When I was young, I greatly enjoyed collecting things that were left for the garbageman – within reason, of course. When I would see people throwing away perfectly salvageable stuff, I thought it would prove useful so I’d grab it and bring it home. I had this red wagon that I would put the stuff in, wheeling it all home to the garage where the tinkering would begin. My parents never had issues with me collecting these things as long as I didn’t grab anything sharp or dangerous. Thinking it was a good way to learn how to repair and hold onto stuff for longer, I was pretty good at it too! I loved opening up things and taking them apart, disassembling and reassembling just to see how they worked and could be repaired. I’ve collected old stereos, fans, and even Heating & Air Conditioning equipment that was left to the trash! I was so thrilled during one of my “salvage runs” years ago, as I found this old electric furnace that someone trashed. Of course it wasn’t working at the time, though I inspected that thing for weeks just trying to understand how it worked. With caution, I was able to piece it all back together after tinkering around with a bunch of the parts. When I finally got everything together, it worked so well that I caught myself by surprise! I cleaned it out thoroughly from the inside out, looked it over and with a polish, it looked totally new! I remember that following winter, we had dealt with a big hiccup in the functionality of my home’s gas furnace. I told my folks that we could always give the electric furnace a try. The one I fixed up proved to be excellent and just cranked out the heat for days on end! My parents were impressed with my handiwork, wondering why somebody would throw something like that out without getting it fixed first. All I know is that someone else’s trash became my treasure.
The different types of thermostats