McGyver would be proud

...



Although it was only two weeks ago that I had my bout with heat exhaustion, it seems like cold weather has arrived. I'm still feeling unwell, and I asked Robb if we might fire up our furnace for the first time.

Robb came into the bedroom just now asking, rhetorically, how anyone is supposed to light our pilot light, which is located at the bottom of a drafty two-foot hole that a human arm won't fit in.

Curious about how he did it? I was.

Robb soaked three matches in beeswax, tied them in sequence to a length of wire, so that when one match started to burn down, it would light the next one.

One of the many things that I love about Robb is his ingenuity. He doesn't fuss over difficulties. He thinks creatively and works with what he's got.

(Maybe I'll talk about how the plumbing under our house exploded this afternoon, and how Robb did a temporary repair with his favorite material -- bike inner tubes -- some other time. He says this project was worthy of the There, I fixed it blog.)

Comments

Anonymous said…
Amazing! Oh the joys of making an old house your own. Well Done.

Grumpy Grinch
Anonymous said…
Doug says Robb needs to learn about the wonder that is duct tape......it's like the Force....it hold everything together!
Sheri said…
Awesome. ;)
Sheri said…
Awesome. ;)
Anonymous said…
Plumbing under the house exploding? I hope it wasn't connected to your septic system- I hope it wasn't when you guys were standing next to it, and I hope you are upwind of it now if it WAS your septic system!

Getting colder here in Pa- We are going to wait till Nov to turn on our furnace if we can- We have a small plug-in heater that we may have to break in soon.

The furnace may need to be replaced soon, eh? These next few years I think you can get an energy star deal on a new furnace if you need to. Ours is 60 years old and we need it to squeak us through one more year if it can.

Annalisa
Lisa said…
No septic here. Here's hooked up the the municipal water treatment system.
Anonymous said…
Lisa

I have been following your blog and your McGyver entry caught my eye. About twenty years ago, my brother Robert was renting an old house in Yonkers that had a tricky furnace. I remember him balling up a piece of newspaper then lighting it (newspaper is a slow burn) and throwing it into the furnace to light the pilot. Might this process work for your situation?
Also, if the pipes burst from frost would the foundation people share some of the liability in not insuring the integrity of the house's infrastructure as they completed their work?
Pipes are no fun to repair, but it isn't difficult. Copper is a soft metal and can be cut easity and replaced. The hardest part is "sweating" pipe but kits are sold for an afoordable price and with a few trial and error encounters with your plumbing, you will soon be an expert.
Owning an old house will open up all sorts of avenues for new skills.

Cheers,
Gary

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