Help! Cracked cam lock needs fixing
Question:
I have cracked the 6-inch cam lock fitting that screws onto my dump valve. I ordered a new one but how the heck are you supposed to get the old one off? It has two tabs on it like maybe for a huge spanner wrench. Any ideas other than buying a $100 wrench would be greatly appreciated.
Answers:
I once used a 4-foot pipe wrench and two guys to remove one. A chain wrench might work.
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One option would be to rent the two pipe wrenches needed. Another option would be to take a saw and cut two notches out of the piece that needs to be removed. Then use a scratch awl to carefully pick out the threads from the valve.
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I did not have a large enough pipe wrench. I did have some plate steel. I used my cutting torch and made a wrench by cutting a large enough slot to fit over the nut. If I recall correctly, it was about a 5- to 6-inch nut.
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I’ve been where you are. I started out renting a wrench, but found out I needed it more and more. I finally bought one because the rental cost exceeded half of what the wrench was worth. Save yourself the headache and buy the wrench.
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Cut two slices as far as you can with a cut-off wheel then put a chisel in the slot and it should come off. That is if it is female thread. If it’s a male thread, cut the valve off all but about an inch, then cut three slices almost to threads. You can usually knock out one piece with a hammer and the others should fall out. For tightening the new one you can wrap a chain around the coupler with a pipe in it then tighten.
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I successfully removed the cam lock fitting from my valve! I broke the 48-inch pipe wrench then used it as a club to break off all but the threads and proceeded as suggested, using a Dremel tool, cutting disk and chisel to remove the rest of the fitting.
Got any marketing and advertising tips?
Question:
Other than Yellow Pages and word-of-mouth, what has given you guys the best bang for the buck in advertising?
Answers:
Do an outstanding job. Also clean work and being easy to talk to is our key to success. We get calls from people telling us how nice we are and how clean we are and how they appreciated that we came to the job with all the necessary tools. We hear from our customers that other contractors had to go into their garage and use their tools. The bottom line is to be better than your competitors. I barely get calls from the Yellow Pages. Word-of-mouth is our number one advertisement.
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When I started out, I missed the Yellow Pages advertising deadline, so I sat down with the local phone book and entered most of the addresses in my computer and put them on postcards with my ad and mailed them. It was time-consuming, but I got a lot of responses and it was only a few hundred dollars for 1,000 or so postcards.
There is also a way for you to work with the post office to get your postcards to every mailbox in the area you choose.
The postcards remind people that they haven’t pumped their septic tanks in a while and should probably get it done, and it puts your name in front of their face.
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I’ve actually gone door-to-door with fliers. It did bring in some jobs; I’m sure it was enough work to cover the costs. Still, word-of-mouth is your best friend. Make sure you leave your happy customers with business cards they can hand out for you. We also hand out the magnets.
