Whats the best thing you ever saved or got from the dump / rubbish ?

Forums › Off topic › Whats the best thing you ever saved or got from the dump / rubbish ?

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Aredwood

3885 posts

Uber Geek

#1877534 4-Oct-2017 23:00

A small LPG gas water heater - the kind that you would normally use in a caravan or small batch. Just needed to clean out the spider webs and bugs that were blocking up the burner ports. It is still working over 15 years later.

I also grabbed the F&P ECS and smartdrive washing machines. Perfect as earlier flatmates would do silly things like jam big heavy duvets into them. And another flatmate would was his overalls that were always covered in sandblasting grit. Which quickly stuffed the bearings and shaft seals. Rather have a bodged together washing machine get wreaked than a brand new one.

Electric oil column heaters - I remove the heating elements and electrics, drain the oil, then convert them to central heating radiators.

A big 6 burner stainless steel BBQ - still have to clean it up and test it. but virtually no rust on it. (not all parts of it are stainless steel)

A household waterpump (the type that you use with rainwater tanks) that my old boss was throwing out. The controller had failed, Bought a new controller off trademe. And that pump has only just failed now (after at least 5 years of daily service). The case has split, but I can still reuse the motor and controller.

And various other things. If I can't fix things they then go to the scrap dealer - so I still get a little money for them. And although Im in a better financial situation now. When I had just bought my house - I was really struggling after paying the mortgage. So doing things like fixing up old washing machines was far preferable to buying a new one on finance.

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NZSpides

155 posts

Master Geek

#1877555 5-Oct-2017 04:24

When I grew up my parent's weren't well off, so we just made do with most things. We would take rubbish to the local tip but usually we would end up taking sone tings back with us.

Dad is rather handy at making things work again, and it taught me quite a bit watching him do this.

We would get old drum lawn mowers, I would take them apart and clean them up and get them going again - taught me about engines and how they worked.
This led me onto other things and eventually joining the RNZAF as an Avionics Technician doing engineering things on flying machines.

As a kid and still as an adult I am surprised what people discard, I struggle to dispose of things and I guess that's why I have so much 'stuff' but you never know when something is going to be useful.

I now tend to take thing items I know still work or are at least useful to the local recycle centers or Salvation Army.

Those who scoff at the people who scrounge obviously had it better than I did, and that's fine, but the ones that find usefulness in the discarded goods of others I feel, win in the long run.

BlueShift

1692 posts

Uber Geek

#1877635 5-Oct-2017 09:29

When I was with the City Council, I worked for the refuse dept administering the contracts for the Transfer Station and attached recycling depot - two separate operations with separate contractors.

Even though the recycle depot gave discount tickets for the transfer stn when people dropped off recyclables before tipping their rubbish, the pit operator still harvested enough stuff before it got compacted to run their own recycling operation on the side.

The amount and types of things that people would just throw away amazed me. My boss and I, if we needed anything around the house, would put a word in with the recycling guys, and odds are it would turn up in a few days. A swimming pool ladder, a TV aerial for a caravan, stuff like that.

At one point I was on site and someone dropped off a solid kauri, clinker-built sailing dinghy, on its trailer, as they had no use for it. It needed doing up, and the trailer had no reg or wof, but it would have been worth hundreds to the right boat-nut.

kryptonjohn

2523 posts

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Lifetime subscriber

#1877639 5-Oct-2017 09:33

Lots of useful spare parts in appliances that are biffed too. For those who can access it, the recycling yard at Fisher&Paykel is a gold mine. If you need circuit boards, solenoids, pumps, compressors etc to get an old laundry machine or fridge going the parts are all there and getting ground up.

edit:

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1402/S00595/20-years-of-recycling-at-fisher-paykel.htm

jimbob79

673 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1877855 5-Oct-2017 13:26

Picking up 3KG of brass letters from Seaview Recycling Center and then on-selling the to ingots metals for $14 five minutes later.

MurrayM

2444 posts

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#1877862 5-Oct-2017 13:50

kryptonjohn:

Lots of useful spare parts in appliances that are biffed too. For those who can access it, the recycling yard at Fisher&Paykel is a gold mine. If you need circuit boards, solenoids, pumps, compressors etc to get an old laundry machine or fridge going the parts are all there and getting ground up.

edit:

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1402/S00595/20-years-of-recycling-at-fisher-paykel.htm

Interesting... can just anyone turn up at the F&P recyling yard and look for spare parts that they need?

My F&P fridge needs two new rails that the freezer bins slide out on (little bits of plastic on each rail have broken off). The fridge is pretty old, about 15 years I think, so not sure if new spares would still be available.

kryptonjohn

2523 posts

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#1877866 5-Oct-2017 13:53

MurrayM:

kryptonjohn:

Lots of useful spare parts in appliances that are biffed too. For those who can access it, the recycling yard at Fisher&Paykel is a gold mine. If you need circuit boards, solenoids, pumps, compressors etc to get an old laundry machine or fridge going the parts are all there and getting ground up.

edit:

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1402/S00595/20-years-of-recycling-at-fisher-paykel.htm

Interesting... can just anyone turn up at the F&P recyling yard and look for spare parts that they need?

My F&P fridge needs two new rails that the freezer bins slide out on (little bits of plastic on each rail have broken off). The fridge is pretty old, about 15 years I think, so not sure if new spares would still be available.

Sadly I don't thin so. You have to either be technical staff or know one...

But they are pretty good with supply of spares and some components never seem to change. Just get the serial number off the back of the fridge and call their spare parts dept and see if they can help.

MurrayM

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#1877894 5-Oct-2017 14:43

kryptonjohn:

Sadly I don't thin so. You have to either be technical staff or know one...

But they are pretty good with supply of spares and some components never seem to change. Just get the serial number off the back of the fridge and call their spare parts dept and see if they can help.

Ah that's a shame. But I'll follow your advice and see if I can't get my fridge fixed. Thanks!

elpenguino

3359 posts

Uber Geek

#1878818 7-Oct-2017 09:50

I'm back after a few days away. Its great to see the posts ranging from adopting a pet to fixing up something that still has life in it.

On that first topic I am not a big fan of the pure breed pet breeding business when there are so many pets being euthanised. The sad irony is a lot of the specialist breeds are genetically defective after decades of inbreeding.

As someone with a technical background I have spent a lifetime fixing things for a job and I appreciate that many things can be returned to function with just one little replacement part or bit of repair.

My kids needed a keyboard so I picked up a faulty casio unit - the power switch was bust. I just rigged up a new one on the back panel.

Best thing about that purchase was I avoided the missus buying a piano !

Most of the posters in this thread are just like chimpanzees on MDMA, full of feelings of bonhomie, joy, and optimism. Fred99 8/4/21

elpenguino

3359 posts

Uber Geek

#1878862 7-Oct-2017 10:00

Geektastic:

This sort of thing was generally the preserve of gypsies where I grew up...not the sort of people we tried to emulate!

it's what your antique dealer does :-)

Most of the posters in this thread are just like chimpanzees on MDMA, full of feelings of bonhomie, joy, and optimism. Fred99 8/4/21

martyyn

1959 posts

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#1879433 8-Oct-2017 15:40

I used to pick up C2D's from the Wellington tip shop for $10. A great way to get W7 keys and if you scrounged the ram and HDD together you got a decent machine at the end of it.

The best thing we found was a $500 Breville coffee machine for $4. Got it home, gave it a clean and we used it for years.

Used to do similar things at car wreckers, especially with Ford radios. Buy the NZ New ones for $10 use an online app to get the pin code from the serial number and sell them for $100+ to owners of jap imports. Thats covered my car expenses for quite some time.

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