Warm here today

[FrankenMech]

Kansas is one of the places that will become IS uninhabitable.
www.cnn.com/2024/07/29/climate/heat-survivability-health-death-intl/index.html
98° | 78° <Forecast high and low
88 °F <present temperature
like 98° <heat index, or maybe wet bulb temperature right now at ~noon. I expect it to go over 100°F today.
The temps are supposed to go down Wednesday after being in the high 90's the next few days but it will still be in the low 90's with horrible humidity. The humidity stays at night. I went a year without air conditioning back in 2016 and slept with frozen 2L bottles of water around me. I didn't think I would make it. I just paid my $178 electric bill for the month which is 12.3% of my income. I worked for a miserly old bastard that would not air condition the assy shop. People walked around dripping wet and productivity was in the toilet but nobody dared mention air conditioning to the old bastard in the corner office that was well air conditioned. I think he was the worst in-human being I ever worked for, just plain evil. He ran off with all the employee retirement accounts also.

[FrankenMech]

AC compressor keeps cutting out. Electric co may be playing silly with the power. The compressor makes a lot of noise at times also, -a vibration type noise. When it cuts out suddenly it won't start back up for ~10 minutes. I have tried to check all my electrical connections for hot spots.

[jackrides]

Might have a restart delay timer. (you knew that) Prolonged low voltage might cause strange sounds and vibrations. Does your digital meter have a Max or Min voltage setting? Set to Min, attach it and check it after you hear th problem. Good Luck!

[FrankenMech]

I do have a delay built into the thermostat and also one in the compressor control circuit. That delay module has tripped a couple times. I will set up my meter on the main breaker and maybe another meter on the AC breaker also. The problem seems to hit around noon. I should also check the connections at the outside service disconnect. It has been too hot to go outside. Some of my meds make me extremely sensitive to heat so I have been staying indoors. Strangely enough my delay on make module in my refrigerator power circuit has not tripped. I should clean up my circuit diagram, scan it, and send it to you. I have an obnoxious alarm on that refrigerator outlet also:
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BQJ4BV6G

I do have one of those power analyzer meters also, a 20 year old version of a meter similar to this:
www.amazon.com/Electricity-Monitor-Electrical-Consumption-Voltage/dp/B0BR7Y5PYW
I think it has a min volt function and I could plug it into an outlet.

It is beginning to storm outside and should cool off for the next few days. Rain certainly will not help the humidity.

[FrankenMech]

It was a steam bath outside here today. The main breaker voltage stood OK at 245V which is lower than the 250V I normally have. Demand on the system has caused the line voltage to sag a little. I am lucky in that my 15KVA split-phase transformer is not shared by anyone but my house and a vacant house. The power company gets away with overloading equipment because most residential loads are transitory and their lines and transformers are in free air for cooling. That equipment will be hammered as our climate gets warmer. Thankfully LED lighting is in wide use which lowered demand just in time. Lighting used to be the major residential load, now it is AC...

I still need to check that outside AC service disconnect. Maybe it will be cool enough in the morning to check that and install an outside outlet with materials I have on hand. I need several more outside outlets. I only have one that I installed 40 years ago due to the original overcrowded 100A FPE main service panel. I replaced that with a new 200A main panel a number of years ago. It is still strange to have #6 AL triplex feeding #00 CU wires to the panel with that 15KVA shared service. It is interesting to see how loads have changed over the last 60+ years.

[jackrides]

One weird thing I found in my HVAC power (circut breaker connections). One screw connecting the unit feed to the breaker was loose, tripping the breaker. I doubt it unscrewed, but heat over time allowed the conductor to deform slightly making a loose connection. Tightening the connection cured it.

[FrankenMech]

Aug 2, 2024 14:03:37 GMT -5 jackrides said:

One weird thing I found in my HVAC power (circut breaker connections). One screw connecting the unit feed to the breaker was loose, tripping the breaker. I doubt it unscrewed, but heat over time allowed the conductor to deform slightly making a loose connection. Tightening the connection cured it.

Same thing happens to scoot connections... Electrical maintenance is a constant headache

The old aluminum building wire was a real problem. They call that deformation due to heat and time 'creep' which is appropriate.

I never did get out to check those connections this morning 'stuff' came up It is hell getting old, -don't do it.

[jackrides]

Unfortunately, I was able to restate the info from my last Dr visit info to him, just to be sure, "Just to summerize, I have old people shi*." All the bas**** did was smile.

[FrankenMech]

For the most part they can't do anything about it...
"Take two aspirin and call me in the morning" crap.
An Endocrinologist has helped me recently though.
My last A1c was 7.5 which was good for me. I like to see it down in the 7.0-7.5 range. He has me on Ozempic and cut out all that insulin crap that didn't work anyway.
None of my doctors understand what Metformin did to me.

It is still warm here. Will you get any rain and crap from that storm coming from down South?

[jackrides]

We will be on the reduced side of it. The longer over land (probable path) the weaker they get. Rain quantity can be very high up into PA, but Debbie looks smaller than that. Our biggest problem is if it goes just west of us cuse it then blows the Albemarle Sound on top of us. Six feet is not unusual for a hurricane force wind(that is above normal high water), with the all time record at 8 feet (2011). Groune level for many homes here is 5 feet, but almost all are on 8' above ground pilingsso the real risk is to vehicles that are not moved to high ground. Actually, inland areas get more hurricane damage than we do since our sttructures are built for it. Wind damage here is next to nothing. Would be a great building standard for tornado prone areas.

[FrankenMech]

Sustained winds like hurricanes are very different than tornado winds. Do you get any tornadoes around there? A tornado will explode a building due to air pressure difference, high pressure inside and low pressure outside. The wind can drive a piece of hay straw through a telephone pole. Flying debris can rip things and people apart. We get fairly strong winds here. We had 80mph sustained winds here a week ago. The strongest I have personally experienced were 120mph. The don't last for more than an hour though, unlike a hurricane.

Softball sized hail will really ruin a vehicle and some structures. I was eating in a Pizza-Hut years ago when it was hit with 6" hail. 3/4" hail really hurts when it hits you. My house and van was hit with 1.5" hail this year.

Temps hit 99°F here today, 106°F with humidity. Only supposed to be 83°F tomorrow.

[jackrides]

We had one, actually a waterspout, just 2 days ago. Started over the ocean, came to shore and cleared loose stuff off the shore and mildly damaged a fishing pier. No Other damage. Maybe one every 10-20 years. An F1 went thru a developed neighborhood in Duck (town) about 15 years ago. Average damage $10K per house with the worst at $50k. Typical house structure value $200-$250k at that time. Our buildings. are built to handle wind.

[FrankenMech]

An F1 isn't much to worry about as far as extensive damage. They say tornadoes are getting stronger with climate change. Tornado alley seems to be shifting also. I am just wondering what will happen here in the KC metro if New Madrid opens up. Buildings here are not built for quakes. They do OK in wind but trees kind of fall over and cause damage.

I got lucky when a micro-burst knocked down all my trees a few years ago Most of the trees blew away from the house but one tree had all it's branches stripped off and those were all piled on the roof. A few shingles needed replaced and a roof vent was smashed. Power was out for about 12 hours for thousands of people when one of my trees stripped the power lines off three poles. It took the electric co a lot of work to clear the tree and get the lines back up. It cost me about $3k in damages for the roof and tree cleanup, but a lot of food was spoiled for many people and some stores. They call it an 'act of God' and just let insurance cover it and fix the damage.

I saw a waterspout while out fishing on a lake in Minnesota, that was only about a half mile away and just dissipated when it hit land. I am not sure what it would have done to our launch but I imagine the captain would have tried to avoid it.

[FrankenMech]

Found the AC problem. The high pressure safety switch was going intermittent and finally failed. My AC service guy confirmed the fault and bypassed the switch. The switch is brazed into the line which would necessitate major service. Bypassing the switch should not cause major problems. The switch is optional in many systems according to the service data. The AC is working now. A high pressure situation will cause the compressor to overload and shut down but should not cause damage.

I see the Carolina's are getting hammered by the storms. It has cooled off here but the heat normally runs clear through August and September. Kansas SUCKS! My house insulation sucks. The west wall insulation sucks. I need new siding also so maybe I can get some relief with new siding. More money, owning a house always means more money.

[FrankenMech]

Warm here again today:
100 °F
like 115°

I need groceries and prescriptions but I have no desire to go outside.
Electric bill is $162.

Supposed to be warmer hotter tomorrow.

Seems a waterspout sank an 'unsinkable' sailboat.

Where have we heard that 'unsinkable' crap before.

Anything that man builds can be wiped out by mother nature in the blink of an eye.

Kansass Sucks...