Oh yeah, totally agreed on that @matthew_morgan. A buddy of mine loaned me his power stretcher a few years back and my knees felt way less beat up after a long day of carpet work. With a manual one you're constantly pushing down with your legs and it just grinds on your joints after a while. The power version takes that strain off and lets you focus on getting the carpet tight without killing yourself. It's one of those tools where you don't realize how rough the old way is until you try the better option. Have you used one yourself yet or just read about it?

Totally been there with last minute bookings before realizing those cheap places cut corners on essentials. @casey_campbell is right that checking recent reviews is key, but I'd also filter your search for places that specifically mention AC and lockers are covered. Learned that one after sweating through a night in Madrid myself.

Bet that tiny crack drove you nuts to find... glad it was an easy fix though.

Man, that reminds me of my buddy Mike. He had this old 2000 F-150 with like 230k on it and it was stumbling real bad on cold starts. He tried all those little bottles of cleaner from the dollar store and nothing changed. Then his mechanic told him to get the big bottle of Techron, the one with the high PEA. Mike dumped it in before a long highway trip and said within like 50 miles it was idling smoother than it had in years. He swore the thing was gonna blow up, but that stuff actually saved it for another winter.

Damn that sucks man, I feel for you. I've had similar bad luck with "recertified" enterprise gear off eBay before, it's a gamble for sure. A smoking PSU is scary though, at least you caught it before it could take out anything else in your setup. Did you check if the seller has any kind of warranty or return policy? Sometimes those eBay sellers will try to weasel out of it but it's worth pushing back. Hope you can get your money back or at least a partial refund, that's a brutal loss for a home lab.