u/EricHearble

I'm a homeowner with a number of Stihl products. I have a Kombi power head and about six attachments for it. Every time I'm in the local hardware store in the Stihl display area, I see the racks that they have where tools like Kombis snap into a holder that grips the tubular frames and I wish I had something like that in my storage area. For now, I cobbled something together out of wood scraps and hooks but it's awkward.

If I knew a Stihl dealer that was closing up, I'd try and scoop up on some of the display parts. I don't expect that Stihl makes those available to anyone but dealers.

Are there any rack systems that professional landscapers use to hang their tools on trailers that may be affordable to homeowners?

I have a MS170 saw that I bought new in 2015. I also have a MS181C that I got in 2017 when I couldn't get the 170 started after a hurricane and couldn't wait on the shop. Both of them hadn't been run since about 2020. I have a non-urgent need for them now. I pulled them out of storage, cleaned them up, drained the old fuel and put in fresh. Wouldn't start, so I ordered some new carburetors. Put them on today and they started right up. I was pretty pleased with myself getting these running again (with the help of youtube).

I had been thinking that if I could get them running, I could sell them and buy a battery powered MSA220 and avoid the hassles of fuel. I took a look on ebay to see what any may have sold for and found that a lot of used 170's have sold recently for more than what I paid for mine in 11 years ago. Does the MS170 have some kind of cult status among Stihl users?

The MS181C doesn't show as many cases in ebay, but still sold for more than I would have expected.

The sale prices I saw for 10+ year old used machines don't make sense even accounting for inflation. What's going on?

I need better lung and eye protection when I'm mowing 6 rural acres - creating a lot of dust clouds. I've been using a combination of a half face respirator and safety goggles, with good ear muffs and a hat for sun. It gets really cumbersome.

I'm considering this 3M product that Lowe's sells. I suppose I can wear a ball cap backwards over this. Any suggestions for some other brand?

https://preview.redd.it/c9qyw1l59h6h1.jpg?width=1038&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d7099398ea52d87729f9cd2d0fc6a376c6c47e06

I am planning on buying a battery powered pole pruner and chainsaw. I see on the Stihl site that they have a promotion going (at least in the US) that after registering a purchase of an AP powered tool, they will ship an AP330S battery in 4-6 weeks. They don't provide much details on limitations.

I wonder if buying two AP powered tools, would I qualify for two free batteries? I would buy one battery and charger at the time of the tools purchase. Would be nice to wind up with three batteries.

I guess the dealer might be able to answer, but just wondered if anyone here knew.

I frequently mow about 7 acres. The front acre is fenced with lawn grass. The back six is a former grazing pasture and grows all kinds of wild grasses and weeds. I mow with a zero turn. When I mow the back six, it gets really dusty. So in addition to noise protection, I wear a respirator and googles to keep the dust out of my lungs and eyes. I'm also bald on top so I wear a hat to keep from getting sunburned. Pictured here is my rig. It's cumbersome to get it all to fit.

https://preview.redd.it/ouqlcjgotp5h1.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=966642f9167a0fd77db09859ba9b7343fbffc834

I was looking around for something that combined some of these things into a single unit. There are those lumberjack hard hats with integrated ear protection and face masks, and I could wear the respirator under it, but the shield will only stop debris nad not help keep dust out of my eyes.

Then there are full face respirators:

https://preview.redd.it/pdsyz0jkkq5h1.jpg?width=288&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5b873f2b2ac7ef193cc9aabf6dd1bad1ed6db27f

This might interfere with a ball cap bill, but I suppose I could put the hat on backwards first, then the respirator, then the earmuffs.

Anyway, I just wonder if anyone has a better idea. If you use one of these full face respirators, is there one you would recommend?

I am considering getting a Stihl pole pruner and leaning toward an AP battery powered version. I'm curious what anyone who's used one of the HTA models thinks of the noise level of the electric motor and does it still need hearing protection?

Edit after several replies: I currently use a 3M earmuff for hearing protection when I run my gas powered mowers and yard equipment. I used to use bluetooth noise cancelling over the ear headphones for music while working until I learned a few years ago that it didn't really eliminate the decibels. Now I use bluetooth earbuds under the 3M earmuffs. I was hoping I could go back to my old headphones for at least some electric tools. It sounds like I can do that for the pole pruners. I also thought it might be a good way to get a foothold into the AP battery platform because I would like to get an AP powered Kombi.

I often browse some subs on reddit and even after installing a firewalla, I get ads. Same for youtube. I figured there are limitations to what firewalla ad block can do. But for reddit ads, I often see ads that tell me what my wife is shopping online for. She buys a new dog bed, I see lots of ads for dog beds until she moves on to something else. It's not a big problem, but it's creepy.

How does this happen? Is there any setting in firewalla to stop entities from doing this? I have Ad Block set to strict.

After listing a guitar for sale, I did some test searches to see how it showed up to potential buyers. I found that if I set filter values for "Model Family" or "Series", my guitar doesn't show up in search results while other guitars exactly like mine (brand, model, year) do show up. When I look at those sellers' listings, their listings have metadata set for Model Family or Series.

When I attempt to edit my listing, I can't find any place to set those values. I had created my listing on the web page, so I installed the phone app to see if it had more features. While it looked different, I could not find any place to set those values.

Chat support wasn't very helpful. I'm new to selling on Reverb. Any other seller have any idea how to set all the filterable fields?

Edit: My title was asking about the differences. I started to ask this question here when I figured I should just try it. I've already confirmed that the IOS app doesn't help. But I forgot to reword my title question before posting here. So my question is really about how some sellers can set metadata like "Model Family" or "Series".

We live in a rural area of Virginia - lots of pastures with cows. Our water comes from a county service authority, sourced from aquifers. There is no water tower anywhere around. Our pressure is lower than when we lived elsewhere. Our home was built in '97 and we've owned it for three years. It has a pump and pressure tank in the crawl space to boost pressure. When we run water long enough, we can hear the pump kick in. Once it builds up pressure, it cuts off.

When we bought the place, I contacted the water authority to set up our account. They didn't tell me when on the phone, but I needed to replay to an email to confirm. It went to a spam folder, so I didn't know I needed to confirm. So on the cancellation day that the former owners gave the authority, they came out and turned the water off. We showed up the next day and the pressure pump was running continuously. I turned it off and called the water folks and learned about the snafu. Fixed that and they came out and turned the water back on. That was three years ago.

We came home yesterday afternoon and the pressure pump was running continuously like that time three years ago. Opened a sink faucet and just got air. I went into the crawl space and switched off the pump. Called the water folks and learned that there was a break in a main about 2 miles from us. They had already fixed it. So I opened up hose spigots outside and they spewed lots of air until getting water. Took turns at each faucet indoors. When all were clear of air, I turned the pressure pump back on.

So that's a lot of background, but we still have a problem ... two faucets don't run at full volume anymore. One in the hall bathroom, and one of the two faucets on a double vanity in the master bathroom. The faucets flow as before when turned to the hot water, but only flow at a trickle on the cold side. Could there be some silt introduced into the system from the water main break and it would up clogging the two cold water supply lines at these tow sinks?

I'm considering closing off the supply valve, removing it from the faucet, and then using a union to attach a flexible supply line to run into bucket to wash out any clogs. If that doesn't work, maybe swap out the faucet. Am I on the right track?

And I think I will hire someone to add some kind of switch to that pump to turn it off when no pressure is detected upstream.

I'm new to selling on Reverb. Not a business, just downsizing my gear. Already sold a bunch of stomp boxes with buyer paid shipping, so I just used Reverb labels. I listed a guitar with free shipping to generate interest. Now it's sold and I need to decide on how to save cost on shipping label. I've got proper packaging and will pack it using Reverb's guidance.

I figured that if I buy the label myself, UPS is cheaper than FedEx or USPS. But would I be better off buying the label from Reverb? The only way I could figure what it might coast was to clone the listing as if I was selling another one. I put in the package size and weight and it came back with a range of $48.51 - $71.32 (I guess depending on zip codes). When I used the UPS site to calculate cost, it was $132 with $1000 insurance.

Is that $48.51 - $71.32 range legit? And they don't say what the Safe Shipping insurance would be other than "small fee". I saw on UPS site that the cost of insurance over the base $100 was only $16, so I guess Reverb won't scalp for their insurance?

Edit: After receiving helpful comments (all of them), I decided to go ahead and buy a UPS label through Reverb. I did consider Pirateship, creating an account and pricing a label for this guitar sale. It was about half the cost of buying directly from UPS. But after learning that labels bought on Reverb could be cancelled and refunded as long as not scanned by carriers, I checked the price. Buying the label on Reverb was only slightly more than Pirateship. I decided to spend a little more and get the Reverb label. This way if there was any damage or loss in shipping, I would be dealing with Reverb insurance and not Pirateship. I figure that Reverb might have more concerns for damage to a guitar that Pirateship might minimize. Hopefully, I won't find out if that is the case.

Previous owner of our home installed a couple of interior barn doors. I removed them and put normal swing doors back in. Thinking of what I can do with the track. Selling as scrap isn't worth the drive to the scrap dealer. No interest on FB marketplace.

In my shop, I've already repurposed some magnetic knife holders that were in the kitchen before we remodeled, using them over my workbench for lightweight tools like screwdrivers. So I'm thinking if I could magnetize the barn door tracks, it could be more tool racks over the bench. The tracks are basically long flat steel bars, about 2 inches wide and about 1/8 inch thick.

Is there a feasible way to magnetize the bars? I could cut them shorter if that helps. But if I need to buy some expensive equipment, it might just be cheaper to buy more of those knife holders. I read something about magnetizing nails by coiling copper wire on it and hooking it to a transformer. I do have an old transformer that I use to power a car stereo in my shop.

I have a 1997 American Standard Roadhouse that I bought new back in 1998. I'm planning on selling it - maybe on FB or ebay, or maybe take it to a local shop to see about consignment or outright sale. First, I was trying to settle on a price.

A search on Reverb for Roadhouse's between 1995 and 2001 some up with nine of them. The cheapest one at $500 is actually Mexican made, though it was tagged as made in USA. All of the others are listed at over $1100. Now I understand those are just asking prices. But is there some rule of thumb you might recommend on how much to discount from those asking prices? I certainly didn't pay four figures for it new, and wouldn't have expected to see it appreciate that much, though I won't complain if it did.