Doing it Ridiculous

[Derek S]

What's a stroke ?

The movement or the distance of the movement in either direction of a mechanical part (as a piston) having a reciprocating action.

 

[boomx5]

What's a stroke ?

Here's one.

 

[do it easy]

Here's one.

I think he was asking about a different stroke...

 

[JeffG]

I think he was asking about a different stroke...

<Groan>

 

[FFMDiver]

Was outside the last few hours battling autumn leaves in my yard. My neighbor across the street was doing the same thing.
While neither of us are truly "DIR" he had a gas-powered back-mount leaf blower that was minimalist in nature while I used a Sears Craftsman 2 speed electric blower. While his has a higher flow rate, I was unable to outbreathe either one, and there was less heat and vibration on the electric model. I got mine used at another neighbors yard sale even though Home Depot strongly recommended a new one.
He had a short hose that made it difficult for me to use while he was wearing the backback and we found 2 trees that we couldn't fit through sharing his rig.
Both rigs have advantages and disadvantages. Ease of starting, less maintenance and quieter for the electric, higher mobility and able to use during blackouts for the gas model. Danger of electrocution with the electric and highly flammable gasoline on your back with the gas model. We both had rakes as backups, I prefer metal over the new plastic ones.
I asked if his rig was 2 or 4 stroke and he got somewhat offended and remarked that he was blowing leaves when I was in diapers, which I kinda doubt being 4 years older than he is and haven't worn diapers for months now since I installed a pee valve on my favorite jeans.
I plan to get a longer extension cord for mine, with the cord around my neck it got a little tight at the far corner of my property. The cord has the added benefit of helping me find my way back to the garage in low visibility. The wind can be unpredictable and many leaf blowers in this area have been swept away. Luckily most get rescued only hours later by their wives after being found in bars not too far away.
I believe bagging vs. mulching was covered in another thread.

My vote for best post of 2005.

 

[waynne fowler]

:11: My pink HUB!!!!! are you serious?????:11:

I'm sorry, I'm sure you didn't want that to get out.... :Kissy:

The pink pockets with the flowers are pretty cool though!:14:

 

[waynne fowler]

Not yet.

You really should send that my way.....and anything else pink you might possess. :11ztongue

I was only playing with Kim about the pink HUB... I do not even know her.. though she may indeed own one..:06:

 

[dlndavid]

Kim is not a she, hello?

 

[Ben_ca]

Kim is not a she, hello?

Hey... Don't ask... Don't tell

 

[waynne fowler]

Kim -- What "massive 1st stage failure" is going to be solved by turning the valve off?
If the air in the tank is not going to be useable, I'd rather not be spending the time, energy, remaining breath in my lungs turning the valve off. There's either an alternate air supply to provide time to do mechanical mucking about (buddy, pony, isolated second tank), else it's time to do a Hail Mary ascent. Are you thinking about something like a first stage freeflow? What's the actual likelihood of that clearing by one or two on-offs? (risk/benefit -- since it takes multiple turns on the valve to shut it off, we're talking a serious number of seconds here. I'd personally hate to spend 10 seconds of my last breath trying to turn the valve off then on again, only to find I'm still hosed, that it was an o-ring blowout or some such, not cured by an on/off)

(I'm asking this out of real curiosity, a serious question, trying to understand a major failure that's going to deplete your tank in seconds, yet can somehow be cured by turning the valve off, and the remaining air in the tank will somehow then become accessible again.).

Let's say the hp hose blows at 90'.

Options

1) go OOA to your buddy.... best choice

2) Shut valve off... should take no more that 10 seconds. when you need a breath turn it on then shut it off again...
This assumes you boned the buddy skills. At this point you should
A) Get to your buddy ASAP and go OOA
B) Ascend. You may even be able to make your safety stop?
This is not optimal but beats an ESA doing nothing to even try to conserve gas.

3) ESA. Again you've screwed the pooch and your buddy.
You are almost certainly going to run out of gas completely
You will not be able to do a safety stop..
Definitely the least desirable of all options

Even on a single tank being able to reach your valves is important. I teach it to my open water students. They don't master it but the know they need to do so. We make certain they can do it in the AOW.. There they must master it.