I just encountered a strange thing when scheduling an LTL shipment online. An unrelated density calculator had given a result of 20.3 pounds per cubic foot. When I initially entered the data into the shipping system, it gave the same result but then later it changed to 7.69. Apparently it was the delayed result of my checking the non-stackable box. After talking with the broker, I found out the LTL industry has decided to consider anything non-stackable as 96 inches tall so no matter what you put in for height, they replace it with 96 inches. These means something you had been getting shipped as class 60 may now be rerated to class 250 or worse. This would dramatically increase the cost of shipping.
I don't have a viable image but there have been sightings by my associates of a large bobcat around the property. Mostly close to our office building about 40 feet up the hill. I have seen its tracks around a larger area of the buildings.This has been over the last 10 days or so. Hope to get an image to add to this at some point. He has been described as not very afraid and more inclined to just move a little further away and watch rather than bounding off.
It may not be all that pretty, but we have been functionally able to repair heat exchanger coils from air handlers where water got in them and they froze, resulting in loss of liquid integrity. There typically is a slight loss of efficiency do to a reduction in number of tubes or loss of fin area. However, the degree of loss is generally insignificant and it is cheaper/faster than getting a new replacement coil that exactly fits the space.
We pickup up some unusual looking structures. Turns out they are training wheels for teaching extreme driving. They are specific for Ford 1 ton vans and Marmon Tractor Trailer Semi Trucks. They hydraulic reduce the weight on the tires as well as providing outrigger support so that these large vehicles can slide at low speed on dry pavement surfaces. This allows safely teaching extreme driving techniques for slipper conditions such as icy surfaces and extreme maneuvers at high speeds. They can be adapted to other vehicles.
We recently picked up a 200KW Genset. Got new batteries in it and fired it up yesterday. It runs nice. Not very many hours on it. Missing a few indicator lights but otherwise seems flawless. This unit can be paralleled with other like gen-sets for more total power. Internal fuel tank is supposed to be good for 24 hours of operation.
We picked up 3 unusual items recently. They are Grid Connected Fuel Cell Generators that can also supply heating. They are rated at 5 Kilo Watts. They use natural gas for the hydrogen source. We don't yet know anything in detail about them.
We got a wind generator direct from China that is rated 3KW in a 28 mph wind. It arrived OK in about 2 weeks from ordering. Unfortunately, the packaged included two matched blades and one not matched. This means that the mounting hole for one of the blades had to be enlarged to get it to mount and then we were not able to get the tips to position evenly or balance. The result is that the tail vibrates vigorously once the wind gets to about 20 mph. The supplier indicated they would send replacement blades but they have not done that to date. The tail flops around (back and forth in its slot) causing the blades to frequently not fully face the wind. We assume this moving tail is supposed to turn the blades away from the wind when the wind exceeds 55 mph but we have yet to see that happen. We also have yet to record data at 28 mph or more so we don't know if it actually produces what was advertised. Very initial manual readings at relatively lower wind speed indicated that this 3 blade wind generator will come closer to performing as advertised than the 1500 watt 11 blade unit we first put up. The 11 blades look impressive but in fact the actual RPM is much lower for a given wind speed than the 3 blade turns.
After a relatively short time up, and surviving some really strong wind, a gust recorded around 55 mph collapsed the 4" tube of the mast holding the generator up. The spinning blades encountered guy-wires or structure on the way down and messed up the blades. New blades were ordered and arrived from China but there never was time to get it back up in the air. Maybe this winter.
After a relatively short time up, and surviving some really strong wind, a gust recorded around 55 mph collapsed the 4" tube of the mast holding the generator up. The spinning blades encountered guy-wires or structure on the way down and messed up the blades. New blades were ordered and arrived from China but there never was time to get it back up in the air. Maybe this winter.
A lot has gone on with no time to talk about it. We have reworked out wind generator data logging setup but have not had the wind to generate good data yet. We have a new 3KW rated windmill up now. More info/images should show up shortly. The weather has definitely turned spring like showing 77 degrees this afternoon.
Last week our experimental wind generator setup survived a recorded peak gust of 75 miles per hour. This was from the anemometer on top the roof, not up by the wind turbine as the higher anemometer had been blown off and destroyed earlier (since replaced). Other things around the place did not fare so well--a power line and tents we had covering some late move items.
We did start recording some volt and amp data last Saturday. We have been recording wind data for a couple weeks but that is not directly correlated becuase the wireless wind sensing data is considerably delayed from real time. We just got in some wired anemometers that should allow us to collect real time correlated wind speed later this week. The goal is to be able to create wind versus power curves for different loads.
We continue to sort and organize both inside and outside inventory as we try to recover from the massive move we made last year.
At 9:42 this morning, we are seeing sustained wind of 20 and peak to nearly 40. Its expected to increase through the day to as high as 70.
We did start recording some volt and amp data last Saturday. We have been recording wind data for a couple weeks but that is not directly correlated becuase the wireless wind sensing data is considerably delayed from real time. We just got in some wired anemometers that should allow us to collect real time correlated wind speed later this week. The goal is to be able to create wind versus power curves for different loads.
We continue to sort and organize both inside and outside inventory as we try to recover from the massive move we made last year.
At 9:42 this morning, we are seeing sustained wind of 20 and peak to nearly 40. Its expected to increase through the day to as high as 70.
