# The detritus of abandoned technologies **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 15, 2024, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-detritus-of-abandoned-technologies/1002929 "2024-06-15T23:07:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2024, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-detritus-of-abandoned-technologies/1002929/1 "2024-06-15T23:07:21Z")
I’ve made several posts of my adventures in the crawl space of my new (old) house. Today I ran a new stove feeder, and pulled many hundreds of feet of old cable- phone, TV, Ethernet, and cable out from under the house: [[Album] imgur.com ![](https://i.imgur.com/XZvb7gn.jpeg?fb "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/a/Y3LbwcG) All that wire, now replaced with WiFi. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2024, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-detritus-of-abandoned-technologies/1002929/2 "2024-06-15T23:25:31Z")
Leave all that stuff outside–you can have a meth-head feeder. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2024, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-detritus-of-abandoned-technologies/1002929/3 "2024-06-15T23:27:35Z")
I’d have left it in, so you could upgrade your WiFi by replacing it with Ethernet. Seriously, who thought that shoveling off all of our data transfer needs into the radio spectrum was a good idea? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2024, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-detritus-of-abandoned-technologies/1002929/4 "2024-06-15T23:28:10Z")
I bought 25’ of 8-3 cable by mistake. That was an expensive error… (I ended up needing 40’ of 6-3). ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2024, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-detritus-of-abandoned-technologies/1002929/5 "2024-06-15T23:31:08Z")
I didn’t check the cable, but I would bet it’s all 10baseT. If I ever need the speed of a wired network, I can easily run new cable. But, I doubt I’ll ever need to do that. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2024, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-detritus-of-abandoned-technologies/1002929/6 "2024-06-15T23:33:52Z")
For your stove, I’m assuming. Yeah, 40 amp is normal for a stove. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2024, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-detritus-of-abandoned-technologies/1002929/7 "2024-06-15T23:36:09Z")
I’ve got a box in my closet filled with crap like that: old phone cords, Ethernet cables, coaxial cables, some of those filters you had to connect to your phone jacks to use DSL, some of those adapters for connecting coax to the old twin lead antenna connectors. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2024, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-detritus-of-abandoned-technologies/1002929/8 "2024-06-15T23:38:01Z")
That’s what confused me. But, the way this was wired, they had 8-3 running to a subpanel, and then a 40A breaker and short run of 8-3 cable to the stove, and then two other 15A breakers for the microwave and a counter outlet. BUT - the breaker at the main panel was 50A. So the 8-3 was not really large enough. I had to relocate the subpanel (we moved the stove across the room). When I realized that they had undersized the cable, I yanked it out and ran the 6-3 to the subpanel. A short run of 8-3 goes from the breaker to the range outlet. Oh, and - I fixed the screwed-up grounding they had done. It’s still not 100% to code, but it’s better than it was. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2024, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-detritus-of-abandoned-technologies/1002929/9 "2024-06-15T23:38:14Z")
Most of us have boxes of this random stuff. Some are things like AC adapters for things we no longer own, and have no idea what they’re for. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2024, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-detritus-of-abandoned-technologies/1002929/10 "2024-06-15T23:38:28Z")
Want some more? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2024, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-detritus-of-abandoned-technologies/1002929/11 "2024-06-15T23:39:08Z")
No thanks; I’ve already donated many such things to Goodwill. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2024, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-detritus-of-abandoned-technologies/1002929/12 "2024-06-16T00:34:39Z")
Salvation Army rejected my old electronics donation and there was some good stuff in there. Had two programable tv remotes with charging stations that were still upgradeable, I just threw them out. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2024, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-detritus-of-abandoned-technologies/1002929/13 "2024-06-16T00:53:52Z")
I’m pretty sure that Goodwill, or least my local affiliate, accepts old electronics. If not for resale, at least as electronic waste, which can generate some revenue. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2024, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-detritus-of-abandoned-technologies/1002929/14 "2024-06-16T01:01:45Z")
I have a box full of VGA cables. And another box full of RJ-11 phone cords, which aren’t quite as obsolete but I’ll probably never use them again. ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2024, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-detritus-of-abandoned-technologies/1002929/15 "2024-06-16T01:10:54Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Yeah, 40 amp is normal for a stove. Induction stoves are often 50A, sometimes 60A. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2024, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-detritus-of-abandoned-technologies/1002929/16 "2024-06-16T01:44:38Z")
Yeah. A couple moves ago I jettisoned big tubs of CATV stuff, Ethernet stuff, POTS stuff, carburetted engine stuff, analog audio recording stuff, etc. Good riddance. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2024, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-detritus-of-abandoned-technologies/1002929/17 "2024-06-16T11:05:20Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Most of us have boxes of this random stuff. Some are things like AC adapters for things we no longer own, and have no idea what they’re for. I always have a box full of old obsolete cables, adapters, hard disks, extension cards and so on. Every few years I bring this box to recycling. Lather, rinse and repeat a few years later. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2024, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-detritus-of-abandoned-technologies/1002929/18 "2024-06-16T12:35:30Z")
I’m not surprised, but I haven’t worked as an electrician for quite some time so haven’t had the occasion to hook up an induction. For the OP, I just assumed a standard stove. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2024, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-detritus-of-abandoned-technologies/1002929/19 "2024-06-17T00:31:33Z")
I’d been living here for a year before I discovered the chimney in the kitchen. It was behind drywall and a layer of thin, fake brick. The brick stand next to it, for a wood burning stove, should have given me a clue. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2024, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-detritus-of-abandoned-technologies/1002929/20 "2024-06-17T00:44:19Z")
The chimney doesn’t stick out of the top of the roof? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-detritus-of-abandoned-technologies/1002929.md?page=2)