New Ryobi Backpack Sprayer Review

This is episode number 124 of The Homeowner Show. Whether you're DIY or looking to hire, we're here to help you find the best information and options for you and your home. My name is Kevin Hackett, and here with me is Craig Williams.

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to The Homeowner Show. We're glad that you could be with us live. If you're, if you're joining us live on the, on the Facebooks, That's right. Or the Twitch. We're on Twitch as well.

Twitch right now.

Yep. So that's a new one.

Hopefully we'll be on LinkedIn maybe next time.

Maybe. And I don't know if we can just, you know, resist being some sort of offensive.

We won't get the boot. Yeah.

Like the Great Purge of '21.

Yeah, it's probably going to happen sooner or later.

You know, I can't not say things.

Yeah.

So, so that, that's what— and speaking of saying things, Kevin.

Yeah.

Big announcement.

Okay. Huge.

It's huge.

Huge. It's huge.

Okay. It's bigger than any announcement you ever heard. No, like, we have officially arrived as a podcast, I feel.

Okay.

Because we got our first Hate mail.

You, you, you told me about this.

It was the most delicious update I've ever gotten in my life. I loved it. So we got, we got a 1-star review.

Okay.

On the, uh, on the Apple Podcasts. Okay. So we haven't gotten kicked off there yet either. So working on that yet. Yeah. Yeah. Give us, give us time. That's right. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna share with everyone the review, which is ironic considering the episode today. Um, so this is— so one, this bag hangs out in the anonymity of his username, which is J22792. We see you out there, buddy. His 1-star review, the title of the review is Ryobi.

Okay, not, not, not to be confused with Ryobi.

Yeah, his review is this. Shakespeare.

Okay.

Is trash and shouldn't be pushed as a product.

Oh, so so so so he he took his title and then worked right mashed it into the sentence into the whole sentence of the actual review. That's that's classic.

Well, either that or he's referring to himself because I'm like technically his username is J22792. And then it says, is trash.

Oh, okay.

So maybe he's trash.

Maybe.

And he's a male prostitute.

Anything is possible these days. I'm not gonna—

Which I completely agree with him. He should not be pushed as a product.

No.

He's a person.

That's right.

People aren't products.

People matter.

Darn you, J22792. Whoever told you you were a product?

Hey, if you have a 1-star review to leave us, please leave it. We won't publicly shame you. game, every single one of them.

I will.

But okay, well, Craig will, but I—

we, we won't.

We, we, we— but we want your reviews.

Yeah.

I mean, it actually helps us.

Also, we got one from Jet421, who— I mean, that's, that's a more complete name than the last, but thank you, Jet421. He gave us the full 5. Says, great show, great podcast, that is informative and helps me as a homeowner.

Nice.

You get it, Jet.

Yeah. Thanks, dude. So cool. Yeah. All right. Well, that's the show. That's it. All right, guys. Glad you joined us on today's episode. Number 124 was a blast.

It was a doozy.

That's right.

So no, we're gonna— so I'm gonna do it.

Yeah, I know.

We need to make like an official decision as to which way we're gonna go on this, Kev. Well, I, I think Uh, okay, so, so if we say it the right way, no one's gonna know what we're talking about.

No, that's true. I mean, because you've got the customer satisfied way, the way that everybody, including the employees at Home Depot, yeah, say it. Um, which I've even said— heard them in their own videos call it Ryobi.

Here's a compromise. I got it. Okay, the tool formerly known as Ryobi.

Oh man, we can— we're getting into, to really technical territory here.

Yeah. So anyway, here's, here's what we're gonna do. The tool formerly known as Ryobi dropped a new backpack sprayer months after we reviewed the last one, right? So, uh, so I had to go get it. Sure. We, we had to get it as soon as it dropped. I was like, I gotta check this out. Yeah, see how it works. Uh, so I've actually been test driving this thing for about 2 weeks now.

Okay.

Can, can they see the box over my shoulder? Do I need to like lean out of the shot?

They can see— no, you're leaning the wrong way.

That way?

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah, they can kind of see the box.

All right, let me—

Hang on.

That one.

That's it. That's it.

They can see it?

Yep.

I know they can't hear me, but that's all right.

No, that's, that's it.

So, okay.

So this is the new, in their minds, improved, updated version version of the other backpack sprayer, which I also have, which you also have. Yeah. Okay.

So, and, and also, if you're, if you're really interested in like a side-by-side comparison, I'm going to be dropping a YouTube video on our channel. So go over there and subscribe, hit the notification bell so you don't miss that. Yeah. Um, so you can kind of see, you can see them side by side and see what the differences are. Uh, not sure exactly what day that's dropping, but you don't need to know because you're going to go hit the subscribe button and the notification bell.

And that way it's just going to come to you automatically.

You won't have to know.

There's no anticipation.

Oh, now.

There you go.

So the YouTubes will let you know.

So, so let me ask a question before we even get into this.

Ask.

Is the other one still available?

Not that I've seen.

Okay.

And I've— and we can discuss some of that as the show progresses because that will become more clear because I did go to look. Okay.

Well, I— so I just Googled, um, and pulled up on their website one that looks like the old one, right?

And I, I don't even know if they've switched it on the website for like Home Depot.

Okay.

I think if you pull up, uh, 18-volt, uh, backpack sprayer, yeah, it's still gonna have the picture of the old one.

Okay.

I think, um, well, no, I mean, I know that was true when I went to go get it. So like, I actually didn't know that this was happening.

OK.

I didn't know that the tool formerly known as Ryobi was putting out a new model. I needed another one.

OK.

And so I just Googled, you know, hey, which— or actually, I went on Home Depot's app and I was looking to see which one nearest me had some in stock. And when I showed up, that's all they had was the new one. And I was like, oh, there's a new one. So What's going on?

Yeah, I was just looking. So I, I stood up and looked. The, the one on the Ryobi website is not even correct.

Oh really?

That did— this thing is new, guys. We are bringing you hot off the, you know, the— what is that conveyor belt? What is that called? Hot off the assembly line.

The assembly line.

That's the one.

Okay. Um, could be from the 3D printer.

It's true. We don't know how they're created.

I don't know.

All right, well, let's talk about it. I'm curious what— okay, so you— there were some things about the other one that you liked.

Yes.

I mean, obviously you liked it well enough to purchase it and use it and continue to use it. And now you've used this one. What are some things that you really like about this new one?

The thing— okay, so, um, right off the bat It's more powerful.

Okay.

It's got a much more powerful motor on it than the previous one. It's the same battery.

Right. Well, because any of their batteries are going to work with this, right?

Well, any of the 18-volt batteries.

Right.

It's not on the 40-volt system.

Right.

Which, I mean, like, honestly, if you're going to make like a big upgrade to it, that would be it.

Sure.

Just going over to the bigger battery. But those things are heavier. It would probably require a bigger motor. It should be a bulkier backpack.

Yeah.

So are we doing things I like about this one?

Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. So, so the motor is more powerful. On the previous one, it was on or off.

Okay.

So this one is very similar to the Milwaukee in that you have an attenuator on the side that you can adjust the pressure.

Okay. Now the one— okay, before you got into an electric one, you were using— it was the steel?

Steel.

Yeah. So, so that one's— it's a hand pump, right? But you had a lot of adjustment. Adjustment on it, right?

I could, just based off how I pumped it.

Okay, so this one basically gives you a dialed-in amount.

Yes.

Rather than having to pump, it gives you an—

Correct.

Where the other one didn't.

Yes.

Okay.

Well, and you know, on the steel you could adjust the tip as well, so as to how your stream came out, which you can do on this one as well.

Okay. Um, could you do that on, on the old one? You could.

This one's better.

Okay.

Um, so on the—

I don't want—

it may be weird to get into comparisons right now, but anyway, I'll continue to go through the things that I like about it.

Right.

It's a smaller footprint of a backpack. It takes up a lot less space.

Okay.

Um, which is good because the other one, you couldn't— because of the way it was shaped, it wouldn't sit right in the back of a truck the way that our trucks are set up, and it was just kind of awkwardly shaped. This one is pretty much just like straight up and down. There's no Odds sticking out or anything like that?

Yeah, so I'm looking at the old one online and the battery protruded from the, uh, from the actual tank, and the new one is more streamlined, right?

Okay. And the battery encasement is a huge, massive improvement from the previous model.

Okay, how so?

Um, well, the old one, like you said, the, the case kind of stuck out some, and because of that, the hinge on it was just really badly designed, and that thing just constantly pops off. And I don't really know that it has much utility other than if you leave it in the back of your truck, someone may or may not know whether or not there's a battery in there to steal. Um, which, if you don't know, I mean, like, that's the most expensive part on the tool is the battery.

Sure.

Um, uh, so, so it's a smaller footprint. The battery case on this one is at the bottom of the tank, and it actually goes inside of it.

Okay.

Um, and then it just has like a little flap door that comes up and down and it kind of snaps into place. Whereas the other one, it was odd to even like undo. It had a weird handle on it. It constantly popped off the hinge. I've been using this one for 2 weeks and it's, it's kind of like a doggy door. That's—

yeah. So, so the old one, the old one was like encased a little bit where this one actually almost fits into the—

It does fit into it. I mean, like, it's Okay. There's probably not a better way to describe it other than that. It's like inside the— it's inside and underneath the chemical tank.

Okay.

And the chemical tank still holds as much as the old one, even though it's a different shape.

Which is 4 gallons, right? 4 gallons.

Yeah.

Okay. Is that, is that enough? I mean—

Oh yeah.

Okay.

Yeah. I mean, well, and like, it would be really un— they make some that are bigger than that. Um, but they're for like really, really big commercial jobs and they're usually on like motorized backpacks.

Okay.

Um, which we have some of those as well.

Okay.

Um, and these are just much lighter, easier to use. Um, I will say the batteries don't last as long on this one. Um, it's the same even if you're using the same battery. And it— like, I think that's going to be the big trade-off in that because you have a more powerful motor on this one than you did, it's just going to be pulling more.

That makes sense. Um, and this one is not a brushless motor, is it?

It is not. Okay. No.

And just, just so we let people know, because I think this is something, um, that is important to understand, I, I don't think a lot of people know what brushless means. So brushless basically means that the tool is smart, right?

Right.

And what it's smart with is it knows how much power you need and, and how much torque you need in order to get the job done that you are doing. So it, it saves battery life. If you're, if you're just, you know, screwing a screw into a piece of wood that's already pre-drilled, that's easy, right? So it's not going to use as much battery power as if it's also having to drill that screw in. It would, it would then apply more power. The non-brushless motors, it, it puts out the same amount of power, the same amount of torque Every single time you pull the trigger. So, so it's not a brushless motor, which makes sense if it's more powerful that it would draw more from the battery.

Exactly.

Okay. And what batteries do you use? I'm just curious.

Um, well, it, it actually comes with a 2 amp-hour battery.

Okay. All right.

So yeah, and, and that's sufficient to probably— I would say it'll, it'll last you 25, maybe 30 gallons.

Okay. Wow. Um, that's actually not bad.

And then I, I test drove it for the last 3 days with a 4 amp-hour battery.

Oh.

Um, and I, I think I probably got through about 50 gallons of material with the 4 amp-hour battery.

Okay.

So, but you can, you can definitely tell when the battery's getting close to being done. You'll, you'll see a significant drop in pressure on this motor, especially if you have it cranked up all the way.

Yeah.

You're like, oh, what's going on with this thing? And like, and once it's done, it just stops. There's no like, grind down. And I will, I will say, you know, with the, with the new brushless, uh, line that they've come out with and the new HP Compact tools, they've introduced smarter batteries, um, that, you know, they have a button with the indicator light for the charge and they're just, just, they're just a smarter, better battery.

Right.

This, even though it's a brand new tool, doesn't come with the smart battery.

Oh, okay.

It comes with, it's just standard 2 amp-hour, which you would expect in like their old tool line. Right, to come with. So it's— and I noticed a difference between the smart batteries and the standard battery that it came with. The standard battery, even though they're both 2 amp-hour batteries, didn't last as long.

That's interesting.

So, and they're— and they're my— just for context, the battery that came with this tool is newer. than my smart batteries from my compact set.

Really?

Yeah.

So it's newer in terms of when it was produced, or it's newer technology?

Both.

Oh, interesting.

Yeah.

Okay.

So I mean, just—

well, that's—

that—

so to me, this is really interesting because, you know, you used to have the old NiCad batteries, right? And those, those were the ones that just slowly stopped stopped working, right? Right. And then eventually it just wouldn't do anything.

Exactly.

Now then you get the lithiums and it's like almost full power until it's done. Yeah, right. But then they came out with— I mean, here's the thing, a lithium battery isn't equal to another lithium battery necessarily.

No, it depends on what it's made of.

And it depends on so many different things. And like we've talked about the EGO line of products before. And so my trimmer, for example, it's a 56-volt battery. It's huge. It's a— the footprint of it's, it's big, right? Um, one of the cool technologies about it is you can leave it on the charger all the time, and if it's not being used, it'll drop down to 30% power.

Mm-hmm.

And it will stay there at 30% because at 30% It will not deteriorate.

Okay.

It'll still be on the charger. Now, if you want it to charge back up, you just take it off, pop it back on, and it charges up again. That's something very smart about the battery. The charger doesn't really do anything.

Yeah, it doesn't.

It doesn't know where the 30% is, but the battery itself does. So these batteries are getting smarter and smarter. So, you know, if you think, oh man, I've got a lithium battery, it's But I guess I'm gonna have to buy another lithium battery. It's probably smarter than the old one you had. Yeah, most likely. The technology comes a long way.

Yeah, and I, you know, it was probably the tool formerly known as Ryobi's, um, decision to save some money by putting the older batteries with this.

Most likely.

Um, yeah, because I mean, why not?

Why not?

Yeah, I mean, well, it's these— the, the new backpacks are the same price as the old ones. Okay, so So, and so you are getting some significant upgrades with this backpack at the same price.

Okay.

And the old MagPak also came with the same battery.

Okay. So, so what have we already talked about what those upgrades are? Have you already given—

The main upgrades, um, are the motor. It's a better motor. It's more powerful motor. Um, the dial on the side, the attenuator on the side that allows you to adjust the pressure, that's a feature it didn't ever have before.

Right.

And then the battery housing is a massive improvement to this model.

And the tip, it's easier.

It's essentially the same design.

Okay.

It's just a better— I mean, like, it just works better than the other one.

Okay.

So, I mean, honestly, if you put them side by side, which again, I'll do that in the video that we're putting out, I mean, if you just look at it, you probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Okay.

Unless you're really paying attention. Um, you know, there's a lot of— there's several stages because it's—

it—

I don't even— it's like turning a bottle cap to tighten down like a 2-liter Coke. It's that kind of swivel that you have on there to adjust the spray cone.

Okay, well, that's very similar to just a regular pump sprayer, right? I mean, the manual pump it up, pressurize it, the knob on the end.

Yeah, unless you're using the fan tip, in which there's no adjustment.

Okay.

So, but it's a fan tip. That's—

it's what—

yeah, that's what it is.

It's either on or off, right? Yeah. Okay, so now what are some of the things that you don't really like that they've changed?

Yeah, so there were 2 big ones that stood out to me that I was like, why?

Okay.

And these were like really dumb changes. And like one of them I kind of understand, the other one I don't understand at all. Okay. Um, And, and they may, they may even view both of them as being an upgrade. I don't.

Okay.

Um, so significant change number 1 is the, the top where you, you know, pour your chemicals, where you pour your water into the tank.

The lid.

Actually, let me back up a second.

Okay.

There was one other improvement to the entire system that was a massive improvement. And before I do that I got to say, we spent very little time bantering at the beginning of this episode.

Yeah, we did.

And our buddy Jordan is going to be upset with us about this because I just had dinner with him the other night and he's going to geek out already that we're talking about him.

Hey, Jordan! What's up, dude?

That's right. And he was telling me that his wife was telling him that she doesn't listen to podcasts because they always banter about stupid stuff at the beginning. And he was like, that's my favorite part.

Well, we will banter at the end.

Okay.

I do have something I want to mention.

Okay, good, good. So hang in there, Jordan.

Yeah.

So anyway, the other, the other big upgrade to this system, and I think this may have been the thing that actually triggered a whole redesign, was in the old one it had a pickup tube on the inside for the pump.

Okay. So there's—

excuse me— in most sprayers, there's going to be a pickup tube with a filter, right? That, you know, that basically draws the material out of the tank into whatever that's creating the pressure that then pushes it out through the line.

Okay.

Right. This new one has no tube. Oh, it has a built-in plastic riser inside the tank that has a metal filter on it.

Oh, it's metal.

Yeah, better. Yeah. And so it's like a wire mesh filter and it's much bigger as a pickup, which I think is also why they needed a bigger motor for this thing.

Um, so it, it has the ability to push more out at one time because it's, again, with the— what do you call it—

the attenuator.

Attenuator.

That— well, I— yeah, that may actually not be the right term. Okay, I know that to be a guitar term.

Oh.

Well, for the knob.

Yeah.

Um, but I really— I mean, like, it works either way. I mean, attenuator is just something that you turn.

It's an adjustment. Yeah, right. And so, so basically it's able to draw more into the line that it then pressurizes and pushes out through the line.

Yeah. And I— but I don't think that's why they did it. I think the reason that they did it is on the previous model, they were actually having some issues with that tube crimping.

Oh, I can see that.

Based off the temperature and some other issues that were happening. And so people were complaining about it.

Okay.

It was really like the thing that people complained the most about it.

Okay.

And we actually had the issue.

We were—

I mean, like, we had to take it apart and replace the tube, and it was really annoying. So this fixes that.

Okay.

Which is a huge, huge improvement.

Should be.

I mean, like, granted, we've had it 2 weeks, so we'll see over time. what happens. Um, and, you know, I need to investigate as to whether or not you can replace that because those metal filters, while they're great, can get clogged up over time.

Sure.

Um, so anyway, now back to the things that I liked better about the old one.

Yeah.

Why'd you change this tool formerly known as Ryobi? Um, so the, the top lid. is significantly smaller on the new one.

Okay, so the problem with that is the opening is significantly smaller. Now, why is that a problem?

It's a problem because it creates more of an opportunity for splashback. And anytime you're dealing with chemicals, you want to reduce the amount of splashback and the potential for splashback. And it also seems like it's shallower than it was before. So smaller and shallower was not good. The reason I think they did it is because they were trying to reduce the footprint of the backpack.

Okay.

Because the lid on this one is about as wide as the actual unit itself. So they only had so much real estate to work with.

That, that actually makes a lot of sense why they would do that.

Yes. But again, they sacrificed something with that.

Right.

So the other thing is actually the shoulder harness. This is the most goofy shoulder harness I've ever seen in my life, and I don't even really know how to describe it. I mean—

You were showing it to me.

Yeah.

And it's because of the adjustment.

It's too much.

Yeah. If you could have too much adjustment, they succeeded.

Yes.

Yeah.

And like, I— there's absolutely zero— I mean, like, unless we're just like dealing with like morbidly obese people that need to somehow use an electric backpack, I don't know why it needs all these adjustments to let it like 5 feet out away from your back. I mean, like, it's ridiculous.

Yeah, so, so the best way that I can describe this, uh, since you said you don't really know how to describe it— so at, at the top where your shoulder is and then down around where your waist is, right, that's kind of where the, the straps meet. There's 2 adjustments at your shoulder and 2 adjustments at your waist.

Yes.

On both straps.

Going opposite directions.

Yeah, they don't, they don't really— you pull one direction for one and one direction for the other. And so let me put it this way. So I've done a significant amount of backpacking in my life through the wilderness, right? So some—

it would be weird if you did it through a city.

Well, I mean, I guess some people do. We have names for them. Um, but they, they— a lot of them will have an adjustment up on your shoulder to either pull that close to you and more like hug your, right, your back a little bit more, or let it go if you, you know, you need a little more relief there. The difference with this is that nothing on this device is flexible. It's all rigid.

Right.

So you can't really hug your back with it by adjusting trusting it more, right? You know, so it's, it's just awkward.

Part 2 of this is on the old model, it actually had a mesh back.

Oh, well, that sounds fantastic.

It was fantastic.

And they completely took that away.

They just got rid of it. I mean, it was, it was— and all of my guys that use it, I guarantee you now they're gonna be fighting over the old one. Yeah, not because the old one performs better, but because it's way more comfortable.

And the amount of hours that you're using that on a daily basis in your profession, yeah, it makes a huge— comfort is important.

Yeah, I mean, like, if you're just a weekend warrior, I mean, like, this, this is going to be a fantastic backpack for you. It really is. I'm like, you're going to wear it for like 30 minutes, you're going to be spraying like probably some herbicides or, you know, some sort of fertilizer or something through it, maybe a pesticide, I don't know. Um, it's, it's a multi-use sprayer. Um, but you know, if, if you're only using it for that amount of time, no big deal. But like, that other one was way comfy.

Yeah.

Um, and it just, it just kind of hugged your— like what you're talking about, hugged your back. But it didn't have 50 adjustments, you know, in case you're shaped like a fiddler crab or something. I don't know, this is just weird. And so yeah, the, the old one was just super comfy. That mesh went all the way down through your lower back. It kept the the cold plastic up off of you and really just kind of hugged you. And then it just had 2 cinches underneath your shoulders to, you know, make it nice and tight. This one, man, it took me— it probably took me 10, 15, 20 minutes to like, okay, maybe if I

put— you just didn't know which way. So it was very confusing.

Awkward.

And it's got a belly band on it as well. that's like— it's like what a middle schooler's JanSport would have on it. I mean, like, it's like no one uses it. It's like the little dangly things that no one ever puts, right? You know, you know what I'm talking about?

No, I absolutely know, because like, um, on my—

like on real backpacks, yeah, it has like a padded band.

Sure.

This is just like vinyl strips. Okay.

Yeah, I've got— so on your pancreas, on my, uh, my backpack blower It, it's got a belt right on it as well, and it's really helpful because, I mean, you've got— so you got the, the weight of the device itself, which is not super heavy, but then you've got 4 gallons. So at what, roughly 8 pounds per gallon? Roughly, probably.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So sure, why not?

You're, you're 35 pounds probably.

I've never stepped on the scale while I'm holding it, so I advise you not to.

Um, but roughly, I mean, if it's full, potentially, you know, 35 pounds or so, that's pretty heavy on your back. So having something around your, your waist to take that off your shoulders is good. But you're saying that then the band is not very good? It's—

I don't know. I mean, like, other than if you're just trying to like stabilize it, maybe. Yeah, but it's like, it's very thin. Yeah, so it's like the best it might do is pinch you.

That does not sound fantastic.

Don't use it.

So it's just dangling cords.

Yeah.

And more money that they wasted on it. All right. Yeah, but it looks to me like the one on the old one was pretty insignificant as well. The shoulder straps? No, no, no, the waistband.

Oh yeah, it's the same.

Yeah, it's, it, it's like a It looks like a little 1-inch hand.

Well, I will say this, on the, the shoulders themselves.

Yeah.

Have significant more padding.

Okay.

Than the previous model.

So the actual straps have mesh in this.

Oh yeah.

In this one, where the other ones didn't.

The other ones did.

Okay.

These are just thicker.

Okay.

And more substantial.

Okay. So that's, that's a little more comfortable.

That, that part has been improved, but like I lost the part that I really liked, which was the back.

Okay.

Um, and, and all my guys that use it too, I mean, like, that's their favorite part. Huh. So, okay. Oh, that and not having to pump.

Sure, that, that's a huge advantage.

Oh yeah.

To this over really anything else. Yeah.

So, so it— the improvements that they made are great. Yeah, they really— I mean, they really are. Um, and so like some, some questions that Uh, some of the groups that we're a part of that follow these kinds of things were asking questions like, what's the, what's the PSI on it and what's the bucket test on it? So I'm going to do all those kinds of things.

Okay.

Um, and, and get to the, get to the bottom of those specific answers because it doesn't list that information on the box. I didn't read through the entire manual. Um, that information might be in there. So anyway, I'll, I'll go through all that in the YouTube video.

Okay.

Um, that we're going to come out with. But I mean, like Right off, just plain Jane, it's a better sprayer. Yeah, I mean, at the fundamental level, it is a better sprayer.

So at the end of the day, if we're breaking it all down— pros, cons, now conclusion— yeah, it's worth buying the, the upgrade, especially since it's the same price. I mean, yeah, yeah, I mean, the improvements far outweigh the things that you wish they didn't change from a practical perspective.

Absolutely. I mean, like, just from just performance.

Sure.

It's, it's a better sprayer.

Yeah.

So your comfort is, you know, changed. Be a man.

Yeah. Well, and, and I, and I think that's, that's part of it. I mean, it is interesting that they would— that they make these improvements. Like, I've got a stapler. It's a stapler and, um, finishing nail combo. that they had a long time. It's blue, okay?

Yeah.

It's really old. Um, but I was about to go buy one, and I got there and the guy at Home Depot was like, yeah, they discontinued that last week. I was like, why? He said, well, it wasn't working well. A lot of people had it jamming, and it was just— it just wasn't working well. I was like, well, crap, I kind of wanted one. He's like, yeah, a lot of people really liked them because they were They were nice.

Yeah.

Well, about 6 months later, they were on the shelf again, and I saw the very same associate, and I was like, hey, I thought you said these weren't working. You— do you remember me? He was like, he was like, yeah, they updated it, came back out with a new one.

They fixed the problems.

Yes. And so, you know, I, I appreciate that.

Yeah.

About a company. They'll take something offline, fix it, put it back online and here we go.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

So, okay. Well, that's— I guess that's the review.

That's it.

So, are you ready? I told you before the show, I had a— I had like a surprise for you.

You did. I thought it was the 1-star review.

Well, that is a fun surprise. Okay.

So, you've got another fun surprise?

I do. I was talking with a former guest like not 30 minutes before I saw you.

Okay.

About you.

Oh.

Yeah. So I was, I was talking with, with Brandy Burke.

Oh yeah. Yeah. And I actually— it's a funny story. Uh, Brandy, if you're listening, I actually need to call you. So that's what I told her. Yeah. Oh, you did? I did. You were telling her? You told her the big secret? This is the This needs to be kept under wraps a little bit. Here we are putting it on, you know, national podcast.

That's right. Well, no, I'm not, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna share all your business.

Okay.

So, but I told her, I was like, hey, Kevin, Kevin might be reaching out to you.

Yeah, that's funny.

But you know what she's doing now?

Uh, well, I know with her husband. Yeah, yeah, they're building houses. Yes. Yeah, yeah. And now I'm— I mean, she's still got her license and she's still working in real estate, right?

And that hasn't changed. No, no, no, no. Yeah. And he's still doing plumbing.

Yeah, he's still doing plumbing. Um, and by the way, they— he does fantastic work.

Well, they've both been on the show. Of course they do fantastic work. Of course.

That's why we brought them on the show. But yeah, they've got a new business where they're building houses. They built the house that they're living in.

Yeah.

And now they're building other people's houses.

That in and of itself should be a testament, right? I mean, like, hey, we, we built our own house. And it was such a great experience, we decided to start doing it for other people.

They did it together.

And they're still married.

They're still married and they still want to continue to build houses together. Yeah.

So, so yeah, they're, they're, they're finishing one up right now.

Okay.

So I was like, Kevin might be calling.

Yeah, I definitely need to call her. It's funny, I was actually thinking just today, I need to call her and I got a little bit busy.

So yeah.

So there you go.

Okay, interesting. She's primed.

Thank you, thank you. Yeah, well, so do you want to hear about the, the thing that I wanted to banter about today?

No.

Okay.

No, we can talk about it. Oh, okay.

Uh, so this happened just— I, I alluded to this a couple of episodes ago, but it was, it was like 2 days before Christmas, and I've got a leak detector underneath my kitchen sink, and, and it's put there because I've got a reverse osmosis under there, so filtered water, all that kind of great stuff. And my— it tripped, so it started beeping.

Okay.

So I'm like, oh great. So I look under there and I'm like, I don't even see any water, but I feel down there and it's a little damp, and I'm like, how? is this damp? So I kind of visually looked and inspected a little bit. I couldn't really see anything going on, um, but sure enough, I was getting a leak. And so it's 2 days before Christmas, and I was like, all right.

Which is exactly when something's gonna break in your house.

Um, 100%.

Yeah.

Oh, I mean, it— the most inconvenient, most expensive time to get something fixed, right? So I tell my wife, tell my kids, look, whatever you do, use the left side of the sink because something in the right side of the sink is, is not working. Well, I leave after Christmas, I'm gone for like 4 or 5 days, I come back, and of course it's still leaking.

Hmm.

But it hasn't been leaking because there's not We haven't been using it. So I start looking, and sure enough, the, the strainer— so the strainer is the actual, what most people consider the drain, right? The, the strainer is a piece of junk, and it's plastic.

Oh no.

Have you, have you ever seen a plastic strainer? Like, It's, it's like, like chrome-coated, right? Plastic.

I've seen plastic ones like in, in laundry utility sinks.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah. Yeah. So I, I assume that this thing came with the sink. They're like, let's throw the most piece of junk thing we can throw in here and they'll probably use it, you know, or they'll upgrade to another $10 one and put a good one in, right? Well, so I assume that we put a trash can underneath our sink like normal people do, and I assume at some point it got pushed back a little bit far and that the downpipe, it, it broke.

Mm-hmm.

The strainer. So there's like this little crack about a third of the way around that strainer, and so anytime you Anytime you put water in there, there's a likelihood that that crack— water leaks out the crack, right? So I'm like, okay, no big deal, replace it, right?

Mm-hmm.

It's easy to replace. It's not easy to replace when it's plastic because I— so I get under there and I've got like a strap wrench, which should do the job. So I get under there Put that strap wrench around because there's a, there's a big lock nut on there that holds it all together. I'm just going to loosen that thing, and what happens? The whole strainer turns.

Jeez.

So I can't, I can't get it out. I can't get it out, right? And so, um, I'm trying to figure out what is— what can I do here? How am I going to possibly get this thing off? Um, and there's like these little— there's like little ribs around this nut, and I'm like, I just don't know what I'm gonna do. I try to get some large pliers, all that kind of stuff. Nothing fits. I mean, it's a pretty large nut that's on there, right? And so I'm like, I'm just frustrated. How am I gonna get this thing off? I can't figure out how I'm gonna get this at all. So I go to bed. Next morning I wake up, I'm looking at YouTube, um, looking at Facebook. And on

Facebook, I'm a part of a, uh, a group that's kind of a DIY home beautification type Facebook group. I think you're a member of it as well. And lo and behold, someone asks a question and says, I can't get this dadgum lock nut off of the strainer. What am I supposed to do? And I'm like, it's like providence. Like, how would, how would anybody know I'm dealing with the same thing? And someone puts up, oh, you just go buy the tool.

Uh-huh.

But there's a tool for that? There's a tool for that. And like, there's this— it's this tool that like perfectly fits into the ribs on that nut.

Mm-hmm.

And you can just take it right off.

Nice. Yeah.

It was like $7 or $8.

That's nothing.

No, it's nothing. So I go buy it. I'm like, all right, no big deal. Hey babe, I'm gonna fix this. Do whatever you want to. I'm gonna be a man real quick, take care of this. And I get in there and that— put it on there, turn it, and the piece of plastic just rips.

Oh, it like snaps?

Well, just it It just strips. It strips it out.

Okay.

Yeah. So this plastic is the worst nightmare ever. And so I literally go get my chisel and I chisel the thing off.

Nice.

With a hammer.

You're not gonna be taken down by a polymer.

No, no plastic. You're no match for me. So I take it off, install the new strainer. No big deal. It works perfect now. Here's the moral of the story. Don't ever put a plastic strainer on your sink.

That's a good call.

Ever. If it comes with it, it's, it's $10 for a metal strainer. Go buy it.

How much is the plastic one?

I, I don't know. It must have come with it. I looked. They don't even sell a plastic one at Home Depot.

I'm just wondering if it— if there's any advantage. Like, would it, would it work better like in an off-grid cabin or something like that?

Well, I don't know. One of the things I am curious about—

so like if you had a plastic sink.

Yeah, if you had a plastic sink, like specifically like a laundry room sink, right? Um, I wonder if a metal one could potentially crack the plastic.

Yeah.

And, and so you use a plastic one, maybe there's less potential for that. But why they would put it in a metal sink, in a metal sink, I have no clue. Poor decision. But, and here's the other thing. So, um, my wife was like, hey, if you break the sink, I can get a new one, right?

Yeah.

Like, well, I guess we would have to. She was like, is it okay if I just kind of secretly hope that you break this thing? Because she wants a new sink. And I was like, please don't do that.

Like, we do not need to deal with that right now.

But, um, so I put the new one in, and it turns out she just hated the other one because it was like, like the the chrome plating was like flaking off and she, she could never clean it, so it always looked dirty. And so I put the new one in, she was like, this looks like a whole new sink. I'm like, yeah, that's what I do. That's what you think. I'm secretly going, I, I must have prayed harder than you prayed about this. So—

Or Jesus just loves you more.

I mean, highly possible that's the case, but I've met your wife.

There's no way that's the case.

If you knew my wife, that's not the case, no matter what. No, I don't want to dash your hopes here, but no, Jesus loves her more.

Yeah, there's no doubt.

No doubt. So, but anyway, so there's my, there's my story.

Cool.

Yeah, chisel wins.

Chisel every time.

Well, against plastic it does.

Yeah, so I'd put my money on the chisel.

Yeah, it worked. Yeah, I mean, I literally It, it took me a week to figure out what I was gonna do, and then I should have used the chisel the whole time. The whole time. I don't know why I didn't go for it first.

Moral of the story, anytime you can revert to just, you know, barbaric violence, do it. Do it.

It's worth it.

Yeah, works every time. Yeah, except, you know, when invading the Capitol. Don't do that.

Don't do that, even if someone tells you.

And don't take a chisel in there either.

Good point.

Our logic is breaking down quick, Kev.

Yeah, it is. We need to end this while we're ahead, if we are ahead.

Yeah, we're never ahead.

No, we're never ahead.

All right, anything else?

No, man, I think that's it. Thank you guys for downloading today's episode, and if you are live on Facebook, thanks for watching us. We hope you enjoyed this episode.

Or Twitch.

Or Twitch. Don't—

I mean, like, there's lots of people over there. I don't know if they're listening, but I guess they could be.

Yeah. And or on YouTube, because this is gonna go up on YouTube later. But yeah, we're here every single Tuesday. So thanks for downloading. If you have not already subscribed, leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. That would be fantastic. Thanks for being with us. Until next time, we'll see you later.

See ya.