I don't know if the core of what I have been trying to say is clear, or not. But Bill did hit on a different way of saying it. Once a long time ago, there was no such thing as an anti-afterfire fuel solenoid on any brand of outdoor power. Back in those days, everybody's outdoor power engines might pop if you shut them down without a short cool down idle period. Some engines and applications did not pop as much as others, due to different configurations of the exhaust muffler or length of exhaust pipe. Then suddenly, back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the anti-afterfire solenoids began to appear. So, the only way to solve your problem is to have a true professional, well experienced, small engine technician/mechanic evaluate your old tractor and tell you whether or not the tractor ever has an anti-afterfire solenoid on it. If you can remember a time when it did not pop when you shut it down, there may be hope that there is something faulty with an existing solenoid. But if the tractor never was equipped with the anti-afterfire solenoid valve system in the first place, then you are going to have to spend some money to have it retrofitted to behave like a modern tractor. It's kind of like if you want a 1935 Chevrolet with air conditioning on it, you are going to have to pay someone to put it on there because they did not have air conditioned cars back then.

Thanks Mownie, thorough post. I purchased a couple of inline shutoffs last time I did a parts order online. They were originally for my snow blowers, but I think I'll be putting one to use for this Toro. That's definitely a sure way of stopping the fuel flow. As for the function of the solenoid valve, I appreciate your explanation. I'll have to see how the seat of the needle looks, or perhaps just rebuild the carburetor to be safe. The small engine ship that I purchased the engine from claimed the carb. was dipped before they shipped it. The sheared flywheel key makes since, that would throw the timing off enough to cause the backfiring, odd exhaust behavior and stumbling on acceleration/deceleration. I'll have to get the exact Model Number on the valve cover for torque specs on the flywheel bolt. I've had my trusty 38" Wizard for almost 20 years now. I figured I'd revive the nice, newer Toro and save it from the scrap yard. Hopefully all this trouble will pay off in the end... Thanks again, Nick

Thanks for that link - very helpful read. So, I'm still trying to wrap my brain around all this before I go to far. Let me explain. First, I'm trying just to understand how this works. I understand it in theory and in that article but, in our setup, it looks like all it is really servicing is the water spigot on the side of the house. The water comes in from the left, down into the tank and also to the right through the honey well then just... on to the water spigot that comes off the house. That's it. Now, I CAN simply unthread the pipe a bit further down, and then into another pipe right by it, to hook the house to the well water in an emergency - as it was shown and explained to me by the seller. So, is it to keep and regulate pressure to the house, its there just in case of that? That might all make sense to me except, why does it make the bang sound when I use water out in the yard from a different spigot. I can't seem to understand how it is even involved there. I see the one pipe go into it. That's it. So anyway, on to what the article says, and others after I've googled a bunch. So, banging on the side of it, it does sorta sound more thud ish than hollow, so I do wonder if it is water logged. I understand if it is water logged the pump will turn on immediately any time you use the water. That is the case here. It does have the air valve at the top, and air does come out - not water. So that is good. I read I need it to be pre charged to the psi (minus 2) of what the pressure needs to be for the pump to turn on. Or two less than the .. in (something). I can't find the exact term again as I type this but it was in-something. SO now what I'm trying to figure out. How do I find out what that number is, I don't see anything on the pump. Am I to put the pressure valve on the drain at the bottom and see what it is? If it's over pressured or under pressured wouldn't that give a bad reading? Is that what the honeywell is for? It says 50psi It looks like on the right. I don't know what the "diff" is on the left. So, should I turn off the pump, drain everything, drain the tank, then pressurize (or depressurize) the air to 48 psi? Everything I see says this is a simple task and I feel like I'm almost there, almost understanding it... just not quite there yet. One thing I do know for sure, it's a good sign water didn't come out of the air inlet. ;)

Nevada, NW of Reno, and something between 1350 and 1400 sq ft. - Checked and it is 1394 sq ft according to the realtor listing. It is a single story ranch on a slab. I am at something between 5000 and 5200 feet in altitude. I looked the furnace up on the Bryant website and it is 80% efficiency but I don't know which of the listed BTUs on the label should be used to determine the proper size of the furnace. The ceilings are insulated but the walls have little or no insulation to my knowledge. The calculator to which I was referred gives a result of approx 70k BTU. So if the highest listed BTUs on the label (88k) is the correct one to use for the size calculation, that results is 80% of 88k = 70,400 BTUs - so it would seem the furnace is properly sized. If that is NOT the correct value for BTUs, all the others listed on the label are less than that and the furnace must then be too small. We do normally get a lot of solar exposure here which may or may not enter into things. I have never set the heat higher than 68F and it is usually set to 60F at night and whenever I am gone. I'm on a fixed income so I watch those bills like a hawk and just wear more clothes. I did find a registry to look the business up as far as licensure, and it states he is licensed and the license is active. Keep in mind there is no AC so until it got quite cold here the furnace - or more correctly the blower - was not being used. I turned it on sometime in late Oct or early Nov. So before that there was no fan noise because the unit was not being used at all. The furnace is centrally located so that duct runs are shorter than usual. These houses were military housing for Air Force Brass and whatever else you could say about them, the floor plan and layout are quite efficient.