Sage Advice from Hardware Stores

[thehuckster]

Two separate occasions at your neighborhood Big Box Orange or Blue Hardware Store.

Occasion 1:

I needed to replace some smoke detectors in a condo, but found that none of the detectors had the wiring that matched what the old one had. I asked someone about this. To paint the picture, this guy had a glazed look on his eyes, and his hair looked like Doc Brown from Back to the Future. I told him the situation, that my wiring had this easy to connect plug at the end, and all of the detectors I saw seemed to have just stripped wiring with the twists to connect.

"Oh, they don't make the ones with the sockets anymore." he said, almost in monotone.

I said, "I see... well, the problem is this is in a condo unit, and I'd need management to come and disconnect power to it because my unit's circuit breaker doesn't seem to control that."

"Oh, you know what I do? I just wire it up live... yeah."

"Uuuh, well, I mean..."

"It's okay. See, black is the hot, white is neutral. As long as you don't touch both at the same time, you're fine..." His eyes completely glazed over at this point. I feel like he's had quite a bit of first hand "experience" with this technique.

"Alright, well, thanks for your advice."

Occasion 2:

I had since gotten a house. There was a garage that had an old gas can that I'm sure was expired. I wasn't going to try it on my new lawn mower anyways. I was at the store and I forgot what made me think of asking, but I asked someone in, maybe the gardening department or power tool department, "What's the easiest way to dispose of expired gasoline?"

"Oh, well, do you have a driveway?"

"Uuuh, yes?"

"I just pour the gas onto the pavement and then light it."

...I waited for him to say, "Gotcha! You should have seen the look on your face!" but I didn't. He was serious.

I replied, "Well... you see, I live in a very urban area. And as cool as it sounds to just pour gasoline all over my driveway, it'd be way too dangerous to light my driveway on fire, not to mention I just got a new insurance policy on this house, and I'd like to make a good first impression of them."

The guy said, "Oh ya! No problem, that solution isn't for everybody."

"So, is there a LEGAL way to dispose of old gas? Do I just take it to the dump?"

He scratches his head. "I dunno. I've always just lit it."

"Uuuh, yeah. Thanks for your help."

Some of these employees are walking liabilities for these stores.

[Crai]

My Grandfather was an electrician, he did the "Live" method all the time. He was working in the basement of my mothers house and I walked down to see what was up walked into the wires and got a good zap across the head. Sadly this was not the last time he got me. At one point I learned to just avoid the man if he was "working" on something.

[EricKei]

See if your city/county has a Hazardous Waste Program or something similar. if they do, they may want to come pick it, up, or they may have a dropoff point to use.

[Minflick]

I second the county dump. Or close regional dump. My local one is amazing. When DH died a year ago, and then Mom died Easter weekend, I had a metric ton of crap to unload. DH's mess included expired meds and sharps. Dump took all of it, all I had to do was wind my way through the maze to station 1, station 2, etc. Nice helpful people. The only thing I ended up not taking them was the shredables, and those (about 80 pounds total) went to UPS by the pound. Also nice people.

There should be a web site that tells in excruciating detail what they will and will not take.

[The Braindead Live]

"I just pour the gas onto the pavement and then light it."

God watches over children and idiots, sometimes.

[Racket_Man]

God watches over children and idiots, sometimes.

and the VERY stoned....

[SteeleDragon78]

"What's the easiest way to dispose of expired gasoline?"

"Oh, well, do you have a driveway?"

"Uuuh, yes?"

"I just pour the gas onto the pavement and then light it."

Last i saw this was still the approved method of disposing of avgas, aside from lighting it. may have changed since the 90's when i was dealing with it though.

[wolfie]

I'd say it's probably changed. After all, avgas contains tetraethyl lead, so the ground on which it gets dumped would become contaminated with lead.

Anyone else remember the days when a leaky storage tank at a gas station was considered a problem because the ground water would get into the tank and contaminate the gas? Or when the standard procedure for a backyard mechanic servicing their car's A/C was to vent the old freon (R-12, naturally) to the atmosphere?

[pudddykat]

My dad majored in electrical engineering. He changed the old/loose outlets in my place. He did them live. He also blew the tip off my needle nose pliers. He does actually know what he is doing but he tends to take risks here and there.

[Maria]

Last i saw this was still the approved method of disposing of avgas, aside from lighting it.

These days you're supposed to walk it over to a disposal can where, best I can tell, it evaporates into the atmosphere and any remaining contaminants are kept out of the local environment. Most people dump the stuff on stray weeds in the pavement cracks when nobody's looking, or strain it back into the fuel tank. Not sure you're supposed to do the latter, either, but my cat likes to unzip my bag and sleep in it, so I always assume that my tester is contaminated with fur, and walk it over to the nearest can. It's good for 80 extra steps on the fitness tracker anyway.

[protege]

My dad majored in electrical engineering.

My dad's the reason why I always make sure the power is off before I attempt to fix anything electrical. Why? Well, I remember when he was trying to replace the light switches just outside my bedroom. Rather than disconnect the power...he thought he'd fix them with it on. Let's just say that I got to see sparks, and learned all sorts of new phrases that night

While I can handle 12-volt wiring with very little amperage in the sports car and on the train layout, house wiring is something else. That shit will either kill you or burn the place down if you're not careful. The last time I replaced an outlet, I cut the power to the entire floor while I did it.

[BearLeeBadenaugh]

I've got a pair of wire cutters stapled above my workbench as a reminder. I was putting in a security light for my parents and told mom to go downstairs and turn off the circuit breaker for the garage. Turned out there were two breakers for the garage, one of them mislabeled for basement. Nice little gouge burned out of the blade by the current. I was lucky enough to not get shocked, the insulated handles did their job.