That would get costly over time. A new tube costs ~€3.50. A patch kit normally costs ~€2.50 and typically has a dozen patches. I got lucky and found a kit with like 40 or so large patches for about the same price. The patches could probably be cut in half. You can also carry a patch kit on long trips using less space than a spare tube.

There’s some spike still in the tire (doubtful since it took 5 minutes to blow)

There never was a road puncture. Someone gave me this bike, so I don’t know the history. It came with a flat tire. When I removed it, the tube was twisted in 1 place. Right where it was twisted, there was a hole. I patched it. Then another blowout happened on the other side of that same originally twisted section. Then again. I have three patches on one segment covering nearly that whole diameter. That rubber is bad in that one spot, but that’s not where the current issue is. All those blowouts happened w/out riding. Often just hours after inflating.

Then the blowout I’m talking about happened on a good part of the tube, without puncture. It’s on the inside, but there is decent lining on the rim, thus not from a spoke. But because it’s on the inside, there is an air gap between the rim and the tube. Though I suppose the tube must be forced into the valley of the rim.

It’d be fair to say the whole tube should be tossed, as it could be quite old for all I know. But the patch seems like new… like it’s in a good state. This is what surprised me… that the patch itself failed.

I don’t think the same failure will happen with rubber cement.

To be clear, I used the rubber cement that came with the patch kit. I have not tried using contact glue (which may¹ even be the same thing). But these tiny tubes that come with the patch kits are more costly per unit than contact glue. Now that I am almost out of rubber cement, I’m considering using contact glue for the next patches.

¹ I cross-posted to [email protected] in case a chemist has the answer.

The process ATM already requires signing a waiver. If you bring a toaster for repair, you first sign that you won’t hold them accountable if the repairer destroys it. What you’re talking about is an expansion of that. They probably would have to mention basic safety precautions but I don’t see that as a show-stopper, at least not in non-litigious parts of the world.

That’s not at odds w/what I’m saying. The hands-off consumers can coexist with hands-on consumers.

I think if you ask them, they will explain a bit too

Yes but that’s ad hoc and generally limited to what I spontaneously bring them.

I’m saying they could get more leverage out of the movement if they say something like: “on date X, we are teaching refrigerator repair in the parking lot. Bring your broken fridge or just yourself.”

But the fact is, not everyone is made out to repair stuff. Some just don’t “see” it, others lack an true interest, and that’s just fine. Bottom line is things get repaid instead of simply wasted and replaced.

Indeed, I’ve noticed many consumers do not take an interest in learning. I have no issue w/that. The goal is only to save appliances from e-waste. But I’m saying they could save more from being wasted by having training sessions too.

I would like to have a scope or logic analyser. Someone told me a logic analyser would be sufficient for this… and also sufficiently cheap.

I have an Arduino clone but the EEPROM is apparently embedded in the MCU.

Perhaps I will do that.

But I guess it’s worth mentioning that I have some bad house wiring. I switched off a light to work on it and got shocked (yeah, in principle for safety I should also turn off the breaker but still this should not happen). When lights are off at night, some LED lights are still very faintly lit. When I was messing with serial port wiring I think I touched the 5v and 0v… perhaps each with a different hand, and felt a shock. 5v should not shock me but I think my ground connections are maybe dodgy. There is proper ground pipes in the basement but maybe someone wired neutral to ground or something somewhere in the house.

Plumbers are a nightmare in my area. I give some details in other replies. I am also a nightmare for them because my screwed up town gives them nowhere to park. So they often don’t even want to come. Their fee just for showing up is about what I spent on tools and chemicals.

Where do you live that sulfuric acid is illegal?!

I think it’s like this in all of Europe. I know in the US you can get 32 oz. of it at Menards for $8. But that’s not an option here. I have no idea what people do if they need to build a battery. The stuff I got would be different than what’s in batteries. Probably the battery acid is more pure. What they sell to pro plumbers is a bottle labelled as /drain cleaner/ with sulfuric acid as a main active ingredient. It likely has a cocktail of additives to optimize it for drain pipe usage or perhaps make it inconvenient for other usages.

What if you do that? Illegal to buy, own or both?

I doubt it’s a possession offense. They are controlling the sales. If you go to a pro plumbing shop and try to buy it, they will require proof that you’re buying on behalf of a company that was constituted for the purpose of plumbing.

Exactly… that was constantly on my mind. Last time I hired a plumber to fix a leak while I was away, the plumber was incompetent. Did not find the leak (which was in /exposed/ pipework), charged 200 cash and ran with the money. The plumber actually charged 4 times as much as I paid a doctor to make a house call.

Some plumbers can legally buy sulfuric acid for this purpose. So in fact by law I was essentially being forced to hire a plumber, in effect.

My way of thinking is that I’m going to learn something & my tooling costs will be less than a plumber. I’ll “own” the problem for the next time. This one about drove me to the edge, considering I was about to experiment with borderline parasites.

A pro would have had an expensive snake cam… so there’s that. I would not want to put my own snake cam down the pipe because it’s not made for such filthy environments… would likely ruin the cam.

I blame whatever plumber installed the drain. They used many hard-right 90° fittings that hinder snakes. Then they installed no clean-out. And no vent. I also suspect the pipes under the floor may be goffred (accordian-like). So the lesson here is that snakes are not always the answer if the pipes are lousy.