Have a wood stove I used to heat my whole house, Southern IL, not ND!
2 Likes
Me too, but not as invasive. The power company can reduce electric power to my AC and heat pump through a box on the outside parts of the units, making them less efficient. They notify us when they will do that, and there are wide area announcements on local news stations announcing it too. In return, they pay me for the privilege of controlling my AC and heat pump. I get paid twice! There is a controller on the AC and another on the heat pump.
@Barkydog You live in Southern Illinois and heated your house with a wood stove? I spent two years in Southern Illinois in the early 1960s. Back then, it was coal mining country and many people heated with coal. I rented a room in a house and the first year the house was heated with coal. The next year, the landlord and land lady who also lived in the house converted to gas. Before winter came, they were afraid that the gas furnace wouldn’t keep them warm. They were pleasantly surprised when winter hit.
There was no air conditioning in the summer. The whole house was powered through one 20 ampere fuse.
1 Like
Nice coincidence, I had an electric meter that went up to 99 whatever, I could double the load run the meter past the 99 and get free electricity. 1899 wood stove picked up for heat at a flea market. I was at SIU, Murphysboro, though Ava and Jordan I think were closer, not sure as Jordan does not show up on google maps. Got piss oak (cause it smelled like piss) 2" thick 12" by 18" or so with a hole drilled in the middle. Load it up at $10 a truckload. I am not sure what they made, maybe utility poles.
1 Like
My cousin worked for the power company for many years. After he retired he started a consulting business to help businesses reduce their power requirements. I don’t remember the exact percentages but he would go in, make the lighting changes and so on, and then would split the savings with the business. No savings, no income. Kind of a win win but that runs in the family.
I have resisted most propositions from the power company though. Hands off my thermostat and air conditioner, and I don’t want to join your sunshine club. We did take up rural electric for the electric water heater at the cabin though. Got it pretty much free and a lot more practical for a place that sits empty most of the time and on LP. But I don’t want your blower door or energy assessment. I’ve already go efficient windows, 18" of insulation, efficient appliances, etc. so leave me alone.
I try to save but I’ve still got three brand new set back thermostats in the box that I bought about ten years ago. Every time I try to discuss the times to program them for the three floors, I get the icy stare and the “hands off my thermostat” look, so I put them back in the box for another time. My wife likes to control the thermostats, up down, up down, rinse and repeat. They cost about $75 too since there are only a couple models and brands that can be used with my furnace controller.
I think it is only $11.39 for minimum monthly charge at the cabins for using no electricity. $100 a year for nothing!
My FIL was a mucky muck with Rural Electric so I’ve heard all the complaints. You have to remember that whether you used anything or not, if a storm blew the lines down to your place, they still have to repair the lines, whether you have the lights on or not. If you go up to Big Bear though, $100 is about what you can expect to lose in one hour though so you have to put it in perspective.
Not “nothing”. It costs a lot to maintain that distribution system, don’t you think? This is a big problem utilities face with buying back solar power at retail prices. They still need to get paid for the distribution system.
2 Likes
Sounds like you are describing my first car! It was a new 1970 Fiat 124 Spyder which was fun to drive, but… It was supposed to get a tune up (for the youngsters, that was new plugs, new points and an adjustment of the timing among other things) every 3,000 miles, but I could feel it starting to run rough at 1,500 miles. That meant it was using excess gas and polluting more than usual at that point. The non-disc brakes faded and stopped working going down a mountainous region until a major cooling off. For spare parts I carried a spark plug, points, belts, fuses and other items. Things have improved.
2 Likes
Your “constitutional rights” are related to the Federal Government, not private companies, I think (I am not a lawyer). Companies can do want they want, sometimes needing your permission, which you often grant just by using their product. I think most auto companies do not have access to the data on the “black box” until it is removed from the vehicle and you give them permission to get it, or law enforcement gets it through legal means. Electric car companies with over-the-air capabilities may have access to this information as it happens. As pointed out above, that data may be very helpful to you in an accident if it shows you were driving appropriately.
+1
Back in the days of software that came only on discs, the overwrap stated that breaking the seal and unwrapping it constituted acceptance of the company’s policies. I recall this from my Business Law class.
3 Likes
To me, it is often a matter of which is preferable–mevhanical.controls or computer.controls. The Model T Ford had manually.controlled ignition timing. This was replaced in more modern cars with centrifugal and vacuum distributor timing advance. Today, the timing is adjusted by computer and is much more precise.
I owned two vehicles with a manual choke–a 1950 Chevrolet pickup and a 1961 Chevrolet Corvair. Now I knew how to manipulate the manual choke to keep the vehicles running smoothly as they warmed up in cold weather. My 1978 Oldsmobile.Cutlass had an automatic choke which consisted of a thermostatic spring controlled by a heat tube from the manifold and a vacuum pull off. I could start the car in any weather. If the temperature was lower than 30 degrees or higher than 50 degrees, the engine ran smoothly all the time. However, if the temperature was between 30 and 50 degrees, it would run well after a cold start for the first mile, then hesitate on acceleration for the next half mile and then run smoothly again. In the 30.to.50 degree weather conditions, the choke came off too soon. On the vehicles I have owned with computer controlled fuel injection and ignition timing, the engines run smoothly no.matter what the weather. I’ll take the computer controls.
3 Likes
+1
I have a friend who bought a new car ~7 years ago, which was the only car that he had owned since his long-ago '61 Dodge. The first thing that I had inform him of was that he shouldn’t touch the gas pedal either before engaging the starter, or while the engine was starting. He was initially skeptical, but he turned out to be amazed at the effortless–and consistently perfect–way that his Scion’s engine starts.
1 Like
Which was BS, because you can’t agree to something you haven’t been told about yet. All parties to an agreement have to know what they’re agreeing to, and you can’t spring conditions on them after the sale. But companies put the sticker on there anyway in hopes that wronged people would assume they had no right to complain. My dad the lawyer liked to say that signs don’t mean anything unless they’re backed up by real laws. A business owner can put up a sign saying annoying customers agree to be shot, but that doesn’t mean the clerk actually gets to shoot them.
Some crooked dealerships try to pull a similar stunt. They’ll work out a deal with you on a car, you sign all the papers, arrange financing, then drive the car home. A couple of days later, the dealership will call and say they made an error and you need to pay them $2,000 more or return the car. The correct answer to that is to tell them to pound sand, because when there’s a contract that’s already been agreed to and executed, any subsequent modifications to it also have to be mutually agreed to, and you don’t agree that you want to pay them more money.
5 Likes
That was the contention of my Business Law professor.
Last week, I saw a huge gravel truck on the interstate–complete with no mudflaps–and this was painted in large letters on its tailgate:
Not responsible for broken windshields
Yeah, sure…
5 Likes
Since we haven’t been scolded for talk of heating homes with wood burning stoves, I’m going to throw in. I was resisting the urge, but now I’m missing out.
My aunt and uncle who live in Ava, IL (a tiny town near Carbondale) moved out of their house and into the farmhouse where my aunt grew up. One year, my uncle connected his heating system to the wood burning stove, switching back and forth between wood and gas. At the end of winter, he found out he was being overbilled for the natural gas he used.
When he contacted the gas company, they made an agreement. They would base the previous season’s bill on next winter’s gas bill, and credit him for the difference. Can you guess what he did next winter?
He heated his home exclusively using the wood burning stove.
I don’t remember where I saw it but a guy was using the ac power supply from his ford truck during his power outage. I wonder what amp it can provide.
The last T’s would be 1927. 1932 would be a Model A.
This is what you want.
3 Likes
… or, this one!
3 Likes