[ale] [OT] Load Control Switch
Geoffrey Myers
lists at serioustechnology.com
Thu Apr 14 08:00:44 EDT 2011
Jim Kinney wrote:
>
>
> On Wed, Apr 13, 2011 at 5:11 PM, Greg Clifton <gccfof5 at gmail.com
> <mailto:gccfof5 at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> Jim,
>
> I know you majored in Physics, I in Botany. How much exactly is "a
> full metric crapton of power?" I've never encountered that unit of
> measure before ;-)
>
>
> As it's metric, most Americans struggle with the concept. It's between a
> a$$load and a sh*tload BUT due to the conversion factor between British
> pounds Sterling and American pounds and the Euro, it requires an extra
> cubic furlong of methane equivalent on the odd months to round it out
> during daylight savings time (in France).
I thought it was a foot pound per fortnight * furlong?
The difference between a$$load and sh*tload is simply that point at
which the a$$ can no longer contain the sh*t. Varies greatly from one
a$$ to another. Diet also plays a major roll.
>
> yeah. physics major with a minor in math and BS :-)
>
>
> GAP sent a letter last spring saying they would be around to swap
> out the meter with a "smarty drawers" one that they could turn off &
> on without a truck roll. I don't have a bad-ass dog, actually a
> rather wimpy one, so I expect they did the deed, but haven't taken
> note of the fact.
>
>
> Look for a digital readout on the front instead of the spinny disk thing.
>
>
> In my house, I have sprayed in polyurethane foam in the walls and
> that stuff is THE BOMB, pretty much kills infiltration which is a
> MAJOR contributor to home comfort/energy consumption. The attic
> insulation, however, is fiberglass and it needs more. HVAC is via
> relatively high efficiency heat pumps (SEER 13 IIRC). I opted to go
> total electric on account of the stupid gas deregulation whereby you
> pay $19.99/mo to AGL for the pipes in the ground and an additional
> $4.99/mo "customer service fee" [read BILLING FEE] even with 0
> therms of gas usage. Ergo I calculated that I would be paying ~
> $300/yr just to have gas service. I figured that would buy me at
> least 2 months of electricity in the low months and in the past 4
> years I have had <$150 electric bills several months My worst was
> this Jan, I think and just under $600.
>
>
> Foam in poly is flammable and poisonous when heated near combustion
> point so keep the smoke detectors in perfect working order and RUN if
> they go off. But it does a great job. I have cellulose in my attic.
> Better R value per inch than fiberglass but the squirrels and roof rats
> love it for bedding. Grr. It settles faster than blown in fiberglass but
> costs much less to add more. Plus it doesn't itch at all. It's treated
> with a flame retardent that makes it basically fireproof without an
> applied flame.
>
> My sister has a propane tank for her gas. I'm giving that serious thought.
>
>
> Now if they'll just hurry up with that Volt-gle (sp?) nuclear plant
> expansion so that electricity will "be too cheap to meter" I'll be
> setting pretty.
>
> Yeah. Nuke powers famous promise. Too bad no one listened to the
> engineers on that one. We really need a crap-fuel recycling plant that
> can "burn" all the radioactive "sludge" from the older reactors. Plus a
> total redesign to not require active emergency cooling. Maybe pumps to
> keep the emergency cooling from automatically flooding the reactor and
> shutting it down during use? Heat powered hydraulic rods that
> automatically insert above a given temp and must be manually removed?
> And that process kills the pumps holding back the cooling flood.
>
> Seems simple.
>
>
>
> On Wed, Apr 13, 2011 at 4:21 PM, Jim Kinney <jim.kinney at gmail.com
> <mailto:jim.kinney at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> I looked at the first link in the below list. I put the "RF
> Sickness" in the same category as "cellphone cancer" and
> "Powerline illness".
>
> The ability to turn off the AC at residential houses during a
> heat wave may seem intrusive, but it sure beats rolling
> blackouts or the cost of new power plants. The house temp will
> rise but not as bad as the outside temp.
>
> During summer months AC systems run at homes while the occupants
> are at work. It's not uncommon for people to run the AC to chill
> down to below 75F. When the temp outside is 100F that sucks down
> a full metric crapton of power. And to do it when people are not
> home is quite wasteful of all sorts of resources.
>
> Sadly, house construction is pretty uniform across the US and
> not designed to use the local area considerations well. For some
> dumb reason, a common roof color is BLACK in areas where the
> temp is often over 95F. For some dumb reason, houses are _still_
> built with 2x4 walls instead of 2x6 or offset 2x3 on a 6"
> header. That extra 2" of insulation makes a HUGE difference. Add
> in the radiant heat barrier on the inside walls (foil backed
> sheetrock or foil faced batts) and in the attic (middle of
> insulation a sheet of barrier or foil faced batts in a top one
> up, bottom one down arrangement; i.e.
> wall/ceiling->foil->insulation->foil->exterior attic/wall
> cladding) coupled with serious attic ventilation (solar powered
> turbine vents with thermal switching).
>
> OP: Programmable thermostats are great! This meter will/may be
> able to read your thermostat and decide if your system is
> chugging to hard for the power delivery ability for the area and
> twiddle with the temp settings to cut back on power usage in summer.
>
> BTW: I have a auto-read power meter that send in the usage
> automagically (they decided jumping my fence and dealing with my
> dogs was not a happening thing :-)
>
> Water Co did the same thing but forgot to tell the meter reader
> how to do his job so he broke off the wires the following month
> doing his usual process. :-(
>
> On Wed, Apr 13, 2011 at 10:27 AM, Randy <handran at mindspring.com
> <mailto:handran at mindspring.com>> wrote:
>
> On 4/13/2011 8:45 AM, Michael Potter wrote:
> > This is off topic, but there seems to be other
> discussions about
> > electric power related topics.
> >
> > The power company has offered a $36/unit incentive to
> install a load
> > control switch on my AC units.
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Load_control
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Load_control_switch
> >
> > I don't really care about the $36.
> > I am interested in being a good citizen and cooperating
> to keep
> > electrical rates down.
> > I already have a programmable thermostat so I don't think
> they will
> > save much with me.
> >
> > My questions are:
> > a) Does anyone have first hand knowledge of the quality
> of install?
> > b) Will this switch turn off a running unit, or just
> prevent a stopped
> > unit from starting?
> > c) If it abruptly stops a running unit, will that shorten
> the life?
> >
> >
>
> Stop Smart Meters!
> http://stopsmartmeters.org/2011/03/25/pges-opt-out-plan-a-trojan-horse-the-smart-meter-is-the-problem/
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfT2nfIn8uo
>
> http://af.reuters.com/article/idAFLDE6860P520100908?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0
> <http://af.reuters.com/article/idAFLDE6860P520100908?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0>
>
> http://stopsmartmeters.org/how-you-can-stop-smart-meters/ca-local-governments-on-board/
>
>
>
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>
> --
> --
> James P. Kinney III
> I would rather stumble along in freedom than walk effortlessly
> in chains.
>
>
>
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>
> --
> --
> James P. Kinney III
> I would rather stumble along in freedom than walk effortlessly in chains.
>
>
>
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>
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--
Until later, Geoffrey
"I predict future happiness for America if they can prevent
the government from wasting the labors of the people under
the pretense of taking care of them."
- Thomas Jefferson
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