Used My 60's Jack LaLane weight set to fix my 80's wood furnace!!!

You folks know who Jack LaLane is don't you? No, he's not the guy on the right or the left! But he helped me fix my furnace!




I have an "83" Charmaster wood/oil combo forced air furnace. Originally designed to run automatically between wood or oil, I have long ago modified it to run either fuel separately for better safety and efficiency.



With the addition of my Comfortmaker propane furnace to my system, I am at the point now that I had decided to remove the oil gun from the Charmaster. I'll just be burning wood in it for awhile. Long discussion on reasons and future plans for another time..... Suffice it to say that once the gun is removed you are left with a 5" steel pipe that needs to be either removed and plated over, or "plugged" with a device. Since I may use this unit as an "oil only" furnace down the road, I wanted to leave the pipe and plug it in a removable fashion. Charmaster used to sell a device like two 5" covers with a threaded rod between them. I decided to scrounge around and see what I could find. I had about given up on finding anything suitable when I spied this. A Jack LaLane hand weight with thick 5" 2.5lb weights with a jumbo threaded rod!!! Thank you Jack!!!



The weight was a perfect fit to seal the tube and drew up tight to the pipe surfaces. I cut the excess rod off it for looks. I was worried that the weight might loosen and drop causing air to leak in. A little air would be ok as the oil gun vented air through it all the time, but a major air leak could cause overheating big time! I added a band around the face of it overlapping the pipe and weight surfaces to keep it from going anywhere. Then I spied the perfect fix for support. The bottom of the pipe had 2 threaded tangential mounts for short set screws for the gun. By replacing the short screws with long ones with locking nuts, I could support the total "weight of the weight" with a bipod setup against the grip of the handle. Now the screws carry the weight keeping it perfectly centered, not relying on the friction of the tightened plates against the pipe to hold it.



All done and ready for my first fire.

 

Not so far away as using a treadmill for a clothing rack or a pool table for a shelf?

 

I remember Jack.
My nephew and wife just had a new baby boy a few weeks ago, and the pool table is a changing table now. Diapers all over. I think most are clean..........

 

And I think he had German Sheppard dogs also???

 

Jack is proud of you! I was just a kid then but I remember Jack urging on the ladies and telling them he was proud of them! That guy was long lived ... I'm sure your fix will last quite a while too.

 

Necessity is the mother of invention!

Nice going! A great story and a great fix!

 

Great idea. Very resourceful.

 

Jack said would you give your dog a doughnut, cup of coffee and a cigarette for breakfast, then why are you doing it ?

 

Arnold said LaLane was his idol when he was growing up!

 

Info says he first added Happy to attract kids to the show. Later added Smiley and Walter.


Provided a link here to a show with Happy where Jack is telling you how to deal with hangovers! Figured it might be of interest to some folks here! .

 

I even improved on things just a while ago. I was searching in my drawer of odd springs for a suitable one to make a "return spring" to maintain closure tension on my draft door. I've had a problem over the years with the rare gale force winds around here that would draw enough on my chimney to suck the draft door open. The resultant huge surge in my fire was not good.... I found the spring that I could use for that, but could not find just the right one for the other improvement. I knew I had another spring here or there so I kept searching. Opening another drawer containing air compressor hose parts I saw it, its staring you right in the face ...... see it!



The two springs worked out perfect! The lever on the draft door used to be attached to a thermostat controlled motorized arm near the top of the furnace to OPEN it when calling for heat. I'm using it now to help keep it CLOSED against the adjusting screw.

 

I could pass on the doughnut and the cigarette, but give me some more of that Colombian stuff! Heck, I'm going to go and get another cup now. I think there is still one left from the 8 cups I made this morning!

 

Yeah , I remember Jack.
I took off the spacers on my lawn tractor axle and put on 25 pound weight plates, been on there 15 years now

 

Oh I am a huge coffee fan. I make a pot in the morning and another when I walk in the door in the evening. Having my second cup now.

 

I have the same char master unit. It is s late 90's unit, but I love the thing. Eats a lot of wood it does

 

Nothin like using what ya got! Nicely done!

 

Nice repurposing but I have to say that real men don't look like those in the photos; at least I have never seen any

 

What job is the 20 dumbbell doing?

 

True, they don't.

That takes a lot of work to achieve. Like, it has to be your job to achieve that look.

I'm acquaintances with a former Mr Wisconsin. He is about 60 now, and still in great shape. He owns a gym though, so that's his job. He wouldn't do as well as he does if he didn't work out all the time.

It's kind of like the saying, "never trust a skinny chef".