craig howard

My 2000 Jetta TDI was getting over 54MPG going 65mph with no AC,
before I sold it.
It had a mild tune and it would spin the tires unintentionally.
That's the nice thing about a turbo diesel. It can get great fuel mileage but when you need the power it's there.
Gas engines that get high smileage, often have low power.

I wonder how well waterglass would work.
You would have to heat the panel to over 200F to get the waterglass to turn to glass.
I bet that could be done with a solar box.
But it might seep into the cracks, especially if you could put it under a vacuum to pull air out then release the vacuum to pull waterglass into the cracks.

Or the stuff that fixes windshield cracks is UV set but might be expensive at a large scale like this.

Mine flattened the other day too.
I think the deer lay in it.
My neighbor caught them once.

And there is N-type. To consider.
I hear they are supposed to degrade less.
Which could be important if you buy used panels.
I'm not sure how it affects the original output.
There were some used REC N-types on craigslist.
They didn't last long.
I've seen a few people on craigslist selling their old 12 volt setups.
I assume they are moving up to 48 volts equipment.

I give garden tours pretty often.  I grow extra and usually grab a bag before the tour.

I gave another tour this morning.
Wow you have mullein?
I didn't plant it.
So he was excited to get one of those in a pot.
Also went home with a Bob Gorden elderberry that I potted last year but didn't have a spot for.
He brought me a couple dozen eggs from his chickens.

I kinda laugh when I take someone on a garden tour and they reach down and start pulling a few weeds.
Now that's a real gardener.
Doesn't happen very often.

I heat and cook with wood so have a bunch of ash to deal with.
Last winter it was getting dumped near the railroad tracks to keep weeds from growing in the rocks where I can't mow.
If there are no weeds, they lift the sprayer arms and go right past without spraying.

In years past it got thrown in an evergrowing pile.
This year that pile is getting put on garden paths.
I pulled the weeds and grasses in the paths, dug it down and put the soil on the nearest garden beds,
then piled about 3" of ash, which was covered by about 4 more inches of wood chips.
Plan is to stop using carboard to reduce weeds in the paths.

I have used it to keep the ice in front of the house from being so slippery and noticed it killed the grass come spring.
So maybe it can be used to kill weeds by the tracks and in my garden paths.

Most items in a house can be run with 12 volt batteries.
But the large loads like water heater or welder would work better with 48 volt batteries and inverters.
It might be a good idea to have both a 12 and 48 volt setup.
I think the idle wattage is less on 12 volts. On some 48 volt 12Kwatt inverters the idle wattage can be 100 watts and hour.
But is commonly 50-60 watts on a 48 volt 6K inverter, which is all I'd need.

I have one of those dual foot controlled sink valves. Thought it was for a hospital.
Not sure how I will use it, but I might need it some day, ha.

Another instance of a food service sink where you can't touch a shared handle:
If there's no water pressure; I have seen a 5 gallon bucket full of water, with an empty one on top.
A fuel primer bulb is plumbed into the bottom one, with some tubing
and you step on the primer bulb to get water to rise into the bucket on top, which is basically the sink.

Sometimes I see very dark maple syrup.
I've tasted some like that and it was nice.
How do they get it so dark?