There used to be a small town True Value store, near me.
They went out of business, and now it's a car dealership.
One of their people hired on with Home Depot.

About half hour drive from me is a hardware, that linked up
with Pro, I think it is. They have a people who know all
that kind of thing.

One time I got a request from a friend, to fix a tippy
toilet. The folks had a toilet flange that fits into the
existing pipe. Worked nicely. They also had some cabinet
hinges I needed, for a job at a store. The prices are
typically higher than the big box stores, but I like
supporting small business.

Sometimes a store looks small. And then I walk in, and
realize the store goes way back, and is crammed with good
things.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"David Nebenzahl" wrote in message
.com...
Two themes for today's posting:

1. Ace Hardware is a good place to shop
2. You can actually get replacement parts for toilet fill
valves

Customer has a low-flush toilet that was running. Problem
turned out to
be the fill valve, which was very flaky. Called a couple
places: the
"real" plumbing supply place said "Sure, we have
replacements for those
Toto fill valves"; more than $30 and, oddly, not adjustable.
The nearby
Ace said they had a replacement "quiet fill" valve that
*might* work,
but they weren't sure.

So I trucked on over to Ace with the old valve, and sure
'nuf, the
replacements they had looked exactly like mine. I grabbed
the package
and headed out, then bumped into the guy I'd spoken to over
the phone to
show him they were identical. He told me I could also get
just the fill
valve (the plastic package I had also had a replacement
flapper, which I
didn't need). Then he tells me for next time, you can get
just the
replacement valve body, which was completely news to me.

He ended up taking my fill valve to his little work counter
where we
took it apart to see if the valve would fit; it did. So
instead of
paying $30+ for a new fill valve, instead of $12 for a new
fill valve,
it was less than 3 bucks for just the part that had gone
bad. (It worked
fine after taking it back and replacing it.)

My hat is off to that manufacturer who actually makes a
replacement part
for a plastic item that I've gotten used to just tossing
out. How quaint
and early-20th-century is that? And to Ace for having
knowledgeable and
resourceful people working there.


--
Personally, I like Vista, but I probably won't use it. I
like it
because it generates considerable business for me in
consulting and
upgrades. As long as there is hardware and software out
there that
doesn't work, I stay in business. Incidentally, my company
motto is
"If this stuff worked, you wouldn't need me".

- lifted from sci.electronics.repair