My toddler dropped Fenix E05 into heater
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Clothes hanger just gets stuck. Shark Vacuum was a fail.
Hose-magnet is an interesting idea, and I see some sort of clasping snakes on Amazon, but I'm not spending $30 to retrieve a $30 light unless the NiMH eneloop is a fire hazard back there.
Annoyingly, if she had put it down one of the lower two tubes, I could easily retrieve it from the bottom grill which is removable, but the upper two tubes have an iron plate at the bottom. [emoji30]
Green arrow is the tube it's stuck down, red arrow is the seam thru which I can see the split ring
aginthelaw
Flashlight Enthusiast
At least there's a chance to retrieve it. My kid threw mine in the garbage. I found out the next day after the garbage was picked up
vadimax
Flashlight Enthusiast
Clothes hanger just gets stuck. Shark Vacuum was a fail.
Hose-magnet is an interesting idea, and I see some sort of clasping snakes on Amazon, but I'm not spending $30 to retrieve a $30 light unless the NiMH eneloop is a fire hazard back there.
Annoyingly, if she had put it down one of the lower two tubes, I could easily retrieve it from the bottom grill which is removable, but the upper two tubes have an iron plate at the bottom. [emoji30]
Green arrow is the tube it's stuck down, red arrow is the seam thru which I can see the split ring
Wait... It has a split ring attached? Why not taking a metal wire, make a hook on its tip and "fish out" the light?
Tried with a clothes hanger wire, just gets stuck. It's a very thin vent tube, unfortunately.Wait... It has a split ring attached? Why not taking a metal wire, make a hook on its tip and "fish out" the light?
Anyone know whether common operating temperatures of a steam radiator could cause a drained NiMH cell to explode?
glockboy
Flashlight Enthusiast
You can use "picture frame hanging wire" or "14-Gauge Galvanized Steel Wire" at home depot" they thinner than clothes hanger wire.
DarlingSoul
Newly Enlightened
- Joined
- May 14, 2017
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Ow, clever kid seems your kid love and enjoy watching you fishing your Fenix.
Blackbeard
Enlightened
Not sure if you resolved yet. I did HVAC for 20+ years, but had to stop due to surgeries to knee and shoulder. Just dont call an hvac company in hopes of retreiving it cause you will waste far more money on the service call, and these cast iron radiators do not come apart, unless its removed from the wall and then subsequently destroyed with heavy tools. so it would have to be removed from the wall and turned upside down until your light fell out, not a cheap service call. would take 2-3 hours, with system drained and refilled. and thats only if there are plumbing unions attached to the pipes, and even then it may still not come out due to old age/rust, so it it mught need to be cut out and repiped, all this very costly for a $20 light
as far as it being dangerous, hard to say, I dont know what happens to an eneloop under heat. that looks like it could be attached to hot water boiler or a steam boiler, I'm not sure cause it has 2 different vents, so it may have been converted to steam at some point in the past, which would be hotter temperatures than a hot water boiler. keep trying to fish it out, maybe pick up an inspection mirror to guide you.
as far as it being dangerous, hard to say, I dont know what happens to an eneloop under heat. that looks like it could be attached to hot water boiler or a steam boiler, I'm not sure cause it has 2 different vents, so it may have been converted to steam at some point in the past, which would be hotter temperatures than a hot water boiler. keep trying to fish it out, maybe pick up an inspection mirror to guide you.
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Tejasandre
Flashlight Enthusiast
Can a hole be safely drilled near the flashlight? I'm picturing a hole saw so you can just grab the light.
parametrek
Enlightened
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2013
- Messages
- 578
Remove the cleaning grate at the bottom of the heat register. It might stick a little due to have been painted over, but that part on the bottom should come off.
Get a length of coat hanger and poke around until you can knock the light the rest of the way down.
Retrieve light from floor, replace cleaning grate.
Get a length of coat hanger and poke around until you can knock the light the rest of the way down.
Retrieve light from floor, replace cleaning grate.
Thank you. This bit is the rub. We moved recently, that radiator was at a house owned by a relative and I still do need to figure this out before winter. I believe it is a steam system, the radiators in the rest of the house are the type with those circular vent valves with +/- on them.
In any case, I certainly tried removing the bottom grate, several of the holes it would have dropped right thru, but the rear/top rows all have solid-floored bottoms for some reason.
I did suspect the whole thing would need to be ripped out to retrieve the light, it's really just a question of what happens to an eneloop when it gets heated, and whether this would pose a fire hazard to the house.
I will have to email Panasonic and/or post some questions on the Amazon listings, before winter. Maybe there is a Reddit sub on batteries, chemistry, etc that could help. If it's not a threat to the house, I'll leave it there. I'd be more worried about a LiIon, which we all know are prone to combust or explode. At least it's just NiMh.
EDIT: great, "Never dispose of Nickel Metal Hydride batteries in a fire or heat them. Doing so may melt the insulation, damage the gas release vents or protective devices, ignite hydrogen gas, cause leakage of battery fluid (electrolyte), heat generation, bursting and fire." Source
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archimedes
Flashaholic
Lots of NiMH MSDS info available with a websearch ....
I emailed Panasonic, but I suspect for liability's sake they'll tell me to pay to have it removed.
Industrial product safety sheet says risk of fire if heated to 100 C, and google says cast iron steam radiators can reach 212 F.
Sigh. Having kids is expensive. Maybe homeowners insurance would pay for this, but I've read it's a bad idea to nickel and dime them.
Maybe I'll try a more expensive snake/grabbing device before calling HVAC.
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noboneshotdog
Flashlight Enthusiast
- Joined
- May 28, 2012
- Messages
- 1,354
Is the radiator connected to the piping with unions? Or is it hard piped?
If it is indeed connected with unions, as long as the boiler is shut off, the radiator will be empty and free of water. You could loosen the unions and remove the radiator from the wall. Of course the wall tiles may be disturbed in the process.
As a plumbing and HVAC tech, this is what would need to be done.
If there are no unions, which would be rare, that would end up being a big job trying to reconnect the pipes after removal.
Ultimately I would encourage you to continue using some kind of magnetic device to retrieve it. That is what a hvac tech will likely do to start and then he would eventually move on to removal of radiator.
I often use my tape measure with magnetic end to retrieve things as it is stiff enough to get in without sticking to the edge of the ferrous sides.
Good luck. It's probably a $500 job with union removal. Closer to $1000 for non union removal. Plus the likelihood of damage to the surrounding wall tiles as well.
Personally I would continue with alternative approach instead of calling a plumber.
If it is indeed connected with unions, as long as the boiler is shut off, the radiator will be empty and free of water. You could loosen the unions and remove the radiator from the wall. Of course the wall tiles may be disturbed in the process.
As a plumbing and HVAC tech, this is what would need to be done.
If there are no unions, which would be rare, that would end up being a big job trying to reconnect the pipes after removal.
Ultimately I would encourage you to continue using some kind of magnetic device to retrieve it. That is what a hvac tech will likely do to start and then he would eventually move on to removal of radiator.
I often use my tape measure with magnetic end to retrieve things as it is stiff enough to get in without sticking to the edge of the ferrous sides.
Good luck. It's probably a $500 job with union removal. Closer to $1000 for non union removal. Plus the likelihood of damage to the surrounding wall tiles as well.
Personally I would continue with alternative approach instead of calling a plumber.
archimedes
Flashaholic
Borescope and a flexible claw-type retriever ?
This should work; NiMH batteries contain enough ferrous (or at least magnetic) material to be attracted to a strong magnet even through a flashlight body. A good source for high-strength neodymium magnets is United Nuclear Supply. (Don't worry, the shipping label says UNS, not United Nuclear... the USPS won't be afraid to deliver your package.) I would use a wiring fish rod with the hose, to make sure I could get the magnet to the nearly-departed Fenix. (After all, you can't push a rope, as the saying goes.)
Thanks, but light is 4-6 inches from the heater's outer surface, through three layers of iron sheet, so magnet fails to work through the iron sheets and won't go down the vent, just sticks to sides.
I'm gonna go with a flexible grasping device and scope, thanks crazyeddie and others:
Better to drop some $ on decent tools than to rip the heater out. Tradespeople are very expensive here in the NYC suburbs.
I'll update when I finally get the thing out.
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