But 'Youtube' made it look so easy...
There was yet another project to be done here in the Panhandle; repairing the kitchen sink disposal. It's really not much of a project as it's just a spanner of sorts, a couple of pipes / hoses to connect and wire it in. Besides, the multiple 'Youtube' videos made it look so simple & quick. Ours had quit about a week or so ago & I was not able to revive it. Amazon soon came into play & a new replacement arrived, ready to be put into action. Saturday morning, I gathered the needed tools, cleaned out from under the sink (where did all that crap come from?) and removed the old unit. No big deal. The new one was unboxed, checked for pieces and moved into place. Just stick it up there, wiggle the pipes a little bit and slide it in. Just like 'Youtube'. Without going overboard, it really did go fairly easily with one exception: the videos never mentioned exactly how the tabs aligned & adjusting the outlet position. Arrrgghh . . . the pipes were in the wrong place & did not align. As I laid there (yes, I was nude) on my stomach & elbows trying to align the tabs & make it work, it wasn't going in ... nor aligning. It took a few minutes & much squirming but it did finally fit. The tabs locked up and the outlets aligned. I didn't see the locking set screws on any of the videos to move it all into position. What a bummer. So as an adder, yes 'Youtube' made it look easy & quick and overall it was. But for you that remember, you now have the 'Paul Harvey & the rest of the story' version. We'll remember it for next time. LOL
Youre exactly correct on viewing the *Youtube* videos; many of them are just blatant attempts at a viewing click. I, too, take a look at multiple how-to videos as a prelude to starting a project. Theres almost always a *gotcha* waiting in the wings of a job that can make a real mess. Lots of research at the front saves lots of pain in the back. In my case, often literally! ;-)
As I age, I have learned what projects to avoid and which ones I still might be able to do. Owning several rental houses and two personally, I can assure you that everything in plumbing is more challenging than it seems; the pipes never line up, and the fittings are always corroded and break.
My son asked for help changing his kitchen sink faucet a month ago. Old Dad knew how hard it would be. I showed up with the tools and gladly handed them to him. He looked at me sadly when I said, "I can't crawl under the sink anymore, son." After an hour and many nasty words, he now knows how challenging it is to change a kitchen sink faucet. It works great!
The following day, he received more "Dad" instructions on changing a P-Trap behind a pedestal sink and replacing the guts on a commode tank. He appreciates the joys of owning his first house!
The idea of learning things off of youtube is a lovely one, though real world experience comes to bear, doesn't it? With an estimate of over $250 to replace the transmission fluid in my Prius right after I bought it -- yeah, remove the drain plug, drain it, torque it back down and refill it -- I bough the $60 in fluid and watched a dozen videos before I decided to get under the car and see what's what. And then one video had me going from dealer to dealer looking for a gasket for the opening in the side of tranny used to assess the fluid level, which seemed (to my untrained mind) like a missing part but it was in fact not even needed. And then I heard horror stories about having the fluid replaced by morons who kept pumping the fluid in until it was pouring out of that hole, and so by wrecking the transmission. I eventually got it done and it was truly so easy - I still can't believe that Toyota suggests that fluid never needs changing. Working on your own car is getting close to impossible, and many manufacturers are going the wrong way - I hear that there's a model of BMW which doesn't even have a dip stick to check the engine oil... WTF!
Youtube is a godsend and a curse all at once. As a for instance ~ the sugar used to do sugar waxing isn't as easy to make and use as one might think by the videos there; take my sticky word for it! Some things are really best left to the professionals. At least I can still do my own brakes.
And, as a caveat to the brakes, unless you get an air bubble in your ABS system then you may need a computer to turn your ABS pump on to move the fluid as you bleed the calipers. I dont know if its true for all but it is for some. The manufacturers want to keep the dealerships shops busy & were on the hook.
Although you can't have ABS without an ABS unit, so there's that. Deleting a dipstick help may sell more cars if engine plastics don't achieve it first. (Spoken as someone who's youngest car is a 2006 build but all have ABS.) :-)
I've found YouTube to be a pretty good resource in some areas and a waste of time in others. I run across providers that know what they're talking about but really crappy with their videography. (i.e. "push this tab and pull this lever" while the camera is pointed straight up at the clouds in the sky). Or the reverse where they may be good at making videos but don't know beans about the topic at hand. Sure is nice to find a channel good at both.
On the other hand, if I can find enough videos, even on a topic I already know about, I've sometimes picked up a tip or some sort of info I hadn't run across before. And that's always handy. It can make up for some of that wasted time and frustration.
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