Sunday's 'car boot sale' bargain

[davetranter]

I picked this up yesterday (Sunday) at my local car boot sale. I never knew that Hoover made such things. It was FULL of dust and dirt, and the bearings were so dry that it wouldn't run at all (at first). After some cleaning (compressed air line) and lubrication (bearings and switches) it's 'Good as new'. It pulls a full 2kW on low and a full 3kW on high.....

Here's the pic......

All best

Dave T

Yes, that's a Tek 7704A it's standing on....

 

[danemodsandy]

What on Earth....

....Is it?

It appears to be a heater, but two buttons are marked "Full Cool" and "Half Cool."

Does that mean it's also a fan, or is some actual cooling capability included?

 

[cfz2882]

neat old heater-does it have a "transflow"type blower fan-cylindrical impeller with long.thin blades?One brand of british-made heater that was once sold in the US is dimplex;one I saw was an oil filled radiator style,the other-in a '70s shade of orange-was a small forced air one similar to the hoover pictured-the fan was vertical axis paddle type.In the US,small portable household heaters are limited to 1850 watts on 120v current-those 1850w heaters were older,haven't seen any new ones of that rating for a while-1500w is the usual maximum seen.

 

[wayupnorth]

LOL

We think of a car boot on this side of the pond as a devise that imobilises the wheels of your vehicle until you pay the huge fine for parking illegally.

 

[danemodsandy]

Tim:

It's just different usage, and our locutions can raise just as much confusion in the U.K.

Try making reference to a man's "fanny" over there. You will be met with a bug-eyed stare, because in the U.K., men don't have fannies.

 

[wayupnorth]

Sorry, I didnt mean to cause anything. I have never been to the UK but way back distant relatives did come from there and I am sure they did not have a car back then. I just have never heard reference to that before in my 60 years.

 

[danemodsandy]

Tim:

I was kind of kidding you, ok?

"Boot" means the trunk of a car. The hood is a "bonnet." What we call a "windshield" is a "windscreen" there. Our "fenders" are their "wings." We "back up." They "reverse." A "transmission" to us is a "gearbox" to them.

Anyway, a "boot sale" means that people pull into a parking lot - er, "car park" - or field and sell items from the trunks of their cars. It's an organized activity, much like a flea market.

There's an old joke about British English vs. American English:

"England and America - two great nations separated by a common language!"

 

[wayupnorth]

I agree

Two great nations seperated by a common language. I honestly never knew the difference in US and UK car lingo.

 

[rapunzel]

Over here if you buy stuff from someone's trunk (or boot), it would be considered the same as something that's fallen off the back of a truck - i.e. it's stolen. We have garage sales instead of boot sales.

 

[davetranter]

Multi-reply

In reply to reply #....

1) It's what we (this side of the 'pond') refer to as a 'Fan Heater'. The (two speed) fan can also be used without the heater elements to provide 'cooling' (actually just air circulation) in a room. Real 'air conditioning' is still very rare in domestic premises here.

2) Yes, it has a 'transflow' type blower. I didn't know about the power restriction Statesside, I would have assumed that the U.S. equivalent would have been run from a 30 amp circuit.

3) That sort of vehicle immobiliser is commonplace here, too, where it's called a 'wheel clamp'.

4) Indeed, men do not have 'fannies' here, only women (It is also not considered a polite term for that part of the anatomy, either!!)

5) No offence taken, because....

6) ...We are indeed two nations divided by a common language Not sure about the fender/wing thing. My 'American' is not good, but I think that 'fender' (apart from being a World-renowned manufacturer of electric guitars and accessories) refers to what we would call the 'bumper' or (more completely) 'bumper bar', which, fitted to either end of the vehicle 'fends off' minor impacts. 'Wings' are the parts behind the front and rear lights, and over the wheels.

6/8) Whilst these are organised activities (in this case organised by the local City Council) I'm sure that a lot of the goods sold may have 'dishonest' origins... 'Caveat Emptor'

Thanks (as always) for your interest.

All best

Dave T

Sorry, I'm on my way to work, and don't have time for a fuller reply... :-(

 

[danemodsandy]

Dave:

No, "fenders" are the part you refer to as "wings." The term "bumper" means the same to you as it does to us.

 

[vacbear58]

Hoover fan heater

This heater from early to mid 1960s is exactly as described by cfz2882b as described above, if you look carefully you can se the heater elements behind the grill. It has two fan settings and two heat settings, yes it can be used as a cooling fan in the summer. As the name implies it has a maximum current draw of 3000 watts at 230Volts. This was top of the range for its time.

Hoover continued to make fan heaters into the mid 1970s although they updated the styling. The also did a much smaller scale model as a hand held hair dryer

This form of heater was very common here for a long time as it brings a very fast warm up, the drawback being that when it is shut off you get an almost equally fast cool down.

Although they do not appear so often in the horizontal format shown above, they live on in a multitude of electric "fires". These may be inset into an existing fireplace, although they are also very common now in a multitude of "hole in the wall" fires currently fashionable. These have a flame effect display, the heat actually comes from a fan arranged as in this heater, albeit not necessarily at the front

Al

 

[vacbear58]

More Hoover Fan

This is actually the third version of Hoover fan heaters, with the integral handle (somewhat damaged) in the top. This is a 2000watt version with thermostatic control

The second version was similar to this but with chrome bar across the top of the heater which served as the handle

 

[vacbear58]

And the hair dryer

The gold coloured version also came in pale blue - my sister had one of those.

The flowery case was supplied with the gold dryer, the one my sister has was plain dark blue

 

[gus]

Hi all,
@sandy I like your been so witty! I see you have a deep knowledge of your language and that's good to be able to achieve a good communication among people.
@dave those differences in the languages of the "mother country" and the other countries with the same language happens all the time with the rest of the other languages e.g. Spanish, French, etc. Sometimes the differences are so funny that they become a topic of conversation!. But that shows the richness of the tongues and in the end of the Human Being. Gus

 

[davey7]

Don't forget the Big End...

I think my Big End is going....

Mary Goodnight seemed to get caught in the boot of midgets cars a lot too.