quick drain for this engine and it won’t fit. Great! The oil filter system bolts right up! Unfortunately, the filter screws in place of the oil screen which wouldn’t be a problem except my oil temp sender screws into the back of the oil screen! You guessed it; there is no provision for the oil temp sender in the new filter setup. GREAT!!! The pre-heater installed smoothly and at least that is done. The harnesses didn’t get installed because I didn’t the brackets for them modified in time.
Lastly, since it has been -25 to -30 in the Valley, we decided not to go to the cabin this weekend. Bummer. I was looking forward to it.
So, the smell is mostly gone, mostly. The GF is speaking to me again. The washing machine is thawed and apparently no worse for wear. The oven is replaced. The damage to the plants has not manifested it’s self completely yet but doesn’t appear to be too bad. At least this New Years will be memorable!!
The first signal all will not go as planned was when the oven died. I should have taken it as an omen.
New Years Eve went great. Everyone had a great time and all was well. It all started going badly on Friday morning. The airplane sits on 31” Bushwheels and they were a little low on air. Now Bushwheels are kind of like bias ply TSLs if they sit too long. They get flat spots, especially at -20*!!! I didn’t want to haul my compressor to the airport, it is just too big to load and unload. Bright idea! I had an old propane tank sitting on the back deck! One of the old ones they won’t refill anymore, I’ll convert it to an air tank!
I buy all the hardware to convert the little tank and get busy. There is no propane in this tank. It has been sitting on the deck for several years but I crack the valve just to be sure. Nothing. Not even a tiny hiss. So, off comes the valve. Well, evidently there is a back flash valve in there because there is indeed a bit of pressure left. Just a little though. Just enough to make the garage smell like propane. Great. Any smell released in the garage is immediately transported throughout the house by the furnace right next to the workbench. Trisha is not a happy camper.
I install the hardware on the tank and fill it with air. All is well until I notice the air coming out of the tire chuck smells like propane. Hmm. Second bright idea! Propane is heavier than air and I never tipped the tank to release the residual fuel! I’ll vent the tank a second time and finish the job! Undoubtedly some of you can see what is coming.
I dumped the air and unscrewed the valve. I carry the tank over to the garage door and open the door about a foot. I did say it was 20 degrees below zero outside, right? Anyway, I proceed to tip the tank on its top to drain whatever tiny amount of gas that might be left in the bottom thinking it will get sucked out of the garage by the escaping heat…
As soon as I tip the tank over and set it on the handle, noxious oily ooze comes spilling out onto the garage floor. Probably about 100ml or so. Quite a bit. The stench is unbelievable and my carefully laid plans for any smell to get sucked out of the open garage door was foiled by that very slight North wind blowing everything back inside!
Being the lucky guy I am, I hear the furnace pick that exact moment to kick on and begin circulating said stink all over the inside of the house. Nice. Trisha, thinking the house is about to blow up, grabs the cat and jumps in the car! The house and everything in it now smells like Propane. Even after cleaning the floor of the oily ooze. Very tenacious stuff. They picked a good smell to alert you of a propane leak. You do not want to be around it! It is a nasty little chemical called Methanethiol and it smells like rotten cabbage. NICE!!!
I leave the garage door up about a foot to try and vent some of the stench and open the sliding door on the deck to vent the house. I did mention it was -20 right? Well, later that night we find out the washing machine frozen. Now it is full of cloths that are frozen solid to the sides and the machine won’t run at all. Great. The plants near the sliding door are showing signs of frost bite. Even better! The damage to them will become more apparent in the next few days. Everything in the house smells like propane, including us and we can’t get rid of it or mask it with anything we have tried!
Screw it. I head to the airport because the money for the hanger is already spent. My plan was to change the oil, install an oil filter system (Most airplanes don’t have one. Go figure!), install an oil quick drain, install an engine pre-heater and some harness to replace the lap belts it came with. Well, in fitting in with the rest of this fine holiday theme, things didn’t go exactly as planned.
The oil change went smoothly though I found some sludge in the oil screen I wasn’t happy with. No metal though. That is good! They sent me the wrong quick drain for this engine and it won’t fit. Great! The oil filter system bolts right up! Unfortunately, the filter screws in place of the oil screen which wouldn’t be a problem except my oil temp sender screws into the back of the oil screen! You guessed it; there is no provision for the oil temp sender in the new filter setup. GREAT!!! The pre-heater installed smoothly and at least that is done. The harnesses didn’t get installed because I didn’t the brackets for them modified in time.
Lastly, since it has been -25 to -30 in the Valley, we decided not to go to the cabin this weekend. Bummer. I was looking forward to it.
So, the smell is mostly gone, mostly. The GF is speaking to me again. The washing machine is thawed and apparently no worse for wear. The oven is replaced. The damage to the plants has not manifested it’s self completely yet but doesn’t appear to be too bad. At least this New Years will be memorable!!
