PennSilverTaco's "Perfect 5-Lug Regular Cab" Build, Aspergers, and General BS MegaThread!

Shaker , where u from ? I was up around Columbus last weekend.

 

About 100 or so miles South of Columbus.

 

I was at Pataskala.

 

Hopefully you had a pleasant trip!

 

Yes it was. Beautiful weather on Sunday, dropped the wife off at a baby shower then hung with family and there friends , hustled a little electric work for them then pizza . Then headed back around 4. About 2.5 hr drive one way. Took the acura. 23 mpg. Was a little heavy on the foot on way home lol.

 

Sounds like a productive trip, you can scoot along pretty good on Route 70.

 

I had a SYMMETRY! moment yesterday...

 

My electricity didn't survive this week's windstorm, fired up the generator around 6pm. Electric company said expected repairs should be completed somewhere around 6am tomorrow.

 

And I hit 167K while I was driving out to Coatesville with Amanda to see her mom, and missed the moment...

 

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So, Amanda and Emily moved into the new apartment yesterday and Amanda discovered that there was no hot water when she tried to take a shower. The apartments are probably 40-50 years old but fully renovated. Amanda skipped her shower and we went out. We came back later that night and I did some investigating. The apartment has a tiny 46-gallon electric water heater in the bedroom closet, where the circuit breaker is also located. I looked for some sort of valve but couldn't find one, and just for grins, I switched off the breaker switch for the water heater and rapidly turned it back on. There was hot water immediately and both my girlfriend and her roommate got warm showers.

 

U saved the day !

 

The apartment actually has central air as well, which for what the rent is, I was shocked about. The apartment has an electric water heater as stated above, an electric stove, and an electric dryer (yes, it has the washer and dryer in-unit); I could tell just by looking at the indoor unit that it was an air handler and not a gas furnace. I assumed it was a heat pump, and it was warm enough yesterday that we turned on the A/C.

Unfortunately, all of the A/C units are located on the roofs of the 2-story apartment buildings so I couldn't investigate and see if it was a heat pump or just a straight-cool A/C, but I assumed it was a heat pump. The girls got cold last night and turned on the heat; I determined that it was not a heat pump due to one fairly obvious detail...

When a heat pump is in COOL mode, it functions, just like a normal air-conditioner, and the low pressure line is cold and sweaty. In HEAT mode, the low pressure side is hot, as the refrigerant gets hot when the cycle is reversed. I fired up the unit in heat mode, and the low pressure line did not get hot, so I determined that it's just a straight-cool A/C with electric strip heat inside the air handler.

Basically, when it gets it into the 30s outside...



A heat pump is not ideal in Pennsylvania during the winter, but far more efficient than conventional electric heat. My best friend's apartment had central air, and electric baseboard heat that was separate from the A/C. Amanda and Emily's apartment has electric forced air heat, and it works, but like I said it will get expensive when it gets cold.

 

Start burning books LOL

 

Helen and her late husband Jim owned numerous rental properties, one of which was a 1-bedroom condo in a converted 1960s apartment complex. Somebody bought the whole complex and sold off each unit individually; Jim and Helen bought a few of these units for about fifty grand apiece back in the early 2000s and sold off the last one a few months before Jim's unexpected death.

These units all had central air and gas forced air heat; I am unsure of the water heater, but they had electric stoves because building code in that area prohibited the installation of gas stoves in multi-family dwellings.

 

Electric heat absolutely sucks. My best friend's apartment with central air and separate electric baseboard was so expensive to keep warm in the winter that he bought two fake fireplace heaters to use in lieu of the baseboard heat.

 

Yeah I would rather have some kind of forced air heat over baseboard heat.

 

Actually, baseboard is better than forced air in many ways if it's gas or oil...

 

When l had my apartment it had a heat/AC unit similar to a hotel room, one big unit under a large window. It was for the living room, dining room, and kitchen, the bedroom and bathroom had baseboard heat.

 

Does your house have an 80% or 90% efficient gas furnace?

 

46 gallon is tiny?
40 is the avg size here?