The Philosopher’s Wrench

DanHolohan

Larry Weingarten’s incredible book is now available at Amazon. I can’t recommend it enough. 

Larry Weingarten

Thankyou Dan!! That book looks like you've been reading it 😊👍🙏

Yours, Larry

GGross

I've been looking forward to this one!

DanHolohan

Can't get enough of it, Larry. Thanks.

hot_rod

He certainly looks the part Got mine coming from Amazon.

DanHolohan

Larry asked me to write the book’s forward, which I did with great pleasure. I learned so much in reading the draft copy. There’s a LOT in this book. 

Larry Weingarten

Hi, I look the part because I let the beard grow for a year, so I could get this photo. Also, nobody messes with you when you’re holding a three foot wrench 😄
Yours, Larry

PC7060

Just ordered mine. Some guy named Dan left a great review. 

Mad Dog_2

Can't wait...it will have to jump the pile.  Larry is a GEM in every respect.  Mad Dog 🐕 

hot_rod

Larry Weingarten said:

Hi, I look the part because I let the beard grow for a year, so I could get this photo. Also, nobody messes with you when you’re holding a three foot wrench 😄 Yours, Larry

Its the wizard in you, coming out again🪄

EBEBRATT-Ed

@Larry Weingarten a steel wrench would have made you more foreboding.

I just bought a copy of the "Water Heater Workbook" Will have to order this book as well.

Mad Dog_2

"Misty Morning...clouds in the sky...without warning...a WIZARD (Larry)  walks 🚶‍♂️ by...."  ok, what Song and group?  Mad Dog 🐕 

PC7060

Mad Dog_2 said:

"Misty Morning...clouds in the sky...without warning...a WIZARD (Larry)  walks 🚶‍♂️ by...."  ok, what Song and group?  Mad Dog 🐕 

The wizard, Black Sabbath. Although Iron Man may fit as well with the pipe wrench!

Mad Dog_2

You win the prize!  Matt Jr's first concert was Sabbath at Jones Beach with all originals except Bill.  Great show.  Mad Dog 

347

Matt, I was at that show also.
Wax fantastic.
Mico

Mad Dog_2

Twas.....Mad Dog 🐕 

Larry Weingarten

Hi, I don't brag about stuff, so maybe this is just crowing. Anyway, this is good news that I'm delighted to be able to share!

Yours, Larry

DanHolohan

Yea!!

HomerJSmith

Larry, I'm more interested in the Philosopher’s Wench. How bout a book on that.

PC7060

I finished reading your book, @Larry Weingarten, really enjoyed it.  I found your insights interesting however I now find myself wondering whatever happened to mama cat and missing poor Rex!     Thanks for sharing your experiences and knowledge!

Larry Weingarten

Hi @HomerJSmith , I’m thinking you’re going to have to talk with someone who says Rrrrrrrrgh a lot.☠️🏴. Call em matey, and ask em what happens when you take the R out of wrench 😉 Please do let us know what happens 😇

Yours, Larry

Larry Weingarten

Hi @PC7060 and thank you for reading it. I never found any clues about Mama Cat, so her fate is guesswork. For what it’s worth, I know she got many good years that wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t brought her home. I have Rex recorded purring on my phone. It’s better than nothing. He was a pretty happy cat.

Yours, Larry

Mad Dog_2

Extremely unique  facial color patterns....Very Cool Cat, Larry  .  Mad Dog 🐕 

FStephenMasek

An editor should have caught this - you do not need 16 GFCIs to have 16 outlets which are GFCI-protected. It could be done with as few as one or two, although that would be inconvenient (e.g. if all of the bathrooms are on one GFCI, and it is a 15-amp circuit, just hairdryers could trip the circuit breaker). It is interesting to learn that the GFCI circuit breakers use less standby power than the GFCI outlets.

Larry Weingarten

Hi @FStephenMasek , I know that one can power outlets through a GFCI but it's difficult if they are spread all around the place. Actually I was able to power 14 outlets with three GFCI breakers, but for two of them, I put GFCI outlets on switches. They stay off unless being used, so that phantom load stays gone. I found that Square D was good for what I was doing.

Yours, Larry

Mad Dog_2

The G.F.I.Cs and Arc fault breakers are a noble idea, but trip WAY too much. I know many  licensed electricians that hate em.   Mad Dog 🐕 

ratio

GFCIs are a lot better than they were a decade ago, but still sensitive to poor installation (water ingress, mainly). I wasn't a fan of arc fault breakers until I came across a fault that one would've caught. Must've been a weak spot in the insulation of an MC run. It arced over the whole weekend. Burnt the stud it was stapled to completely away (note, it was not staple damage that did it—no staples on that section). Three feet of the cable has no insulation left, just bare burnt copper, still inside the aluminum jacket. Somewhere I've still got it, the jacket showing a little (<1/16") hole, & the tiniest crater in what must've been the hot—about the size of the tip of a ball point pen. But the breaker didn't trip!

FStephenMasek

Thank you for the reminder regarding arcs! I have seen roof rat damage to NM cables which left bare conductors close together, another reason the Arc-fault breakers are a great idea.

ChrisJ

Mad Dog_2 said:

The G.F.I.Cs and Arc fault breakers are a noble idea, but trip WAY too much. I know many  licensed electricians that hate em.   Mad Dog 🐕 

I haven't had a GFCI trip easily.
Even on a 90 year old refrigerator.

Arc fault I have zero experience with.

Mad Dog_2

I remember when they first came out 1987 or so...They were G.F.I...."C" came several years later.  They may be a pain, but if they save you from electrocutions...All good 👍..  Were lucky we didn't have to work with100% Steel Drills that were Ungrounded.  My Father's generation of Tools....When Black & Decker were very high qaulity.  

I would always lay down wood planks or a plastic milk crate when operating power tools in water 💧 while most plumbers thought It was unnecessary 🙄.   I was called OSHA man ...ha ha 😂 🤣 😆. 

It wasn't until years later, I watched Local 3 Electricians working on high voltage with heavy rubber gloves and boots that the light bulb 💡 went off in my head....Ah Rubber boots...insulation from shocks... A few years after that, I started seeing that in OSHA films..and only about 15 years ago the term P.P.E.  

I wear OSHA man as a badge of honor 🎖 and compliment and I'm a Real Shickelgruver (German for P I.A.) especially with the younger plumbers.  I've seen 3 guys lose eyes 👀,  men buried alive in an unshored  trench, Digits lost (almost lost my Index finger in 9th Grade Metal Shop), Free Falls, lots of hernias, Disc Damaged cutting wheel pieces imbedded in my partner's eyebrow...one inch from his eye...Gave him a face shield  "Nah I'm good...I feel stupid wearing that!!" ..not pretty...and almost always...preventable.  Mad Dog 🐕 

ChrisJ

Mad Dog_2 said:

I remember when they first came out 1987 or so...They were G.F.I...."C" came several years later.  They may be a pain, but if they save you from electrocutions...All good 👍..  Were lucky we didn't have to work with100% Steel Drills that were Ungrounded.  My Father's generation of Tools....When Black & Decker were very high qaulity.  

I would always lay down wood planks or a plastic milk crate when operating power tools in water 💧 while most plumbers thought It was unnecessary 🙄.   I was called OSHA man ...ha ha 😂 🤣 😆. 

It wasn't until years later, I watched Local 3 Electricians working on high voltage with heavy rubber gloves and boots that the light bulb 💡 went off in my head....Ah Rubber boots...insulation from shocks... A few years after that, I started seeing that in OSHA films..and only about 15 years ago the term P.P.E.  

I wear OSHA man as a badge of honor 🎖 and compliment and I'm a Real Shickelgruver (German for P I.A.) especially with the younger plumbers.  I've seen 3 guys lose eyes 👀,  men buried alive in an unshored  trench, Digits lost (almost lost my Index finger in 9th Grade Metal Shop), Free Falls, lots of hernias, Disc Damaged cutting wheel pieces imbedded in my partner's eyebrow...one inch from his eye...Gave him a face shield  "Nah I'm good...I feel stupid wearing that!!" ..not pretty...and almost always...preventable.  Mad Dog 🐕 

In 1961, Dalziel, working with Rucker Manufacturing Co., developed a transistorized device for earth leakage protection which became known as a Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI), sometimes colloquially shortened to Ground Fault Interrupter (GFI). This name for high-sensitivity earth leakage protection is still in common use in the U.S.A.

Mad Dog_2

1961....Geez..that took 25 years to be common on jobsites...Poor marketing or bone-headedness?? Mad Dog 

ChrisJ

Mad Dog_2 said:

1961....Geez..that took 25 years to be common on jobsites...Poor marketing or bone-headedness?? Mad Dog 

Probably just guys insisting the old way is better 😜

When I bought our house in 2011 there wasn't a single GFCI in it and no one cared.

Mad Dog_2

Nah...Son....Electrocution...if you happen to survive ...will make you change "your religion"..will make a believer out of the Doubting Thomases...Mad Dog 🐕 

ChrisJ

Mad Dog_2 said:

Nah...Son....Electrocution...if you happen to survive ...will make you change "your religion"..will make a believer out of the Doubting Thomases...Mad Dog 🐕 

That's interesting.

Electronic repair was the first thing I went to school for. Second was electrical.

Mad Dog_2

In 1986, Safety Harnesses were just starting to be used....usually just a rope around your waist was what you got.  My Father in Law Bowhunted all through the 1960s and 1980s 20 feet up on a stand...no harnesses..Alot of the water, sewer main and cesspool guys had a garden house tied around their waste and taped to their chests in case they got buried, they could TRY to breathe through it...

It was very dangerous and you felt tremendous pressure to shut up and just do it....or go home....and fired...Workers have much better rights and conditions today....Thankfully.  mad Dog 🐕 

ChrisJ

My dad hated a harness.

I remember him complaining about them when I was a kid.  Those and something he called an acid suit.

Mad Dog_2

My father had the seat belt alarm disconnected in the 1974 Impala....Mad Dog..

Mad Dog_2

I got one better. My Grandfather went to work the same day he got off the Boat 🚢 from Tipperary in 1927.  A career as an Irish Steeplechase Jock was over after some bad spills..He was summoned to America 🇺🇸.  He was the righthand man for Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons Hall of Fame Thoroughbred Trainer for 70 yrs..Two Triple Crown Winners...only been 13!  Worked every day for 30 years until he dropped dead of a Heart Attack at 57.  

He missed work two weeks in 30 years.
First "vacation " week: Had his Calf muscle almost kicked off by horse.  Hospital 🏥?   Nahhh Grabbed Bigeoil (Horse leg linament) poured the bottle on the hanging flesh, wrapped it in clean horse bandages and got in to bed for a week....permanent limp...

Second "Vacation" : Being the Out of Town Trainer and Asst trainer, The Boss insisted he fire a man. " Nope..not doin it! Fitz!!"   Went home and got in bed for a week!   Sunny Jim Broke first and came to the cramped Apartment above the Rainbow 🌈 Bar on Rockaway Blvd 4 blocks from Aqueduct. He told he didn't have to fire him...Tough Lot...Mad Dog 🐕 

Mad Dog_2

Gallant Fox 1930 Triple Crown Winner at Old Belmont. Mad Dog