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Topic: Hall thermostat gone blank and ticking like a timebomb  (Read 6008 times)

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Re: Hall thermostat gone blank and ticking like a timebomb
« Reply #15 on: September 26, 2017, 02:05:38 PM »
It was sooooo annoying.

I'm hindsight, I wonder if I'd called the fire department telling them the alarm was going off (a version of the truth) but no one was home, if they would have come by and maybe replaced the battery. Probably broken the door down in the process, but my problem would have been solved.  ;)

Story time!

I lived in a remote village of about 60 people and we were our own fire department so we had all the fire alarms set as sensitive as they would go.

When the weather would be dry (enough to create some dust) and then it would rain, the rain would displace the dust and set off the alarms. The whole village would respond with our usual fire procedure, even though we knew it was probably the dust setting off the alarm, just in case it was an actual fire.

The sensitive alarms also meant they'd go off from someone cooking/burning food. One guy liked to smoke salmon and he set off the alarm regularly. ::) We'd tell him if the alarm went off from him smoking salmon, he'd have to share.

We were also our own hydro power plant team and had a rota for which duo would sleep with the power outage alarm and respond to outages. One person would stay in the village with a radio and the other would head out to the small hydro plant and troubleshoot. I remember one Easter morning when i was on duty and it went off several times overnight. We could not for the life of us get it restarted so at 4am we had to wake up the village electrician.

We also were responsible for stoking the fire that heated all the houses. When it was really cold, it would need stoking every hour or two. Once when I was on duty in the dead of winter, I slept through my alarm and (as a 17 year old) had to get a fire going in the middle of a cold, snowy night so the other villagers didn't wake up cold. It was stressful to say the least.

Honestly I feel like the landlord should have intervened.  If the smoke alarm wasn't working and the place caught fire... 

Love the rural community story.  My uncle is a volunteer firefighter in their community.  His first fire call was their neighbor!!!  We all suspect he wanted some action.   ;)


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Re: Hall thermostat gone blank and ticking like a timebomb
« Reply #16 on: September 26, 2017, 03:01:36 PM »
Did he offer to change the headlight fluid in your car as well?


Hahhahahahahahahhaha. Reminds me of the time the guy at the muffler repair shop (a major USA chain. Name begins with M and ends with as) dragged installing the new muffler for like six hours, with me sitting with the much younger Daughter in the waiting room. Then came in and with a "ooh, this is serious" face on. Took me to my [four year old] car and pushed down on the back end. The car, of course, bounced back up. And he proceeded to tell me that I needed $800 worth of new struts because that was a sign of them going bad.

I read him the riot act then and there. The way I got my first car, so I could go to community college without having to walk six miles, was to rebuild an old car that had been parked in our back yard for a few years, rusting. Not only did I have to rebore the pistons, rebuild the carb, and redo the brakes (among other things), but I became well-acquainted with the various parts of an automobile (of that era) and their malfunctionings. I drove that old bomb for several years before someone hit me, and I got another car as part of the insurance settlement.

I ~hate~ it when they try to do that. Like watching the guys at Sears Automotive try to sell engine power-washings only to the older ladies in the waiting room, saying it was urgent it be done.  The look on my face when he tried that one must have been priceless, as Daughter got up between us and said something more diplomatic than I was about to say....

But yeah, that's a good one. Headlight fluid.  Must remember it. ;D

[And the remote village, actually, sounds pretty darned nice. I'm jealous!]


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Re: Hall thermostat gone blank and ticking like a timebomb
« Reply #17 on: September 26, 2017, 03:11:17 PM »
Kind of like getting some new sparks for the angle grinder. 

I also share your love for engines and have spent many hours tinkering, fixing and breaking engine powered stuff. 

I’m weighing the idea of buying a non working leaf blower so me and my boy (I’d invite the girl as well but she’d say no) can fix it and rev it up for a while.  I’d be sad if my kid couldn’t fix a two stroke carburettor. 

In fact, my father in law was never to impressed with me until we were up in a mountain cabin with no electricity and the two of us fixed the generator. I earned it that night.


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Re: Hall thermostat gone blank and ticking like a timebomb
« Reply #18 on: September 26, 2017, 03:18:48 PM »
Kind of like getting some new sparks for the angle grinder. 

I also share your love for engines and have spent many hours tinkering, fixing and breaking engine powered stuff. 

I’m weighing the idea of buying a non working leaf blower so me and my boy (I’d invite the girl as well but she’d say no) can fix it and rev it up for a while.  I’d be sad if my kid couldn’t fix a two stroke carburettor. 

In fact, my father in law was never to impressed with me until we were up in a mountain cabin with no electricity and the two of us fixed the generator. I earned it that night.

Oh, that sounds fun!

I have decided that I want to build a space station tracker. (Not quite small engine, but it's still fun.)  If I was in the States I'd go to Radio Shack for the parts. Not sure where to go here. Plus, I have to teach myself a bit of Python. Or con the Daughter, who is good with that side of things, to program it for me.  I've seen them done by other people - you set it so that a light turns on when the SS is about to be overhead....

If I had some room here (and we weren't three floors up) I'd build a little wind turbine and charge batteries to have for emergencies. Did one of those when I was a kid, with a big veggie tin. Have to remember what I did, but it wasn't complicated.

I really need either an attic or a basement, or a little shed out back, to do "stuff" in. But, alas, I have none. Gots a kitchen table, tho.... 8) ;D


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Re: Hall thermostat gone blank and ticking like a timebomb
« Reply #19 on: September 26, 2017, 03:30:51 PM »
That space station tracker idea sounds cool, and well doable.  Perfect for a raspberry pi. 

Here’s the neatest thing I’ve built lately and it would be perfect for your kitchen table



http://www.stirlingengine.co.uk/d.asp?product=KS90_SOL_KIT


I really want to build some more of these but can’t justify spending a few hundred quid each


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Re: Hall thermostat gone blank and ticking like a timebomb
« Reply #20 on: September 26, 2017, 03:33:35 PM »
Oh, BTW, the equivalent to Radio Shack here is Maplin’s.   At least down south it is.


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Re: Hall thermostat gone blank and ticking like a timebomb
« Reply #21 on: September 26, 2017, 03:36:34 PM »
OMG, I want the thing, I want the thing!!!!!!! 

That'd be more fun to watch than my radiometer.....

Of course, I'm way too cheap to shell out 90 quid. But I wonder what one can do with soup cans?  ::) :)

AHAH -
« Last Edit: September 26, 2017, 03:59:14 PM by Nan D. »


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Re: Hall thermostat gone blank and ticking like a timebomb
« Reply #22 on: September 26, 2017, 03:54:13 PM »
Oh, BTW, the equivalent to Radio Shack here is Maplin’s.   At least down south it is.


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Re: Hall thermostat gone blank and ticking like a timebomb
« Reply #23 on: September 26, 2017, 03:55:55 PM »
Maplins. Got it. Thanks! :)  I went in there for a computer cord a couple of months ago and didn't look around.  May have to visit it soon.


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Re: Hall thermostat gone blank and ticking like a timebomb
« Reply #24 on: September 26, 2017, 04:00:31 PM »
I built a cheaper sterling engine once that had wooden parts and ran off a candle.  It was fun but wonky.  The one pictured runs off a cup of tea and looks way cool. 



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Re: Hall thermostat gone blank and ticking like a timebomb
« Reply #25 on: September 26, 2017, 04:03:08 PM »
Loving the chat about engines.  Not quite the same, but I'm currently building a yeast stirring plate for the brewing.  Parts cost me £8 off ebay. Homebrewing standard yeast stirring plates start at at least £80.

I'm having to do the end of season lawn mower maintenance soon and I'm getting very excited.

Yes Maplin is the place.  Lots of fun to go in there! 
I've never gotten food on my underpants!
Work permit (2007) to British Citizen (2014)
You're stuck with me!


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Re: Hall thermostat gone blank and ticking like a timebomb
« Reply #26 on: September 26, 2017, 04:07:20 PM »
Here’s my currently stalled project



It’s like the rotor from an electric motor but suspended by magnets.  When light hits the solar cells, it generates current which interacts with the magnetic field to make it spin. 

I’ve done the winding of the wires but now I need to solder on the solar cells.  I’m afraid my sucky soldering will make it unbalanced so I’ve stopped working on it.


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Re: Hall thermostat gone blank and ticking like a timebomb
« Reply #27 on: September 26, 2017, 04:09:56 PM »
I figured you’d be along Phatbeetle!  Today is engine day on UKYankee.


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Re: Hall thermostat gone blank and ticking like a timebomb
« Reply #28 on: September 26, 2017, 04:14:42 PM »
Just googled yeast stir plates, looks like a fun thing to build.  Do you drop a piece of metal in the beaker?


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Re: Hall thermostat gone blank and ticking like a timebomb
« Reply #29 on: September 26, 2017, 04:20:37 PM »
That solar magnetic engine is awesome!

You use a magnetic rod in the erlenmeyer flask. A screw would probably work fine, but given how cheap they are, it's easy enough to get.
My cheap one is like this:
Cylindrical PTFE Stirring Bars
I've never gotten food on my underpants!
Work permit (2007) to British Citizen (2014)
You're stuck with me!


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