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When you replace something, keep all the old parts until you are done.
Evil Empryss and I learned this lesson nearly the hard way today.
Background: a couple of weeks ago, my garage door stopped working. Our guess was a gear had snapped and the unit was beyond repair. It's at least 25 years old, so I didn't sweat it. I went down to the home improvement warehouse and bought an inexpensive replacement. I don't need a lot of bells and whistles, I just need it to work.
So yesterday, EE, the Evil Overlord, and myself set about disassembling the old unit to install the new one. We set the old unit in the drive while we worked on the new one.
Lesson the First: read all instructions carefully. Start with Step One and do not skip ahead to any steps. We did this. We assembled the train, hooked it up to the motor chassis, got the chain threaded. Then we realized my step ladder was not tall enough to attach the motor in place. We'd gotten one end of the train hooked up, but we had to wait until today to finish: EE and the Overlord had other errands to take care of.
So after they left, I decided to put the old unit on the curb. Down here, the garbage collectors have a special truck that goes around for large stuff for the dump, like broken appliances (yes, you can just put your fridge on the curb and they will take it down here, if you live in an urban or suburban area). Because of this we have a lot of DIY folks who drive around neighborhoods on the weekends looking for stuff that's been discarded by their owners: often the stuff is working, just old. Furniture, TVs, all kinds of stuff. I got a very nice dresser a few years back this way (and sold it a couple of years later for a profit), a nice new kitchen faucet; EE got a full dining room set.
So, two hours later, the old unit is gone. One of the local scavengers took it, and will probably fix it and sell it, or use it for parts to repair other things.
Here's where I got really lucky. There was a metal bar that dropped down from the old train to the door that is essential for the unit to function, both to hold the door up and to keep it closed. It had been put out of the way on top of the box for the new unit in the kitchen. I remember looking at it and thinking, "I should put that in the trash" but didn't bother because I was very tired and wanted a nap.
Thank goodness I didn't!
Today, EE and the Overlord stop by, and we finished getting the motor attached to the ceiling, wire the interior door opener, and attach the train to the bar that is supposed to open the door.
Problem: the bar is too short. It won't let the door go all the way down. We looked at everything and it is all installed correctly. I'm not sure where we went wrong; maybe I should have bought another unit and didn't realized I should have measured something first. We don't know.
So we're trying to figure out a work around, when the Overlord sees the old bar and we realize that will work. We hook it up and presto! It does work.
So, boys and girls, the second lesson for today is, when you replace something, don't throw away ANYTHING until you are done done. I have to go back to the home improvement store and buy a bolt and a wing nut because we dropped them and couldn't find them, and couldn't find another bolt that will work. A minor problem all things considered.
Evil Empryss and I learned this lesson nearly the hard way today.
Background: a couple of weeks ago, my garage door stopped working. Our guess was a gear had snapped and the unit was beyond repair. It's at least 25 years old, so I didn't sweat it. I went down to the home improvement warehouse and bought an inexpensive replacement. I don't need a lot of bells and whistles, I just need it to work.
So yesterday, EE, the Evil Overlord, and myself set about disassembling the old unit to install the new one. We set the old unit in the drive while we worked on the new one.
Lesson the First: read all instructions carefully. Start with Step One and do not skip ahead to any steps. We did this. We assembled the train, hooked it up to the motor chassis, got the chain threaded. Then we realized my step ladder was not tall enough to attach the motor in place. We'd gotten one end of the train hooked up, but we had to wait until today to finish: EE and the Overlord had other errands to take care of.
So after they left, I decided to put the old unit on the curb. Down here, the garbage collectors have a special truck that goes around for large stuff for the dump, like broken appliances (yes, you can just put your fridge on the curb and they will take it down here, if you live in an urban or suburban area). Because of this we have a lot of DIY folks who drive around neighborhoods on the weekends looking for stuff that's been discarded by their owners: often the stuff is working, just old. Furniture, TVs, all kinds of stuff. I got a very nice dresser a few years back this way (and sold it a couple of years later for a profit), a nice new kitchen faucet; EE got a full dining room set.
So, two hours later, the old unit is gone. One of the local scavengers took it, and will probably fix it and sell it, or use it for parts to repair other things.
Here's where I got really lucky. There was a metal bar that dropped down from the old train to the door that is essential for the unit to function, both to hold the door up and to keep it closed. It had been put out of the way on top of the box for the new unit in the kitchen. I remember looking at it and thinking, "I should put that in the trash" but didn't bother because I was very tired and wanted a nap.
Thank goodness I didn't!
Today, EE and the Overlord stop by, and we finished getting the motor attached to the ceiling, wire the interior door opener, and attach the train to the bar that is supposed to open the door.
Problem: the bar is too short. It won't let the door go all the way down. We looked at everything and it is all installed correctly. I'm not sure where we went wrong; maybe I should have bought another unit and didn't realized I should have measured something first. We don't know.
So we're trying to figure out a work around, when the Overlord sees the old bar and we realize that will work. We hook it up and presto! It does work.
So, boys and girls, the second lesson for today is, when you replace something, don't throw away ANYTHING until you are done done. I have to go back to the home improvement store and buy a bolt and a wing nut because we dropped them and couldn't find them, and couldn't find another bolt that will work. A minor problem all things considered.
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