01-08-2025, 09:14 PM
Sorry gents, I have been distracted fixing my rust bucket of a 70s electric heater I keep in my bathroom. Fan gummed up.
This thing was so rusty and crusty probably being given up on and left in some old man's damp garage.
I sponge sanded the worst of the rust, stripped the head of the grub screw on the fan blade trying to back it out, snapping the tip of my Klein tool screw driver off.
It's still not coming out. It's in to stay.
I replaced the rusty spade connecters and gross wiring with modern silicon coated fiberglass wire from discarded toaster ovens
Replaced the mushy power switch with a 70s spring action wall switch, drilled new holes and put it behind the rectangular hole. And finally rewired it in a better way to my liking.
I rebalanced the fan blades.
Oiled the fan bearings with blue label 3in1 oil.
The fan was in series with a portion of the coil element ring using part of it as a voltage dropper to slow it down (that's why it glowed brighter than the rest of it).
And the bimetallic thermostat turned EVERYTHING off.
I hate that.
So I moved the fan wire off that "tap" to full voltage, and wired the thermostat to just turn off the element. The power switch turned everything off now.
It works very sweet, the element doesn't look like it's being COOKED now, sleeping next to a heater modified like this, it wouldn't be so obnoxious because it doesn't turn on and off and on then off during its cycle, it just quietly deenergizes the element.
The 10% increase in fan speed makes it project the heat farther than before, and it's not much louder either.
I noticed some Canadian made stuff had weird construction design choices and ideas as they tried to "flex" and "compete" with America with special features to try to stand out. I think they go off the rails a bit and these ideas are kind of kooky. But mostly fixable/deletable.
New handle from an old 70s Canadian tire battery charger as it was the exact same plastic handle lots of Canadian companies used on stuff in the 70s.
It's still a rusty crusty cheap steel heater from the sleazy 70s but it works better than it did after my QoL mods, and it is just for the bathroom so I don't freeze my potatoes in the morning brushing my teeth.
This thing was so rusty and crusty probably being given up on and left in some old man's damp garage.
I sponge sanded the worst of the rust, stripped the head of the grub screw on the fan blade trying to back it out, snapping the tip of my Klein tool screw driver off.
It's still not coming out. It's in to stay.
I replaced the rusty spade connecters and gross wiring with modern silicon coated fiberglass wire from discarded toaster ovens
Replaced the mushy power switch with a 70s spring action wall switch, drilled new holes and put it behind the rectangular hole. And finally rewired it in a better way to my liking.
I rebalanced the fan blades.
Oiled the fan bearings with blue label 3in1 oil.
The fan was in series with a portion of the coil element ring using part of it as a voltage dropper to slow it down (that's why it glowed brighter than the rest of it).
And the bimetallic thermostat turned EVERYTHING off.
I hate that.
So I moved the fan wire off that "tap" to full voltage, and wired the thermostat to just turn off the element. The power switch turned everything off now.
It works very sweet, the element doesn't look like it's being COOKED now, sleeping next to a heater modified like this, it wouldn't be so obnoxious because it doesn't turn on and off and on then off during its cycle, it just quietly deenergizes the element.
The 10% increase in fan speed makes it project the heat farther than before, and it's not much louder either.
I noticed some Canadian made stuff had weird construction design choices and ideas as they tried to "flex" and "compete" with America with special features to try to stand out. I think they go off the rails a bit and these ideas are kind of kooky. But mostly fixable/deletable.
New handle from an old 70s Canadian tire battery charger as it was the exact same plastic handle lots of Canadian companies used on stuff in the 70s.
It's still a rusty crusty cheap steel heater from the sleazy 70s but it works better than it did after my QoL mods, and it is just for the bathroom so I don't freeze my potatoes in the morning brushing my teeth.
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