Magnet Needed

[Martin]

Can anybody help, please?

Whilst fitting a new ballcock, I have dropped a hacksaw blade into our big water tank, and it is clearly visible.

I was born clumsy, and it is getting worse in old age, but I don't want to be banned from 'pottering' by She Who Must Be Obeyed (who is getting close to 'putting her foot down' about the results of my cack-handedness). So I need to get this blade from beneath six foot of water before She sees it.

My idea is to lower a strong magnet on a piece of string and hope it picks up the blade.

Can anybody tell me where I can purchase a strong magnet in Khon Kaen or Udon, please?

Or how I can get one by mail order?

Or is there anything on scrap cars that I could buy at a scrapyard and 'win' a magnet from?

[bino]

If you can find an old or unused microwave oven, there is a beauty of a magnet in there! Strong enough to lift a small outboard off the bottom of a lake when attached to a rope.

[Cuban]

Pull apart any old loudspeaker, probably easier to find than disgarded microwaves and does not expose you to high voltage capacitors.

[bino]

Pull apart any old loudspeaker, probably easier to find than disgarded microwaves and does not expose you to high voltage capacitors.

Good idea!

[Pink Mist]

good thinkin 99

[Pink Mist]

good thinkin 99

[chownah]

A large wad of gum on the end of a piece of bamboo.

OK OK OK I know you are going to say, "but that's not a strong magnet"....but you are wrong. A piece of bamboo with a large wad of gum on the end will always point north.....I've done this many times when lost in the woods.....really.....

Chownah

P.S. You could just leave it there and tell her that you got some good advise on TV that leaving a hacksaw blade in a large water tank will add just the right amount of iron to leach into the water to make the water healthier.....and just so you don't have to lie to her....here goes: Mate, why not leave a hacksaw blade in your large water tank!!! It adds a bit of iron to your water and improves the health. So.....there you go....now you don't even have to lie to her!! Don't bother to profusely thank me for this...that's what mates are for!!

Chownah

Edited January 22, 2007 by chownah

[blue eyes]

Dont you have a little nephew or niece?Turn em upside down and plung them in.On a realety side the speaker would be the easyiest way to go.

[Martin]

Thanks, fellas.

I will post on here how it goes!

[Martin]

Done!!!

There was a tv and audio systems repair shop in KK which sold me a second hand speaker for 200 baht.

It is hefty---about 14 inch diameter, with a 5 inch diameter magnet on the back.

I just tied string to it so that it went down flat, magnet first, and it brought up the blade at the first attempt.

Thanks again.

[bina]

that has got to be one of the wierdest requests for help on any forum yet as far as i know.......

how to get a saw blade out of a well?? !!!

and what prey tell is a ballcock?? it must not be what it sounds like because though thai women are supposed to be good at knives and such, why are YOU using a saw blade on a ballcock: and whose????

never mind............dont even answer cause i;'m not sure i want to know......

bina

[Jamie]

I use the magnet from an old hard drive when I need a strong magnet. They are small and very powerful. Glad to hear you got your saw blade back though.

[Martin]

Thank you, 'jamie'. I will watch out for an old hard drive. (I am already watching out for an old microwave.)

That is because I have remembered from boyhood that a great uncle, who should have had VMP behind his name for Very Masterful Potterer, had a collection of magnets from small to big in his toolshed and they came in useful for all sorts of things.

Once, my mother broke a key in a mortise lock. She sent me to fetch that Great Uncle and he 'stroked' a long, thin screwdriver with his big magnet till it picked up enough magnetism to fish the broken bit of key out of the lock. Then the spare key opened the door.

For 'bina': a ballcock is that thing that lets water into a tank until it is full. It has a float on the end in the shape of a ball and 'cock' in this usage is an old word for something that regulates flow. Like in 'stopcock'.

My wife told me "Football not work", and when I got it off the little rubber disc inside (that is pressed on the end of the incoming pipe to stop the flow when the float rises) had worn out.

When I was a lad, ironmongers kept an assortment of such discs (called tap washers). But our local one said "No have". And in Kumpawapi, they simply produced the whole thing and sold it to me for 200 baht.

However to fit it, I had to cut away a bit of the lip of the tank and that was when the blade came off the hacksaw and fell in.

In hindsight, it would have been better to have repaired the original ballcock than fitting a new one. I should have experimented with making a substitute rubber disc from a piece of a truck-tyre inner tube or of an old bike-tyre.

[Dave the Dude]

My wife told me "Football not work", and when I got it off the little rubber disc inside (that is pressed on the end of the incoming pipe to stop the flow when the float rises) had worn out.

When I was a lad, ironmongers kept an assortment of such discs (called tap washers). But our local one said "No have". And in Kumpawapi, they simply produced the whole thing and sold it to me for 200 baht.

However to fit it, I had to cut away a bit of the lip of the tank and that was when the blade came off the hacksaw and fell in.

In hindsight, it would have been better to have repaired the original ballcock than fitting a new one. I should have experimented with making a substitute rubber disc from a piece of a truck-tyre inner tube or of an old bike-tyre.

Hi Martin

During my numerous visits 'home' to Surin, I have noticed the frequent use of PTFE tape on all plumbing fittings. They wrap it round fittings instead of using washers.I have used this method in Thailand although I don't think my customers here in the UK would be too impressed.

Good Luck

Dave the Dude (who is plumbing/gas fitting for another 3 months before permanent relocation to LOS)

[Pink Mist]

extracting a key is a bit of a mystery for me, I've never seen a key made from a ferrous material.

Thats her in Oz though.

[Cuban]

As this thread is turning into a plumbing focus group...

Although I have not spent a lot of time searching, I'm curious if copper pipe is easily availible out in the wilds?

When I've been pottering round the typical town hardware stores mild steel and alluminium rod and box section along with the ubiquitous blue water pipe, I seem to remember seeing some copper in South Pattaya some time last year, but I was not looking for it at the time.

I can't imagine that there is a big domestic demand for copper pipes outside of the cities, with cold solvent welding of plastic taking the plumb out of plumbing.

Also if anyone has seen copper pipe (10mm-22mm x 2m etc.) what is the Thai choice of connection, compression or Yorkshire? I can see me re-working ideas or shipping in a load of end feed fittings and couplings to connect link copper to plastic.

[Pink Mist]

Global Homewhere in KhonKaen has a good range of copper and plastic fittings and adaptors.

They compare favourbly to any large hardware store in Oz.

I dont know where you are but would say there would be similar stores near you.

[Cuban]

Wow - 13 minutes and a response.

I'll be passing through KK during February, I'll take a look with my shopping list.

Thank you

[Pink Mist]

It's just after the airport turn off and overpass on the left.

[chownah]

If you are really "out in the wilds" and not in a metropolitan center like Khon Kaen then the thing to do is to as around for the closest shop that fixes commercial refrigerated display cases...hopefully this would be a reasonably equipped refrigeration shop....they often have copper tubeing both flexible and rigid....and an assortment of fittings etc.

Chownah

P.S. If you REALLY go out in the wilds looking for these things don't forget to take your chewing gum and a bamboo stick so you can find your way back!!!

Chownah

[Martin]

Hi, 'bronco'.

That was 60 years ago, and before these modern 'hard chewing gum' materials from which keys can be stamped out. Lots of keys went rusty in those days!!

I guess that the same problem today would require a 'chownah magnet' and, with my luck, I would end up with the broken piece gummed into the lock and having to take hammer and chisel to the door jamb.

Hi, 'Dave the Dude'.

I hope you are not averse to still doing a bit of plumbing in your retirement, because I need a plumber with whom I can communicate.

The whole plumbing system at the back of our house is the most awful hodge-podge of blue plastic pipes and cheap fittings with lashings of that ptfe thread tape.

It has 'grown like Topsy' as various changes and extensions have happened.

Some is buried in concrete with mystery stopcock knobs sticking out, and I am darned if I can figure out some parts of it.

Pressure is low (because of narrow pipes and accumulations of sand, I suspect).

The whole lot needs replacing with properly-sized pipes, quality fittings and a system diagram. But I hesitate to tackle it on my own.

Some years ago, we had a great thread about the trials and tribulations of farangs and their plumbing, all started by somebody asking which was the best shower-water heater to buy. It, with other house-maintenance matters, seemed to be a subject worth a forum to itself!

[Pink Mist]

I know in yorkies youth they had wooden keys

[Farma]

extracting a key is a bit of a mystery for me, I've never seen a key made from a ferrous material.

Thats her in Oz though.

Those big old style keys like the jailers keys you see in cartoons were made of steel. An old Queenslander house I lived in at Ipswich had them.

[TBWG]

A large wad of gum on the end of a piece of bamboo.

Hi All

A bit late I know but along the lines of gum on a pole, you could always use some "gow kee mah" on end of pole. loosely translates as dog poo!!

This is the black gunk used by electricians to seal joints and is know to all sparks as dog poo. Sort of industrial strength blue tack!!

There some more useless info until you have need for it

TBWG

[Dave the Dude]

Hi Martin

I would be happy to help or give suggestions/advice. (I move over to Surin in 3 months)Those mysterious stop-cock may also reduce pressure as they sometimes reduce in diameter compared to the pipes.Most household plumbing I'v seen in LOS seems to have been done by Farmers who know a little.My own house included! Why did they not put in 'traps' in the floor of my bathrooms, I'v never know!!!! But I have a cunning plan to sort that one out. PM me if you want,save everyone hearing bout your ballcocks!

Hi Cuban

I suspect copper pipe/fittings would be very expensive in LOS bearing in mind minimal demand. Here in the UK its gone up 4 fold in the last 3 years. Weight to weight its 4 times more expensive than GOLD . My van has been broken into 2 times in the last year to steal the copper . An old copper water cylinder fetches GBP25 now!!!! We use flexible plastic&fittings for heating/water wherever its not in view. Its also twin-walled so much more durable than metal

Only three more months of 'this game' and then LOS here I come!!

D the D

Edited January 28, 2007 by Dave the Dude