Feb 03, 2024
Time for the new puzzler.
Some years ago, I had a contractor over to the house. He was doing some work on my house. It was taking a while and he had to stay late, and charge me more, of course.
So when he finally leaves, it is pretty late. He is heading back to New Hampshire, where he lives. And he is traveling with his faithful assistant. And as they were driving, they began to hear the familiar drone of a fuel pump that was failing. We all know that sound at Car Talk. The drone of an electric fuel pump failing...
And sure enough, the thing quits on him. So here he is in the middle of nowhere, with a dead fuel pump. He doesn't know what to do, because it is late, and it's dark, and he needs to get home. This was before cell phones, you know. There was a time before cell phones, if you can believe it.
So, his assistant gets out, goes to the back of their work van and begins to hunt around. A few minutes later he comes out and says, "I can get us home without any trouble."
He uses something that he finds in the back of the van to get them home.
And the puzzler is, what does he find in the back of the truck that enables him to get them home? And what kind of contractor was he?
Hint: He does not in any way pump the fuel out of the tank into the engine, nor does he managed to get the fuel pump to work.
Good luck.
So, what does the assistant find in the back of the truck that enabled him to get them home? And what kind of contractor was he?
Now remember, he was not able to fix the fuel pump or use the gasoline in the truck itself.
And here is the answer, he is a plumber. And we know that because of what he found in the back of the truck.
What he finds in the back of the work truck is the propane gas tank used for sweating pipes. So what he does is this. He opens the valve, and he has hoses and stuff, he starts the engine and then he begins to introduce propane gas into the throttle body.
So when he finally gets enough in there for the truck to run, the driver increases the speed by opening up the throttle, stepping on the gas pedal and then he opens up the valve and adds more propane in there... And there were a few explosions of course, and he lost his eyebrows... But they managed to limp home this way using the propane as a source of fuel.
Now an important safety message! Don't ever try that at home!
