Random Gulchy Moments…

Tobie is a happy boy. In two weeks’ time he’ll be a spoiled boy, because…


S&L are off on an extended road trip. For personal reasons they’ve been tied to the house for years, and now they’re doing what they had intended to do with their retirement. And leaving a cat and a bunch of chickens needing periodic care, which is kind of what my former career as Gulch caretaker has devolved to. I spend more time sitting around the Lair or doing boring yard work than either Tobie or I consider quite right, and now at least we’ll be briefly getting away daily.

On the subject of bypass propane regulators…


I have three of them working at present, in settings that (since I believe they were originally intended only for house trailers and RVs but could well be wrong) they weren’t really designed for but serve in quite well. Given the relative mortality rate of bypass versus single regulators, though, I’d say the average user is better off using a single regulator if it’s not going to be a big deal when a propane bottle sucks dry…


…but it’s definitely worth the additional complexity when it’s important that the gas keep flowing. This particular regulator, with its tiny BBQ bottles, is at Ian’s propane station. If one of those bottles sucks dry it’s probably going to be while I’m taking a shower and though that would be annoying rather than disastrous, re-pressurizing the 300-odd feet of pipe to get the tankless water heater working again is a time-consuming hassle I never want to repeat. So whenever I go by I pay close attention to whether the indicator is green or red, telling me there’s an empty bottle. I use those little bottles because the station is in a fairly remote spot involving a rocky slope and that’s all the bottle the old one-legged guy wants to schlep back and forth.

This doesn’t happen very often…During yesterday’s water run I noticed that an oldish water bottle was leaking from its top rather more than was quite right.


Upon investigation, the whole top of the cap broke off in my hand. I don’t think that’s happened more than one other time in many years of lugging water back and forth. Happily I never throw anything useful away and I was able to scare up a spare cap. The bottle is just fine.

And finally…


Welcome to the Town that Runs Out of Eggs. This is the second bloody week. Except for those little cartons of brown eggs, nobody in town has any eggs. The lady at the dollar store said they haven’t had a shipment since early September.

Happily I’ll be watching over S&L’s chickens for the next few weeks so I can probably skate by but my stored supply is almost depleted – I do go through a lot of eggs – and I may actually have to break open my single #10 can of egg powder for the first time ever. Those damned things are up to $60 a crack and I’d really rather not. WTF?

Anyway, that’s all that’s been going on here at the Secret Lair. I really need to start cutting up that big pile of juniper branches in my yard. Winter is coming and the empty space in my woodshed keeps glaring at me accusingly.

About Joel

You shouldn't ask these questions of a paranoid recluse, you know.
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One Response to Random Gulchy Moments…

  1. RCPete says:

    I’ve had mixed luck with bypass regulators. The first one I installed in 2005, and by some miracle, it’s working well. It’s in a cabinet about 12′ from the heater; I really don’t want to empty that line since waiting for the pilot to get propane is beyond tedious.

    I tried Flame King regulators for the pumphouse. Two failed to switch over, one after several months, the other after a few weeks. I think the lubricant it uses is more heat sensitive than it should be. I bought what was supposed to be a duplicate of the 2005 vintage regulator, but for some reason, I couldn’t get it to start the flow.

    Before the heater itself died, I was using a tank-mounted single regulator. Haven’t had the time to try to figure out what’s going on with the heater.

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