Use a non-working fridge to store finishes

Re: Use a non-working fridge to store finishes

Barry Irby

I grew up on a farm and we had a pump house. We put a similar setup in it to keep it from freezing. For safety we used two bulbs in case one of them went out. Better stock up on bulbs, it's getting hard to find incandescent bulbs and in your case you must have bulbs that put out heat.

Re: wells and animals..

david weaver

I didn't grow up on a farm, but my parents did, so we did a lot of things they learned to do. Generally, anyone with a pump house did as you say - used light bulbs to keep everything from freezing.

We also used light bulbs whenever a stray animal showed up in winter until a permanent owner was found (usually cats). Box, towel, light bulb. Never had a fire, but if we had, it would've been outside. Relatives also did the same thing with dog houses in the winter (none of them have dog houses, but 70s and 80s, still plenty of property guarding dogs that were kept outside at night) - light bulb in the dog house, towel over the door.

I guess now that incandescent bulbs are getting more scarce, there are more elegant ways to do those things. But it's never difficult to tell if a bulb is working.

For purposes of heat more than light, there are also long life bulbs available now. They are lower lumens per watt and sometimes duller less bright light casting in terms of color - but they're easy to find thanks to the magic of the internet and not targeted to fail based on the arbitrary 1000 hour standard chosen by the light bulb cartel (I've seen several 20K hour bulbs, also recommended for places with intermittent power issues as the on off cycle doesn't shorten their lives as much).

solvent storage

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

Obviously good place for stuff in water. Not such a good idea for solvent based finishes. A leak in a sealed space could result in a vapor concentration exceeding the flammability threshold and a spark would result in a BOOM!

Re: solvent storage...Good thought....

Barry Irby

My son raises exotic snakes (Green Tree Pythons). He has converted several Wine cooler type fridges to incubators. He uses some heating strips and very accurate thermostats as controllers. Would not be hard to figure out a way to keep all the connections outside the cabinet and the temp could be very low, just above freezing or even room temp.

New (someone else) End of Driveway Find

Gary Smyth

FREEBEE Today about noon.

Exactly the repurpose you mentioned. Couldn't ask for better. Drinks for the summer. Light bulb wire through drain for winter. Needs plug for water this summer. No actual damage I can see except possibly bowed center -- easily corrected.

I'll remember NOT to store Muriatic acid in a closed space this time.

Incandescent bulb life

John K Jordan

>>>...I do have to check it every few days to be sure the bulb has not burned out, but bulbs have lasted for many months even though they are on for several months.

If you use an incandescent bulb with higher wattage than you need and put it on a dimmer the bulb will last practically forever. As a bonus you can fine tune the temperature if you want.

I have some great desk lamps with halogen bulbs and I never turn the brightness up all the way. So far the bulbs have lasted for over two decades.

You get a little of the longer life benefit if you buy bulbs rated for 130 volt instead of 120 volt but they are harder to find. In fact, as mentioned, many incandescent bulbs are getting harder to find. Some years ago I bought a lifetime supply of a variety of 130v incandescent bulbs. I'll know my time is up when I run out of bulbs.

JKJ

Dimmer is a good idea...

david weaver

..but the 5000 hour and 20k hour bulbs will be around forever or close to it thanks to China.

My dad (he's got plenty of money and still abides by the old adage of turn the light off if you're not using it right that second) has zero fluorescent bulbs in the house except for tubes in fixtures, and no LEDs. it's like stepping back to the 1990s to go to their house. He just refuses to modernize.

My wife is on the opposite end of the spectrum. I can go home from work, look around and there are 14 different lights on and everyone is outside. LED is in everything in the house now. Stings a little less. In the summer with incandescents I used to hate that. There would be a KW of light bulbs on during the day making a KW of heat that we were using some part of a KW with the air conditioner to counteract. I was constantly turning lights off, but now the mrs stays home with the kids so there are three of them that do that.

I'm conscious of electricity use not because I have some activist bend, I just don't like unnecessary waste.

At any rate, I'm sure that my dad will continue to find bulbs at flea markets (from china), etc, so that he doesn't have to change his ways. When we switched to fluorescent, I had a couple of dozen incandescent bulbs - it was easy to find a place for them to go.

Re: Dimmer is a good idea...

William Duffield

Just control all your lights with motion detectors.

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