Found a 20 year old splitter in a crawlspace in Bend that outlived three of my newer ones
Was doing a rewire last Thursday on a house off Reed Market Road and pulled a brass 3 way splitter out of the dirt that had been there since the place was built in 2003. The thing was caked in mud and still passed signal at 7dB, better than the plastic one I swapped in 6 months ago. Now I keep two of those old ones in my van for troubleshooting because they just don't die. Anyone else hoarding old brass parts or is it just me?
So it sat in wet dirt for 20 years and still worked? I'd want to see that tested on a meter before I believe it. Mud gets into everything and a splitter reading 7dB on one outlet doesn't mean the other two are clean, could just be your meter not noticing the loss. Plus one brass unit surviving doesn't prove anything, that's a sample size of one. I've pulled old parts that looked fine and tested like garbage once they dried out. Not saying you're wrong, just that a story about one splitter isn't enough to start hoarding brass.