The Secret Life of Machines - How The Things Around You Work

Knowing how things work is key to maintaining and repairing them. It's also key to cannibalizing components to keep other things running or salvaging to make something needed. We may be soon in an environment where this becomes a necessary skill set.

Refrigerators, for example rarely get tossed because they no longer work. It's normally a breakdown of the interior plastics. Salvaging one or perhaps a freezer from a junkyard if needed will likely work though it may need some interior repair.

I loved watching this series when it was new on PBS just to help understand the things around me. To me it's still fascinating. Though there is more electronic/digital control in modern equivalents the fundamentals are still the same.

Open in YouTube to see the entire playlist of all episodes

 

Tens of thousands of vacuums are discarded because the hose is plugged, that’s it! Don’t ever buy one, roam the college housing and just look. You’ll see. Lol. College.

 

And the compressor from a deceased refrigerator/freezer makes a useful vacuum pump for freeze drying among other uses.

 

They forgot to mention the rainbow vacuum which uses water to filter the air, especially better than other vacuums because it is not releasing dust back into the atmosphere and maintains its suction power, unlike paper filters that clog up and the finer dust is released back into the atmosphere.
Another type called a central vacuum puts the machine in a location outside the house and the house is plumbed to it so that you only carry a hose through the house from port to port, and it picks up everything including water. For convenience, there is a switch for the vacuum at each port, as well as a beater brush at the head. The vacuum unit is basically the same as a shop vac. Although I might tend to incorporate a water type filtering system ( maybe a toilet tank) reducing the need for paper filters and the residue could be piped down the drain.

 

A show I liked years ago, though I didn’t see many episodes as I didn’t have cable was Junk Yard Wars.

Perfect examples of what one can do with junk in SHTF aftermath.

I had a couple good buddies with great inventing and problem solving skills as well as metal fabrication skills. I figured we could kick some ass and tried to get us entered but windows for application were crazy short, like just a few days and they’d fill up and close and after a couple misses then the show ended. Rats.

 

Was a big fan of Junk Yard Wars, especially in the beginning.

 

My Dad installed a central vac when I was a kid. MUCH more powerful than other units. The house I'm in now is plumbed for one, but the Mrs. is sold on her Dysan so it isn't worth the battle. The Dysan does OK, but I do like how a central vac won't release dust back into the house.

 

Look for the "Pet" Specific vacuums, as they usually have higher power motors and more suction power, they also (Usually) have a better dust collection system! I have tried several of the high end units, including a Kerby, and they didn't do that well! Found a really trick 1960's Hover metal body that kind of works like the Kerby, but is WAY WAY better! These can be kept running forever if you know how! With 4 YUGE doggies that track all sorts of stuff into the house, plus the dander and metric yards of hair during the shed, a vacuum like this is a must have!

Old Fridge compressors can be re-purposed into regular air compressors and/or vacuum pumps.
Washing machines can be re-purposed into many different things, and so can driers!

 

With electrical devices, the most common problem and cause of failure, is the "switch."
The second problem is people using extension cords. They are a giant resistor that drops the voltage the longer it is and the more connections that are made. If you have an infrared thermometer and put a load on the cord you will see that at each connection the temp is higher=added resistance.
In some cases, I replace these failure points with better more suitable products extending the life of my equipment, I also avoid using long extension cords if I can, especially on tools that draw more amperage than the cord and its circuit can handle.