ovilla
Well-known member
Perfect timing for this thread.
I normally just try to keep all of my to do's in check and bounce around from one to another as needed so I don't get overwhelmed (plus it keeps things fresh). My biggest PITA has been this awesome hot tub that I picked up from a neighbor about 5 years ago. It was a new tub that I picked up for like 1/10th of the new price, since he was moving out and couldn't take it with him. Awesome deal even though I spent about another $600 in copper wire, a 50 amp circuit breaker box and tons of rock to build a safe foundation for it.
Anyway, the thing was awesome until one really extremely cold Chicago winter when it froze up on me. I'm talking about having lifted the spa cover and being met with 10 inches of solid ice which I had to drill through in order to save the spa shell. Unfortunately, I didn't even think about all of the plumbing underneath.
Fast forward a whole year. Yes, that's how overwhelmed I had gotten with my new paperweight. Yes, I had called a hot tub guy and after finding out that they charge almost $300 just to come out (which includes 1 hour of "free" labor) I said hell no, I'll tackle it myslef. Keep in mind that I've never worked on these things. I have dropped engines and know enough about electricity and plumbing and actually built a working bathroom last winter. So, I basically had to walk away from this project for a whole year before I could even let myself tackle it. The worst part was seeing the damn thing every time I was in the back yard and then also having friends (and the wife) ask numerous times when I was going to fix it. It was a VERY sore subject in the household too.
So, what finally broke the camels back and forced me to fix it? My wife hurt her back and the doc told her that sitting in a tub would help her situation. That's all it took. After about two weeks of doing almost daily internet research and talking to various hot tub techs (for free), I was able to order all parts I needed to fix two frozen pumps and replace the heater, flo switch and numerous cracked pipes. I only ended up having to fill it up and drain it twice to address leaks and am grateful that I did not give up on this project. It was very overwhelming at first but must say that it's extremely rewarding to have worked my way through it (as I'm sure many of you have also realized with other projects).
In the end, I just learned that some times you really do need to just walk away from things for a bit (maybe even a year) and then come back to deal with them.
I normally just try to keep all of my to do's in check and bounce around from one to another as needed so I don't get overwhelmed (plus it keeps things fresh). My biggest PITA has been this awesome hot tub that I picked up from a neighbor about 5 years ago. It was a new tub that I picked up for like 1/10th of the new price, since he was moving out and couldn't take it with him. Awesome deal even though I spent about another $600 in copper wire, a 50 amp circuit breaker box and tons of rock to build a safe foundation for it.
Anyway, the thing was awesome until one really extremely cold Chicago winter when it froze up on me. I'm talking about having lifted the spa cover and being met with 10 inches of solid ice which I had to drill through in order to save the spa shell. Unfortunately, I didn't even think about all of the plumbing underneath.
Fast forward a whole year. Yes, that's how overwhelmed I had gotten with my new paperweight. Yes, I had called a hot tub guy and after finding out that they charge almost $300 just to come out (which includes 1 hour of "free" labor) I said hell no, I'll tackle it myslef. Keep in mind that I've never worked on these things. I have dropped engines and know enough about electricity and plumbing and actually built a working bathroom last winter. So, I basically had to walk away from this project for a whole year before I could even let myself tackle it. The worst part was seeing the damn thing every time I was in the back yard and then also having friends (and the wife) ask numerous times when I was going to fix it. It was a VERY sore subject in the household too.
So, what finally broke the camels back and forced me to fix it? My wife hurt her back and the doc told her that sitting in a tub would help her situation. That's all it took. After about two weeks of doing almost daily internet research and talking to various hot tub techs (for free), I was able to order all parts I needed to fix two frozen pumps and replace the heater, flo switch and numerous cracked pipes. I only ended up having to fill it up and drain it twice to address leaks and am grateful that I did not give up on this project. It was very overwhelming at first but must say that it's extremely rewarding to have worked my way through it (as I'm sure many of you have also realized with other projects).
In the end, I just learned that some times you really do need to just walk away from things for a bit (maybe even a year) and then come back to deal with them.
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