Warm and wet. [61F and drizzle/heavy mist]
This week took it’s own time to end. Despite that, I’m farther behind than when I started.
In terms of preps, I’m still mainly buying things. With the rain, I haven’t been able to do some of the organization and cleanup I need to do.
On the other hand, I’m working the meatspace thing. I am gratified to learn that our school district has finally begun implementing some of the things I’ve been agitating for- stop the bleed training, and bleeding control kits. On the gripping hand, getting involved in School Board and school stuff takes a lot of time, and has a steep learning curve. The amount of insular, clannish nonsense is astounding. Hope you don’t mind me sharing this clusterflock.
One of my EMS/Fireservice newsletters has links to new policy and direction from FEMA this week.
FEMA releases updated Community Lifelines resources
Lifelines are critical services that enable communities to function. Examples
include communications, energy and security. When these Community Lifelines
are disrupted by an emergency or disaster it is crucial to stabilize them as quickly
as possible to support the needs of the community during response and recovery.The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) released the updated
“Community Lifelines Implementation Toolkit 2.0” and the “Incident Stabilization
Guide.” These documents provide updated information and resources so the
emergency management community can better understand and implement
Community Lifelines.Since its creation, the lifelines concept has been widely accepted throughout the
emergency management community, because the simplicity and plain language
used for lifelines eases coordination and communication among partners at
multiple levels.
https://www.fema.gov/media-library/assets/documents/177222
This is a different way of looking at disasters, and framing the question of “What has happened, what needs doing, and who should do it?” FEMA and other EMgmt agencies will be using this framework during your next disaster. Like getting Incident Management training, CERT training, etc, I think it’s important to understand where .gov is coming from and what you can expect them to do.
Further, their list of lifelines makes a pretty good starting list for personal preps, organized by criticality and grouped logically.
I’ll be out and about doing pickups and running errands most of the day, once I leave the house. I’ll be home in the late afternoon to send the girls off to camp though. Then it’s wild women and parties for the weekend……
n
WTF is wrong with people?
“Girl, 11, is left with second-degree burns and guts her house after ‘setting herself alight with a candle’ as cops issue fresh warning against deadly social media fire challenge”
Who starts these sick memes?
n
WTF is wrong with people?
Culling the dumb ones from the herd?
Unfortunately, it appears that she’ll live to reproduce.
Unfortunately the Tide pods challenge and the condom through the the nose did not get enough of them. They need a new challenge. May I suggest Russian Roulette using six bullets in a six shot revolver.
WTF is wrong with people?
“Girl, 11, is left with second-degree burns and guts her house after ‘setting herself alight with a candle’ as cops issue fresh warning against deadly social media fire challenge”
Nothing in the “paper of record” in St. Petersburg/Tampa Bay? I’m shocked! Shocked!
The Daily Mirror didn’t specify which section of the city. I’m guessing either the “Lealman” unincorporated area of Pinellas (where a lot of Tampa Bay stupidity originates) or a neighborhood south of Central Avenue. I’m guessing the latter given the names of the family which imply the race as African American.
Pinellas is one of the most densly populated counties in the country. Just saying “St. Petersburg” covers a wide area of geography and demographics.
If the nitwit was a white girl in Carrollwood or Brandon, you’d better believe there would be front page coverage in The Times.
For those unfamiliar with Tampa media, the Times is wholly owned by a liberal media think tank, and they bought the crosstown rival Tampa paper from Media General/Warren Buffett just to shut it down.
Social media encourages someone to pour a flammable liquid on themselves, and the light themselves on fire? It’s hard to imagine a simpler, more direct way to identify abject stupidity. And very possibly a Darwin award. I have sympathy for their families, but not so much for the idiots who would actually do this.
That said, whoever started (or encourages) this idiocy is due some serious karma. Probably a pure sociopath who thinks it’s hilarious. Maybe SteveF could pay them a visit…
No, actually. I’m firmly on the “Darwin Award” side. Yah, it’s an asshole move to create and spread these challenges, but it’s an utter moron move to perform them.
I have some limited sympathy for the families, but a lot of sympathy for the taxpayers who are probably going to be picking up a big chunk of the bill.
How about free fentanyl and free needles?
I’ve had several classes, and I can’t quite figure out why second degree burns would require surgery.
n
FYI after having no issues for the last couple of weeks this site is having slow response times and just now a 500 error.
Skin grafts?
WTF is wrong with people?
YouTube.
I used to think basic cable was the worst thing inflicted on the suburbs, but at least they had bottom lines to meet. YouTube and the streaming services with seemingly unlimited production budgets are far worse. The unicorn/FAANG bubble can’t pop fast enough as far as I’m concerned.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/01/goops-netflix-series-its-so-much-worse-than-i-expected-and-i-cant-unsee-it/
Gwyneth’s father inflicted Howie Mandel upon the world but gave us “St. Elsewhere” in the bargain.
“Epic fail: Critical Windows 10 security update failing to install”
https://www.tomsguide.com/news/epic-fail-critical-windows-10-security-update-failing-to-install
Why yes, I really want to update all ten of my semi-stable Windows 7 x64 Pro PCs to Windows 10. Why do you ask ?
From @JimB yesterday:
@Lynn, I had no idea Texas was so bureaucratic. I compared my county’s web site to yours, and the requirements looked the same as when I applied in 1977, except they are conveniently on line. I was able to hire a guy who certainly wasn’t a “Professional Engineer or Registered Sanitarian” to do the job according to my plans. No perc test was required, since we made the leach field large enough for the worst case soil type in our area. The extra cost for that was trivial. It appears that a perc test is now required, but can be performed by anyone in the business of installing tanks.
I wonder how hard it was to get that NASA designed system approved in Louisiana? There were “several” homes that used the design, plus a municipal sized system. It seems to me that sanitary requirements and not designs should be specified, and any design that meets those requirements should be allowed. You do raise a good point about getting a design tested and certified. I actually have experience with that mess in another field, and it ain’t pretty; nor cheap.
As for “less than ¼ hp”, that is the same as I use to air condition my whole house, and my system does not run continuously. I do use water, however, and that costs. All utilities are getting more expensive.
That reminds me. In our area, natural gas rates have been increasing, in spite of the fact that gas at the wellhead is ever cheaper. CA has a corrupt Public Utilities Commission. I don’t have nat gas, and probably won’t get it because of the cost. Your gas rates are probably incredibly cheap, since you are so close to many sources.
Texas is now the second most populous state in the Union. And yes, we have the buerocracy to match. We just do not have a state income tax. Yet.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_states_and_territories_of_the_United_States_by_population
Of course, my county has over 800,000 people living in it. Bigger than some states. A few bad actors have caused problems for the rest of us.
I am slowly losing customers in California to bankruptcy. The latest was a natural gas utility. One of the guys told me as he was leaving that there were less than 50 people working there now with several million customers. Those two numbers are not compatible with each other.
I cannot reconcile what I am paying for natural gas as we rarely get out of the minimum charge of $30/month. It has been such a warm winter that we rarely turn on the heat and the two water heaters and cooktop do not use that much natural gas.
However, the price for natural gas need to be about 2X what it is now ($2.20/mmbtu) for my industry to get healthy. I’ve got customers dropping right and left at the moment. Or, being eaten by large players looking at the future with less competitors and significantly higher demand with no coal power plants.
Once again, one of my apps has modified my c:\windows\win.ini file and removed the send mail instruction that the File / Send… menu entry requires for a Thunderbird email with attachment to work. I have no idea which app is doing this but they need to be shot. The generic fix is here:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/290797/file-send-to-mail-recipient-or-mail-recipient-as-attachment-missing-in
Arlo and Janis: barbecuing in the winter
https://www.gocomics.com/arloandjanis/2020/01/17
Yup, the Jack London stories were excellent !
From BH in the Fort Bend Journal:
“A ship is always safe at shore, but that is not what it was built for.” – Albert Einstein
Interesting. I wonder if Einstein actually said it and why.
Texas is now the second most populous state in the Union. And yes, we have the buerocracy to match. We just do not have a state income tax. Yet.
Supposedly, the restrictions on income tax in Texas were tightened in the off-year November election, but I haven’t seen the language of the initiative. The last revision of Homestead Exemption in Florida arguably weakened that part of FL statue, something I’m sure the RINO Governor intended.
If the Prog antics continue in the I-35 corridor without a real response from the Governor and Legislature, I wouldn’t be surprised if Austin/Travis County or San Antonio tried to enact income tax and take their chances in court like Seattle did a few years ago.
If Austin or San Antonio got away with it, Dallas and Houston would be next. Both are technically insolvent due to pension obligations.
If Austin or San Antonio got away with it, Dallas and Houston would be next. Both are technically insolvent due to pension obligations.
I know a guy who retired at age 49 from the Houston police department. He got moved to the graveyard shift in 3rd ward as the sergeant in charge. He said no, they said do it anyway, and he retired at 90% of his current pay with health benefits for the rest of his life. He had been a cop since he was 22.
“When The Walls Fell” by Sarah Hoyt
https://madgeniusclub.com/2020/01/15/when-the-walls-fell/
“I grew up in a dark age, when books were scant and hard to obtain. Also expensive.”
“Okay, on the serious side, for those of us reading this who don’t know, since we have a lot of new readers recently: I am Portuguese born and bred. My family is still in Portugal. I only learned to speak English at 14, and it was my third language.”
“When I first came to the States and discovered used book stores and — stars in eyes — library sales, and the discount rack at various stores and, when broke, the free shelves outside bookstores (I spent a lot of the nineties reading gothic romances nobody wanted. I didn’t either, but they were free and were printed words) I thought I was in reader-hog-heaven.”
Ok, that is addiction.
I know a guy who retired at age 49 from the Houston police department. He got moved to the graveyard shift in 3rd ward as the sergeant in charge. He said no, they said do it anyway, and he retired at 90% of his current pay with health benefits for the rest of his life. He had been a cop since he was 22.
We got a pretty good idea about the fiscal situation in Houston during our ride out to the main Phoenecia store on the city’s surface streets last Summer.
I’ve mentioned this before, but, ultimately, I think the pension obligation problem will be solved when cities do inter-regional personnel swaps for gun confiscation raids.
From what I understand, one of the items on the agenda in VA on Monday is a budget for establishing the office which will be in charge of enforcement of the KKKlansman’s plans for assault weapons in the state. The National Guard is already a questionmark so where does the labor come from?
I’ve had several classes, and I can’t quite figure out why second degree burns would require surgery.
Skin grafts?
And cutting off body parts that have gangrene.
You asked.
Win.ini? Seriously? Do you also rely on autoexec.bat? Nobody swapping your command.com? 🙂
As for “less than ¼ hp”, that is the same as I use to air condition my whole house, and my system does not run continuously. I do use water, however, and that costs. All utilities are getting more expensive.
BTW, I am paying about $4 per 1,000 gallons for potable pipeline water at both houses. Both water systems are using 2,000 ft deep wells pulling fresh water from the bottom of the five county aquifer in south Texas (there is a sea under us).
In the next ten years they are going to shift us to cleaned water from the Brazos River. The cost is running between $6 per 1000 gallons and $8 from the existing water plant. At this point it might be cheaper for us to start bringing in water from the Gulf of Mexico and cleaning it. And since the Brazos is about six inches deep and 50 ft wide right now, I have no idea where they are getting the twelve million gallons per day that people are using.
“US court dismisses suit by youths over climate change”
https://www.chron.com/news/us/article/US-court-dismisses-suit-by-youths-over-climate-14984042.php
and
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/01/17/climate-kidz-case-scuttled-by-9th-circuit-court/
“PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal appeals court on Friday dismissed a lawsuit by 21 young people who claimed the U.S. government’s climate policies and reliance on fossil fuels harms them, jeopardizes their future and violates their constitutional rights, potentially bringing an end to a long-running legal battle that activists saw as an important front in the war against environmental degradation.”
“The Oregon-based youth advocacy group Our Children’s Trust filed the lawsuit in 2015 in Eugene on behalf of the youngsters. It sought an injunction ordering the government to implement a plan to phase out fossil fuel emissions and draw down atmospheric carbon dioxide emission. The case had bounced around the federal courts for five years and multiple trial dates were canceled.”
“The 2-1 vote for dismissal was a major blow for the climate activists, who have filed numerous similar cases in state and federal courts and currently have nine cases pending in state courts from Alaska to New Mexico.”
“On Friday, the court wrote that the youngsters made a compelling case that action is needed and agreed that climate change is undeniable, but said the proper venue for addressing the nation’s emissions policies and fossil fuel use is the U.S. Congress or the electorate.”
Wow, common sense from the Ninth Circus.
$10 / gallon gasoline and diesel is coming in the future from these crazies. Plan accordingly.
As I think I mentioned a while ago, I have considered bringing gas to our site, but before I do, I need to know its operating cost for my planned usage. To that end, I have a couple of gas bills shared from a friend, because I was complaining about the complexities of pricing plans on the PG&E web site. His plan is likely similar to what I would choose. One bill is for November 2019, and it shows his price for Tier 1 at $1.30/Therm, and the procurement cost at $0.33/Therm. As you know, 1 Therm = 100kBTU, so your $2.20/mmBTU = $0.22/Therm. This seems to at least pass the sanity check.
If you are quoting prices to large powerplant users, I don’t know how to compare that to my numbers. Curious about your thoughts.
As for your usage, I wonder why your properties don’t have heat pumps? A relative in the Phoenix area has one because no gas is available. He says his electric bills are “modest,” whatever that means. Funny how rarely people seem to know what they pay for something that costs a fair chunk. Anyhow, the current air source heat pumps with the newer refrigerants work better at low ambient temperatures. Better enough that they wouldn’t need backup (gas or electric) heat in your climate. Next time you need to replace a system, you might look into that. My relative did say that his electric bills, especially in winter, have been lower since he replaced his unit a while ago.
I have a heat pump (AC/Heat) original to the house, about 25 years old. Uses the old-style refrigerant; had to top it off last year and paid $400 for the recharge.
During winter, the outside temp can get in the 20’s (F). Temp of the air out is only about 95F. No supplemental electrical heat. During summer, temps rarely above 85F, and AC works almost OK.
Due to the age of the system, I suspect a replacement will happen in the next couple years. Will get a heat pump again, but the new high-efficiency ones are supposed to work much better in my temperature range. Neighbor replaced his last year, but don’t know the cost of how efficient system he got. But I’ll get the highest efficiency one.
@Lynn, my Eastern friends (not this site) always marvel when I mention that I am 120 miles from my county seat, so when you mentioned the population of your county, I had to look it up. This site may be a little out of date because the numbers seem low, but it was convenient:
http://www.usa.com/rank/texas-state–land-area–county-rank.htm
Results:
Rank Land Area County / Population
1. 20,056.92 sq mi San Bernardino, CA / 2,078,586
2. 10,180.87 sq mi Inyo, CA / 18,439
3. 8,131.91 sq mi Kern, CA / 857,730
181. 861.48 sq mi Fort Bend, TX / 632,946
AYGH!! That WordPress whitespace cleanup got me twice. I give up. Read as best you can.
And we had another shooting a mile away from the office today. Same neighborhood as the last shooting last year where a young man was killed. The Sugar Land PD caught the person and has detained them. It is getting rough out here in the sticks.
https://www.facebook.com/FortBendCountySheriffsOffice/posts/10158283809261122
Win.ini? Seriously? Do you also rely on autoexec.bat? Nobody swapping your command.com?
All I know is that the “File / Send…” menu entry does not appear in Microsoft Excel 2016, Excel 2003, and my app when those entries are not there in the c:\windows\win.ini file. I do not know if that is a Thunderbird problem or a Windows problem. I do know that I have debugged it extensively in my app and the problem is deep in the bowels of Windows. It was very gassy in there, I got out quickly.
I did remove Office 2003 from my office pc yesterday so I now just have Office 2016 on my pc. I was tired of seeing which Excel I got when I started it.
@RickH, I am actually considering a heat pump to augment my solar space heat. It’s a bit complicated, but my solar heat is an all-air system that delivers about 80+% of our heat, averaged over the season. Its backup heat is electric resistance, which I use very sparingly. I also use wood for supplemental heat. I want to eliminate the wood and electric heat.
Our winter weather is a high percentage of sunny days, with occasional storms that make it cloudy. Even on sunny days, our low is about 25F, warming up to 50F during the day. The solar system collects and stores heat, and produces air above about 100F. Below that, its output is not warm enough to be practical, so it shuts down distribution. (It still collects heat if it is sunny.) I plan to divert the below 100F air to the outdoor part of the heat pump, which will raise its COP. I probably won’t need one of the highest rated heat pump systems, which are more expensive.
I will also gain refrigeration AC for those summer days when it is needed. Typically, that is only about 10 days per summer. As in heating, I will use evaporatively cooled air for the heat pump’s outdoor unit.
It really sounds more complicated than it is, but there are some details to be worked out. I am on the ragged edge with what I currently have, and want more comfort and convenience, even if the operating cost goes up slightly. Not getting any younger, and not fond of cutting wood for fires. Purchasing firewood makes no economic sense here.
If you are quoting prices to large powerplant users, I don’t know how to compare that to my numbers. Curious about your thoughts.
That price I was quoting is the wellhead price to the pipeline. The pipeline then adds their costs of compression, etc. The powerplant users typically buy natural gas from the wellhead and schedule space from the pipeline for a fee. Don’t even think about trying to do that unless you are using 10 million ft3 of gas per day.
As for your usage, I wonder why your properties don’t have heat pumps? A relative in the Phoenix area has one because no gas is available. He says his electric bills are “modest,” whatever that means. Funny how rarely people seem to know what they pay for something that costs a fair chunk. Anyhow, the current air source heat pumps with the newer refrigerants work better at low ambient temperatures. Better enough that they wouldn’t need backup (gas or electric) heat in your climate. Next time you need to replace a system, you might look into that. My relative did say that his electric bills, especially in winter, have been lower since he replaced his unit a while ago.
Two of my office buildings use electric strip heat. Works just fine for less than $100/month at 10 cents/kwh. Rarely used because of the heat generation in the buildings (PCs, lights, and humans).
Both of my houses have electric air conditioning and natural gas heaters. Again, the natural gas heaters are not used very often. The highest monthly natural gas bill that I have had in the last decade was $120 or so. Of course, the wife won’t let me put the thermostat above 68 F. And she prefers 67 F.
I have seen it 6 F here in December of 1989. That was a freaking disaster since we have unheated attics and uninsulated water pipes. Most of the new homes are now Pex which can freeze. Copper cannot (at least repeatedly). Generally we get one or two short term (8 to 48 hour) freeze event per year. After, we are only 40 miles away from the biggest hot tub in the world, the Gulf of Mexico which moderates all of our weather.
@Lynn, my Eastern friends (not this site) always marvel when I mention that I am 120 miles from my county seat, so when you mentioned the population of your county, I had to look it up. This site may be a little out of date because the numbers seem low, but it was convenient:
http://www.usa.com/rank/texas-state–land-area–county-rank.htm
Results:
Rank Land Area County / Population
1. 20,056.92 sq mi San Bernardino, CA / 2,078,586
2. 10,180.87 sq mi Inyo, CA / 18,439
3. 8,131.91 sq mi Kern, CA / 857,730
181. 861.48 sq mi Fort Bend, TX / 632,946
The Fort Bend County population is growing at 35,000 / year now. It was 50,000 / year five years ago. There are cars everywhere ! Dadgum Michiganites, New Yorkers, and Californians.
Due to the age of the system, I suspect a replacement will happen in the next couple years. Will get a heat pump again, but the new high-efficiency ones are supposed to work much better in my temperature range. Neighbor replaced his last year, but don’t know the cost of how efficient system he got. But I’ll get the highest efficiency one.
Be really careful buying high efficiency HVAC. The major manufacturers have proprietary thermostat protocols with variable speed AC and blower systems, and I learned this the hard way replacing one of our units a few years ago. The “smart” thermostat the contractor installed is prone to crashing and actively probes ports on my network whenever I let it on the WiFi.
My rule of thumb now is that if I can’t replace the thermostat with a cheap 7 day programmable unit at Home Depot on a Sunday afternoon, I don’t buy the system.
As I think I mentioned a while ago, I have considered bringing gas to our site, but before I do, I need to know its operating cost for my planned usage. To that end, I have a couple of gas bills shared from a friend, because I was complaining about the complexities of pricing plans on the PG&E web site. His plan is likely similar to what I would choose. One bill is for November 2019, and it shows his price for Tier 1 at $1.30/Therm, and the procurement cost at $0.33/Therm. As you know, 1 Therm = 100kBTU, so your $2.20/mmBTU = $0.22/Therm. This seems to at least pass the sanity check.
Natural gas is going to be the cheapest fuel for heating over the next 1,000 years. At one point a couple of years ago, 2/3rds of the natural gas wells in the USA were shut in since there was no buyers. We have enough proven natural gas reserves in the USA to last 200 years. We have enough natural gas expectations (potential drilling areas) in the USA to last 1,000 years. Our children to 50 generations will be blessed. This is due to the combination of directional well drilling and fracking which are not cheap but they are effective.
Here is the kicker. CO2 production taxes are coming. Probably not in the next 4 or 5 years but when we get the next wild eyed dumbocrat President (AOC 2025 !), I expect CO2 taxes by presidential executive order. And at first the CO2 taxes will be cheap but the current plans to double the CO2 tax each year to give people time to move to another energy method. The thought is that the people who wait to change their energy method and stay on fossil fuels will get hammered hard.
@Greg, the firstborn son got 36 mpg for the first tank on his new 2020 Camry. He is very pleased. He drives 20 miles each way to work each day and tired of buying gas for his 2005 Chevy Silverado.
Second degree burns are usually described as “up to really bad sunburn involving blisters and discoloration.” No need for surgery there…
n
Roger that. Since 1978, my only household purchased energy has been electricity. Natural gas was not available here, and now could be for a cost, but I am reluctant to extend it to me. The economist/politician in me says to ignore the engineer in me and stick with electricity and not add gas. Based on very limited personal surveys, people here pay about $100-300 per month for gas to heat their homes, and some minimum, I think $30-50, in months of low usage. I already pay about the same for all-electric, but I work at it. I would like the convenience of flipping a switch, and am willing to pay a “reasonable” amount for that. “Reasonable”: I am frugal XXXXXX cheap!
But, the key word is work. At some point, I won’t want or be able to keep up the work. Right now, I could flip the switch, and pay a lot. If I spend a reasonable amount and do some work, I could flip the switch and be comfortable for a lot less. Of course, I could also fly to some cozy spot, but that has other costs… and implications. Winter sucks.
Some days, I think about the rich guy who spends, say, $100k per year to operate a home. He never thinks about it. He is comfortable.
I pay $600 a year for gas to heat my house. I pay about $1,800 a year for electricity. I pay about $1,000 a year for water and sewer. If the city has to do what the EPA has demanded my water bill will exceed my electric bill.
Oh yeah. I do my own simple control systems. Two friends were victims of the scheme you describe. Both waited weeks for some proprietary circuit board while their houses roasted. I offered to help with something temporary, but both said they had “warranties.” OK, but what good is that when it can take a very long time to fix it?
I DO like the idea of variable speed blowers, but either would implement my own (not too hard, but can be expensive,) or would have on site spares just in case. I plan to make this a big point when I select my system. Oh, and I will not be using an installer. I enjoy XXXXX like XXXX, I just do my own work. I may not be a pro, but I have the advantage of not being on the clock.
@Ray, we were caught up in the EPA arsenic spec drop from 50 ppb to 10 ppb. That caused our private water company to install $millions of equipment, with an operating cost of $XX per year. Sad was the fact that the EPA was considering 20 ppb, which would have had no impact on us. Our water bills went from a minimum of about $20 per month to about $45 per month because of this. There is no conclusive evidence to support 10 ppb over 20 ppb, and probably 50 ppb. Government gone wild.
I pay about the same as you for electricity and water, but no gas.
I pay $600 a year for gas to heat my house. I pay about $1,800 a year for electricity. I pay about $1,000 a year for water and sewer. If the city has to do what the EPA has demanded my water bill will exceed my electric bill.
My parents live on the Gulf Coast in Texas in a 12,000 person town. Their town uses water wells into an aquifer below the town. The aquifer is having salt water intrusion due to so much water being pulled out over the years. So the town is looking at building a water treatment plant for cleaning the water from the river (it is a creek really). The estimated cost of the water plant is $90 million. That is $7,500 per person ! Or, $22,500 per home ! The average house in the town is worth maybe $75K (SWAG, half of the houses are single wides).
Plus the cost of running the water treatment plant is fairly high. At the moment, the projected water bill is going from $50/month to $200/month. Not good.
My town installed fixes to the water treatment plant mandated by the EPA. The water discharge must be drinkable. The solids have to go to a hazardous waste site. Next issue is the sewer lines must be replaced or lined. Expensive. Laterals from each house is owner’s cost. About $4K each as an EPA approved installer MUST be used.
I DO like the idea of variable speed blowers, but either would implement my own (not too hard, but can be expensive,) or would have on site spares just in case. I plan to make this a big point when I select my system. Oh, and I will not be using an installer. I enjoy XXXXX like XXXX, I just do my own work. I may not be a pro, but I have the advantage of not being on the clock.
Variable speed blowers alone aren’t as much of a problem as the AC systems combining those with variable speed outdoor fans and compressors, the ultra high SEER units. With those, the manufacturers give you no choice about the thermostats.
@Greg, the firstborn son got 36 mpg for the first tank on his new 2020 Camry. He is very pleased. He drives 20 miles each way to work each day and tired of buying gas for his 2005 Chevy Silverado.
I hit 42 MPG average last week with light traffic and ethanol-free gas from Walmart, but I usually see 36-37 MPG.
I’m still not happy with the acceleration under certain situations. The TNGA 2.5 L is tuned tight to that 37 MPG CAFE, and the LE does not have alternative modes besides Eco. I’ve been meaning to go out one Sunday afternoon and learn the manual shifting.
Ask your son if he thinks the parking brake does anything. The Toyota service people tell me that the slight movement after setting the parking brake and taking my foot off the center pedal is normal. Riiiight. Never had a car do that before. I’ve heard Ford is deliberately light with the Mustang parking brake tension, and I wonder if Toyota is doing the same thing.
I DO like the idea of variable speed blowers, but either would implement my own (not too hard, but can be expensive,) or would have on site spares just in case. I plan to make this a big point when I select my system. Oh, and I will not be using an installer. I enjoy XXXXX like XXXX, I just do my own work. I may not be a pro, but I have the advantage of not being on the clock.
Variable speed blowers alone aren’t as much of a problem as the AC systems combining those with variable speed outdoor fans and compressors, the ultra high SEER units. With those, the manufacturers give you no choice about the thermostats.
Both of my systems at the old house have variable speed blowers and two speed compressors. I have replaced the front thermostat when the old one died in my hands while messing with it. The back unit uses very plain jane thermostat also that I could replace in a minute. Just make sure that the new thermostat handles two speed compressors and you are golden. I think that this is the thermostat that I put on the front system.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Honeywell-7-Day-Universal-Touchscreen-Programmable-Thermostat-RTH8500D/100295793
Something about the thermostat must be able to control a two heat / two cool system.
Both of my systems at the old house are 16 SEER and 3 ton (master) / 5 ton (front). Both of the systems at the new used house are 15 SEER and 3 ton (open area) / 4 ton (bedrooms).
My thermostats at the office are funky, the tech says that they are commercial. He will replace them with a regular thermostat if we ever have real trouble. However, one of my systems at the office has dual thermostats and a motor controlled damper in the hvac piping that we replaced four or five years ago. Both systems at the office are 3.5 ton 12 SEER.
In case you didn’t hear, the World ended today. President tRump rolled back Moochelle’s draconian school lunch program, encouraging more pizza and burgers, fries every day LOL. You know, food kids will eat. It’s also Moochelle’s birthday today, so ProgLibTurd heads are exploding over “our vile President will kill our kids with his lunch program.”
Something about the thermostat must be able to control a two heat / two cool system.
IIRC, that thermostat does up to 3H/2C. I have one on our upstairs 1H/1C.
The really high SEER systems, 20+, are the units which typically require the manufacturer’s proprietary communicating thermostats.
OMG don’t get me started on the food at school issue again. Or why we’re feeding them at ALL.
It’s one more sign to me that we treat the schools the same as prisons.
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(my alternate location runs 3ton, and 5 ton, and my electricity cost is from $300 to $500 per month during the summer. It’s $15 per month in the winter.)