Entropy continued

[JohnRoberts]

Dang...Sounds like you still had the floating ball on a stick for your old one......

no the old one was almost the exact same model as the new one... I think they are called "float cup fill valves".

The only difference is that the new one has two water level adjustments instead of just one...

JR

 

[scott2000]

o the old one was almost the exact same model as the new one... I think they are called "float cup fill valves".

The only difference is that the new one has two water level adjustments instead of just one...

Ah...I don't know where my mind was at.. That actually sounds like a neat feature.. So you can control how much water fills the bowl? Even beyond when the float stops? Less would be cool for a temporary get at the dirty water ring to clean feature...as opposed to shutting of the valve if it's janky...

 

[JohnRoberts]

There is a bypass tube coming from the float valve spraying water down into the overflow tube and into the bowl, while the tank is filling up. There is a new valve added inline controlling this bypass water flow. Right now I have it turned all the way down and bowl water level is down about 1" below what it was before. The set up advice says to set the tank level 1/2" below the overflow tube top. For the bowl they say to dump one gallon of water into the empty bowl and adjust to match that target bowl level.

[edit- upon inspection the bowl level is more like 1/2" lower than before. It looks like more because of the shape of the bowl. /edit]

I need to clean the water stain ring at the old bowl water level, but no hurry.

JR

 

[Mr. Moscode]

I replaced my toilet tank float valve this morning. That should nip that slow water leak.

One thing I like about free market capitalism is how competition drives development of better new products. My new float valve has two adjustments (the old one only had one). The new second adjustment controls the level of water in the bowl after a flush. I dialed both down to lower levels than before.

Doing my best to save the planet.

JR

Keep saving the planet, one flush at a time. What float valve did you get? Mine has hung up in the middle of the night and I don't know about it until the AM and up goes the H2O bill.

Off entropy but --- RE: Free Market Capitalism? Here we go, but I gotta say it. Free market capitalism is a myth in this country. There is nothing free about it. We pay taxes for the courts that settle corporate disputes, the Patent and Trademark office, the USPostal Service, the roads that carry goods, the clean drinking water, the fire department, the police, the laws that govern business, product safety, roads, workers, cars, etc.

We pay for the infrastructure that let's them operate. There is always a political battle between creating and destroying regulation but that's another conversation.

OK I'm off the soap box now.

 

[JohnRoberts]

Keep saving the planet, one flush at a time. What float valve did you get? Mine has hung up in the middle of the night and I don't know about it until the AM and up goes the H2O bill.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07N7BH94Q?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

Off entropy but --- RE: Free Market Capitalism? Here we go, but I gotta say it. Free market capitalism is a myth in this country. There is nothing free about it. We pay taxes for the courts that settle corporate disputes, the Patent and Trademark office, the USPostal Service, the roads that carry goods, the clean drinking water, the fire department, the police, the laws that govern business, product safety, roads, workers, cars, etc.

We pay for the infrastructure that let's them operate. There is always a political battle between creating and destroying regulation but that's another conversation.

OK I'm off the soap box now.

That's some old ex-President Obama era poop... "You didn't build that" .... Capitalism, property rights, and rule of law, created the wealth and fueled our economic growth for centuries, but the administrative state has gummed it up so bad now that our economic growth is almost gone.

JR

 

[cyrano]

The only difference is that the new one has two water level adjustments instead of just one...

We've had that for ages - EU mandated it. Saves a lot on drinking water. The toilets here are flushed with rainwater, collected from the roof. Unless it's an extremely dry summer, there's enough rainwater for toilets and for the garden. In case we run out, it switches over to drinking water automatically.

Looks like that darned free capitalism is way behind. It's always amusing watching Americans discover what we've had for decades. From different light switches to roundabouts...

 

[abbey road d enfer]

The toilets here are flushed with rainwater, collected from the roof.

It's a very interesting concept. I had heard about it in parts of Belgium; where are you based? Here (france), we use drinkable water to pee into.

Unless it's an extremely dry summer, there's enough rainwater for toilets and for the garden. In case we run out, it switches over to drinking water automatically.

Is it a mechanical valve? Where is the tank? I suppose you have specific plumbing for toilets. Here toilets are just connected to anywhere there's water.

 

[cyrano]

It's a very interesting concept. I had heard about it in parts of Belgium; where are you based? Here (france), we use drinkable water to pee into.

It's all over the country for newly built housing. Subsidised and obligatory (for new houses) in some regions. Where I lived before, in Antwerp, the apartment had the same kind of system.

The latest is green roofs, but that isn't catching as fast. Fear of leaking and price, I think.

There's also a serious effort to get our aquifers refilled. And Nestlé can't buy sources here. They already owned a few and have been warned they'll run into the monopoly law if they didn't stop immediately. There is some effort to stop multinationals from buying water sources in the EU, but I don't know where that stands atm.

But we're stubborn, so there still are housings being built without rainwater systems. Like my neighbours. They have a swimming pond (latest hype, instead of a pool), but no rainwater system to feed it. I think the reason is that you can't see the rainwater system. No bragging rights there. I know they'll regret that in the future, as feeding drinking water in the pond will destabilise the biology of it. Too hard water (around 30° German hardness) isn't suited for the swamp life that's native.

Is it a mechanical valve? Where is the tank? I suppose you have specific plumbing for toilets. Here toilets are just connected to anywhere there's water.

I have no idea. Haven't even seen the installation, as it's somewhere just below the roof. There must be electrical pumps to get the water to that level. But I've developed fear of heights getting old. No ladders or walking on roofs for me. There's a company that does the yearly service. Mainly cleaning the bottom of the tank. All inclusive (also any repair) it amounts to 105€ yearly. I wouldn't want to do it myself. It's a dirty and somewhat dangerous job.

My grandfather's house, which is almost a century old, also has a big rainwater tank in the attic. No valves, no pumps. That does mean there's almost no pressure and some flush tanks need to be modded. You just need to make the little hole in the venturi a tiny bit larger. The hard part is the "tiny"
bit. A little too large and you can throw it away.

Only thing is, the tank never ran empty before, but the last ten years or so, it runs dry during summer. Then you just close one tap and open another. Simple, but that system is no longer permitted, as you could force rainwater into the drinking water. At least, in theory. What happens is that the tank spills over, as the drinking water has around 1,5 bar pressure and the rainwater only 0,1 bar. If you don't notice, it'll be a hefty bill. Still, someone might install a pump some day, so it's reasonable not to allow it.

BTW, the system is used in France too. I've seen a setup somewhere in Provence, somewhere near Apt. Can't remember the name of the village. Was in a very expensive villa though and it's main purpose was for the garden and the swimming pool. And now I think of it, I've also seen it in Switzerland.

I've been living here for over a year now and haven't found any disadvantages yet. We use about 10.000 liter (2500 gallons) of drinking water per person a year. That was almost double when we were living in Brussels, without a rainwater system. TBH, the water in Brussels came from the Ardennes and was much better to drink and to cook. But that's no longer happening...

 

[abbey road d enfer]

Thanks for this detailed answer. I wished we had something like that here, although in my part of teh country, it's not that necessary.
I've installed two 1000 liter cisterns for watering the garden. I've used very little of it since it has rained enough.
But I really would like to do the toilet thing.

 

[JohnRoberts]

Not to feed this veer (that I apparently started) here in the US the alternate recycled/repurposed water systems are called "grey water" systems.
===
The only reason I bought a flush valve with two adjustments was because the old one had a very slow leak, and it was the same model as the old one, improved while still inexpensive.

JR

PS: Years ago when I noticed how much water was being discharged from my RO water filter outlet, I ran a plastic tubing line over to the bathroom so that filter waste water would dump into my toilet tank. Later I discovered that the amount of discharge water was unusually high and replaced the outlet flow restrictor, eliminating that as a flush water source.

 

[Mr. Moscode]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07N7BH94Q?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details


That's some old ex-President Obama era poop... "You didn't build that" .... Capitalism, property rights, and rule of law, created the wealth and fueled our economic growth for centuries, but the administrative state has gummed it up so bad now that our economic growth is almost gone.

JR

You've already shown your hand with MLK quotes for a tag line here and I'm with you.

Like I said, that's a whole 'nother conversation. But I'm pretty sure that GE, RCA, McDonald Douglas, etc didn't build or repave the street in front of my house, or my fire dept, etc.

Last time I looked, post covid, Home Depot hasn't lowered their prices, nor have the gas and EMF companies, etc to pre covid prices and most report record profits. Add in Amazon, Apple, Google, Tesla which pay little or no corporate taxes and they appear to be doing quite well, thank you! No, capitalism isn't dead by a long shot. It's the "free" part that's the misnomer, although the corporations are busy with their lobbyists and the Supremes to get closer to "free" and unrestricted.

 

[JohnRoberts]

For an update on my new improved side sprayer, unexpectedly I am learning to deal with much higher spray pressure/volume. Since the water source is coming from the same feed I can only ASSume that the cheap side sprayers restrict their water flow. This can be surprising if spraying into a dish with rounded bottom as the water flow shoots back up and out of the sink. I sprayed myself more than once.

The water flow can be modulated by how far you depress the lever, so it is possible to regulate how hard it sprays, but that takes retraining. I am thinking about maybe wrapping some foam around the body of the sprayer to limit the travel of the lever. Soft foam that could be squeezed to increase flow might work. Having excess water pressure is not exactly a bad problem for a side sprayer.

JR

edit- attached picture of side sprayer with adhesive backed insulation foam under the trigger. This works for now to avoid too much spray pressure. I have more foam on order to experiment with /edit]

Here is the latest improvement on the side sprayer.... This foam insulation is designed to slide over the outside of water pipes. On my side sprayer it provides some resistance against too easily depressing the trigger and getting too much flow.

Besides that it also solves another problem. I have read some complaints about the sprayer handle getting too hot when spraying hot water.

JR

 

[JohnRoberts]

My latest entropy fail, is hard to feel very bad about. My kitchen Oster blender that is so old I don't even recall when I first purchased it. Probably back in the 80s (?). A few days ago while trying blend some frozen blue berries into kefir (fermented milk). I had added some psyllium fiber as a thickener, that worked all too well. The tired old blender stalled and refused to start up even after I removed some of the mix. I finally got it working again after I completely flushed the container, but blending clear water is not all that useful.

The legend molded into the base says it draws 450W a popular size. I took it apart looking for a tired run/start capacitor and only found a bunch of wires feeding into a potted (?) module for the 10-speed control. So I didn't find any obvious caps to measure. The armature of the motor is discolored from brush wear over decades and there is some apparent metal on metal grooves visible on the armature. I searched for repair replacement motors and did not find any obvious replacements, but i have no idea what my model number is. ebay has many pages of used blender bases for only $15-20.

This is a pretty robust very old design and it looks like they are still making almost identical units several decades later. These are cheap enough that I ordered a new 800W Oster that should have a little more grunt for my extra thick blends. Some of the new Oster blenders claim 700 power watts/450 blender watts?? I will speculate that the speed control has a higher power mode only available for intermittent use (my old one did with a button labelled ice crush that must be held down). Even this high power button did not free up my stuck blender.

RIP this blender gave me good service and is failing gracefully.

[update: the new 800w blender arrived today and didn't blink with the same smoothie recipe that stalled out my 30+ year old blender. It looks like the the new blender uses some smart motor speed control to dynamically vary the motor speed for good result. /update]

JR

 

[scott2000]

RIP

 

[MicMaven]

Here is the latest improvement on the side sprayer....

DARN YOU, JR !!! All this chatter about broken kitchen sink sprayers --- and now MINE has FAILED !!! Like I need another thing to diagnose and fix around my house. Bad Karma, I suppose . . . James

 

[JohnRoberts]

I used to wear out so many cheap plastic side sprayers that I bought and kept a spare in my kitchen drawer...

I expect better service life from my new metal one.

JR

 

[JohnRoberts]

I managed to close out a couple projects... I replaced the stuck canisters in my RO filter with new canister's. I feel a little like it was cheating when I couldn't get them loose to just replace them. Oddly after I disassembled them from the bracket, they easily unscrewed. I don't feel bad about replacing them, the sediment canister was stained dark brown after decades in service.

JR

 

[scott2000]

Man I just replaced a couple of supply registers with the bartype kind instead of the stamped steel ones that come with the house. Supposed to give better airflow.

All these years one in my office has been blowing straight into a ceiling panel and the other clear across the bed.... I think one reason they make them that way is to hide looking up into the ductwork but it limits the airflow direction to across the ceiling for a lot of it and you can't really fine tune them apart from restricting flow........ a little hand brake actually works well for bending the fins though...

Little pricier but totally worth it. Not sure if it did anything with the return/supply delta because I just supercleaned the blower fan and coil...

https://russellking.me/tag/grilles/

 

[JohnRoberts]

Man I just replaced a couple of supply registers with the bartype kind instead of the stamped steel ones that come with the house. Supposed to give better airflow.

All these years one in my office has been blowing straight into a ceiling panel and the other clear across the bed.... I think one reason they make them that way is to hide looking up into the ductwork but it limits the airflow direction to across the ceiling for a lot of it and you can't really fine tune them apart from restricting flow........ a little hand brake actually works well for bending the fins though...

Little pricier but totally worth it. Not sure if it did anything with the return/supply delta because I just supercleaned the blower fan and coil...

Since my entire house is being heated/cooled by only one heat pump indoor unit I added a blower to suck heated/cooled air from my living room and exhaust it into my back bedroom closet. It doesn't take much air movement to normalize temperatures across the multiple rooms. I have 3 speeds available from the blower, but always run it at the lowest speed.


The exhaust duct in my bedroom closet has light coming from it because I have a UVc lamp mounted inside the 8" duct at the blower. The UVc lamp disinfects the house air, at least that is the hope.

JR

 

[scott2000]

The exhaust duct in my bedroom closet has light coming from it because I have a UVc lamp mounted inside the 8" duct at the blower. The UVc lamp disinfects the house air, at least that is the hope

Neat... Can't tell if you play opossum sometimes. You don't usually come across as a man of faith...
I think I'll look into that too.