The Old Folks Home

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
Truck girl here too. Mine is a Dodge Cummins Dually..... one ton. Paid for. No Glow plugs. just a plain old died in the wool million mile engine. It just rolled over 300,000 thousand miles and it gets between 20-22 Miles per gallon. And its a STICK.... five gears forward.... Too much torque for first so I have to start from a stop in second gear.

I had the Injectors done when i first bought it The dudes that owned it before worked the crap out of it and turned it in at 185,000 miles.... Pththth.... just broke in. My guess is they were hauling boats between California and Arizona. It started leaking oil and instead of fixing the seals they Glued the oil pan on with RTV.... (silicone sealer) That cost me more to fix than the injectors...

But its paid for and I put probably a thousand a year in small repairs on it.... WAY cheaper than a new car.

Now if they ever come out with a diesel electric vehicle I will be on it like a duck on a bug.

deb

 

[hennible]

Truck girl here too.  Mine is a Dodge Cummins Dually.....  one ton.  Paid for.  No Glow plugs.  just a plain old died in the wool million mile engine.  It just rolled over 300,000 thousand miles and it gets between 20-22 Miles per gallon.  And its a STICK.... five gears forward....  Too much torque for first so I have to start from a stop in second gear. 

I had the Injectors done when i first bought it The dudes that owned it before worked the crap out of it and turned it in at 185,000 miles....  Pththth.... just broke in.  My guess is they were hauling boats between California and Arizona.  It started leaking oil and instead of fixing the seals they Glued the oil pan on with RTV....  (silicone sealer)  That cost me more to fix than the injectors...

But its paid for and I put probably a thousand a year in small repairs on it....  WAY cheaper than a new car.

Now if they ever come out with a diesel electric vehicle I will be on it like a duck on a bug.

deb

Sounds like a nice truck! Cummins sound so good....
I have an itty bitty Dakota but she halls manure etc for me.
I would sure like a diesel those babies don't quit, and here they fire up reliably in the cold.
One day an electric/diesel would be nice, so long as I could find one cheap!

 

[drumstick diva]

dsgard, I'm pretty odd myself - I know I would fit in. I even have the heavy eye lids, sometimes I look like a bloodhound, a very attractive one.

 

[getaclue]

I'm not sure that I want a hybrid anyway, at least the ones that use electric. I've been reading up on them, and ultimately they have a higher carbon footprint, and cost way more in fuel. Not the vehicle itself, but the emissions from producing the electric from fossil fuel, to power the hybrids, is worse that the emissions from the vehicle using normal unleaded fuel, with working catalytic converter, etc. The cost of the electricity needed to power the hybrids translates to a higher cost, mile per mile, than gasoline.

Here is something else that is very hypocritical regarding carbon footprint, and fossil fuel reduction. In Florida, it is totally illegal to go off grid for home electric. They just arrested 24 people in a community that was specifically built to rely totally on solar power, with generator back up if ever needed. This is not a community of crackheads that can't afford to pay their electric bill. This is what one of our governors did to help the energy companies here.

 

[ronott1]

I'm not sure that I want a hybrid anyway, at least the ones that use electric. I've been reading up on them, and ultimately they have a higher carbon footprint, and cost way more in fuel. Not the vehicle itself, but the emissions from producing the electric from fossil fuel, to power the hybrids, is worse that the emissions from the vehicle using normal unleaded fuel, with working catalytic converter, etc. The cost of the electricity needed to power the hybrids translates to a higher cost, mile per mile, than gasoline.

Here is something else that is very hypocritical regarding carbon footprint, and fossil fuel reduction. In Florida, it is totally illegal to go off grid for home electric. They just arrested 24 people in a community that was specifically built to rely totally on solar power, with generator back up if ever needed. This is not a community of crackheads that can't afford to pay their electric bill. This is what one of our governors did to help the energy companies here.

Weird stuff.

The US is moving away from coal. Coal plants have been and are being decommissioned at a high rate now because of the lower cost of natural gas.

The biggest thing that makes hybrids bad for the environment is the making and recycling of the battery.

 

[dsqard]

dsgard, I'm pretty odd myself - I know I would fit in. I even have the heavy eye lids, sometimes I look like a bloodhound, a very attractive one.

Diva you would definitely fit in, just thinking that Randy might be more interested in Shannon

 

[hennible]

I'm not sure that I want a hybrid anyway, at least the ones that use electric.  I've been reading up on them, and ultimately they have a higher carbon footprint, and cost way more in fuel.  Not the vehicle itself, but the emissions from producing the electric from fossil fuel, to power the hybrids, is worse that the emissions from the vehicle using normal unleaded fuel, with working catalytic converter, etc.  The cost of the electricity needed to power the hybrids translates to a higher cost, mile per mile, than gasoline.

Here is something else that is very hypocritical regarding carbon footprint, and fossil fuel reduction.  In Florida, it is totally illegal to go off grid for home electric.  They just arrested 24 people in a community that was specifically built to rely totally on solar power, with generator back up if ever needed.  This is not a community of crackheads that can't afford to pay their electric bill.  This is what one of our governors did to help the energy companies here.

That's terrible arrested for being off the grid. I think its illegal in the UK too. Lots of people here are off the grid, there just isn't power every where plan and simple. Hydro here is just that- hydro electric- all dams and water generated so not so bad in respect to carbon but still pricy.

 

[perchie.girl]

Those fuel cells in Hybrids are expensive to replace and it has to be done after so many hours of operation.

At home I hope to go off grid eventually.... But it will be with a variety of energy sources.... The two main ones are Solar and Wind. though rather than do battery back up I want the power company to pay me when I have extra.

The other sources for fuel are kine of a DIY necessary evil. For instance Methane is very easy to make from organic materials.... Horse poo, chicken poo... mix it up in a slurry and cap the tank off with a bladder for collection. It has to be stirred gently for the reaction to be its most efficient. Methane cannot be compressed and stored without some high tech gear.... But it can be a constant source for power either burned to generate energy or simply used straight as a cooking fuel.

With regard to heating the house..... I want to build a mass heat exchanger with a Rocket stove as the heat source. Talk about efficient. Because of the mass though I couldnt do it in my existing home without some major floor reinforcement or renovation.

fuel For the truck I am good with peanut oil or frenchfry oil. But I truely want to build a Diesel electric motor to run a personal vehicle to get around the house.

To give you an example of the efficency of diesel electric. Volkeswagon has a prototype that gets 260 miles per gallon. Because the engine is tuned to supreme efficiency and never varies therefore there is no clutch. It turns a generator that provides instant torque to the wheels.

Thats why trains can haul such huge loads for very very little fuel.

I also want to try my hand messing with a hit and miss engine too.

deb

 

[The Yakima Kid]

idk. I read that horse meat is pretty commonly eaten in alot of countries.

My paternal grandfather, whose ancestors were Bessarabian Germans, used to warn me against a wealthy hop rancher whose family was of French ancestry. "Those Frenchies eat horsemeat." One of the family was a rather good local veterinarian - and he was *never* called.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

x2

X3 on the good time had by all.

What was the venue? Very nice.