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Old 29th Jun 2022, 6:20 pm   #21
Lucien Nunes
Rest in Peace
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: London, UK.
Posts: 2,508
Default Re: Faulty valves - Scrap or keep?

And unless generously supplied with known faulty valves, might be repurposing usable items in a way that removes them from ever being available for repairs.

Quote:
Keeping dud valves seems deeply odd to me; would you keep broken mugs, worn-out tyres, or blown lamp-bulbs/fuses?
No, maybe and maybe.

Unlike most types of valve, most varieties of mug are still being manufactured and a new mug is likely to be better than a repaired one. Non-operational preserved vehicles can be exhibited with tyres that are no longer suitable for road use, but would look odd with bare rims. Truly life-expired tyres are often perished throughout and could not be used in any way to contribute to future repair / conservation efforts, which is not the same for valve electrode assemblies. I have some n/g lamps that look generally intact but don't work. I can let people handle them without fear of losing something valuable if dropped.

This forum has an emphasis on making things work; sets and parts are seen mainly in the light of whether they are useful towards this aim. This is not universal in the study of historical objects. For example, dinosaur skeletons don't 'work' and they've already been documented and studied, and once upon a time there were thousands of them around. So by some of our metrics are not worth keeping.

People presumably used to throw dead Loewe 3NFs away once the repair service came to an end.
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