Nicaragua con EWH (Verano 2013): Day 63 7/24/13 (Working those autoclaves, checking bus times, respect worthy wrenches, working autoclaves!, pizza, AutoCAD 2007 in Spanish, putting a hole in a bike rim and putting holes in the walls of the hospital)

Late breakfast. Early cold shower. Normal morning. Coffee smoothie! After that is was heading off to the clinic to jump that connection for the JP selecta autoclave (as per the tech support guy’s instructions. This morning I actually had the proper tools to accomplish this (the jewelers screwdrivers) and set on doing this. Dan meanwhile worked on getting the filter off of the other Tuttnauer autoclave. I eventually got the connection bridged and tried to start the JP model. The cycle pressured up and started running the program, but it failed about 17 minutes through the 20 minute cycle; this time with a different error message (Error 7). Also during this time I put back together the nebulizer whose fan had melted and it runs fine (but will overheat if run for long periods of time). This was annoying to get back together at first due to the tubing being a pain, but it worked and is now functioning again (so check that one off the list of final projects). BAM! Thanks to the tech support dude I also now am in possession of the manual for this model and was able to look up the error (which was a loss of pressure alarm (probably caused by a leak in the drainage valve)). Additionally we could physically see the autoclave leaking around the drainage valve and we were waiting for the unit to cool down to open the unit.

Two tiny red wires (eventually cut down to 1) for the bridged connection to get the JP selectra unit running!

That melted fan nebulizer back together and working (without a fan)

Look at that 'clave just doing it's thing!

Dan was going to head to the hospital, open the filter and clean it and then return to work on the autoclaves after checking on bus times for Managua on Friday and checking at the bike shop. I was going to stay and wait for Dan to get back, but since I found out the error was from a leak I decided to head out and catch Dan and grab the wrenches to tighten the drainage plug. I headed out directly to the bus station and started asking around and found out there are buses at 6 AM, 12 PM, 2:30, 4, 6 and 8 (keep in mind the ride is a 6.5 hour trip minimum). The bike shop seemed to be open and then I continued to the hospital; not seeing Dan at all on the way there or at the hospital. I then decided to start heading back and saw him approaching the hospital. He had found the bus times to be around 8 AM additionally. After that we opened the filter and looked at it and it was quite clean. We then sealed the filter and I grabbed the wrenches to head back to the centro de salud. The wrenches included the adjustable wrench and this Bioshock or Prey worth orange pipe wrench which I walked to the centro de salud with (unfortunately I only had to use the adjustable, but the thought was there to use the other). Dan decided he was best suited staying at the hospital and working on the foam chair project (reinforcing the seat cushion with more foam) and talking to Marlon more about our chain project, so he stayed there while I trekked again back to the clinic to work on the autoclaves. When I got there I put the filter back in the Tuttnauer and got that ready for the cycle. I also tightened the drainage plug on the JP selecta model and tried running the cycle that had initially incited the “Error 8” code and waited for the cycle to run. After that I put back together the printer for the lady downstairs. The printer had an interesting feature to it when I put it back together (it would turn on, but would only really stay on if the power button was held or sometimes not even stay on at all O.o). It was quite strange, so I left it to sit for a bit.

Printer and nebulizer in various states of needing parts (printer needs a drop out the second story window and replaced it seems)

Dan clearly enjoying waiting for autoclaves to finish their cycles

"Gato" (one of the techs at the hospital he looks more serious here than he ever is in real life)

Respectable wrenches to tighten that small grey hex nut to the right of the chair (in front of the bronze box)

After that Dan eventually showed up (he had finished at the hospital and come to see how progress on the autoclaves was coming. I had also gotten the printer to finally turn on and stay on by this point (by using the good ‘ole let it sit for 10 minutes trick), but now it would turn on and display a red error message LED. I tried connecting it to my computer, but I have to get the driver for the printer (so maybe later I can see what the issue is). After that Dan and I chilled for the rest of the autoclave cycle and it completed without issue! Fantastic! BAM! FIXED! I also moved the Tuttnauer autoclave and plugged it in and held the manual water fill button for a while and got the unit to fill with water (and the cycle would actually run too!). So it looks like that filter just needed the ‘ole Mad Eye Moody eyeball to scare it back into working (and maybe the manual pumping too), but now the cycles run on the Tuttnauer (the one where I had to short the reset switch on the back). BAM! Potentially two autoclaves that are working! Anyways both autoclaves seem to be running, but the Tuttnauer one seems to require some minimal manual filling of the chamber, but that is easy to do with a button. After both cycles completed and I was waiting for the autoclaves to cool a bit, I decided to go grab lunch at the pizza place (Dan had already headed over there). By the time I got there around 1, the pizza was already out and was the good chicken with cheese in the crust variety. I had my laptop and searched for the Xerox printer driver (which was now working but not installing on my computer). I was able to find something that didn’t help as it turns out because the program merely seems to be a way to add another printer (that is not USB) -.-// not just drivers. Anyways I got the wifi at the Pizza place and it was some of the fastest wifi I’ve experienced here in Nicaragua. After about 30 minutes or so Dan and I headed out (him to go work at the hospital on the drilling project and I to go to the centro de salud and run another cycle on the autoclaves before sending them back. I also was tasked with figuring out how to print this map from AutoCAD 2007 for Guillermo. He had this cool map of San Carlos and wanted to print sections of it. After some searching and reading the Spanish help (the program was in Spanish) I found the “window” printing tool (which allows the user to select a window region to put on a piece of paper. I then showed him how to do this and he happily started printing out the parts of the map he wanted. I also started the cycles and they both were running when the power cut out to half of the room (including the outlet for the autoclaves). I figured this was a sign to stop and go help Dan (so I turned them off and headed back downstairs and was able to just catch a truck going from the centro to the SILAIS place on the hospital grounds, so I rode back with them to the hospital and hopped out. Back at the hospital Dan was still waiting outside the hospital repair shop as it was like 2:30 and the gate was still locked. About when I got there though a guy came and unlocked it (convenient). Anyways we grabbed the tools to start our drilling project (bolts, nuts, washers, painted metal squares and drill and headed over to the wall to start). We started off kind of rocky as we drilled about 1” and then hit this metal thing that we never figured out what it was. We shifted our hole back on the wall a few inches and made it through after some frustrating times from the drill loosening the drill bit holder and not spinning the bit. We also had to deal with another seemingly metal thing in the path of the bolt and the bit not being long enough to pass through the hole. We used the good hammer and bolt technique to help the bolt through the center part of the drilling and drilled the other end as well (expertly measures with a hotplate and using eye approximations). After that the bolt fit in well and we put the metal plate on the wall and it looks legit now! After some more finicky work with the other hole, we managed to get the bolt through (much easier) and proceeded to drill the holes on the other part of the hospital wall (through the wall into the inside of the hospital (we were already getting power through the window with an extension cord so…). This proved to be slightly more time intensive as we would have to wait between patients and doctors in the room conversing (as they use this room as a minor checkup room). So after waiting between patients and actually finding a longer drill bit that works better, we were able to get the other two bolts in. During this time I also drilled the tube hole in the bike rim (which somehow we used yesterday and still got the other 3 holes for the handgrip on the rim perfect). I then took the wheel to the bike shop and he says it’ll cost $260 (about $11) and take about an hour, so we’ll do that tomorrow morning. After I got back and we finished putting the bolts in, we called it a day at 4:30 PM. All we really have left is to drill 8 more holes and put in the chain and we’ll be done. I returned to the clinic to try running the autoclaves again, but partway into the cycle just half of the room lost power (conveniently the side with the autoclave outlet) so I called it a day and returned to the hostel. Tomorrow is the last day of working (as we’ll be leaving on Friday hopefully on the 7 or 8 AM bus.