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Thread: Whatzit?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
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    Houston, Texas
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    Default Whatzit?

    Anyone happen to know what this "thing" is and what its purpose might be? 75 year old house and so whatever it is its plenty old.

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  2. #2
    Join Date
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    Default Re: Whatzit?

    Looks like a flux capacitor, 13 gigawatts

    Jim Luttrall
    www.MrInspector.net
    Plano, Texas

  3. #3
    imported_John Smith's Avatar
    imported_John Smith Guest

    Default Re: Whatzit?

    My guess is a capacitor of some sort.

    Love the spliced romex in the photo. Actually I dont, when I see these types of hack jobs, then I know my inspection evaluation is going to take much longer. Almost always an indication of other hack jobs to wiring throughout the home.


  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
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    Philadelphia PA
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    Default Re: Whatzit?

    I know what it is, but if I told you, I'd have to ...

    "There is no exception to the rule that every rule has an exception." -James Thurber, writer and cartoonist (1894-1961)
    www.ArnoldHomeInspections.com

  5. #5
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    Default Re: Whatzit?

    Quote Originally Posted by imported_John Smith View Post
    My guess is a capacitor of some sort.

    Love the spliced romex in the photo. Actually I dont, when I see these types of hack jobs, then I know my inspection evaluation is going to take much longer. Almost always an indication of other hack jobs to wiring throughout the home.

    Right you are about the extra time John!

    This particular house was about 50/50 do-it-yourself re-wire and remaining knob and tube wiring that was still in use.

    Part of my pricing structure includes what I call a time ratio adjustment for older homes. I base my pricing on the square footage of the structure and then add 2 bucks a year for the age of the house because I know older homes are going to take me longer to look at and will have me generating a longer report to detail all of the deficiencies from decades of neglect, deferred maintenance, deterioration, and amateur repairs/modifications.

    This 75 year old home for example had an automatic time ratio adjustment of $150 added to the base price per square foot just because of its age. That time ratio adjustment seems to work well for me in most cases but it does price me out of the work occasionally on older homes. Even still, I don’t loose any sleep over the jobs I don’t get where older construction like this is involved.

    Last edited by Phillip Stojanik; 07-12-2007 at 07:13 PM.

  6. #6
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    Default Re: Whatzit?

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Luttrall View Post
    Looks like a flux capacitor, 13 gigawatts
    It was hung up for recharging by the air ionization process.

    You should have known that.

    Phillip, did you find a modified DeLorean in the garage?

    Jerry Peck
    Construction/Litigation/Code Consultant - Retired
    www.AskCodeMan.com

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
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    Default Re: Whatzit?

    Quote Originally Posted by Jerry Peck View Post
    It was hung up for recharging by the air ionization process.

    You should have known that.

    Phillip, did you find a modified DeLorean in the garage?

    Nope,

    No Delorean and not even a model-T or '55' Chevy in the garage. Just this "thing" still hanging by its wires in the attic after all these years.


  8. #8
    Join Date
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    Default Re: Whatzit?

    Good catch Jerry

    Jim Luttrall
    www.MrInspector.net
    Plano, Texas

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