22 Mar
2006
22 Mar
'06
7:23 p.m.
We bought a fair amount of equipment from the hospitals in the
Northwest in the 1990s. Most hospitals here have private auctions,
some on a regular schedule with no advertising. You need to inquire
with the property manager of the hospital about how they get rid of
their surplus. Dealers usually get the pick of the bigger equipment
first ( a good dealer will pay more). I got most of my HP 9825s from
hospital sales (used as instrument controllers)
Hospitals, especially university or large hospitals generate lots of
computer, phone, office equipment, lab maintenance and supplies
surplus.
You can find some classic pieces inside.
we once got a CO2 laser that was driven by a nice little PDP 11/23
with a qbus floppy controller with two 8 inch floppy drives attached.
There are concerns about getting contaminated equipment. Mostly it is
related to equipment that is processing, testing or holding blood.
Good dealers are concerned about this.
We also used to buy from Hanford in Eastern Washington and had to be
careful to make sure we didn't get anything radioactive. I know of
equipment dealers it happened to.
--
Paxton Hoag
Astoria, OR
USA