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Other Vintage Household Electrical or Electromechanical Items For discussions about other vintage (over 25 years old) electrical and electromechanical household items. See the sticky thread for details.

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Old 5th Mar 2018, 5:51 pm   #101
ex 2 Base
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Default Re: Don't try this at home

Most firemen were kept very busy no time for cooking or making even tea, they kept the water gauge glass up to the correct level, operated the injector, stoke the fire, cleaned the foot plate and kept a general lookout helping the driver. People would be surprised how lurching about the engine to the tender was, like a ship at sea, very hot on one side and draughty on the other. All diesel electrics had a small oven and hot plate, which operated from a separate supply, not from the main generator, similar voltage to the cab lights 110 V. Some straight diesels station pilots, didn't have cookers or hot plates. Never saw cooking on the shovel, good for TV and preservation railways publicity. Ted
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Old 5th Mar 2018, 10:18 pm   #102
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Originally Posted by broadgage View Post
Before the general use of microwave ovens, I saw an interesting way of heating pies and tinned food.

This used an element intended for an electric cooker, the style*
that consisted of two concentric* spirals.
The food to be heated was placed on the inner element but only the outer element was turned on. The food was thus subjected to intense radiant heat and heated rapidly, but not easily burnt.
The inner element could be used, but only via a momentary action switch. A few seconds operation would heat the base of the pie.

This glorious bodge was supported on a few bricks.

*for those unfamiliar with these elements, some electric cookers had one such ring to allow economical use of a small pan on the inner ring only, but the flexibility to fully heat a large pan.
Control via a special Simmerstat control that was turned one way for only the inner element, and the other way for both.
We had a cooker like that a Belling Lee we thought it was very posh being able to do this
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Old 6th Mar 2018, 2:00 pm   #103
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I was told of someone who had a cylinder vac and he didn't like the smell from it, so he sprayed orange scent silicone spray down the pipe with it switched on.
Must have had butane propellant in the aerosol as it exploded and blew the vac to bits.
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Old 6th Mar 2018, 2:43 pm   #104
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My late nan had a Y adaptor in the 1970's whereby she could unplug the ceiling lightbulb and fit the Y adaptor to incorporate 2 bayonet sockets, one for the light bulb, and the other my nan used to plug her iron in!
As long as the flex to the ceiling rose was appropriately rated and located in cord grips, this once popular arrangement had the merit that the iron flex wasn't a trip hazard because it went upwards instead of down to a socket. There was little risk of accidentally dragging the iron off the ironing board.

Martin
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Old 6th Mar 2018, 5:29 pm   #105
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Default Re: Don't try this at home

I commissioned a small factory years ago, and specified hanging sockets based on just that observation.
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Old 6th Mar 2018, 5:39 pm   #106
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Originally Posted by Hartley118 View Post
As long as the flex to the ceiling rose was appropriately rated and located in cord grips, this once popular arrangement had the merit that the iron flex wasn't a trip hazard because it went upwards instead of down to a socket. There was little risk of accidentally dragging the iron off the ironing board.

Martin
The only downside being the lack of earth for the iron. Having seen how rapidly iron-flexes deteriorate due to the repeated movement [breaking the fine strands in the wire so they either go open-circuit or the ends of the broken strands burrow through the insulation between the individual cores] I'd consider an iron to be one of the bits of domestic kit where I'd really like a reliable earth.
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Old 6th Mar 2018, 9:51 pm   #107
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Originally Posted by TonyDuell View Post
Talking of bed warmers...
Two bare wirewound elements on asbestos formers... The case can be unscrewed by hand to reveal the live parts... perhaps in the 1930s it was accepted that no user would ever do anything so stupid as to unscrew the case whilst the heater was plugged in. Today, we know different!
I've taken some pics of said "Veret" bedwarmer. I was wrong in that the elements are not bare but appear to be wrapped in very thin mica. This unit appears to have received some repair efforts (soft solder?) so I don't think I'll be powering it up. I like the label saying "foolproof" - but that doesn't mean idiot-proof

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Old 7th Mar 2018, 5:50 am   #108
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Default Re: Don't try this at home

Just the thing, Phil, to slip under your brown work coat when its freezing in Gripton's at the BC Museum.
Is there any heating in there?
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Old 7th Mar 2018, 9:17 am   #109
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Thanks for the "helpful" suggestion, Sam, and your concern for my welfare! I hope you won't be offended if I don't implement the idea though, as Gripton's has a perfectly good 21st century 3kW fan heater concealed beneath the 1939 workbench!
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Old 10th Mar 2018, 4:26 am   #110
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In 1972 my father inherited a Rogers Vitalator from his grandfather. This was a 1920s electro therapy device designed to apply high voltage, high frequency but low current electricity to virtually every part of the human body. The polished wooden case contained several glass vacuum tube electrodes, a large bakelite handle and a fabric braided mains flex terminated in a 2-pin bayonet plug. I was forbade from plugging it in.

According to the manual rectal electrodes (for the treatment of haemorrhoids) and an ozone inhaler accouterment were also available. I doubt either would meet with modern medical approval.

When my sister and I were sorting out father’s things decades later we found it in the loft. Part of me still wanted to plug it in and try it out. However, discretion compounded by the dire warnings from my childhood prevailed and in the end I sold it untested to a work colleague.
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Old 10th Mar 2018, 6:01 am   #111
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Default Re: Don't try this at home

I have one of those 'Quack' devices too, I think basically it's a Tesla coil. I have no intention of using it for the original purpose, although I might restore it and use it as a Tesla coil in my workshop.

Amazingly I found it in a charity shop with a modern PAT sticker on it. On the grounds it had fraying cloth-covered flex I do wonder quite how it passed the tests..
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Old 10th Mar 2018, 9:06 am   #112
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Default Re: Don't try this at home

It's quite possible to get an old appliance to 'pass' the electrical test part of a portable appliance test, especially if it's un-earthed, but it will definitely not meet modern Class II standards of reinforced insulation, and the formal visual inspection of that fraying mains flex should (if diligently conducted by a trained operator) have resulted in an instant fail. Having a PAT sticker undoubtedly enhances the price that charity shops can ask for an electrical item, so it's a bit naughty (not to mention illegal) if they're putting PAT stickers on dodgy appliances.
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Old 10th Mar 2018, 9:42 am   #113
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I find that some (less scrupulous) testers seem to limit their test to plugging the appliance into their portable appliance testing machine - and pass the item as long as this gives the correct readings, with no further inspection being carried out.

I bought an item some time ago at a local auction which, when I opened the plug, was found to be incorrectly wired. Blue wire correctly connected to neutral, but brown wire connected to earth! At least it presented no electrical danger, given that the live/phase terminal was connected to nothing but thin air. Clearly, also, the earth leakage test was performed (if at all) without operating the on switch. PAT label attached nevertheless.
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Old 10th Mar 2018, 10:43 am   #114
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Default Re: Don't try this at home

The final stage of the PAT is a functional test - switch on and check that it works. If it doesn't, it's a fail and should get a red sticker.
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Old 10th Mar 2018, 11:23 am   #115
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Default Re: Don't try this at home

Funnily enough, I did the 'test & tag' course here in Oz some 18 months ago as I was one of several people elected to do the testing in the local Mens Shed.

No mention at all during the course of making sure the device worked after passing all the other requirements, which does seem an odd thing to leave out.
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Old 10th Mar 2018, 12:01 pm   #116
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Default Re: Don't try this at home

Until quite recently (the 90s) you could buy bayonet adaptors to enable appliances to be plugged into light fittings. This idea goes way back to when homes were first fitted out with electric light only. Sockets were expensive so an iron, hairdryer or whatever could.be powered.off the light fitting. Only trouble was that light fittings were low rated resulting in blown fuses or worse!
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Old 10th Mar 2018, 12:20 pm   #117
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I too was unaware of PAT including a "functional test". I've no first-hand experience beyond what I've read on t'internet, but I've always been told (particularly by my local auction house) that PAT is no assurance that an item works.
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Old 10th Mar 2018, 1:13 pm   #118
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Default Re: Don't try this at home

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Originally Posted by Dave Moll View Post
I find that some (less scrupulous) testers seem to limit their test to plugging the appliance into their portable appliance testing machine - and pass the item as long as this gives the correct readings, with no further inspection being carried out.
PAT, to my mind, is a snare and a delusion. It has become a commodity box-ticking exercise, and, like all such activities, is subject to such price pressure that it can't be done properly. It's one more example of substituting supposedly idiot-proof "procedures" for competence, and I speak as one who actually has the piece of paper and had (note the tense) the kit. Worst of all, it doesn't significantly improve the safety of the public.

There, I feel better now.
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Old 10th Mar 2018, 1:38 pm   #119
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A lot of charity shops don't sell electrical items for one reason or another (perceived liability I guess). Could they just stick "PAT Failed" red stickers on stuff and then sell it?
 
Old 10th Mar 2018, 3:54 pm   #120
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Default Re: Don't try this at home

I suppose they could! The final stage of the PAT is to switch on and see it works, but of course you couldn't guarantee a computer, for example, was in full working order! Hence the disclaimer.
My tester runs you through the tests you should do FIRST - i.e. 'Is plug OK? Is lead OK? Is fuse OK? Is case OK?'. Only when you've said yes to each of these can you start the powered test. In my experience most failures occur before the test proper.
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