dumb things not to do

Nov 23, 2007 08:46

A friendly warning from your neighborhood dummy: do not suck up live coals with your sweeper.

iowa shucks, update, absurd

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mechers November 26 2007, 17:34:18 UTC
Yes, but not in a terrible dramatic way. I was sucking up the ashes that had spilled from the fireplace, and one of them glowed red as the sucker tube neared it. "Uh-oh," I thought, but in it went anyway. Immediately there was a horrible smell for which I cannot find a fun metaphor. Imagine the stale dust smell from your vacuum bag starting to smolder. There is really nothing else like it. "Oh dear," I thought. "Oh dear" seems to be my stock response to fire, as though Winnie the Pooh has overtaken the vocabulary center of my brain.

I stood up to hit the off switch and the sweeper (an upright) tilted back slightly and the still-spinning rotary brush spewed sparks. Mm, fun times. I got it turned off and dragged it downstairs and out the door, where I got the bag chamber open and removed the heavily smoking bag and laid it on the frozen lawn. I probably should have doused it then, but I had half an idea it might burst into flame and that would have been cool. Instead, it just smoldered for the rest of the day (the bag was almost full; I assume it just didn't have enough oxygen to do more than smolder) and I finally doused it before I went to bed. Now I have a blackened vacuum cleaner bag in my yard. It's a shame we have few visitors, b/c it would be a great conversation piece.

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ichbinkelsey November 27 2007, 00:04:40 UTC
Hee hee hee! What a fabulous story. I would have done the exact same thing with the bag. This is reason #1 why I don't have a Roomba--I would be too tempted to see all the fun things I could have it ingest.

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mechers November 27 2007, 16:44:39 UTC
I've got a friend who has one, and I'd love to try one out.

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