Home Improvement

mkopec said:

Yeah usually faulty small motors can 99% be blamed on bad gas that's been sitting too long. IF you do reg maintenance of course. You can really tell in equipment you just use a few times a season, or shit like a snow blower which only gets use 2-3 months a year.

All modern gas has some alcohol in it which attracts moisture over time. Some even leave a greenish sludge like residue if left too long. And most gas if left too long will simply turn to varnish over time. In fact one of my rich neighbors up north MI cabin has special gas delivered to him for all his snowmobiles and golf carts, side by sides etc which has no additives in it. He has a literal gas pump set up by his garage lol.

Best thing to do is to get an inline valve for gas shutoff and burn away all the gas left in line and float, or use a gas additive meant for long storage.

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It's ethanol. It is the bane of cheap rubber and plastic anything involving fuel lines. You can add fuel stabilizer which adds 6 months of life to gas, but you better use it pretty quickly after that.

The green sludge is brass carb fittings reacting with aluminum in the presence of ethanol. It plugs up ALL the holes pretty well. All of the replaceable stuff in a carb is brass.

Your "rich" neighbors are getting farm fuel which has everything in it that pumps gas has except...ethanol and tax. It usually has a dye added to it. It is cheaper than normal gas because it has no ethanol subsidy attached to it and the previously mentioned road vehicle tax. The dye is added so people won't run it in their highway trucks.

Modern pump gas has a lot of really weird shit in it to counteract ethanol destruction of fuel delivery and storage systems. It is NOT pleasant stuff to smell, it reduces the MPG of an engine by a measurable amount...as well as power.

They tried to cloak it as a green initiative, but really, it is a massive subsidy to the inbreds who grow corn for a living. Corn sugar that has turned our nation's children into breathless, waddling diabetics who need bypass surgery before they are 20.

The same corn that gets turned into ethanol in a shockingly destructive manner to the environment so our cars can produce less power, get less MPG and be lots worse for the environment in the process.


I, for one, can't wait for more progress of this nature!

Lanx said:

any have any experience with encapsulating a crawl space?

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I had to have mine sealed and vented due to radon. It was expensive (~$3k in 2007) but I didn't have to think about it afterwards.

Lanx said:

i played around w/ new ryobi at home depot. i'm very leery about electric, i had a corded one that worked well enough until it got stuck after a week of downpour (tall grass) and i had to buy a gas mower that day.

i have almost all ryobi stuff and this weekend i saw how just having one battery can fail you i was using my 40v to hedge the bush then do some edging and it died (apparently hedging uses tons of power), so yea it wasn't bad i just decided to mow while the battery charged (i like to edge first), but def need 2 batteries no matter which brand you get.

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I bought Ryobi Cordless mower last month. Falstaff

I have been impressed with my Ryobi drill and air compressor so settled for the lawn mower when my #1 chouce (Sthil) could not be sourced for 3 more months.

I am impressed and can do my 0.54 acre yard and it still says 50% charge. Its not acurate as i can only do my yard 1.5 times in a single charge, but that is better then the claimed 0.5 acres per charge. - I do have a pool and a gravel portion which reduces my lawn size but still i am impressed with it. Also has a very fast charge that shuts off automatically.

Lanx said:

did you get the newest cross cut or single blade?

when you say air compressor, do you mean this wimpy 1gallon air compressor?

not even making fun, cuz i have the same one and i use it for blowing out my sprinklers and air inflator for tires

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NO, But I wish I had! I want that (for my sprinklers now) is it any good?


is what i was refering to. $35 in Canada but has no battery, My drill battery worked of course. - i should not have called it a compressor
My dad got one and brought it over. It inflated my truck tire in a heart beat. I was impressed and got one the next day.




For the mower i got the single blade 7.5amp push, they did not have the cross cut in stock at my HD and i had already delayed my purchased a few months waiting on the Sthil that never showed up. Was sick of my corded black and decker i had used for 10 years. My lawn was a lot smaller when i purchased the cord model.

Hateyou said:

Well you need to know how much acreage you’re actually mowing to say their claim is wrong (even though it’s in their favor). I was on a half acre but my pool, patio, pool shed, and gravel took up 80% of my yard. It only took me 20 minutes to do front and back so I was probably only mowing .2 acre.

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Fair enough,
I was 34 min when i timed it and i had to chase the dog for some of that.

BrutulTM said:

Anyone have experience with mini-split air conditioners? My house doesn't have forced air ducts and I don't want to put them in but I would like something better than window AC units that plug up the windows all summer.

These MRCOOL DIY units seem to get good reviews and can be installed by the homeowner which is a big plus for me since I can't get contractors to come to my house without raping me. Any thoughts?

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Do it. You won't regret it. In one of the places I work everything is air conditioned with these. Everyone gets to set their own temperature, and they're quiet and efficient. Just be careful where you put the outdoor part. You don't want to sit and listen to it on your deck.

BrutulTM said:

Did you use the MRCOOL DIY model? My understanding is that it's intended to be installed yourself. The downside is that you can only have 25 foot runs to your room units because everything is pre-connected.

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That seems shitty. You should be able to run those a lot longer than 25 feet.