Nah, windowpane's different from just feeling it... you're overthinking again.

Nah I gotta disagree with @flores.jana here. If that plastic piece is supposed to act like a "fuse" then it failed on @riverp37's buddy in the worst way possible. A fuse is supposed to save you money not cost you a tow bill. That design logic is backwards.

That $400 hit and a lost Saturday is brutal, but it's a lesson that sticks. I used a knee kicker for years on big rooms thinking it was good enough, then had a job at a church hall in Portland where the carpet buckled in six weeks. The owner was furious and I had to rent a power stretcher and fix it for free. It cost me over $500 in materials and two days of work. That shortcut of skipping the power stretcher actually cost me more time and money in the long run, and it's a mistake I haven't made since.

Yeah @wells.morgan nailed it, the constant on-off cycling is what kills those relays since they arc and weld shut over time. I've seen the same thing happen with cheap outdoor timers on holiday lights where the contacts just fuse together after a few weeks of switching a heavy load.

Yeah, but WD-40 isn't really a lubricant for rusted window frames. It's more of a water displacer and light cleaner. You'd want something like PB Blaster or even just a silicone spray for that kind of sticking window issue. WD-40 will work for a little bit but it'll dry out and get gummy again pretty fast. A sledgehammer might be dramatic, but if that frame was painted shut for twenty years, sometimes you gotta break the seal with some force before you can get to the fix.