My old house from the early sixties has electric radiant heat in the ceilings as the sole heating source, a large sun room running the length of the house, and almost no insulation to speak of. I’m in Ohio.
Incidentally, when we moved in, the inside doors of the cabinetry were all wallpapered in newspaper clippings about the 1970s energy crisis. I can’t imagine why!
Maybe an unpopular opinion; but if you want a budget torque wrench (less than $100usd), get a beam style. I’ve personally used this one to assemble dozens of engines. I’ve got a $400 Snap-On digital that is great for torque to yield fasteners where you have to tighten to a specific degree. But if it’s just something like spark plugs, I’ll grab the beam torque wrench every time. I wouldn’t recommend the micrometer/click style for a novice. It’s too easy to get the setting off by a turn and unless you know what that amount of torque is supposed to fell like, you put your trust into listening for the click and end up causing much bigger problems for yourself.
Any questions, feel free to PM/DM. I’m having mechanic advice withdrawals after leaving reddit.
I’m a novice mechanic and I never had any issue with click torque wrenches.
Admittedly, I have a science degree and I have a great deal of experience with measurement equipment, vernier scales, etc. But I don’t think the setting on a click wrench is very challenging, even for a novice. Just watch a couple YT videos.
If you’re familiar with mic adjustments, you’re golden. The problem shows up when someone isn’t familiar and is operating at the low end of the adjustment range. You can accidentally end up below the threshold where it makes an audible click. If you don’t have a frame of reference what 30Nm should feel like, you don’t realize somethings wrong until you’ve cranked down way too hard. Beam wrenches are simpler (and quicker).
Thank you, I hadn’t considered that style. All the YouTube videos use the mechanical click type, but you’ve got me thinking that the simpler beam style might be better for my situation.
A beam style torque wrench will work if you can see the dial from straight ahead, ensuring there’s no parallax error in your sight. However, it won’t work so well if you can’t see the dial. If you’re working on replacing the spark plugs in an FRS for example, where they’re down low and against the chassis, a click-type torque wrench might be the only way to do it. Also, keep in mind that torque values change if the threads have any kind of lubrication on them such as grease or anti-seize.
In general, if you put any kind of lube on the threads, the torque spec should drop a bit because the lube makes it easier to spin the parts. Over-spinning the parts can stretch the threads to the point of damaging them. If you don’t compensate for the lube, you could end up over-torqueing things. For example, if wheel lug nuts should be torqued to 100 lb-ft dry, it may drop down to 90 lb-ft with anti-seize. As for spark plugs, I don’t know how much it should be reduced, if at all. It also depends on if the torque spec is already tuned for anti-seize. If the official procedure calls for anti-seize, then it’s probably ok to assume that the torque spec already compensates for it.
It depends how precise you need to be. If a 10-15% margin of error is acceptable*, then most of the budget brands (Presa, Titan, Neiko, ect) will be fine. If you need <5% margin of error, start looking at the major brands (snap-on, blue point, matco, mac, cornwell) that come with calibration certificates.
How many inch pounds you are working with will determine the size you need.
1-100in/lb - 1/4" torque wrench
100-1000in/lb - 3/8" torque wrench
1000+in/lb - We really should be using a different unit at this point, but 1/2" torque wrench.
*For most shadetree repairs 10-15% is more than sufficient.
Split beam torque wrenches are where it’s at, especially for home use where it’s going to sit for long periods of time. Split beam is easier to set, and you don’t have to leave it at 0 when not in use. I have ruined many traditional clickers because I forgot to set it back to 0 for storage, then it sits like that for months.
They aren’t as cheap as a traditional clicker, but they are so much better.
(Not to be one of those people who comments but doesn’t offer help, if it were me I’d replace the entire base. One possible suggestion - find a different base second hand and adapt it to fit the chair. There is no karmic rule that says the base has to be the same brand as the chair, or even match it. It all depends on how the existing chair attaches. You might even take the modifications to an extreme).
Dowels glued in place will almost certainly be stronger than the bolts. However, depending on whether you care how pretty or ugly it is, it might be worthwhile to get 2-3 large hose clamps to wrap around the joined pieces, and cinch them up tight. That should provide support around the wood to minimize the chance of the wood trying to split out in the same direction as before.
Note that it might help to show a picture of how things are supposed to go together? I originally thought these were two separate pieces which mated together (which is why I suggested gluing dowels through “both” pieces), but I just realized that it is actually two separate shots of the same piece, so I’m not quite sure what this is supposed to be attached to.
Wood glue and dowels has already helped a lot, but I think using a new piece of wood as a splint would be great (I used that method to fix a very similar situation with our picnic table, and it’s still holding up many years later). Just make sure to attach it with wood screws, and drill pilot holes first, to prevent any further damage.
This is the only room with the panelling in it’s natural state. The rest of it has been painted over before we bought the house.
There is also faux title paneling with a floral accent in the laundry. Textured paneling in one bathroom. And we had faux marble with gold veins in the master bath before I removed it.
Hobby stores and websites have melt and pour soap that you can melt in a mixing bowl, add fragrance and color, then pour it into a mold and let cool. The beauty bars you can often buy at the store (dove, irish spring, etc.) are made with detergents, and don’t often react well to trying to melt them, the stuff made to be melting has extra glycerin to help it melt down and harden without getting nasty.
Brambleberry is where I buy my soap supplies. They also have guides and youtube tutorials/Q&A vids. www.brambleberry.com
Making soap is fun! The easiest thing would be some melt and pour, and fragrance oils and a cheap bowl and loaf pan from Walmart or the dollar store.
Sounds similar to the concept of a swamp cooler to me; maybe look up how they calculate efficiency?
Also, swamp coolers are only effective below a certain temp, so you’d need to think about bypassing (cutting the fan and turning on air con) above a certain threshold
I think it is different from swamp coolers since swamp coolers constantly add moisture to the air in the room which is okay for arid conditions but does not work as the air increasingly becomes saturated with moisture. We use swamp coolers when we can in the initial part of the summers. But they become useless once the rains arrive and the air turns humid.
In the contraption I’m suggesting, does not expose water to the air inside the room. It will work purely on heat exchange principle.
I’ve read about a system where excess energy from solar panels is stored as energy in an underground reservoir.
I’ve tried finding an article, so to see if it included your heart pump idea. I think it may be feasible, but I’m not sure how efficient the system would be.
So I’m quite interested, but cannot be of more use, hope someone gives you more of an answer.
In one of the iterations of my idea, I thought of using solar energy to compress air and keep it stored in an underground tank. But it felt more hazardous and prone to failing. I’ll explore the link in the other reply to your comment and reconsider it. Thanks.
To be honest, that pressure storage is from the link the other guy came up with. The idea I’ve read about was about storing thermal energy in underground water, more akin to your original plan.
But I could not find the link to where I read about that, unfortunately.
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