Martha had been in UW Madison hospital for about a month, and I got a call that I could come pick her up and bring her to Wesley Willows for rehab. Oh boy was I excited. I jumped into my car and headed north. This was during the time when I was still carrying a cell phone to answer customer service problems for Suntec. I had just turned on to Rockton Ave when my cell phone rings. It is blue toothed to the car radio, so I punch the button and answer.
I am greeted by a man who says his name and that he has one of our pumps on his 12-volt pressure washer and it doesn’t pump. Before I can even say one word he becomes a verbal run away. I keep yelling at my radio, sir, sir, sir. Finally, he says, “What?” I give him the choice of listening to me help him or I will listen to him all the way to Madison Wisconsin and then hang up. He chooses to listen.
I have him hold a pump so he can read the label and then find a pad on the lower left side with a plastic plug in it. I tell him to remove the plug and turn the screw he finds underneath clockwise until it stops. do not torque it. I tell him to put that pump back on his machine and it will run forever.
He replies that he doesn’t believe that and wants me to explain it to him. So, I tell him that He has a 12-volt shaded pole motor Which is rated at 3600 rpm. Under load those rpms can drop significantly. He has a pump which requires 2800 rpm to develop pressure pumping number 2 fuel oil. He probably has kerosene or K1 in his machine which require an even higher rpm to develop pressure. I have had him adjust his pump to lower the required rpm.
He replies that if it doesn’t work, I will hear from him again. I told him I could almost guarantee I would never hear from him again. Then I asked him what he did before he got into pressure washers. He told me he was a Federal Marshall and was the guy who put the handcuffs on G Gordon Liddy at Watergate.
Holy cow I said, do you know what my wife’s name is, it’s Martha Mitchell. After a long silence he asked, “Did you marry that woman?” No, I replied, “I married a woman and gave her that name.”
