Entropy

Relax in southern comfort on the east bank of the Mississippi. You're just around the corner from Beale Street and Sun Records. Watch the ducks, throw back a few and tell us what's on your mind.
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mediatechnology
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Re: Entropy

Post by mediatechnology »

Nice to see the sun in that last pic.
You have a big yard.
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JR.
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Re: Entropy

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mediatechnology wrote: Thu Jan 24, 2019 2:13 pm Nice to see the sun in that last pic.
Actually an old picture, but sun is out today.... :lol: Sunlight forecast for next several days. :D
You have a big yard.
One acre...

Now that the buried drain is working again I hope it will help the yard dry out better, but water still coming down from uphill. Working buried drain will move that water through and out faster, instead of sitting in back rain ditches and soaking into sub surface ground water.

The sump pump still pulling water from under my house is not directly coming from run-off but from general ground water. Of course water sitting in rain ditches too long, ends up in the ground water.

My yard has been spongy since late last summer and the buried drain has been slow (partially blocked?) for several months.

JR
[edit- Water still flowing well from lower drain pipe, higher pipe (1.5" higher at drain box) just barely moving but that is OK. /edit]
[edit2- high pipe is still draining slowly to middle of the high pipe which is completely above the low pipe... upgrade is a complete success. 8-) This project has been tracking mud into my kitchen for over a month, glad that is over (for now). /edit]
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JR.
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Re: Entropy

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I guess this qualifies as entropy... yesterday about two blocks away from my mid afternoon dental appointment that I expected to be my worst drama for the day, I noticed my steering get heavy and brakes get soft... I muscled my car into the parking spot, removed the now disintegrating serpentine fan belt, and went into the dentist to get drilled and filled.

With my temperature gauge climbing and carefully negotiating traffic with weak brakes and hard steering, I made it across town to the local ford dealership. I had bad luck with them decades ago with a botched service*** but this time they looked like my best bet. I felt relieved when they accepted my car for service on the spot.

Then a few minutes later they shared they didn't have a replacement drive belt in stock but would check around town..They found one and had it delivered. Sooner than expected I heard my car start up, and I was ready to roll. More than $100 lighter for just a fan belt but no complaint, it could have been far worse. :lol:

On the ride home I noticed a new idiot light (low coolant I think). I suspect my brief roll across town without a water pump boiled off some coolant, but the temp gauge was in range on the interstate so I'll deal with it later. Today is my shopping day so I will pick up some new antifreeze, that is also long past due to be refreshed (apparently old anti-freeze turns acidic). I probably should replace my radiator hoses, before they fail too.

JR

*** decades ago while busy working at Peavey I had that service department change the spark plugs in my '86 mustang. About a week later I noticed the engine misfiring. At lunchtime I popped the hood and discovered one spark plug was only finger tight. :roll: I removed it and observed that the electrode was burned up... without being screwed tight into the head, the heat has no way to get out. I bought a new spark plug and borrowed a wrench from one of my engineers. Then I drove over to the service department and had a chat with the service manager. He looked at my burned up plug and said, "that looks like water damage", and offered to give me a new spark plug. :roll: I declined his generous offer, and avoided them for a few decades until now. :lol:
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mediatechnology
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Re: Entropy

Post by mediatechnology »

No sign of leaks or a bad front bearing that pump?
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JR.
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Re: Entropy

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mediatechnology wrote: Fri Feb 01, 2019 5:15 am No sign of leaks or a bad front bearing that pump?
No evidence of leaks, and in hindsight I have heard some belt slippage noise at start-up over several months. An old mechanic trick to listen for water pump bearing noise is to get an old straw broom... hold the straw part up to you ear and touch the running motor near where you want to listen with the wood broom handle. You can hear a lot of mechanical noise that way (maybe this weekend while I'm messing with it.)

With over 100k on the motor a water pump failing is not out of the question. I find the coincidence of low coolant level immediately after the elevated temperature from driving across town without a fan belt (water pump), too much to ignore.

The starter motor failed years before it's time, and that brings up another story about poor dealer service. Since I was snake bit by the Ford dealership, and was busy with a life consuming day job, I took my bad starter motor to the local lincoln/mercury dealer. The owner was also involved in the local sports car racing scene so I was optimistic. The engine room in my car is so cramped you have to unbolt the motor mounts and jack up the motor just to access the starter motor, maybe drop one exhaust manifold too, so not a trivial driveway repair, for a busy guy.

When I pulled up to the lincoln/mercury service department doorway, they ASSumed I didn't know what I was talking about and said I probably just had a bad battery. I told them if I turned it off for them to test the battery, it would not start again. They said trust me... yadda yadda... :lol: Of course the battery tested good and it did not start again, then they started accepting my diagnosis. 8-) Luckily their driveway was on a slight hill so I was able to jump start it again and leave it running for them.

The fun and games occurred about a week later when I arrived to pick up my repaired car. I paid my bill but the service department could not find my keys. :o We chased them down to a kid working in the parts department who had "borrowed" them to test drive my car. :oops:

This is why I was so pleasantly surprised by my unexpected good service experience Wednesday.

Back on topic I have a new set of radiator hoses on order, since 20+ years is probably beyond the expected service life for the original hoses.

This weekend I will drain out some of the old (acidic) antifreeze and freshen up with some new anti-freeze (that also claims anti-corrosion additives).

I could afford to replace this car but don't find modern cars that appealing.

JR
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JR.
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Re: Entropy

Post by JR. »

I might be a little crazy so please tell me, but I am seriously considering performing the franken-lamp modification to a second solar driveway lamp. It gives me a warm fuzzy feeling to see the one lamp at full brightness later (earlier) than 4AM when I glance out my front window. 8-) The stock lamp is long since retired.

I absolutely don't need driveway lights at 4AM or if I do I won't be awake to notice them with all the flashing lights on the ambulance.

I have a few new stock lamps still in the box with no immediate application and several more extra mAH batteries too, so sacrificing one more to the franken-experiment is not crazy.... or is it? :roll:

JR

PS: to go really crazy I could add 3 more solar cells and do a series parallel with all 4 but nah... even I don't need driveway lights the next day, and worry about melting the nicads.
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billshurv
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Re: Entropy

Post by billshurv »

surely easier to run in a conduit for real lights at this point?
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JR.
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Re: Entropy

Post by JR. »

billshurv wrote: Mon Feb 04, 2019 5:09 pm surely easier to run in a conduit for real lights at this point?
That doesn't sound easy.... easy is just replacing failed lamps with one of several new ones still sitting unopened in the box (I bought 4 of them last time).

I enjoy seeing the franken lamp still bright at 4AM, but not this morning, it has been cloudy lately.

Maybe this is a nerd thing... One unknown variable is that I perceived a difference between the two solar cells in Frank, so replicating the experiment with two identical new solar cells could still behave differently. I may never know because this is not good use of my time.

JR
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billshurv
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Re: Entropy

Post by billshurv »

well I am considering a couple of lights at the front of the house for reversing in the dark*. Mainly because I was too tight to pay someone to fit the reversing camera to my car so in its box it sits :). The sun shades on the rear screens make aiming tricky at this time of year. But I suspect some reflective strips in the right place would do as well. Just need a couple of markers to align on.

* wooden post at night does blend into darkness. Marked on snap. My old car is in that pic. I ripped the front fender off on said post one night reversing out.
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JR.
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Re: Entropy

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+1 to reflective tape... Back when I was still playing ball and having to find my driveway well after dark o'clock. I found the solar driveway lamps less than spectacular. To help them pop from distance, at night, at speed, I added stripes of reflective tape to the lamps and that made a significant improvement picking up my headlights from decent distance.

Miss my driveway and there are rain ditches on either side. :lol:

JR
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