Lessons Learned

Now that winter seems to finally be over with the forecasted warming trend, it is a good time to review those long months and see what lessons you may have learned for next year. I am a chronic list-maker and so I will always analyze things in hopes of doing better the next go around.

Here is what I noted:

1. I need to make certain there is a helper on every job. One to help speed up the set-up / load-out, but also to help push a stuck van out of the snow or mud.

2. I need to set a temperature limit restricting the use of hwe to no lower than 15 degrees. Lower than that will either be re-scheduled, use the portable, or vlm methods. I could go lower (did many in the single digits), but it is too hard on both the equipment and the cleaner.

3. Always fill the fresh water tank the night before in the heated shop, so that the water temperature isn't really frigid lowering my cleaning temperatue from the Hx. This alone allowed me to keep another 10 degrees at the wand.

4. Using a Mr. Heater Big Buddy to pre-heat the van's interior as well as maintaining temperature when stopping for lunch was a huge benefit. That little propane heater maintained the van's interior at over 65 degrees and allowed me to keep the interior warm until the van started generating some heat in the mornings.

5. Biggest lesson learned was the most painful. If you lose a head gasket, go for the motor replacement. The decision to replace the upper end has not worked out well. The reman. heads and valves increased the compression enough to start pushing oil past the old rings. Only showing a little smoke on take-off, but it is definately burning oil which it didn't before the repairs. At least it still runs well so far, so hopefully I can get it to last for the summer...might have to buy a short-block in the fall.

Any lessons out there that we can capture before the next winter?

I'm tired of putting heaters in my vans. Next year have garages. So what I'm lazy. Just realized its gonna be 28 tonight, got to go back to office and put heaters in. Ugh

My van is in the garage and the heater is already plugged in. I wish they would insulate garages better here in NC. I guess that's another thing on the to do list. I learned the hard way about topping the water off in the fresh water tank. I thought I would do it in the morning, wasn't below freezing but close. The hose was frozen. Luckily I had one inside to fill with. Very hard to achieve a high temp when the water is so cold.
I also just learned that carrying a jumper wire to bypass a switch could be helpful if a switch fails. My pump switch stopped working and I lost pressure. It turned out to be a bad ground that I was able to fix, but if not I would have been dead in the water.

I'm sorry to hear #5 Rob, that was exactly the thing I was worrying for going that route, the problem is we never know it's going to work or not 'til it's done, that's why I said in your previous post that I always go with the most expensive and through repairs just for that peace of mind, well it is what it is now, don't forget to keep checking your oil level now.

dp1 wrote:I'm sorry to hear #5 Rob, that was exactly the thing I was worrying for going that route, the problem is we never know it's going to work or not 'til it's done, that's why I said in your previous post that I always go with the most expensive and through repairs just for that peace of mind, well it is what it is now, don't forget to keep checking your oil level now.

That reminds me, there was another lesson learned....listen to Dp1!!   

There is still some hope yet that maybe it isn't the death rattle. My mechanic was racing against the clock all night to get it done in time for me to clean a large commercial job. There is a chance that he just didn't fill it all the way, but I didn't want to ask him that. Like you said, it is what it is now. I knew it was about a 60/40 that this might be the result, but I am really just out the labor costs if I have to go back in with a shortblock replacement....if I decide to keep it any longer. Great unit, but there comes a time when they need to just retire.

"there comes a time when they need to just retire."

or they could be sold to start ups out there that don't want to spend $ 50k+ for brand new set up, they will be used sparingly since they're start ups and it's a win win situation for everyone :-)