Do It Yourself -- Not

[keith]

I think they're rather ugly. To each, I suppose.

That's what they look like, but built into one of the end elbows is a bleeder screw. They throw out a lot of heat, as long as they're kept clean. There is a lot of surface area on the fins and the water should be 180-190F.

The problem is that the efficiency is proportional to the temperature rise, so the air exits at *maybe* 80F, which means a lot of air has to be moved. It's *quite* drafty. Hydronic baseboards, OTOH, operate at

180-190F, so feel warmer without the drafts.

The thing to watch on electric baseboards is things blocking the units. They will cause a fire. Hydronic baseboards will not, so long drapes or furniture in front of them isn't a fire hazard.

Yeah, sorta. ;-)

If you don't have 240V appliances why bother? If you do, match their plug.

[DerbyDad03]

re: "No point in getting the license before my parents would let me take the car out alone."

Unless you had a job that paid more if you had a license.

I worked for a corner drug store in Queens, NYC that delivered prescriptions. When I was too young to drive (legally) I delivered them on my bicycle and got 25 cents a delivery, plus tips. The guys who could drive were making much more money because they could delivery many more prescriptions during their shifts. They could also go farther - into the better neighborhoods - which usually meant higher tips.

The drug store always had a leased car for deliveries and the older guys taught me how to drive long before I was legal.

"What's that smell?" "Uh, that would be the clutch. Good thing it's leased!"

As soon as I was able, I took my road test and started making the big bucks!

Someday I'll tell you the story of a leased car too trashed to be returned, a gallon of gas, a burning broom thrown like a spear and a small cliff.

[Cindy Hamilton]

... excessive snippage, probably ...

Actually, the drafts are a plus in my house. Say we have cabbage for dinner. With hydronic heat, I'd have to sit in my husband's "contrail" all evening. With forced air, I have some hope that it'll dissipate.

All joking aside, I've been wondering for quite a while if the air in a radiant-heat house gets stagnant. Since it's comparatively rare here in Michigan, I've no one local to ask.

Cindy Hamilton

[Stormin Mormon]

I'm getting the idea that you had more fun than I, when you were a kid. Burning up the lease car does sound like a bad decision, though.

[Stormin Mormon]

I'm sure it does. Of course, the more chemicals you put into the air, the more you breathe. Fingernail polish, smoking, various cooking, etc. It is often needed, to open windows, even in winter.

Few hot air systems I've seen have any kind of fresh air intake, so these houses suffer much the same.

[aemeijers]

It takes all kinds- driving a desk for a living, I consider it a good day when I get to break out the not-worth-stealing tools I keep under the desk there. Had a very happy couple of hours today blacksmithing some overpriced data center furniture y'all paid for about ten years ago, for the sole purpose of making it pretty enough that some other agency will say they want it. If I have to send it out the door via normal means, it'll likely end up in a landfill. Very therapeutic, using Harbor Freight BFH and large screwdriver and faux vicegrips, to try and bend all the slot-a/tab-b stuff enough to actually mate again. Coulda used the 3-lb engineer hammer from home- rubber mallet doesn't flatten metal very well.

[keith]

...or spread.

Yes, houses can be sealed too tightly. "Contrails" aren't the worst possible problem. At least there is warning of the danger. ;-)

[krw]

200A service with gas heat isn't at all uncommon here.

[krw]

If I wasn't allowed to drive alone, it didn't much matter if I had a job or not. It was only a little over a month after my 16th birthday that my mother decided I was ready.

[krw]

I see you're still full of shit today, harry.

[gfretwell]

You are typing on it.

[krw]

...and it is plugged into it, a couple of times.

[krw]

Yep, you're still as full of shit as ever, harry. No one here is surprised, though.

[krw]

Yeah. You don't need to give us any more evidence that you're full of shit, harry. You've done enough.

[krw]

No, your ass, harry. Figures, they can smell the shit from miles away.

[gfretwell]

The Americans got that 20 ton vacuum tube maintenance nightmare out of a big air conditioned room and into your pocket. (the microchip being the technology I was talking about).

If you want to go back 60 years, I would just go back 40 and point out who went to the moon.

[gfretwell]

Still pissed about how the revolution came out huh? Get over it. Without the Americans, you would be speaking German right now ... or Russian. If you noticed, the Soviets kept everything they took from the Germans

[Jules Richardson]

To be honest I'd rather it be simple so that I can maintain it myself, make new parts for it if I have to etc. - and keep it running pretty much forever, rather than "forcing" some factory to provide me with some new plastic-fantastic piece of junk.

cheers

Jules

[Jules Richardson]

I don't think it was ever air-conditioned - if I remember right, H-Block had four Colossi and F-Block had six, but they were in quite large rooms. It gets quite warm during summer in the room that the modern rebuild is in, but there's no aircon (although the false ceiling tiles can be moved out of the way to aid heat dissipation ;-)

They weren't that much of a maintenance nightmare due to the way they ran the valves (tubes) - and based on moving similar racks I'd probably put the weight at around 3 tons (not that 20 vs. 3 makes much of a difference!)

The history of computing is murky indeed, with lots of separate efforts around the same timeframe in different parts of the world, each contributing to the evolution. Inevitably one person or team gets credit for an invention, but rarely is that invention a sole product of the people who produced it. As for ICs, if I remember right the Germans, British and Americans all had a hand in it; again it was an evolutionary process. The first working one was American - but drew on theories, designs, experiences and prototypes of the Germans and Brits.

cheers

Jules

[Steve Daniels]

On Thu, 26 Aug 2010 05:57:16 -0400, against all advice, something compelled "Ed Pawlowski" , to say:

Don't you have to use both ends?