BamaBoy

My photo
Fuquay Varina, North Carolina, United States
A guy finding out if life really does begin at 50.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Never Assume

My refrigerator is 30 years old this month. It's a Kenmore that I got when I bought my first house all those years ago. It's served me well. In the 30 years I've replaced the thermostat, the fan motor, and the ice maker (twice). The ice maker started messing up 5 years ago and I decided not to fix the ice maker a third time. I've been thinking about replacing the fridge ever since. I remember why I chose that Kenmore model all those years ago. It had a light in the freezer which at the time was a 'high end' feature, and the yellow Energy sticker showed that it was one of the most efficient models at that time. I knew that today's refrigerators would be more energy efficient, but I 'assumed' not so efficient to make it worth replacing the old one. I figured I'd keep the old one until it broke, and I couldn't fix it myself. That changed when I helped someone move and was rewarded with an 18 month old refrigerator;  COOL! Before swapping them I decided to measure how much energy my old fridge used, then install the new to me fridge and measure and compare the two. I used my Kill-a-Watt to measure the energy (every home should have at least one Kill-a-watt).
Well I got a nice surprise. The new fridge uses half the energy as the old one!  As the chart shows the old fridge costs $110 a year to operate, and the new one only cost $55.

I used Google Drive (aka Docs) to create the spreadsheet and chart. If you mouse over the columns the fly over text will show you the exact amounts.

The spreadsheet shows the number of hours and the average (winter and summer) cost per Kilowatt for my utility. The Kill-a-Watt has a timer, and it accumulates the energy used.  So calculating the KW per hour is simple.
There are several reasons why the new fridge is less expensive to operate.
  1. The new fridge is smaller than the old one
  2. The new one does not have an ice maker
  3. There is no light in the freezer
None of those are the major reasons. I suspect the insulation and possibly the motors are smaller and more efficient. I have another device that monitors the kilowatt hours, time (duration), and on time. I'll hook it up and create a profile of energy usage, run time, and room temperature.

I know now that I should have replaced my fridge sooner since at $50+ per year saving, a $1500 refridgerator will pay for itself in 30 years, assuming it lasts that long.

Monday, May 21, 2012

Phoenix Fence Project


While at Wally's and Carol's I helped them install 50ft of fence. We installed 6 fence panels and a gate using 8 poles. We set the poles in concrete and used 4 anchors per post. It took about 15 hours spread over 3 mornings and some early afternoon work. Highs were 102-105 in Phoenix, so about noon or so we stopped.

The fence panels themselves were only about 1/3 of the total project cost. The posts, anchors, attachment hardware and various other items (masonry bits, concrete) accounted for 2/3s the project cost so beware. But all said and done the results looked good.

We got it straight and nice and plum. Carol was very pleased.  Click the picture above to view the pictures of the project.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Anything that has to do with dirt is hard work


Handy Brush Grubber
Off and on this spring I've been pulling privet (brush) from my yard.  I've pulled most of the little stuff using muscle along with a hand held 'Brush Grubber.'  Anything too big for me I used a 1 ton electric wench on my riding mower. Anything too big for that I used the GMC to pull.  Maryann is up and doing well now from her 2nd surgery, so she took pictures and created a blog A Natural Yard Where Ferns Flourish.  You'll see the GMC in action pulling up one of the larger stumps of privet.  The clumps get big when you cut them off at the ground each year for a few years.  I've learned that it's better to pull them up than to cut them off.  I still have one more spot that requires the use of the GMC on and I'll be done with the pulling for this spring.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Entertainment Boxes and Power Drain

I've read a couple articles about energy usage around the home. One article Atop TV Sets, Cable Boxes and DVRs Drain Power - NYTimes.com states that a DVR might use "... 446 kilowatt hours a year, about 10 percent more than a 21-cubic-foot energy-efficient refrigerator, a recent study found." Since I have Kill-a-Watt energy monitor I decided to see what my home entertainment setup used.

I have a UPS plugged into the wall outlet and I have the following devices plugged into the UPS:

  • DVR
  • Google TV
  • Wireless Router
  • DVD player
  • Wii
  • Digtial delay device
  • 46 inch LCD TV
  • Surround Sound
The Wii, DVR player, Digital Delay, and Surround Sound was not used during this sample. I only use the Wii when it's too hot to run, and the other items when I'm watching a DVD movie. So I would say the DVR, TV, and Google TV devices are my typical viewing set up.

Over 72 hours (3 days) my setup used 8.24Kwh or 2.75Kwh per day and just over 1000 Kwh per year. That's about $110 a year at 11 cents a Kwh. When 'off' 85 watts per hour (2Kwh per day) is used , and the 'on' usage is 142 watts per hour (3.4Kwh per day). Like the article says you don't save much when turning the devices off. 2.75Kwh - 2Kwh = 750 watts per day for me which is less than 9 cents a day to have them 'on' for just over 13 hour per day. 750 / (142 - 85) = 13.16

The NY Times article never actually stated what a typical household used. The study the NY Times linked to never said either, but there was a table that showed 617 Kwh per year. Based on what I am using I would say that 617 Kwh is conservative when you add in the TV and the internet access needed to stream video.

I think a Kill-a-Watt device is well worth the $30 since it gives your real time and accumulated watts (watt hours) and the amount of time it has been measuring which is all you need to understand the energy usage. Kill-a-Watt are available online and home improvement stores.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Bummed about some Google Decisions

It's no secret that I'm a fan of Google. I'm sitting here watching a Google TV as I type this post into Google Blogger as I wait for my Google ChromeBook to arrive. I use Google Docs for my spreadsheets and other office documents, and Google Picasa to share my pictures. I can see by looking at my Google Chrome browser that I have no new notices on Google+. Google PowerMeter tells me I've used 13.4kw of electricity today which is a little under the usage for this same time last week. And Google Health tells me my A1C is trending downward (which is a good thing).


PowerMeter? Health? Never heard of them? Exactly, which is a shame since most people care about their health and the energy they use. Google in a blog release said they “didn’t catch on”, so both projects are being sunset. Both failed for more or less the same reason - no easy access to data. Power companies weren't interested in making the data from the electronic meters available to their customers. The electronic power meter was not installed for you to know your energy usage - it was installed for your power company to know, and for you just to get the bill. I had to buy a $200 device and install it in my breaker box, and the device and not the meter sends the data to Google. The device does allow me to also display the data on my PC. +1 for Big Business and secrecy, -1 for empowering each of us by making the information we need easily accessible.

Google Health on the other hand was free, but it required you to manually input your health data. Again all the data Google Health needs is locked up in your doctor or medical provider's office. Each health care provider is 'doing their own thing', and the only attribute they all have in common is they don't give you access to your data - Again you just get the bill.

Both PowerMeter and Health used my data and provide me information. A common 'data model' for my energy usage and medical data that allowed me to track and monitor - over a long timeframe in one place. Quick when was your last Tetanus/Diphteria (Td) shot? Mine was 12/9/2009. You better call your doctor. I used 59kw last Friday which is 10Kw above my average; Why? Oh right it was 102 on Friday.

Google was just ahead of it's time. Smart devices that monitor their energy usage and wireless send that to your energy computer (I have one) are still standalone and not built into the appliance/device. Bill and Hillary Clinton attempted to streamline medical records and failed, so it's no surprise that Google failed too. Doctors and Insurance companies have no interest in standards. They prefer À la carte solutions, after all we are all individuals right?

The loss of these 2 applications will have an impact on me and my desire to rid myself of Windows once and for all, and use Chromebook and the cloud to keep and access my data. I'm different than most people. I'm less interested in the cloud as an entertainment supplier, and more interested in the cloud as a place where I live my electronic life - medical, banking, government, and yes, purchase goods and services - which is what Google's new CEO said is their core business - ads. Bummer that changing the world by innovating ways for us all to easily access information is now less important.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

1996 Hawaii Bicycle Adventure

This weekend I helped a friend setup a few year old desktop computer. You remember desktops right? Those big boxes with diskette and CD-DVD drives? I cabled it up and it booted. Sweet. I installed a current Anti Virus and ran Windows Update. Several Service Packs later we were done. Then I noticed it had 6 ~ 40 gig partitions scattered across 2 hard drives. Yuck - got to redo that. I called it a day and went home. I returned today with my partition tool and some 3.5 diskettes with pictures on them. I consolidated one HD into one big C: partition. then using this 'Old School' desktop computer copied the pictures disks to a USB thumb drive. The pictures are of a month long bike trip to Hawaii. Seeing, riding, pedaling, and camping on Maui, the Big Island (Hawaii), and Molokai. This Hawaii trip was the first time I opted for the then 'new' service of pictures on disk.

Since I spent about a week of the month trip at my brother JB's place on Maui, I decided 3 rolls of 24 exposure film would be MORE than enough. Roll a week or 3-4 pictures a day - in Hawaii. Sounds about right.

I dropped the rolls of film in the mail as I exposed them, and the prints and diskettes with the pictures were waiting for me when I got home. Back in 1996 I viewed the pictures once or twice on the diskettes, but since I had prints there was no need to mess with the disks. I put the disks in the dresser, and now years later I have no diskette drive to read them. UNTIL today! Quick... How many 3.5 inch floppy disks will a 4 gig thumb drive hold?

Times up... 2844. That's about a 31 ft high stack of them. Hope you enjoy the pictures and remembrances of that trip. Click the picture and be sure to read the captions and leave comments!
Hawaii Bicycle Trip 1996

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Merry Month of May

This last May was really different for me. I've lived by myself for over 20 years. I've visited and have hosted visitors over the years, but since Gale is now retired she came and spent the month of May with me. Somehow she avoided "Work'n my nerve" on her visit. You can check out the pictures.
Work'n My Nerve - NOT!
We took day trips and on those we pigged out on North Carolina BBQ, visited civil war battleground, a car show, and even saw a Bulls game. I hope Gale had a good time on her visit, I know I did.