I’m getting to an age where I have an excuse to pick my time to do certain chores. Not that I need excuses, most of the time, except to my own built-in Yankee work ethic, but still. I don’t need to pretend to be a tough guy. I could wait till the sun shined on the dirt pile and the woodshed bridge before I went out and shoveled.
There’s still plenty of spoil on the far side of the drainage ditch, from my constantly having had to dig it out the first few years. Lately it has gotten straight and slick enough that it doesn’t commonly fill up with ash mud when the gully runs. But those spoil piles are useful for building the annual plug under the bridge. Hopefully this will keep me from sewer pipe trouble during the winter.
Then when the sun was nicely warming the side of the cabin, I undid all yesterday’s work on the propane system. Put the bypass regulator back on and opened up both propane bottles, then cracked the supply pipe under the furnace and filled the bedroom with propane fumes. Opened all the windows and went into the main cabin to wash the lunch dishes. Came back in, lit the pilot, cranked the thermostat, and…
I’ll be damned. That actually worked. Apparently it just wanted a good bleed? I must remember that next time.
Now if it lights itself up at 3 am when the temperature’s downward slide passes 55o F, I’ll consider it fixed.
Curious about what exactly is this yankee work ethic you mention?
I’ve gotten into the habit of leaving the propane line pressurized on my wife’s shop building. That one is 12+ feet between the regulator and the wall heater, and it can take over 30 minutes to get propane to the anemic pilot light. The pumphouse propane tanks* are only about 4 feet from the heater, and that pilot light runs hot, so even if it’s full of air, it still doesn’t take long to get it lit up.
(*) The surge tank and the solar system batteries and electronics are in it, too, so keeping the shed from freezing is pretty important.