Dumpster diving
12 October 2009, 04:31 PM
#1
Dumpster diving
Forgive the Americanism, but is anyone here guilty of such an act?
I am
I recently found a Black and Decker leaf blower/vac in a skip. Didn't look too bad, everything there barring the cable, so I grabbed it.
Took it apart (to see what was wrong and fit a new cable), and found the safety interlock had worn to the point it wouldn't allow the main switch to work. Quick bodge with a piece of rubber grommet and bingo, fully working leaf blower for free! The same model blower is on the shelf at B&Q for over £80!
Anyone had any similar success?
I am
I recently found a Black and Decker leaf blower/vac in a skip. Didn't look too bad, everything there barring the cable, so I grabbed it.
Took it apart (to see what was wrong and fit a new cable), and found the safety interlock had worn to the point it wouldn't allow the main switch to work. Quick bodge with a piece of rubber grommet and bingo, fully working leaf blower for free! The same model blower is on the shelf at B&Q for over £80!
Anyone had any similar success?
12 October 2009, 05:19 PM
#2
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In the mid 90s a guy I worked with was travelling through Wilmslow and saw two labourers hoofing a kitchen unit towards a skip. He stopped and asked thenm if he could take a look. They had already put one unit in the skip, but the other 20 or so were stacked outside the hosue waiting to be discarded.
On the spot he told them he would take them all including the partially damaged one in the skip and hired a Luton van to transport them and phoned in on the sick in order to do it there and then before they changed their mind.
The kitchen was a less than 6 month old Pogenpol (spelling?) solid wood kitchen that the previous owners had installed as part of a renovation. The new owners didn't like it and hence had it removed. Even then the retail value was somewhere around £12K. Now that is proper scavenging
On the spot he told them he would take them all including the partially damaged one in the skip and hired a Luton van to transport them and phoned in on the sick in order to do it there and then before they changed their mind.
The kitchen was a less than 6 month old Pogenpol (spelling?) solid wood kitchen that the previous owners had installed as part of a renovation. The new owners didn't like it and hence had it removed. Even then the retail value was somewhere around £12K. Now that is proper scavenging
12 October 2009, 05:50 PM
#4
Yep Im guilty of it as well,
I got a laptop that only needed a new hard drive and dual core base unit.
I repaired them and handed them into the local primary school, just so they could be of some benefit.
My mate works in a recycling plant, the amount of furniture, old tv's and other elec goods getting trashed is beyond belief. He does say there is a queue of polish in the mornings looking for any freebies.
I got a laptop that only needed a new hard drive and dual core base unit.
I repaired them and handed them into the local primary school, just so they could be of some benefit.
My mate works in a recycling plant, the amount of furniture, old tv's and other elec goods getting trashed is beyond belief. He does say there is a queue of polish in the mornings looking for any freebies.
Last edited by slipstream_uk; 12 October 2009 at 05:54 PM.
13 October 2009, 11:09 AM
#6
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I saw a show on TV once, in which people lived in caravans and scavenged food out of skips. Not as bad as it sounds at first - it was supermarket skips they were taking from, and the food was fine, it just was just past the display by date. Makes you think, really - if the **** really hit the fan, you'd find a way to get by.
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13 October 2009, 01:55 PM
#11
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02 January 2010, 02:03 PM
#16
Dumpster Diving ptII
Looks like I have a new vacuum cleaner to clean the car out with. Spotted in a skip: Samsung cylinder vac. Looks ok, all tools present. Usual problem on cylinder vacs is a broken flex on the auto winder. So I grabbed it
Turned out some feejit was using plastic carrier bags instead of dustbags
How stupid are people, a bag has to be breathable to flow air. Plastic isn't breathable 
As such, air/dirt flowed its way round the badly home made cardboard flange and blocked up the motor pre and post filters. Causing it to overheat and trip the thermo-switch (lucky it had one otherwise it would have ruined the motor).
So took it apart, washed it all out in the bath, dried it, threw it back together, and adapated a generic S-bag to fit. And presto working as good as new. Impressive suction too!
Cost to fix £0.45p (for the new bag) and about 40mins messing.
Perfectly timed as well, as it seems the last car cleaning vac has died and it looks terminal (impellar dropped on the motor shaft, causing it to eat the fan casing and burning the brushes out in the process from overloading the motor). I might dump it in the same skip
Turned out some feejit was using plastic carrier bags instead of dustbags
How stupid are people, a bag has to be breathable to flow air. Plastic isn't breathable As such, air/dirt flowed its way round the badly home made cardboard flange and blocked up the motor pre and post filters. Causing it to overheat and trip the thermo-switch (lucky it had one otherwise it would have ruined the motor).So took it apart, washed it all out in the bath, dried it, threw it back together, and adapated a generic S-bag to fit. And presto working as good as new. Impressive suction too!
Cost to fix £0.45p (for the new bag) and about 40mins messing.Perfectly timed as well, as it seems the last car cleaning vac has died and it looks terminal (impellar dropped on the motor shaft, causing it to eat the fan casing and burning the brushes out in the process from overloading the motor). I might dump it in the same skip
< gets coat > )
02 January 2010, 03:09 PM
#20
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My archery clubs kitchen came form this activity. A hotel was having a refit. Full stainless steel kitchen is now installed in a portakabin in the woods.
We now have to run a 7.5kva genny to run the bugger!! Mind you that aint suprizing cosidering we run lights, 2 deep fat fryers, a microwave and a few other things. The cooker and griddle plate was bodged to run off calor bottles and the fridge came out of a boat and runs off calor too.
We now have to run a 7.5kva genny to run the bugger!! Mind you that aint suprizing cosidering we run lights, 2 deep fat fryers, a microwave and a few other things. The cooker and griddle plate was bodged to run off calor bottles and the fridge came out of a boat and runs off calor too.
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