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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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5th Mar 2018, 5:51 pm | #101 |
Heptode
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Scarborough, North Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 507
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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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5th Mar 2018, 10:18 pm | #102 | |
Hexode
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Weymouth, Dorset, UK.
Posts: 422
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Re: Don't try this at home
Quote:
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6th Mar 2018, 2:00 pm | #103 |
Pentode
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 192
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Re: Don't try this at home
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. |
6th Mar 2018, 2:43 pm | #104 | |
Nonode
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Cambridge, Cambs. UK.
Posts: 2,196
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Re: Don't try this at home
Quote:
Martin
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6th Mar 2018, 5:29 pm | #105 |
Retired Dormant Member
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Shropshire, UK.
Posts: 3,051
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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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6th Mar 2018, 5:39 pm | #106 | |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 13,953
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Re: Don't try this at home
Quote:
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6th Mar 2018, 9:51 pm | #107 | |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Bewdley, Worcestershire, UK.
Posts: 4,736
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Re: Don't try this at home
Quote:
Phil
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Phil Optimist [n]: One who is not in possession of the full facts |
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7th Mar 2018, 5:50 am | #108 |
Banned
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Middlewich, Cheshire, UK. & Winter in the Philippines.
Posts: 3,897
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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? |
7th Mar 2018, 9:17 am | #109 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Bewdley, Worcestershire, UK.
Posts: 4,736
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Re: Don't try this at home
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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Phil Optimist [n]: One who is not in possession of the full facts |
10th Mar 2018, 4:26 am | #110 |
Tetrode
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Gloucester, Glos. UK.
Posts: 71
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Re: Don't try this at home
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. |
10th Mar 2018, 6:01 am | #111 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Biggin Hill, London, UK.
Posts: 5,190
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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.. |
10th Mar 2018, 9:06 am | #112 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Bewdley, Worcestershire, UK.
Posts: 4,736
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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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Phil Optimist [n]: One who is not in possession of the full facts |
10th Mar 2018, 9:42 am | #113 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: West Cumbria (CA13), UK
Posts: 6,118
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Re: Don't try this at home
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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Mending is better than Ending (cf Brave New World by Aldous Huxley) Last edited by Dave Moll; 10th Mar 2018 at 9:47 am. |
10th Mar 2018, 10:43 am | #114 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Bewdley, Worcestershire, UK.
Posts: 4,736
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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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Phil Optimist [n]: One who is not in possession of the full facts |
10th Mar 2018, 11:23 am | #115 |
Nonode
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Tintinara, South Australia, Australia
Posts: 2,324
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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. |
10th Mar 2018, 12:01 pm | #116 |
Retired Dormant Member
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: Bath, Somerset, UK.
Posts: 1
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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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10th Mar 2018, 12:20 pm | #117 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: West Cumbria (CA13), UK
Posts: 6,118
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Re: Don't try this at home
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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Mending is better than Ending (cf Brave New World by Aldous Huxley) |
10th Mar 2018, 1:13 pm | #118 | |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Kington, Herefordshire, UK.
Posts: 3,657
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Re: Don't try this at home
Quote:
There, I feel better now. |
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10th Mar 2018, 1:38 pm | #119 |
Guest
Posts: n/a
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Re: Don't try this at home
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?
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10th Mar 2018, 3:54 pm | #120 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: North Wales, UK.
Posts: 6,884
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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. |