Sometimes Change is the Most Logical Solution

It was years ago, we bought a shabby house in the countryside, made of wooden logs, almost a century old.

It stayed like that for a long time. One side of the house was literally buried in the ground from the shaking because the railroad was passing nearby. 

It was so dilapidated that when you went inside, the wooden floor sloped eighty centimeters towards the back because it was buried in the ground. That's how bad it was.

My wife and I thought for a while about what we could do. 

My brother-in-law needed a place to stay, he had just gotten married, so we thought we should fix it with him in mind.

But I didn't have a lot of money to spend. 

There was no electricity in the house, so we had to work with a generator.

One day the workers called, the generator I bought broke down.

Work had stopped. They tried a bit themselves, but they couldn't fix it.

I think it was the weekend, I went and checked. 

It really doesn't work no matter what you do. I tried this, I tried that, I couldn't get it to start either.

Generators are actually simple devices. 

They have a single cylinder, carburetor, gasoline engine. 

There is also a winding part that generates electricity connected to that engine.

Gasoline comes from the tank, mixes with air in the carburetor through the air filter.

When the burning gasoline in the piston pushes the piston, the smoke from the burning gasoline is discharged through the exhaust pipe. 

So it is a simple mechanism. 

When you start it, you first pull the choke, and as soon as it starts, you put the choke back to its normal position.

Normally, if it has gasoline and oil level, it should start when you pull the cord. 

This cable, that cable, I'm unplugging and replugging.

This screw, that screw, everything. I cleaned everything thoroughly and put it back together. 

I try again, it doesn't work.

I start disassembling it again. 

I cleaned that cable, this screw, the spark plug with sandpaper. I disassembled the carburetor and cleaned it thoroughly. I cleaned the filters thoroughly. I disassembled the gasoline hose coming from the tank and checked if there was a problem. No, I put it back again. I removed the fuse, checked the oil, everything seems normal.

I put everything back in order, tightened all the screws, said bismillah and tried again

No, it's not working. Whatever is wrong with it, it won't work.

It pretended to work for a while, but then it was the same story.

I'm so pissed off.

I rested for a while. I was covered in grease and grime. 

Of course, the lady made fun of me, asking why I was like this. 

I told her I'd do it this time. 

I was stubborn, I'm going to start that damn generator.

First I found an old cable, cut off the end of it and replaced it with one of the generator's cables. For some reason, it seemed to me that the original cable had broken off somewhere inside.

I tried again, it still didn't work.

Then I started to disassemble it again, this time I wanted to look at the electrical part. I thought there might be a problem with the electrical parts.

After a lot of work, I tried again, but it wouldn't let me down.

I said to myself why did I bother with the electrical parts anyway? I was a little angry with myself for not seeing the engine part that wasn't working.

It was getting to be evening now. The sun is going down.

What did I do then? 

I asked my wife how late the nearby grocery store that sells this kind of stuff was open.

She said, "As far as I know, it is open until night time.

I said, "Get in and we're leaving right now. 

After I changed my clothes and washed my face and hands, we went to the nearby grocery store, which was 10 to 15 kilometers away.

At the place where the generators were, they were selling the same one as ours for 12 thousand rubles, if I remember correctly. 

A dollar was 28 rubles back then, or around that. So we bought a new one for around 400 dollars.

In short, that day the workers were not left without electricity in the evening and work continued as planned the next day.

The old one stayed like that for a while, I thought I would use it as a spare part, but at some point an acquaintance who knew more about these things than me came and somehow fixed it.

I was curious and asked him about it, but around here they call it the master's secret, it's like a trick. He didn't tell me.

***

The moral of the story is that sometimes, if all else fails, you have to replace it with a new one, there is no other way. 

If you try to fix it, you will either waste time and effort, or you will be delayed in the planned work, in which case it will be more expensive than it is worth.

Sometimes you have to change it, I think there is no other way.

Love and respect to everyone from Moscow