Decades ago, I moved from Massachusetts to Florida. When I moved from that house to a new one, I discovered an unopened bathroom fan motor + blower wheel in the attic (left by a previous owner). "Nice" (head nod) I said to myself, and threw it in with everything else in the moving boxes.

Of course, my wife told me to "just leave it" and "you're such a hoarder!" It stayed in that box when we moved again a decade later.

Today, one of our bathroom exhaust fans stopped working (for the 2nd time) so I decided to reach deep into my hoard of random crap. "I have just the thing!" I still remembered which box it was in and where I stored it in the attic above the garage!

BONUS: The old bracket nuts didn't fit the new motor so I had to fish around in my collection of random nuts, bolts, and screws to find two exact matches. Which I had, of course—because I save all the screws of all the things 👍

I saved ~$37 and a trip to the hardware store today!

A bathroom exhaust fan with bracket and blower wheel attached

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[–] 46 points 7 months ago (10 children)

This gives me great hope for my box of obsolete cables and adapters.

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  • [–] 25 points 7 months ago (2 children)

    You never know when you'll need to hook up an IDE floppy drive

    I mean ... you do know, but you might not want to admit it

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  • [–] [S] 8 points 7 months ago (3 children)

    I still have the proprietary cable that lets you hook up a 1992-ish Sony Handycam to a TV with RCA inputs.

    I know exactly where it is in my attic: Under the S video cables, an original FireWire cable, and the cable that lets you hook up two Atari Lynx portable consoles together in order to play Warbirds against each other in real time.

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago* (2 children)

    do you still have the handycam? that took super8 right?

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  • [–] [S] 4 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    Yes I do! Not Super 8... Wow. I'm not that old! Super 8 is from the 1960s and 1970s. The Sony Handycam I have used a format called "Hi8".

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  • [–] 69 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    I feel like we all share in this historic win

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  • [–] 15 points 7 months ago (3 children)

    I'm of the firm belief that baseboards need at least 5 years being stored in the garage to properly acclimate to the particular environment of the microclimate that is my house and immediately surrounding area. My wife tries to get me to install them right away, after buying them, not understanding that if I did, it would warp the house so badly that it might collapse in on itself, taking space and time with it and eventually the entire known universe.

    You all owe your continued existence to my willpower and stubborness in the face of my wife's annoyance at not having baseboards at the end of any home renovations.

    You're welcome.

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  • [–] 7 points 7 months ago (2 children)

    Is that the reason

    All I know is if I install something straight away it almost always fails but if I wait five years, it goes on with nay a problem.

    I have to be very Zen and focus on the projects I started five years prior at any given point

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  • [+] 6 points 7 months ago (2 children)
  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago

    Although I would gently suggest that if there are many things that you have said you're going to fix but haven't yet, perhaps the person isn't reminding you in a "hurry up and do the thing" kind of way, but in a "honey, are you doing okay? You try to do so much for us, and whilst I appreciate it, I do worry about how you're coping. If you're feeling overwhelmed, I'd rather you tell me "I'm not going to fix that thing for the foreseeable future" than to run yourself ragged"

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  • [–] 8 points 7 months ago

    Yo hold on, this guy just used something from the "I might need this later" drawer.

    This is worth a fucking celebration. Dudes everywhere have now been vindicated and justified for our collection of trinkets!

    Amazing.

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  • [–] 8 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    When I eat too many beans, I get Motor Assy too.

    ...I'll see myself out.

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  • [–] 6 points 7 months ago (2 children)

    that's a 2059 series what do you mean dull

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  • [–] [S] 6 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    3900-2059-000 was the original motor (and assembly). The new motor didn't come with a bracket for some reason 🤷. Fortunately, the old steel bracket is as tough as (steel) nails so I was able to re-use it.

    Here, have some more unnecessary details:

    Photo of the OEM cardboard box that held the BROAN BP27 bathroom exhaust fan used to replace the 3900-2059-000 motor that was originally installed in the ceiling of the bathroom

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  • [–] 6 points 7 months ago (3 children)

    Seeing vice grip printed on something that is not channel locks is mildly infuriating.

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  • [–] 4 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    Oh boy…I also have a perfectly working bathroom fan motor. In storage for around 15 years now, and rescued from my parent’s renovation. Good to know it may indeed be useful :)

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  • [–] [S] 6 points 7 months ago

    Some day, one of your current bathroom fans will break its last wind. It's seen some shit. On that good day, you won't be a hoarder, you'll be a prophet that saw the end coming back in 2011.

    "I knew! I predicted this! Because I gave a crap and wish to give many more!"

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  • [–] 4 points 7 months ago

    Saving all the screws is tight!

    Well done!

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  • [–] 3 points 7 months ago

    Nice I did one of these not long ago. Second Story to had to put ina vent through the soffit, I paid some asshole to get up on a ladder and do that part.

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