Technical wizardry, all hail.

[icarus]

90 degrees and rising in our apartment and the virtually-new fan opted to die.

The boyfriend and I did the usual snarking about "it's a piece of crap" and "don't make 'em like they used to" and hit the stores to buy another. Apparently they've been flying off the shelves (unsurprisingly) this week, and all that was available... was this same model fan. Which no one wants.

WG went to REI to beat the heat. I have the drapes drawn, windows and doors open to beat the heat.

I decided to do a dead fan autopsy, bring out my inner McKay. Hey, it could be something obvious, right? Hmm. Like that wad of long WG-hair wrapped around the main shaft, uh, I bet....

... Eureka! Behold! The fan lives!

We Americans, we give up too easily. We are cowed by small appliances. Just unplug the thing, bring out the screwdrivers, and if it's already broken you really can't make it any worse.

The kitty now basks before it, his fur blowing in the breeze.

Comments

[rabidfan.livejournal.com]

Clearly the majority of Americans didn't grow up in a household like mine. If it broke, you fixed it. If you wanted a meal, you cooked. If it was dirty, you cleaned it. We all grew up self-sufficient (tho maybe too much so for happiness in some cases) and able to cook, clean, fix almost anything. I even overhauled the transmission in my friends Camaro. (don't like grease under my nails, tho. Don't do car work when it can be avoided. That's why God made husbands...'cours mines a surgeon and won't work on cars either!)

[dunv-i.livejournal.com]

I lurve pulling things apart. I try to stop myself at things that are actually working, but I still manage to find my laptop in pieces across my desk occasionally.

(well, uh, I have managed to make broke things even worse, but anyway)

[enname.livejournal.com]

*mutters things about breaking out the fan at a mere 90 degrees*

:P

My fan has teetered on for nearly 15 years now. It needs a strap around the casing to hold it closed and stop the rattling, and perhaps it doesn't quite have the power it used to (I presume this because it takes awhile to start up, and comparing it to the brand new fan my parents have is unfavourable) but it is still struggling on. The other fan, in my room, was inherited from a housemate who had carted it from Sydney.

Long may the kitty bask without hair affected fans. *nod*

[ncp.livejournal.com]

Half the stuff in our house growing up was held together by duct tape.

[seekergeek.livejournal.com]

*admires you DIYness*

[fer-de-lance.livejournal.com]

Gosh, that reminds me of a coworker of mine. She used to say "never be afraid to take things apart!" and she was fearless when it came to dissecting whatever had quit or malfunctioned on us. I suspect that "poke it with screwdrivers" was her solution to all problems -- or at least the first step toward solution. :D