Entropy continued

[living sounds]

PS; I remain alert to appliance efficiency. I briefly considered heat pump based clothes dryers. I talked to my local appliance repair guy and has not seen any in use locally (MS is not wealthy).

Heat pumps are a no-brainer. Unfortunately, the initial investment to convert an older centrally heated house to a heat pump system is often very high.

Our heat pump based clothes dryer was not very expensive and the energy saving is really enormous. Makes even more sense to replace an old dryer than an old fridge/freezer. Plus you can put it anywhere, since there is no hot/wet air coming out of it.

 

[Youngwhisk]

I had a quick look at how at how those dryers deal with lint and moisture. In addition to the regular lint screen there appears to be an additional lint screen but you also have to clean another unit as well. There also seems to be a storage tank that stores recovered moisture that has to be drained occasionally. Maybe you can vent the air outside and drain the water directly as well, but if not that would be an ideal situation for entropy to be magnified.

 

[JohnRoberts]

Heat pumps are a no-brainer. Unfortunately, the initial investment to convert an older centrally heated house to a heat pump system is often very high.

I just checked and they are not as expensive as they were a few years ago when I first looked. After my washing machine started making bad noises I replaced it. Since the dryer was the same age I looked at replacing it.... BUT the dryer still works so electricity savings would have to be huge to justify buying it just to save on the electric bill. Still working.

Our heat pump based clothes dryer was not very expensive and the energy saving is really enormous. Makes even more sense to replace an old dryer than an old fridge/freezer. Plus you can put it anywhere, since there is no hot/wet air coming out of it.

I have replaced my resistance in-wall heaters, and an old tech air conditioner, with modern (mitsubishi) heat pump technology.

For now I will wait for my dryer to fail... I hope I don't jinx it by talking about it. Then I will do the cost/benefit analysis.

JR

 

[JohnRoberts]

To be fair I am trying to put a number on potential cost savings from heat pump vs resistance clothes dryers.
suggests that heat pump dryers use 28% less energy. So now I need to come up with a number for how much my dryer costs. These days I only do one load of wash roughly every two weeks. Back when I was working in an office I did two loads of laundry each week (one colors and one white). My replacement washing machine when my old one broke is larger so holds pretty much everything I throw at (into) it.

So if I do around 26 loads of laundry a year, how much would my electricity cost have to be for each load, for 28% savings to pay for a new heat pump dryer? I see two popular sizes 4 cubic foot and 7 cubic foot. The smaller ones start around $900 the larger $1200 but prices just start there.

So the break even question is how many years? Looking at this from another angle how much money do I need to save to pay for this over say 5 years. $900 divided by 5x26 means I need to save around $7 per load. For that to happen my electricity bill would have to be around $25 just to dry each load.

In the U.S., it costs approximately 45 cents to dry a load of laundry in an electric dryer, based on a 5,600-watt dryer, 40-minute run-time, and a 12-cent-per- kilowatt-hour rate.

My KWH rate is less than $0.12 so that $0.45 per load cost estimate is high.

At that payback rate, I will not live long enough***....

[edit- to be fair the price calculation should be made for the difference between a similar unit with and without the heat pump technology. So a fraction of the calculated 7,000 dryer cycles but still probably more than this old man's life expectancy, especially when I still have a working dryer. /edit]

JR

****If we ASSume $0.45 electricity cost per dryer load (and mine actually cost less), a 28% savings would be $0.126 savings per load. I would need to dry over 7,000 loads of laundry to break even based on a $900 heat pump dryer retail. Then I would need to deal with water drainage, and keep the filters clean etc... Thanks this was an informative mental exercise.

 

[JohnRoberts]

Not exactly entropy but I recently had a great deal of difficulty unscrewing the dirt canister for my bagless vacuum to clean the washable internal filter. To help I purchased a strap wrench big enough to grasp around the canister. Sadly even that did not work. I finally got it apart using two lengths of wood that I could wedge into two ports in the housing. In hindsight the maintenance advice suggests unscrewing and washing the internal filter every month. I suspect that would avoid the parts getting stuck together.

In hindsight my economic analysis suggests that the old school design with HEPA filters incorporated into the dust collection bags supports a simpler cheaper design. I have already had to replace the internal filters in my bagless once. I could buy a lot of disposable bags for the $28 that the filters cost.

JR

 

[JohnRoberts]

more entropy to report...

My car's ABS brakes idiot light came on again... it spontaneously healed itself once but not this time. The symptom suggests a bad controller not individual per wheel sensors. AFAIK these were made by Bosch and are no longer available. I found replacement wheel sensors but no controllers. This doesn't impact regular braking, only the ABS feature. ABS saved my bacon one time when a redneck ran a red light and ran through a cross street right in front of me. I didn't have enough time to do anything but slam on the brakes hard and cut my wheel to avoid impact. The ABS worked like a charm and steered me away from the sure collision.

While trying to troubleshoot the ABS I plugged in my OBD-II code reader.... there was nothing about the ABS brakes so apparently the Bosch system does not talk to the car's ECU. Instead I got a "pending" 1519 Intake runner stuck closed bank 2. My car is old but pretty hip for 1997. It is a 4 valve per cylinder dual overhead cam V8. It has 16 intake manifold runners, one for each intake valve with an electric motor operated controller to close runner valves to shut off 1/2 the intakes at RPMs below 3200 RPM. With the runner valves shut the engine makes more torque but less high rpm horsepower. I frankly had forgotten about this extra complexity until seeing the pending code. Yesterday during my shopping trip I paid more attention to RPM and how the engine felt. I can easily drive to Walmart and back without exceeding 3000 RPM. Yesterday as I was getting onto the interstate with my engine nicely warmed up I decided to test my IMRC system functionality by accelerating above 3,200 RPM. It pulled strong and made a full throated roar as the runner valves opened. I tested it again at low speed in first gear after leaving the interstate. I had to cut that test short because the road surface was a little damp and the car got uncomfortably loose (tires spinning). The pending engine code suggests that the problem may have occurred once or twice but isn't chronic. I guess I need to exercise my runner valves more often.

===

I sense another entropy event on the horizon. My fancy temperature regulated kettle (for making hot water for coffee) has started acting a little dodgy. This sucker is just over one year old. I noticed a few weeks ago that I started smelling burnt/melting plastic coming from it. Then yesterday it didn't fire up right away. We'll see. The regulated temperature is a nice feature but I don't love the extra complexity.

JR

 

[MicMaven]

I guess I need to exercise my runner valves more often.

Yep - engines, like people, need exercise or they atrophy. I recommend a spirited driving session every ... well you know ... any time you can! Remember the old days when we had to run 'em hard to "clean out the carbon?"

The regulated temperature is a nice feature but I don't love the extra complexity.

Another self-inflicted wound. If you had purchased the simple cheapo $20 model, with no extra features, it would perform flawlessly! This follows the Rule of Engineering that provides "performance is inversely proportionate to complexity and cost." You know ... expensive gear with multiple features breaks down long before cheap simple gear with only one feature or function. It is a Corollary of Murphy's Law, I think.

My oldest and most trusty electric kettle cost $18 and only boils water. If I need a lower temperature for any reason, I let it cool down a little before pouring. I could buy a better one, but it follows the above Rule, and refuses to quit!

You have my empathy ... sympathy ... or whatever is politically correct - there is nothing pleasant about burnt electronics or melted plastic! I hope it sorts itself out OK.

James

 

[JohnRoberts]

Yep - engines, like people, need exercise or they atrophy. I recommend a spirited driving session every ... well you know ... any time you can! Remember the old days when we had to run 'em hard to "clean out the carbon?"

Thursday when I pushed it above 3,000 RPM it felt strong.... Maybe I can explain to the police officer what I am doing?

Another self-inflicted wound. If you had purchased the simple cheapo $20 model, with no extra features, it would perform flawlessly! This follows the Rule of Engineering that provides "performance is inversely proportionate to complexity and cost." You know ... expensive gear with multiple features breaks down long before cheap simple gear with only one feature or function. It is a Corollary of Murphy's Law, I think.

My oldest and most trusty electric kettle cost $18 and only boils water. If I need a lower temperature for any reason, I let it cool down a little before pouring. I could buy a better one, but it follows the above Rule, and refuses to quit!

You have my empathy ... sympathy ... or whatever is politically correct - there is nothing pleasant about burnt electronics or melted plastic! I hope it sorts itself out OK.

James

Yup, the dodgy regulated kettle refused to fire up this morning... it has some weird triangle shaped screw heads holding it together so I don't care enough to buy new tools just to mess with this. These modern kettles have a life expectancy about 1 year. I still have an old (simple) kettle from about 2 smart kettles ago.

Time to revisit....

JR

 

[Youngwhisk]

You can use an appropriate size flat blade screw driver on those triangle shaped screws.

 

[JohnRoberts]

You can use an appropriate size flat blade screw driver on those triangle shaped screws.

Thanks... I am pretty much a pack rat so found two working unregulated electric kettles in my kitchen. I made today's coffee with the first one I dragged out. It tastes OK but I will probably buy another regulated kettle.

The one that failed was making a melted plastic smell for over a week before it gave up the ghost.

I would gladly pay 2x or 3x for commensurate longer life but that is not obvious how to identify.

I need to search the amazon reviews and modern AI filters reveal that most have issues.

JR

 

[MicMaven]

Thursday when I pushed it above 3,000 RPM it felt strong.... Maybe I can explain to the police officer what I am doing?

Yeah ... good luck with that!!

Yup, the dodgy regulated kettle refused to fire up this morning...

DOUBLE BUMMER.

These modern kettles have a life expectancy about 1 year.

No kidding? That seems a bit short.

We had a $70 Brevel brand kettle that lasted ~14 years. We now have a $40 Chefman and $20 AROMA brand kettle - each is at least 5 years old with daily use. I saw a $20 Hamilton-Beach model at Walmart yesterday that looks a lot like my AROMA brand kettle. It should give several years good service. If the good ones last but one year, I would buy the cheapest, simplest one I could find.

We use our kettles for LOTS of things: coffee, tea, boiling water for cooking pasta or veggies, boiling water for cleaning stuff, , even filling the carpet steam cleaner, so they get a lot of use every day. We use the Chefman kettle in the kitchen, and the Aroma kettle downstairs in my radio shack/workshop. I clean them with espresso machine de-scaling solution.

We would have purchased a second Brevel unit, but the price had increased from around $70 to well over $100, and I refused to play along. I bet we all feel that way about a lot of stuff!

I recommend going cheap, with as few "features" that can go wrong as possible and seeing how long you can make it last. I expect at least 10 years service from these kettles. / Just MY take. / GOOD LUCK! / James /

 

[scott2000]

there was nothing about the ABS brakes so apparently the Bosch system does not talk to the car's ECU.

It's possibly the code reader/scanner...
I had a mobile mechanic I've worked with before bring his $2500 scanner over because I needed to bleed my son's car's abs... My scanner wouldn't access any abs stuff. Turns out neither would his....
Looking down the possibility of over $1k in a replacement module because that was what was diagnosed since it wouldn't communicate,
I did some research and took a gamble on a not terribly expensive Autel Maxipro. I was able to get access to the abs and it's special features like bleeding and testing the components....
Scanners are different than code readers obviously and even more limited.

My son's car is an 09 so not as old...but it was old enough to get into questionable compatibility areas....
Autel wasn't helpful in the decision to try it... Basically told me it should work but let us know if it doesn't...lol

 

[JohnRoberts]

My broken regulated kettle is a Hamilton Beach... Breville is more than the 2x/3x price step up I was considering but I am really getting tired of cheap crap that breaks much too frequently.

Checking the reviews of the $129... Breville build quality got 39 negative reviews and 80 positive. The $149 Breville with clear glass carafe got 32 positive and 24 negative build quality reviews. I don't feel good about the price, but I feel good about the feature set, and reviews. This looks like a buy once cry situation.
=======

For no good reason I just ordered a set of triangle head screw drivers. My small flat head screwdriver was too big... I am mostly curious to see how they screwed up the design.
===
Today's coffee tasted different. I am unsure if it was temperature (water too hot) or the fact that the kettle was sitting unused for a couple years (likely).
Tomorrow I will try my other unregulated kettle but run a batch of water through it first to maybe clear out any old stank.

Now I need to waste more of my time searching through reviews for a regulated kettle that doesn't fall apart after daily use. For now Breville is looking better than most (and more expensive than most). Coincidence, maybe not.

JR

 

[JohnRoberts]

It's possibly the code reader/scanner...
I had a mobile mechanic I've worked with before bring his $2500 scanner over because I needed to bleed my son's car's abs... My scanner wouldn't access any abs stuff. Turns out neither would his....
Looking down the possibility of over $1k in a replacement module because that was what was diagnosed since it wouldn't communicate,
I did some research and took a gamble on a not terribly expensive Autel Maxipro. I was able to get access to the abs and it's special features like bleeding and testing the components....
Scanners are different than code readers obviously and even more limited.

My son's car is an 09 so not as old...but it was old enough to get into questionable compatibility areas....
Autel wasn't helpful in the decision to try it... Basically told me it should work but let us know if it doesn't...lol

my car is a 1997 so barely up to speed with the OBDII code reader.

I did a search and the ABS controllers for my car are no longer available to purchase new****..... I found wheel sensors for sale, but the symptom suggests bad controller. I am starting to think that I may need a car that was built in this century.

JR

***** several years ago I repaired a different problem (fuel pump cutting out) by swapping in a used relay module. I think there are people who rebuild Bosch controllers. For now I don't need the ABS brakes for my regular driving pattern.

 

[scott2000]

my car is a 1997 so barely up to speed with the OBDII code reader.

My 93 obd1 truck has abs and requires a scanner to access the system and bleed them... they obviously wouldn't put systems in that can't be accessed and bleeding the abs is one of the features used.. makes sense I guess....atrophy of all the valves and moisture brake fluid...gunk..etc... needs to be flushed out//exercised...

I am starting to think that I may need a car that was built in this century.

Yeah...vintage Cobras are so passe..lol

 

[JohnRoberts]

My 93 obd1 truck has abs and requires a scanner to access the system and bleed them... they obviously wouldn't put systems in that can't be accessed and bleeding the abs is one of the features used.. makes sense I guess....atrophy of all the valves and moisture brake fluid...gunk..etc... needs to be flushed out//exercised...

In the course of troubleshooting my intermittent ABS brake idiot light I checked the obvious suspects (tire pressure, low/gunky(?) brake fluid, etc). Apparently the ABS is a sophisticated design. I read somewhere that you can short one of the ABS controller wires to ground and it will blink out failure modes with the number of idiot light blinks.

I researched my cheap OBDII code reader and the small print says that it does not read ABS codes. ABS problems were not on my list back in 2022 when I purchased that code reader and it was more than adequate to help me resolve multiple idiot light issues in my old and tired (1997) car.

At my age I don't need to be buying more tools but I just bought a new code reader that supports ABS brake codes. The new code reader cost 2-3X my old one and apparently the ABS hooks are a different system from the basic OBD2. This code reader does not support cars newer than 2020 (and older than 1996) so if I upgrade to a modern used car, it needs to be older than 2020.

Yeah...vintage Cobras are so passe..lol

It was pretty hip for almost 30 years ago, but newer mustang GTs and almost everything else make more HP these days. Speaking of vintage cobras, I miss my 93 mustang cobra that I stuck into a guardrail with only 22k miles on it. There were only 5,000 of that limited edition built. After I totaled my '93, the insurance company could not even find a single used one for sale to get a comparable price.

JR

 

[scott2000]

The new code reader cost 2-3X my old one and apparently the ABS hooks are a different system from the basic OBD2

Yeah maybe something with those CAN systems..
My son's kia didn't even give any abs lights or codes...Just decided to lock the right rear caliper.
After replacing the caliper and soft brake line with no success, I dug into it and saw there was a blockage at the abs module not letting fluid return to master cylinder. Figured I could jar it free with the bleed function since it pretty much simulates that on/off action... It worked.
Finding a scanner to bleed abs was tricky.
I saw many stories of people getting new modules or giving up because of cost but a few mentions from others suggesting how they probably could have just bled the abs.
Obviously if I had replaced the module the result would have been the same ....
There's a site called
charm.li that has a bunch of what looks like alldata info.
Your year Mustang should be in there... not sure if it would be helpful down the road..... it usually has a bunch of schematics....
https://charm.li/Ford/1996/

 

[JohnRoberts]

Thanx... My mustang cobra is a 1997 but I found it on the 1997 page.

I am optimistic that my new code scanner (on order) with ABS hooks will reveal more useful information about my ABS idiot light.

JR

PS: Regarding my failed regulated temperature water kettle. Today's coffee didn't include any off flavor notes, but this time I rinsed out the kettle with one boiling water flush first. Today's comparison was not exactly apples to apples. I alternate between roasting two different coffee bean origins (these days, Columbian and Guatemalan). Today's was one day old Columbian, and yesterday's was 5 day old Guatemalan. I also rested the water after boiling a little longer today, so too many variables to square.

 

[JohnRoberts]

my morning coffee is mostly sorted. I am now scrubbing off some extra heat from the boiling water by decanting from the kettle into my two thermoses before the actual pour over. This is not precise temperature control but tastes acceptably good, for now.

Within the next few days my set of triangle head screw drivers will arrive so I can take apart the failed regulated temp kettle. I am probably going to step up to one of the more expensive kettles but no hurry. First I need to do a proper post mortem and see what actually failed. I smelled melting plastic.

JR

 

[JohnRoberts]

Another couple disappointments...

Today my triangle head screwdrivers arrived so first I dug into the electric kettle. I took the kettle apart and didn't see anything melted or burned, so I put it back together. Almost as an afterthought I looked at the kettle base and saw one hole melted in its top from something getting too hot. One of the power cord leads was almost melted into the other one. I cut the trashed end off the line cord and soldered it back, but no luck,,, the kettle is dead as a doornail. I am unsure about whether the line cord was the original failure mode or a secondary result of the kettle failing low impedance. I gave it a few hours, now I can discard it with good conscience.

Fail #2 my new code reader scanner arrived. It successfully reads the same stuck manifold runner fault from the OBDII side. When I told it to scan for ABS brake faults it failed to link up? Suggesting that maybe it wasn't plugged in right or the battery is dead... wrongo... it reads the OBDII faults fine. Perhaps its the flaky ABS controller that's failing to link up?

JR