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After living in Northern California it was a surprise to me too that places get hot and have storms; this is actually normal in many parts of the USA.
"Violent weather" has been around forever.
crisis like when I needed to find a charger for my electric car, (a rarity in Texas)
Apparently it's been 10-15F hotter here than usual over the past 2 years and it looks like that trend isn't letting up. Hot as fuck. Too hot. The power grid issue is due to the green energy initiatives. I wasn't living here during the winter event that knocked out power here a few years ago but I was visiting and it sucked. When I was a kid we had worse snow storms and it was a non-issue but we were a fossil fuel state back then.
One of the first things I did when I moved back was to buy a generator (that I haven't needed so far thankfully) and I'm looking at getting a Ford F150 power boost with a 7.6KW inverter which essentially turns the truck into a generator too if I need it. (And I'm still renting a house at this point)
We were in San Diego for a graduation, and I forgot how uncomfortable 70's are in the sun with the humidity. By contrast, got back and felt just fine in 100 degree weather. I'll take the dry any day.
NuttBoxer says
We were in San Diego for a graduation, and I forgot how uncomfortable 70's are in the sun with the humidity. By contrast, got back and felt just fine in 100 degree weather. I'll take the dry any day.
It's easier to cool a house. Being outside 100ºF is worse though. Humidity is a natural sauna. Dry heat just burns you up and you have to drink copious amounts of water. Golfed Quintero north of Phoenix about 16 years ago when it was 115ºF. Awful. Couldn't even swim in the pool as the water was too hot.
I'll take FL, GA, AL, etc humidity at 90-95ºF all day every day. Dry heat is like being cooked in an oven. It sucks.
WookieMan says
NuttBoxer says
We were in San Diego for a graduation, and I forgot how uncomfortable 70's are in the sun with the humidity. By contrast, got back and felt just fine in 100 degree weather. I'll take the dry any day.
It's easier to cool a house. Being outside 100ºF is worse though. Humidity is a natural sauna. Dry heat just burns you up and you have to drink copious amounts of water. Golfed Quintero north of Phoenix about 16 years ago when it was 115ºF. Awful. Couldn't even swim in the pool as the water was too hot.
I'll take FL, GA, AL, etc humidity at 90-95ºF all day every day. Dry heat is like being cooked in an oven. It sucks.
Finally you guys are starting to appreciate SF Bay Area dry-no-heat climate. :D
It's been beautiful here in norcal/wine country. The cold and wet winter lasted well into spring and thus the summer temps so far have been tempered in the 70s and 80s so far, with 90s next week. Daily pool time reboots nicely from all the tech and trading stuff.
As someone who's experienced both, I disagree. 106 yesterday, and noticed I wasn't the only one not running AC when I drove..
As someone who's experienced both, I disagree. 106 yesterday, and noticed I wasn't the only one not running AC when I drove..
NuttBoxer says
As someone who's experienced both, I disagree. 106 yesterday, and noticed I wasn't the only one not running AC when I drove..
I know you're in AZ. Have family and friends down there. No chance in hell the AC wouldn't be on at 106ºF. That's voluntary torture. I get into this argument with my one buddy from Texas who moved to IL. He says the dry heat is better. Guess what he bitches when we get to AZ for a golf trip and he's fucking getting torched? The heat.
Same age, mowed my lawn and picked all the devil weed(really nasty spikey seeds, don't know the name), with a push mower last weekend. Mostly in the sun, high of 100.
Glad your buddy is ok, but he's kind of a pussy.
Picked up a Snapper Pro for $250. It sat in a shed for 10+ years - the wheels still had the flashing from the molds. Carburetor is probably shot, but fuck, this is a $1500 mower.
Same age, mowed my lawn and picked all the devil weed(really nasty spikey seeds, don't know the name), with a push mower last weekend. Mostly in the sun, high of 100.
Glad your buddy is ok, but he's kind of a pussy.
Picked up a Snapper Pro for $250. It sat in a shed for 10+ years - the wheels still had the flashing from the molds. Carburetor is probably shot, but fuck, this is a $1500 mower.
stereotomy says
Picked up a Snapper Pro for $250. It sat in a shed for 10+ years - the wheels still had the flashing from the molds. Carburetor is probably shot, but fuck, this is a $1500 mower.
That is a marvelous machine! I used to work on Snapper mowers, back in the day.
What is so great about them, is the simplicity of the drive train. There isn't any gear boxes, pulleys, gears, sprockets, chains or belts to go bad.
Well belts do drive the blades how ever, they connect to the same shaft that holds the drive disk.
The whole mechanism is just a drive disk with a slight conical contour from the outer diameter to the center point. This is part of the engine crankshaft. The axle has a rubber disk that is adjusted from the inside to the outside of that rotation, providing more or less torque.
The carbonator should be a float and bowl style. If that's the case, a little carb cleaner and a air nozzle on a shop vac, should sort that carburetor out.
Cut a cereal box gasket and seal it with some silicone.
The viton-capped jet is no longer available.
The needle jet for the original carb has a viton cap that swelled during storage with 10% ethanol gas for 10 years -
Ah, the bravado. How original.
Now I'm starting to see non ethanol fuel at the gas pumps, it's about a dollar more.
Quick Trip (QT) stations in Texas have those. You should always pump a few gallons into your car first though before filling your gas can or residual ethanol will contaminate it.
stereotomy says
The viton-capped jet is no longer available.
It's a shame, we keep loosing superior technology to crappy cheap disposable engineering.
I hate carbs with rubber valves and diaphragms. They are pure junk, and just as hard to find replacement parts that are a 100% match as obsolete float carb parts. Or they aren't serviceable at all.
stereotomy says
The needle jet for the original carb has a viton cap that swelled during storage with 10% ethanol gas for 10 years -
That's why I only use ethanol free gas from Home Depot, it's made for small engine operations. Now I'm starting to see non ethanol fuel at the gas pumps, it's about a dollar more. But $4.70 a gallon is better than $17 or $20 the gallon can goes for at Home Despot. The ethanol free gas is gentler on the plastic and rubber parts in the cheap shitty carbs they make today. Had Snapper used zinc float pins with a removable brass needle seat, there wouldn't be a problem just clean the parts.
Never ever had an issue with small engines or cars with ethanol.
Ethanol will kill older small engines because the seals and jets are not compatible with the hydroscopic properties of ethanol.
stereotomy says
Ethanol will kill older small engines because the seals and jets are not compatible with the hydroscopic properties of ethanol.
I guess it's seals. I did not know that. Well sort of. I'd heard of that happening to older cars.
On television and in my conversations with locals, I kept hearing complaints that temperatures were getting hotter and hotter. They now use a heat index where the actual air temperature, the humidity, and the wind speed are factored in to get the exact temperature which is always much higher. I suffered in the heat. It limited my mobility outside. For example, when I came to the house where I started life, I wanted to make the three-block walk I always made every day with my mother to the large cemetery. I had to drive in my air-conditioned car.
In this awful heat, air conditioning is not a luxury, it can literally be a matter of life and death. Texas moved to privatize its electricity grid. There are big weaknesses. A few years ago, the electricity grid collapsed during frigid winter temperatures one February. Up to 300 people died.
As temperatures get higher, more electric power will be consumed to keep the cooling systems working. We could see more and more grid collapses. This could be fatal for people with medical conditions and vulnerable older people. The heat also produces more volatile weather conditions. This includes violent and volatile weather. As I was driving toward my hotel near Houston International Airport. I found myself in the middle of a violent thunderstorm including big hail balls. When I arrived at the Sheraton Hotel, it was a dark and dead building. The Texas power grid does not hold up well in this violent weather. Repairs take a long time.
When I left the hotel to go to the airport 14 hours later, the power was still out in the hotel. I arrived at the airport terminal around 3:30 A.M. I expected to find a virtually empty building. It was packed with people. They all had flights canceled due to the bad weather. Some had slept in the terminal for many hours.