Sensor/thermal bulb from a capillary tube. Likely from a refrigerator.
Alright, thank you! 17 years of wondering are finally over.
What does it do?
From a quick search, it is used to control the flow of refrigerant based on its temperature. The tube deforms based on how hot or cold the refrigerant is, and there are contacts on the tube to switches that permit or resrrict coolant flow
In other words, it's a simple thermostat
Wow, that’s pretty clever.
Physics, yo
Just to add my 2 cents, it's more likely a filter/drier from a refrigerator. Those are much more common, even though a sensor/thermal bulb looks very similar.
It looks similar to part of the cooling system on the back of my refrigerator.
Another picture to have an idea about the size of it.
It's conventional to use a banana for scale, but a hand will do in a pinch I guess.
That hand is, in fact, in a pinch, so we have no problems!
Ah, good. The problem resolved itself. I can continue being somewhat lazy
And somewhat italian.
Phew. The small size, combined with other people surmising it might be part of a refrigerator greatly alleviates my worries you might have picked up a piece of unexploded munitions from WW2. Which is an all too common thing over here in Germany.
jalapeño
It’s a Sea Doobie
What does a sea do be do?
Thank you, i will never stop calling it that now!
There could be dangerous coolant in it. When scrapping devices using coolant, the workers used to make it pump it into this chamber, then squish the end tight, roll it a bit, then remove it.
Looks like copper.
I think it is, yes.
What is this thing?
Let us help you identify that mysterious object you’ve found.
Currently in CHALLENGE mode: If you've got something obscure knocking about, post a picture, and let's see how we do. Please prefix such posts with "CHALLENGE:" so we know we've got a fighting chance.