This past summer there were several large government and private auctions here in town. There were tons of interesting things from appliances, electronics, computers, hardware, supplies, tools, vehicles, etc. Since everything was in bulk it really came down to getting the best value and knowing if the items could be used vs resold.PROJECT TITAN - FUNDING MY GOALS: AUCTIONS AND TAKING A CHANCE
I took a big chance on a few large pallets sight unseen which they call *Lottery Bins*. I normally wouldn't entertain such a thing but this specific vendor was hosting large government agencies and enterprise corporations. So the odds of getting screwed were less likely but there would be no way to know how old, condition, operating state of said *Lottery Bins*!
As noted I took a gamble because there were some items I considered no brainers in terms practical use and the odds said item regardless of condition would impact its usefulness.
One of the bins came with 48 brand new plus heavy duty wide body collapsible chairs.
I've never owned a *Wide Back* lawn chair before but can say they are comfortable, solid, and excellent quality.
In another box were coffee makers, carafes, kettles, and thermoses. This photo doesn't really do justice how many there were in this pallet.
The bulk of the items were brand new while some had what they call *Single Use*. Meaning they were purchased brand new and used for a single event and then placed back into their cartons. As seen below I didn't want to take a chance anything had been holding coffee, tea, milk, etc. So spent the afternoon sanitizing and cleaning them all out by hand one by one.
It was a beautiful 25'C that day with blue skies and what better way to kill some time than to wash some Carafes!
What I was really interested in were the industrial grade *Lifetime* branded extreme duty chairs. These crazy fold out chairs are rated to hold more than 350 lbs?!?! I got to say if you're pushing more than 275 lbs guess what I gots some extreme duty chairs ready for you!
All told there were 54 chairs in this lot and I can't even begin to tell you how much this auction saved me in buying the very same from the store.
There were 12 huge refrigerator sized server racks made by APC. I would love to publish a picture of them here but was asked not to by the vendor as they have asset tags from the Feds. Regardless those beautiful server racks found a new home here and elsewhere in town. 183 servers were found in another pallet that ranged from HPE Apollo, Dell EMC, Cisco USC, IBM Power Systems.
This time 2005 I would have been wiring up these systems in the home with out a second thought. But this isn't 2005 its late 2017 and my mission statement and goal has changed drastically. I am very happy to say 173 of these servers from new to one years old found a new home! I simply could not afford to keep these systems powered up 24.7.365.
But I did keep a few of the brand new units for myself for several long term projects in the works!
The primary reason I went to this auction was to obtain some of the new and next to new coolers, freezer, and small fridges. That goal was met on that day as I walked away with four of these brand new Master Chef 1.6 cubic foot (45 liters) mini fridges. This little guy comes in at 20 1/16" H x 17 5/16" W x 18 1/2" D @32 lbs 10 oz.PROJECT TITAN - BACKUP REFRIGERATION: SMALL IS GREAT
As seen these units just sip power and the Energy Star rating has them at the lowest range for such an appliance. The placard indicates the device is rated to consume 207 KWH per year. Based on my initial test and validating from the GEM its actually lower!
Since I really didn't need four of these mini bar fridges the other two have been sold to a new home. The primary goal of these two fridges are for back up and to store medical supplies. This model has the option to configure the door from left to right and vice versa.
This unit comes with a removable grill to allow larger items, ice tray, and freezer compartment.
The single thermostat resides in the back of the unit and based on the default setting of 4. The fridge was very cold and well within the range I expected while balancing energy consumption.
The little freezer compartment is large enough for a ice tray, ice cream, T-Bones, etc. To save floor space I plan on stacking the two together on top of one another. Given the feet are not rubber I'll need to add a plate cover to ensure it doesn't mar the bottom fridge and keep it balanced.
While plugged in these mini fridges are extremely quite unlike the GE fridge up stairs! I swear its like listening to a freaking giant compressor in automotive shop. If that GE fridge wasn't so efficient I would have thrown that bloody thing out the door by now. In the future its on the road map to be replaced with a much quieter one.
Regardless, the plan was to have a few back up units in case of a failure so having these two units will fit that need very well. At the moment I still need to run a dedicate 120 VAC circuit for these units and have them connected to the secondary GEM for long term monitoring. I hope to complete that wiring once the other systems are in place.
Its been a very long road in many aspects of the projects on the go. But as other say patience pays off and waiting for those auctions not only sped up my time line for back up refrigeration. But also enabled me to make a tidy profit to fund other long term projects slated for 2018.PROJECT TITAN - HELPING THOSE WHO NEED IT: HURRICANE VICTIMS
One of the most rewarding aspects of winning some of these large auctions was having the ability to send money to those impacted by hurricane Irma that reside in Texas, Florida, and Portia Rico. There are always someone who has less and someone who needs help. Those who purchased items such as carafes, chairs, servers, etc should know the bulk of the funds went toward helping others!
Every time you have coffee, tea, sit down, or play on that server. Know your generosity went toward helping someone thousands of miles away to get back on their feet!