Plumbing problems

The sink drains worked very slowly. One barley flowed at all. And there was a slow leak under the sink. I decided to fix things.

Sound like trouble?

First order of business disconnect all the pipes. Easy enough, hand tight plastic nuts on flexible plastic pipe.

All the seals were bunged up. Looked like whoever screwed the nuts on didn't bother to be sure the seals were seated flat on the coupling. I tried to flatten one so it would seal and hopefully not leak under the sink. Just the little twisting I did to turn it flat caused it to tear. Uh oh! Now I've decided to replace the seals rather than flatten them.

I was prepared to go out and buy replacements. Hương said she'd call the building superintendent and they'd replace the seals. She called, someone came after a bit. He said he'd be back in an hour or so. When he came back he replaced the pipes, not just the seals.

However he didn't replace one pipe. The one that almost didn't drain. (dramatic music now...)

I disconnected it and found it was almost completely plugged. So I started shaking it and a sludge sausage started working its way out. The more I shook the more came out. This was encouraging.

So I kept on shaking. More kept coming out. Then the pipe cracked. Sigh. Brittle. And now began an adventure trying to find a replacement. I walked around Ho Chi Minh for about three hours stopping in every plumbing shop I saw. A few shops had longer pipe but nothing in the needed length.

There's plenty of shops. All small or very small businesses. No one had a replacement. Hương came home and we drove to a market that specialized in tools and parts and we couldn't find anything there. Then we went to where she bought the sink and they said it couldn't be bought, they'd have to send the broken item back to the factory and a replacement could be ready in a day!

Finally we went to one of the shops that had a too long piece and bought that. I installed it and everything's draining again.

Moral of the story? In Vietnam it isn't always easy to get what you want. Your experience with Home Depot, Lowes, Sears, Joe's Plumbing, etc. gives you expectations that don't apply here, even in Vietnam's largest city.

And another thing, sellers don't offer alternatives. If they don't have it they're likely to say it can't be bought rather than suggest another shop or another solution. It's like if they aren't the solution they'll tell you there isn't one.

We don't need no OSHA!!

This goes under the heading of "you're not in Kansas anymore". Being a born and breed American you get used to looking at things certain ways. And one of those ways is OSHA and another would be the Consumer Product Safety Commission. I think we're all aware of them and that awareness colors our perception of how things should be done. We may decry excesses like, "caution hot coffee can cause burns", but in general I think they've contributed to our well being and safety. And I think having that undercurrent of safety makes it even more amazing when our standard everyday cautions are thrown to the wind. How can it be done? Aren't people getting hurt? Etc.

Here's an example of getting it done in Vietnam or being suicidal in the US. Things to note: no traffic control not even warning cones or a flagger up the street, two guys and a ladder where's the cherry picker?, and best or worst of all moving to a new spot to work.

Not banging on all cylinders

Not banging on all gears yet with maintenance.

Thought I figured out the problem on the blue bike. Chain seemed to just slide around the middle chain ring when pedal pressure was applied. The teeth on the ring looked very rounded and had a wide valley between them.

Replaced it with an old 42 tooth ring. Not SIS but excellent teeth. Rode in the yard without slipage. Went out on the road and things were fine. After a while, 5 miles, the back began to skip.

Stopped and started a few times to make rear derailleur adjustments for the skip. Help some but the longer I rode the more gears the rear skip developed across.

Went back to the house to see if the problem can be fixed w/o getting new rear gears.

BTW, new front derailleur works well. Need to see if it still works after being raised a mm or 3. When it's on outer ring the inner plate rubs on top of the middle ring's teeth.

Don't want to ignore the rub because I think the teeth are softer than the inner plate. Raising derailleur would eliminate the rub. Then need to find out if shifting is still accurate.

Height is propper clearance for outer plate to outer ring teeth gap. Raising it will raise it out of "gage" height. Need to see if it still shifts as sweet as it does now after being raised. If it still is 'on' will definitely keep it.