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Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 1,143
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the practice of removing a blown fuse in a UK 13A plug and covering it in silver foil before replacing it !!!!

Seen that a few times when doing automotive electrical work in my youth!

"Hey the radio fuse blew, and we don't have another one!"

"got any gum?" <wrap wrap> "OK, It's fixed!"

Of course, that only works with the aluminized Wrigley's wrappers [Linked Image]

Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 394
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I can't vouch for this but I've seen the story a couple of times. A couple of southern gentlemen were far back in the woods doing what they do with .22 cal. rifles. It got late and was dark on the way out. As luck would have it, the fuse for the headlights blew. It was a dark and moonless forest road and they were going nowhere without lights. A frantic search revealed notning useful anywhere in the truck. It was then one of them noticed a .22 LR was the same size as the fuse. He popped it in place and off they went. The hospital report later described the accident and the gunshot wound in the driver's foot. There was a real short and the bullet got hot and discharged. The pain in his foot caused the driver to lose control and crash. (If its not true, it should be!)

[This message has been edited by Big Jim (edited 04-22-2004).]

Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 119
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Actually on the show Myth busters they proverd it could happen. they took a fuse box from a simualr truck and wired it to a short circuit and it went off. because of the heat


Theres always enough room in the junction box.You just need a bigger hammer
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 200
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Quote
quote:
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also the practice of removing a blown fuse in a UK 13A plug and covering it in silver foil before replacing it !!!!
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Or a few strands stripped from some flex wrapped around it.

Or, indeed, a sawn-down 6" nail! [Linked Image] Just the right size; a favourite trich with engineers running oil-cooled welders...that is if they don't use the guts of two rubber Duraplugs; swap the live stirrup pin with a screw-term neutral from the other plug [Linked Image]

[This message has been edited by uksparky (edited 07-12-2004).]


If hindsight were foresight, we'd all be millionaires!
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 1,438
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Foil?? Flex??? Nails??? Pipe???

& I thought the pennies were an insane idea!! [Linked Image] [Linked Image]

-Randy

Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 7
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Junior Member
My late grandmother owned a corner grocery store, which was an early 20th century bakery originally. It had a big-ass deli cooler/showcase, a beer cooler, ice cream freezer, and a couple refrigerators. I have no clue how these things were wired up, but every once in a while, a fuse would blow. One of my aunts would have to venture down into the cellar to replace it. My grandmother always insisted she take a 30A fuse with her because they lasted longer. My aunts would argue with her, "Ma, you're gonna burn down the store!" She'd always reply, "So what? I've got insurance."

Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 693
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"atwater_kent"

Noe, there's a name I haven't seen in a while!


Larry Fine
Fine Electric Co.
fineelectricco.com
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 1,158
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The last time i saw that name was when i was about 14 years old ripping apart a Radio that was like 40 years old. It was an atwater kent.
That was 40 years ago

Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 2,498
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European Diazed fuses have little metal plates that indicate the rating of the fuse. If the fuse blows, the plate should pop off and you can tell the blown fuse by looking through the glass in the screw caps.

When the elevator in the house from another thread stopped working I had a look at the 1958 fuse panel. It had 3 fuses for the 3ph motor and two (hot and neutral) for the lighting and controls. The motor fuses still had their blue buttons (20A) so I left them and proceeded to the lighting fuses (needed a ladder for that). At the first glance I thought them to be 16A fuses because I only saw grey. A closer look revealed there weren't any buttons at all... both were "repaired" by wrapping single strands of copper wire around them resp. cracking them open, insert the wire into the porcelaine body and putting them back together. At the bottom of the box I found a big pile of wire for future patch jobs...

Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 59
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Yep I've heard of the "stick a penny in the fuse slot and all is good again" trick....but my goodness people really oughta think twice about what they're doing....if the fuse box keeps blowing fuses there's an obvious reason behind this.

Yep I've also heard of the "bullet being used for a fuse" with the two southern boys....that's what happens when you're a redneck. [Linked Image] Of course I keep spare fuses in the glove box in case this ever happens.

Now for the "put chewing gum foil over the fuse to make it work again"...that I will admit (I've not tried it) that some folks at my shop have done that whenever our engine/hydraulic driven bomblifts (I work in the Air Force) blow their fuses out on the flightline....it's just a quick fix to hurry up and drive it back in the shop before it becomes stranded on the flight line in the middle of taxiing aircraft.

Randy I'm curious....was that fuse box located inside or outside of the house? Sounds like you probably re-wired the house and re-did all of the electrical work...which was a good thing...that woman oughta feel blessed her house didn't burn to the ground due to sheer stupidity...by the sounds of it I'm guessing the house she lives in has been in her family's name for a long time?

So how did they have that tap connected? Did they have a 5-15 receptacle that was ungrounded? Or did they just "cut off the ground prong"? (I've seen this done countless times and it makes me wonder if people are really at all concerned about safety)

The other thing that gets me is the one receptacle behind the stove....I can only wonder where the other 2 receptacles were located?? And having to use the light socket in the ceiling with an extension cord as a hair dryer????

I guess they wern't lying when they said "in the old days there wern't many appliances used in the home"...how big was this house anyways? Doesn't sound like it was very big at all....



[This message has been edited by Dawg (edited 10-30-2006).]

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