Gang Green, It happens when you are too lazy to think!

Posted on September 9, 2011 by George B.

If it’s green it’s good right?

Simple Green

 

 

 

All things are FEASIBLE inside the Simple Green Mind. Above, 3/4 Ton PU recharging in order to deliver organic veggies to market.     

Here’s an email I received recently, if you have any sense of reality, you’ll be embarrassed for the guy, but perhaps we ourselves are missing the fact that about half the people on the planet are as illiterate as it pertains to energy. As I’ve said before, the main problem is they vote for the impossible.

Email follows:

Subject: Air compressors for power generation

Message: Dt 3rd Sept, 2011

Sir,

Excellent work indeed !

At ICET (Institute of Clean Energy Technologies ), we are interested in developing a Power Generation System to output 3 to 4 kw of elec power, the genset to be driven by an air compressor. The Compressor will be driven by thermal energy from SUN or kinetic energy from WIND.

We are very interested in your CHP engine of LG series. Pl give us as much of detail as possible including the Indian source of supply for your experimentation.

We shall also be happy to work together with you for a
product which will be of extensive use in the third world.

Regards.

Awaiting your response,

B S Mxxxx, Chief Coordinator, ICET.

————————————–

My Analysis:

This man is not stupid, but he has become blinded by the messages of Elected Officials who will sell their souls to stay in power.

He’s read right past the whole idea of why we discuss importing an air compressor. He also has not taken even a moment to draw out his proposed power solution and inventory the losses.

Furthermore, we referenced air compressor, not air motor, but let’s consider anything to do with air power. Past engineers have taken us to the moon and back, they have documented and proven about everything possible one can do with an internal combustion engine, and this guy thinks they over looked air power?

For those who made it through Eight Grade Science Class with a passing grade, we understand that compressing a gas generates a LOT of heat, we also know when we attempt to take it out of storage, we need add a LOT of heat to get any serious work out of the gas. It all spells huge losses. In the past, dirt cheap energy has allowed us to use air tools, but there is NOTHING energy-efficient about them.

So let’s see, he wants to use an expensive solar panel to drive an air compressor to drive an air motor, to drive a generator to make electricity? Ahhh.. wasn’t he ( or couldn’t he) getting electricity out of the solar panel?  did he ever stop to think all he did was add severe and crippling losses to the design, not to mention expense?

Reality is people have the same delusions when it comes to finance and money, it’s not because they are stupid, it’s because they don’t want to let go of the impossible dream.

You’ll hear people talk with anger in their voice, “these Politicians just need to compromise”.  Are these people Just  as naive and thoughtless as this man who writes me? How did they miss the fact that we have come to a TEE in the road? How did they miss the fact that we only need look across the Atlantic to see the same conversation is going on there?

We’ll just print money, we’ll just put everybody to work for the government. We’ll run industry off solar and wind turbines. Government will give everyone a sugar tit.

Close your eyes and imagine the billions of BTUs necessary to fire even one blast furnace at a steel plant. With out cost effective energy millions will die, and it will happen in Africa, India and other parts of the third world first. North America (Canada included) helps to feed the world, and the only way they have achieved this is because cost effective energy has been available.  The present Administration is committed to changing this, because their supporters are demanding it!

If the Gang Greenies achieve their goal, not one of them will shed a tear for the millions that lose their lives.. after all; these are inferior people in Africa and beyond.. and every Greenie knows they are little more than a burden on the planet right?

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090726215616AAt5m8e

GB

 

Posted in Off Grid Power, Strange Stuff, The New Green Movement, Your Wasted Tax Dollars | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

A question about drive pulleys and the higher RPM Lister type clones.

Posted on September 7, 2011 by George B.

Here’s an email from today:

Subject: Pulley selection help

Message: Hi George! Thanks for a wonderful site!!!

I’ve got a question on an order I’d like to submit…
here’s the specifics:

We have a Metro 12/1 and an ST 12KW gen head using one of
your drive pulleys to run the motor at 1,000 rpm. We’d like to slow it down to
650-750rpm and have no idea what pulley to select for a 12/1. Are there other
RPMs available in appropriate pulleys?

Best, Robert

————————-

Robert glad to help, but you my style, and I’ll ramble a bit in answering to assure I cover a few topics on the fringes of this one.

The 12/1 clones may be different from Erector (Builder)  to Erector, they may be different bores, and even different RPMs, so be careful in assuming your is just like someone else’s 12/1. We’ll assume this one is rated at 1000 RPMs.

My past advice has been to test run your specific engine on a study engine base like the designs like I describe on the Utterpower CD. Run the engine at rated speed and assure you like the sound and feel of the engine at that speed, a lot fo DIYers are not happy with the vibration, sound or feel, and choose to back off the RPM some.

We all know that reducing RPMs reduces horsepower since the formula for Horsepower is Torque X RPMs, you can get an idea of what you give up by figuring the percentage of power pulses ber minute you give up, this is no exact, but a good swag.

In Robert’s case, he has a 12KW generator head that will require around 24 REAL horsepower to produce a real 12KW. We’d expect about 6KW close to Sea Level if the 12/1 were running near it’s rated speed.

Utterpower provided three pulleys for these engines, the 11.25 inch pulley was provided for those who wanted near full output. The other Standard pulley we stocked was the 8.4 inch pulley used for the 6/1s with 22.5 to 23.5 inch flywheels, these also worked well with the higher speed GM90s and smaller diameter flywheels designed to run faster.

Since I had a few 50HZ customers, I stocked a few 10 inch pulleys, these work well for the 6/1s and 4 pole heads, and it also gives the 60hz world another option to slow the RPMs a bit if they have one of those thumpers that it a bit too rough at 1000 RPMS.

The 10 inch pulley will drop the RPMs by 100 or so over the 11.25 inch pulley.. you need supply an accurate circumference of the flywheel and do the math for your own machine to be sure.

So, there’s the two standard options, and of course Allmand will machine you a custom, but at added cost, and no returns,so it’s best you discover that RPM you like first.

all the best,

George B.

 

 

 

 

Posted in Bushed Pulleys, DIYer Generator, How Tos, Off Grid Power, Pulley, Questions & Answers, Slow Speed Engines | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Labor Day Weekend Musings

Posted on September 6, 2011 by George B.

Have your priced Premium Beer lately?  Dead Guy Ale is a favorite of people I know, and $7.59 is the price at Safeway Grocery here in the Puget Sound area.  That’s about 38 cents an ounce with WA State Sales Tax.

It may be time to re-kindle your brewing skills, or if you have never made beer or wine, maybe you should consider learning now?

There are some disadvantages however, one of the more notable is you’ll have a lot of trouble drinking the swill many people drink after you sample your own.

Beer making is a natural for the DIYer, and there’s plenty of interesting  chemistry to learn about. I’d say it’s just plain fun, and a few strings entered into your favorite search engine gets you started.

Recently, I’ve been reading about Mead, Cyser, and other Beverages, so I decided to take along a couple of books on wine making to read during the heat of the day on our stay at the Easton Off Grid Cabin.

 

 

 

 

Here’s  a video of our pump house at Easton.   http://www.youtube.com/user/georgeutterpower#p/a/u/0/gEW4w0pJGIc

Further towards the back of the property is our small rustic cabin that offers basic amenities.  Electrical power is supplied from the power house, water from the pump house.

Easton_Off Grid

And here on the corner of the front porch are two chairs, the shed has a small fridge where you can find a cool beverage on a hot day.  A home made oatmeal stout and a good book make a great combination.  The Engine at the pump house can barely be heard from here, and as you likely know, the old Lister sounds like a Grand Father Clock with it’s slow speed tickety tock.  Well water exits the sprinkler in the low 40s F.  Even on a rare  100F day, that cool mist from the sprinklers makes it very pleasant and in the afternoon, the large pines provide good shade.

As I read my book, I find the answer to a question I’ve carried for about 40 years. The book was written by an Englishman, and sold for 3.95 Pounds Sterling.  It’s been on my pile of ‘books to be read’ for years.

Have you ever held a glass of Vintage Champagne and looked deeply into the wine? You’ll notice bead trails of CO2 coming out of the wine.  I first saw that in my early twenties, and asked… why does Champagne release carbon dioxide in such a distinctive way?  Why does Soda Pop CO2 releases look so different? Maybe it helped to have twenty year old eyes to watch these bead trains to form the question in the first place?

So there in Chapter Nine I found it! A discussion on why Champagne seems to go on and on with the effervescence! The Author mentions a compound he calls ‘ethyl pryrocarbonate’ now days, the name might be diethyl pryocarbonate if you care to research it further.

Vintage Champagne is bottled with additional sugar to allow a second fermentation in the bottle, and this can create pressures as high as 90PSI. With these higher pressures, ethyl pyrocarbonate is formed.  According  to the author it is an unstable compound and quickly breaks down into ethanol and carbon dioxide when the pressure inside the bottle is reduced. So there we have it, this compound is manufacturing more carbon dioxide as we watch!

The bead trails are not present in a lot of  less expensive sparkling wines when they use artificial means to add the CO2 or when the fermentation pressures are held much lower.

Another thing I learned in this book was how Vintage Champagnes are purged of yeast sediment. Most interesting, as the bottle is first stored on it’s side, and later placed at a 45 degree angle with the cork down.  Then turned on occasions to cause the sediment to fall onto the cork. At some point the cork is withdrawn and the sediment follows for the person skilled in this job.  Of course; part of this discipline requires a new cork to be placed without excessive loss of wine or carbonation in the process.  Several techniques are mentioned that help accomplish this, and lowering the temperature of the bottle of Champagne to the point where ice crystals start to form is one of them.

My interest in all of this is to pursue the making of a beer in a champagne bottle that will allow a much higher bottle pressure and hopefully much longer life in the bottle due to the higher pressure. Some stouts made in normal beer bottles are good for five years or more. But brews made in a Champagne bottle may last as long as I will.

While in Easton, my wife and I walked as we normally do, and there are a number of trails through older growth forests with dense canopies overhead and streams nearby.  There have been times when we’ve entered these areas with temperatures in the 90s, and felt the coolness hit us as if we had entered a walk-in cooler! Tucker Creek and Big Creek are examples of deep ravines with cool streams that can and do provide such an experience for the Hiker.  A 600 pound bear was spotted on Tucker Creek just the other day, maybe you’ll see him?

On one day we walked down part of the John Wayne trail and noticed black plastic covering a pay station at this trailhead. The State Parks Department asks that you display your annual pass, or pay $10 for a single use to park at the trail head.  as I looked down at the removed pay box, I saw an envelope in the bottom. Looking on the outside of the envelope was a vehicle license number and name, inside was a $10 Bill. This gave us the idea to walk further up the John Wayne trail and through the Easton State Park which we normally avoid now that we have our own showering facilities on our off grid piece of property.

As we headed out in the cooler part of the morning, we noted the total confusion hikers on the John Wayne trail must experience, or is it just us? As we approach town from the south west, the John Wayne trail turns into the Cabin Creek Road, and if you follow it to the back side of lake Easton, you sooner or later hit a notice that the tunnel is closed on the John Wayne Trail. The Tunnel isn’t really closed, and if you inspect the trail floor through the tunnel, you’ll notice that there hasn’t been much falling from the ceiling of the tunnel, and you may decide to walk through as we did. Apply a little caution and walk half way between the wall and the center of the tunnel, which greatly reduces the chance you are struck by anything falling from above.

Once you are beyond the tunnel safe and sound, you’ll walk for a bit and then reach a new bridge that spans across the old footings of the Milwaukee RR line on which the John Wayne trail was built. In order to protect you, the State has decided to gate the end of this expensive new bridge so you can’t enter the tunnel!  Had you traveled from NW to SW, you’d have seen the notice that the tunnel was closed, an you’d have hit this gate at the south end. You would have seen the notice that you needed to take the detour all the way around Lake Easton to avoid this gate!

we’ll rewind from here, and go back where we started. As we hit the Cabin Creek Road, we’ll turn right, and go to Rail Road Avenue, take a left and go towards the State Park. As you go by the Old Easton Saloon, take note that you can get a good salad in this place, and at times the food is good. This is a real Saloon, and families do come in here for a meal. Sometimes you’ll see a half dozen Bikers in here, usually old guys whose day jobs are Dentistry, Legal Works,  or perhaps Real Estate, really bad looking Dudes for sure.

As you pass over the Yakima River, you’ll notice a trail to the left, if you follow it, you’ll enter the park and end up of the ‘River Trail’ don’t expect any helpful notice of the John Wayne Trail detour or how you navigate it, and don’t assume we did an exhaustive search to find it. Heading through the State Park, we worked our way up a huge rock, it was switch backs for a bit, but a short and pleasant climb when on foot.

LakeEaston-Rock

LakeEaston-Rock

As we worked our way down the switch backs, we passed a couple on bicycles, The man in the lead, a woman following and fighting to drag her Mountain Bike around a sharp bend and a step up and the end of the switch back.  We ease dropped as the Woman asked, and “just where did you say this trail goes?” My wife and I knowingly exchanged glances as we knew she was likely to be more than just a little unhappy to learn that they could have skirted this huge rock had they known where the other fork in the trail went. Is it possible they were looking for the John Wayne Trail?

We eventually came to a pay station and dropped that $10 payment into the box, and we followed the trail further north, eventually we did find mention of the John Wayne Trail, but we decided to leave the leg from the north east corner of the lake to the new bridge on the back side for another day.

As we headed back through the jam packed State Park,  I heard a horn honk erratically, it was loud, and I was thinking it would likely create frustration, people are paying $22 a night for a camp spot likely expect a more polite neighbor.  As we walked by this older motor home, the Horn went off, and I looked up an saw a Poodle looking out over the steering wheel with Paws on the Horn button! No doubt he knew exactly what he was doing, and I noticed there was a Golden Lab sitting in the passenger seat with a sheepish look on his face. The Motor Home was parked in a well shaded area, the Campers near by fully aware that the Poodle thought it was all great fun to honk the horn!

As we walked further south, a young woman passed us and was excited to see an open Campsite! She turned her wheel sharply into the spot and managed to keep a large pile of rocks in her blind spot.  As her front wheel started up over the pile, her front spoiler was already peeling loose from the car, and one side popping forward, then the front wheel wedged itself into the boulder pile.. We kept walking.

I think about the money we spent to avoid the State park and it’s $22 a night fee.. The purchase of six acres, years of work, and the right to pay property taxes, and other fees.. I’m sure there’s plenty of people who would think we’re nuts.

George B.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in DIYer Skills | Tagged | 1 Comment

Viable Alternative Energy Ideas, Free Energy!

Posted on August 30, 2011 by George B.

Shocking news from CERN! saved for last 🙂

The opposite of a free energy device that makes more than it consumes is a Government that consumes far more than we make. The first doesn’t exist, and the later won’t exist for long. (GB)

Show me the math

Show me the math

There’s a large number of YouTube videos showing devices that make more energy than they consume.  What’s amazing is how many emails I get that confuse the PMG with these devices, and how anxious people are to buy one to power their homes for free!  Have they no time to think? Are they likely to vote for the person who promises them the impossible dream? I think so.

Perhaps the best place to develop or test your critical thinking skills is to make assessments of  popular AGW claims and apply some logic.

Here’s a statement to think about:  “Rising sea levels are caused by humans. But falling sea levels are caused by natural forces”. 

Does NASA need a cause more than ever? No doubt, No Shuttle, lots of time to twittle their thumbs.. just how many work there? With this thought in mind, consider reading this article:

http://papundits.wordpress.com/2011/08/30/sea-levels-dropped-in-2010/

A big part of convincing people to support mega-sized government and carbon trading, (they are bound together) is to get voters to >believe< not only that there’s a threat, but  that there is a ‘turn key’ cost-effective Green Energy solution that will support an economy. The actual solutions are not necessary for the plan to sell  Mega Sized Government to succeed, and perhaps that’s the reason so many of our government sponsored green energy investments are NOT viable.

There are countless articles out there that discuss the merits of free electricity from solar PV, it’s free all right, and in areas like where I live, it takes more than 30 years to break even on your PV investment! Yes, there are ways for the DIYer to improve on the return, and areas where Solar PV works better, but far from free, and not likely to power the economy we need to keep millions of people from starving.

Here’s a mention of some research from CERN what a suprise, but don’t expect our inept media to report on it..

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100102296/sun-causes-climate-change-shock/

George B.

 

Posted in Alternative Energy Sources, The New Green Movement, Your Wasted Tax Dollars | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Why are Big Wind Farms being built?

Posted on August 29, 2011 by George B.

SHOW ME THE MATH

Show me the math

Show me the math

George’s Grandson Zach is already a great observer, he’s full of questions, and has not yet developed reasons to ignore the realities of economics and hard science.

At two years old;  Zach offers up the Chalk…. “Show Me!”

As I watch Zach keenly observe the world around him. I think about our Washington State Governor who quickly allied herself with those who wanted to place the large wind farms here.  But beyond that, I remember being stopped by flagmen in a small town as a huge truck threaded its way through a planned route to deliver one of the huge 120 foot long wind turbine blades to a west coast site.  Where did the money come from to fund this project?  Well.. at least part of it was from a Five Million Dollar Grant right out of the public purse.

I stand with Zach, I’d like to see the figures on these investments! We know that Washington State is blessed with the cleanest and most cost-effective source of power I know of.. that being hydro, and we have folks attempting to better that, and even vote to pay double the price?

So… where’s the math?  This is eight grade stuff! All we need do is quantify the total cost, including maintenance, land leases, lubricants, parts, etc, and then accurately calculate the real market value of the KWHs produced. But there’s some realities we need factor in! All those clean and wonderful hydro KWHs we already make. It seems peak wind power arrives in the spring at the same time that we spill water over our dams with the grid full to capacity! How naive you’d be to think the architects overlooked this fact. Perhaps making KWHs was not their real goal? Most thoughtful people already know that Ethanol blended gasoline has done little for humanity, but it sure has done wonders for certain corporations, and the backing of elected officials who engineered the subsidies.

Below is one website worth reading. There is no doubt in my mind that the people who really need to read this WILL ignore it, as they want to believe in magic so badly.

The same people who are so angry about Corporate Welfare are the ones that support the fleecing of the public when it comes to these huge projects…. it’s not about power  produced, it’s all about the money moved from the public treasury into the pockets of Corporations, and here you can study how quickly it happens.  What appears to be missing is any incentive to manage or maintain this equipment over the advertised useful life. Perhaps the principal benefactors like that part most, grab the cream on top and leave the expenses and poor returns to others to manage.

Look it up, during the peak power production months this year, the large wind farm near Ellensberg produced nothing! Learn why..

http://www.mnforsustain.org/windpower_schleede_g_washington_state_windpower_study.htm

Just another example of why America is bankrupt, foreign companies come here to fleece us with the help of insane subsidies and Green Energy Policies written to benefit all but the rate payers! Supporters are too lazy to do the basic math and have blind faith in their corrupt or inept government officials who likely receive re-election support in return for access to the public treasury via these large projects. The money you pay into social security is effectively transferred to a Corporate Entity….and sometimes it’s a Foreign Entity… with the full knowledge of your elected officials.

If green energy is good, I say let private enterprise build it without hanging rate payers out to dry.

What you’re likely never going to see is a Website out of the Governor’s Office with the basic facts.. including where all the money went. Will you ask about that 5 million dollar grant the Governor and her friends made to install a West Coast Wind Turbine? How’s that working, have you seen any figures to support her decision, or was it just another fleecing of the public in return for political support?

Feel free to post the facts here, especially if you think I’ve got it all wrong.  The Green Energy Pond is full of Sharks and all but those who know how to run a pencil seem to have no clue or care. 

Will you be the last person to ask yourself the question? Why work when it’s so easy to rob the public treasury?

In closing, there’s a group of people who are presently studying what these wind farms can be used for once it’s understood they are a huge financial failure. Some suggest that the turbine blades themselves will live very short lives, and the replacement alone will not be economical. Hmmm, maybe the manufacturer offered a warranty on those blades?

Do you expect a follow up from the Seattle Times, with probing questions?  Perhaps the smiling faces we see on King Five News would care enough to report? Don’t hold your breath, those pretty faces only read their scripts.

George B.

Posted in Alternative Energy Sources, Buyer Beware, Insane Grants, Things I Hate!, Your Wasted Tax Dollars | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Q and A: DIYer on 10/1 Clone Engine

Posted on August 28, 2011 by George B.

Question for George: Hi George – thanks for the amazing wealth of
information on your site. Its sure helps guys like me who are just
starting out.

Recently bought a new 10/1 and I have a couple of questions

Firstly I am having a hard time cranking it over by hand especially when its hot.
I come up against serious compression even though the decompression valve is in place. There are times when I am unable to turn it over because of this.

Secondly it came with the power solutions 7.5 KW with a 2 belt drive system. The manufacturer Vijay suggests a 1000 rpm for this engine. Is the 2 belt system a decent option for driving the generator?  and since I would like it to run as slow as possible I’m sure i would have to change the flywheel as well to get my 60 HZ.

Thanks for your help George

George’s Answer: Hi Paul, reading your email gives me confidence you’ll do just fine with your project,  your mention that you are ‘just starting out’ is key. This will likely encourage you to read more and learn more about your generator set.

I don’t push the CD, but if you don’t already own it, there’s years of articles, pictures, ideas, diagrams and more on it, and much applies to what you own.

https://www.utterpower.com/products/utterpower-cd/

There are about three popular clones marketed as 10/1s,
some are direct injected, some are indirect injected, piston materials can be different,
etc.  So don’t assume yours is just like another one your read about.

When you are working with a new engine and have not yet developed an ear and eye for what’s normal, it’s best to assume nothing and document your engine.

I recommend you remove the crank pin bushing and inspect the
top shell BEFORE you run any Lister Type new to you.

I’ll assume many things here for the sake of time and ask
that you drop the belts and isolate the engine before you attempt to diagnose
the problem.

Always remove the air filter, this allows you to shut
down the unit with the palm of your hand placed over the intake if necessary.

Now… check the valve clearance and assure there’s some
daylight between the valve cap and the rocker tip.

Set the decompressor, and turn the engine over slowly, do you hear the air gush from the exhaust? Is the decompressor adjusted correctly and does it lift and hold the valve off its seat far enough to turn the engine over fast by hand?

Remember! There are plenty of decompressors destroyed WHEN
they are adjusted too lift the valve too far off it’s seat.  The piston kisses the valve top hard and the push rod passes it along in a less than loving way to the little arm that holds the
tappet up. Since it’s cast, it can break in half, and leave you to source a new one 🙁

So there’s a start. I had one customer who was in the process of a rebuild BECAUSE he couldn’t start his generator… he assumed too much and never dropped the belt. Of course the problem was on the generator side, and even the load on the generator was still in place! This same operator could never be bothered to mount the CD yet alone read the featured article ‘listeroid longevity’.

As I say:  These engines are for DIYers…. by our very nature, we are curious,  we can not help ourselves,  we are driven by some compulsive disorder (AND our past mistakes) to read a little, and to learn how it works before we attempt to fix it. Part of this behavior comes out of being the thrifty people we are, we learned early and sometimes the hard way that there’s always something more important to spend our money on than fixing things we broke 🙂

As for your question about 1000 RPMs.. these engines are very much individuals, some well balanced, some are more like jack rabbits on steroids.  I find that many if not most owners of 1000 RPM engines choose to run them slower, they experiment, they note that sweet spot and then measure the RPM. From there they calculate the size of the generator pulley.

Your question about the drive system. I should recuse myself as I am no fan of VEE belts. This doesn’t mean they’re bad, it just means I don’t think they’re best. If you read more of my writings, you’ll note what I say about ‘KISS engineering’. It’s important you use wear parts that are standard and easy to find in your market. Here in North America, the Serpentine Automotive belt is everywhere and works very well off large flywheels eliminating one pulley and losses. It also wears like iron!  This is NOT the case in India, vee belts are often the only stock to be found, so we should expect them to engineer as they do for the sake of sourcing belts.

And… just to mention! We all need credit those Old Iron Enthusiasts. It was likely an hour after one of them bought the first American auto with a serpentine belt and alternator that they pulled it from under the hood and mounted it to an old large flywheel engine just to see how it would work 🙂

Hope this helps you get started…and all the best….

George B. Utterpower.com

 

Posted in Off Grid Power, Pulley, Questions & Answers, Slow Speed Engines | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Diyers (and others) prepare for East Coast Storm 8-26

Posted on August 26, 2011 by George B.

Here we are again, just another Storm of endless storms, something nature has sent our way since we left the caves.  According to Joe the Weather guy, the last one that ran up the East coast like the prediction for this one happened in ?1954? with Hurricane Hazel?

Diyer ‘Ray M.’ in Vermont is taking the threat seriously as most DIYers do…

Hardest hit may be the US Taxpayer, as our Government (Elected Officials) have effectively underwritten every potential failure or loss onto the backs of the taxpayers in exchange for political favors.  An example of this might be an expensive home built on an East Coast beach front lot and Federally insured at little cost. It’s not a matter of IF, it’s a matter of when the Home is damaged, and you pay the bill.

Algore is preparing for his September 14th stand, he’s working hard to convince our Kids and Grandkids that storms are new and caused by your human activities. We’ll see how his story is received.

————————————

Post from DIYer Ray M.

The heart of Irene is to come right
up thru Vermont and into Canada.

We are or soon will be, as prepared
as possible.  I have sufficient sheets of plywood for the windows if that
looks like a necessity-the tractor run generator has been in use, so I know it
works–it will power everything we will need in case the power goes down.

They are predicting extremely heavy
rain–one estimate was 6-12″ in 24 hr period–we are ok with that except
for the damage it will do to our roads.  5″ in May, overnight, caused
major damage to roads, bridges etc.  Some repair work on them is still
ongoing.

The only variable for which I can not
plan– storms of this intensity also spawn tornados.  This area is not
known for tornados but we have seen several this summer fairly close and in
nearby states.  We do have some large trees fairly close to the house but
unless we are hit with extreme winds I am not worried.

Life is an adventure-so this should
prove adverturesome!!

Ray

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What folks often learn from a long outage is fuel conservation is key, to blaze through all your fuel in complete comfort while running every load your wife and family expects can leave you in suffocating heat, with food in the fridge and freezer going bad, it’s all so sad, and happens more often than it should. More frugal operators become the neighborhood meeting place, and have ice enough to blend Margaritas for all who drop by till the power returns.

Until you know the state of the roads, and whether the local stations can pump you more fuel, conserve generator fuel, and partition off one room in the house to cool, and run only what you need to run on the generator.

This is one of the reasons that mature DIYers who have lived through bad storms own efficient and smaller generators, big enough to do the job required, but small enough to offer good fuel economy.

One term I find frustrating is (whole house Generator), those who invest in large sets expecting to run every load at once, are sometimes out of fuel early and finding their way by candle light long before commercial power returns.

There’s no better teacher than hands on experience, but it can be painful..

I recall Jack Belk’s stories of attempting to run Magic Hot Springs on the commercial genset there, his monthly allotment of fuel was gone in a few days, and that lead to him building a three KW continuous duty gen set that allowed him to live in reasonable comfort at the off grid site.

G

 

 

 

 

Posted in DIYer Generator, Generator Realities | Tagged , | 2 Comments

CD Manufacturing Problem? Forensics

Posted on August 23, 2011 by George B.

CD Forensics:

Today I got back a CD where the deposited film had literally peeled away from the clear plastic disk. I’ve never seen such a failure, and of course it makes the whole lot of 100 CDs suspect.

The brand is Sony, when I bend this returned disk, I find the film literally lifting away from the plastic on close to one half of the disk. On the other half, it appears to have bonded well.

As I bend and torture other disks from the same stack, I can initially find nothing wrong. I put one in the microwave for three seconds, and the deposited material blew apart evenly looking very much like a broken pane of safety glass, the remaining material still bonded well throughout the disk.

The intensely curious armature investigator is left to suspect contamination of the blank disk BEFORE the media surface was deposited, but certainly it’s only a guess.

My experience thus far (?10+ years?) is you should suspect problems IF you find disks on sale at a large brick and mortar store that are >significantly< cheaper than the rest. The last bargain I found was not readily recognized by my drive on the first try. I found I could remove them from the drive and turn them 90 or so degrees and sooner or later the disk would be recognized, and then written to… but certainly it was best to toss them and get a good stack of disks. With the same drive the following stack of 100 disks were recognized immediately and written to the very first try, and I mean to say all 100 of them!

I’ve used friction on an adjacent area of the flawed disk, no luck in loosening the deposit, then I tried heat, not luck 🙁

So how does one disk out of a stack of 100 have a flaw like this? If you have seen this problem or know of the problem… consider letting me know. Using Google, I just haven’t found a search string that nets me much info on CD manufacturing issues, it’s just like I was the only guy seeing what appears to be a problem.

Certainly.. I haven’t ruled out the possibility this disk was exposed to something after it left here, but I think that is most unlikely, as I have run out of ideas as to how I break this bond after manufacturing.

Update: 8/30/2011 As some would guess, I couldn’t leave this problem alone and decided to continue bending, and even snapping in half more new CDs off that same package of 100 disks. Finally, I bent one and noted a wave of media film lifting from that plastic disk, and just like the first, it was loose on a portion of the disk, but well bonded on the other half of the disk.

With that note, I came up with the theory that this disk came off a ‘Gang’ production line, and perhaps every 6th or 8th disk is defective?  Of course the theory remains that there is some kind of contamination on the plastic disk, and when the film is deposited; it doesn’t bond properly to the contaminated area.

It causes me to reflect on other problems in production lines I’ve heard of… sometimes a new worker decides to fix what he thinks is a problem with unapproved methods… maybe a shot of WD40 on some disk handling mechanism? Who knows, but now it’s time to trash the whole pile of disks 🙁

New add to this post 08/30/2011 13:30 Pacific Time

I decided to call Sony, maybe their QC folks would be interested. I was fairly impressed how quickly I was directed to the division who handled CDR concerns.

I was given a place in Texas to send the remainder of the CDRs, and I was instructed to include my receipt from purchase.  Reference # E51637622 was what I was given to include. they were purchased by my Daughter, and I failed to keep track of the receipt, likely in soe pile here somewhere, but how much effort will I put into finding it?

I was thinking how much I appreciated my customer bringing this to my attention. Just how many additional flaky disks might I have sent, and how many customers might I have disappointed? I’m going to send them the rest of the disks and see what happens, perhaps they’ll send me replacements, or perhaps they’ll encourage me to buy another brand. I’ll post the results here. And yes.. I will send them the one you see at the top of the page.

 

 

G

 

 

 

Posted in Things I Hate! | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

A study in how Parasites attack their Vicitims

Posted on August 21, 2011 by George B.

Certainly there are those who think their government is there to protect them. How wrong they are.. all you need do is apply the basic math.

It’s been so lucurative that the Parasites are now here in full swing. Follow the money!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/8713093/The-BBC-steadfastly-avoids-the-facts-about-the-wind-farm-scam.html

Posted in Things I Hate! | 6 Comments

August Skys

Posted on August 19, 2011 by George B.

I’m not sure why I share this, maybe it’s just been all-consuming and I need to cast my thoughts your way?

Today I launched into a beautiful sky! Once clear of the mountain side, I wiggled my butt deep into my harness and got my feet in the stirrup just in time to hear my vario scream. I felt the steady pull upward, and leaned right forcing my wing into a flat turn and following a thermal upward. As I looked down, I saw a Raven below working the same ribbon of air.

My harness is as comfortable as any lawn chair, and my view…. how can one improve on a bird’s-eye view?  I looked at the valley below, and note my remaining days are numbered.  I reflect on how different people are, and what is important to us. My thoughts once again turn to a vision of being old and crippled with no way off the porch. What would it be like to spend long days there with no memories of climbing mountains, sailing the waters of Puget Sound, or best of all.. sailing across a deep blue sky?

I reflect on my friend Ken B. who lost his life the week prior chasing his dreams. On his Face Book page is a plea made by another not to take our lives for granted. I know that message was meant for me and others who share the same passions Ken did.

I’ve been thinking about risk assessment VS luck assessment, again.. it gets right back to how different we all are. I don’t gamble at all when it comes to games of chance and money.., I think it’s crazy as the odds are so NOT in your favor.

Social Networks like Facebook add a new and eerie dimension to death. I visit Kens page and see his smiling, and almost boyish fiftyish face. He looked more than a little like Clint Eastwood, and there were times when he had the same quiet manner. I see my posts there, posts of mutual friends… and of course his last post.

His FB Page is like a Shrine, the essence of his life, pages of good times and great times, and now the only entries that will ever be added are by his friends. “We miss you Ken, but few of us have had the time for it to sink in how final our parting is. I’ll always remember that last cell call.. “It’s a piss poor connection Ken, there’s a cold oatmeal stout waiting for you at the LZ”. I hope he heard that…

As for my day, it sucked mostly… but that afternoon flight changed my mood… It was a perfect launch, and I flew as long as I wanted and then came down from the mountain like some hawk and landed with a flair, and a smile that’s still there.

No one can take away the living I did today, nor can they take the good memory.  I might relive it one hundred times when I can no longer stray from the porch.

 

Posted in Things I Hate!, Things I like | Tagged , , | 4 Comments