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If you can't fix it with a sledge hammer.....

Hi All,

I had an old friend whose favourite saying was, "If you can't fix it with a sledge hammer and an oxy torch it ain't worth fixing".

Anyway, despite knowing better technically it sometimes amuses me to "bush mechanic" fix things just out of interest in seeing how long the bodgy repair lasts.

Many years ago my electric hot water service suddenly delivered luke warm water. Two days before Christmas too, lucky it wasn't two days after Christmas.

Anyway, I pulled out the heating element which was open circuit and quickly rushed out and bought a new heating element for about $120. I installed the new element and voila! Hot water again. Before Christmas Day too. :)

Well, some more years passed and I had no hot water again.

Oh no, not the element failed again!

Anyway, it so happened the old element was still about the place and so I got it out and I found the break in the element's nichrome heating wire. So I just twisted the two ends together with my pliers just to make the circuit whole again.

I hopped up in the roof and put my bodgy repaired element in the hot water service. Down the ladder and look at the power meter and the little wheel is spinning madly. Great! Hot water again.

However when I checked the element I took out there was nothing wrong with it. It turned out I had a dodgy connection elswhere which I subsequently fixed.

Anyway, it was too hard to be bothered putting the new element back in the hot water service. Hey, the water was hot, wasn't it?

That was years and years ago, and the bodgy repair heating element is still heating the water perfectly.

I wish I'd thought of that before I spent $120 on the new element. Not that I'm short of $120, but it is nice to do a job real cheap and get away with it. :)

Ross

Reply to
RMD
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The common name for an oxy torch in agricultural engineering is the 'blue spanner'.

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Regards,

Adrian Jansen           adrianjansen at internode dot on dot net
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Reply to
Adrian Jansen

Where I was brung up it was a red-and-black spanner (hose colours).

Reply to
who where

And for the rev heads lowering their cars it was the "CIG lowering kit"

Reply to
Dennis

Where I worked it was either called the "hot spanner" or else the "gas axe".

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Regards,

Chas.

(To email me, replace "xxx" with letters tango papa golf.)
Reply to
Chas

Oxy Spanner or Gas Axe in my neck of the woods. The sledge hammer was either a "Persuader" or a "Knockometer"..

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Krypsis
Reply to
Krypsis

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