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WEEK 25 2019 

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Saturday 22 June  2019
Saturday - Hot and windy.

I did a run on the generator, with propane.  First I pulled the spark plug and put a little bit of Marvel Mystery Oil in the cylinder and pulled it through about 10 times.  Then I added oil to the crankcase, reattached the spark plug wire, connected up the propane hose, and pulled the cord.  Nothing.

Then I switched it to "ON" and pulled again.  It started immediately.

I ran it for an hour, mid morning, and then turned it off.  It's louder than I thought, but it's a quiet neighborhood.

Tomorrow I'll change the oil and run it for another hour.

You are supposed to break it in with just standard 10w-30, 1hr (no load), 1hr(low load), 1hr(moderate load), and finally 5-10hrs with intermittent mixed no/low/mod/hi loads.  After that you should use a good synthetic like Mobil-1.  But not right away, because the synthetic is so slippery that it takes too long to break in the motor.

With standard oils you are also limited to about 95F, and we were approaching that by noon.  With synthetic there doesn't seem to be an ambient air temperature limit.

Friday 21 June 2019
Friday - Warm and windy.

I was able to put a second coat of primer on the garage wall earlier.  I actually missed a couple of spots, because it's so hard to see white on white.  It's an east wall, and I have to do the painting early while it's cool and the winds are low, so the sun is nearly perpendicular to it.

It's primed, but now my hands are just killing me. I haven't been able to do anything else around the house, or even type much.

Thursday 20 June 2019
Thursday - Warm.  Hot even.  And kind of windy.

When I came home from visiting the neighbors, about 9pm, the generator was sitting on porch. I was astounded.  Apparently I picked the wrong delivery option, and it was shipped overnight to my door, no charge.  And I was also a bit disturbed: I have no fence or foliage, it was completely exposed (no plain brown box or wrapper) and anyone could have walked off with it.  Literally: it only weights 47 pounds.

Ah well.  It's Antelope Acres, more coyotes than people. And there was no particular damage to the box, I'll have to check it out tomorrow.

Wednesday 19 June 2019
Wednesday - Warm.

I went ahead and ordered the Pulsar 2200 from Walmart.  I am kind of disgusted with stuff I'm hearing about Amazon these days, and thought I'd try another online option.  It should arrive in a week.  The trick to dealing with Walmart is apparently to do the "pick up at the store" option, which gives you a chance to view the item for damage before accepting it.  This is an inverter generator, and puts out 2200/1800w with gas, but only 2000/1600 with propane.  And you lose another 3% power for every 1000 feet, so I lose (in theory) another 8%, so 1840 starting watts and 1656 continuous duty. 

But it's the size of a suitcase, and if you don't put evil California gas in it, it should start at any time.

There are actually more powerful and cheaper, but heavier and less portable generators out there.

Tuesday 18 June  2019
Tuesday - Warm.

Started touching up the primed wall here and there.  It really needs a second coat.

The popsicles refroze, but they are a lot harder than they were.  A pity, because they are very refreshing after working out in the heat.

Monday 17 June 2019
Monday - Tax Day!  I drove into town and mailed a couple of small checks.

In the morning I found my freezer door just slightly opened.  I don't know if I didn't close it properly, or if Budd pushed it open - he likes to sit on top of the fridge sometimes.  I had to throw out a couple packs of meat, and my brand new popsicles melted.  Bah.

Time to get a generator.

Sunday 16 June 2019
Sunday - Warm again.


Did some shopping with S in the morning, picked up various things, it's been a while.  Borrowed her chopsaw for a project I have in mind.


I've been looking at small generators.  The new thing (to me) is an inverter-generator, which uses less fuel and is quieter.  I found a model, the Sportsman 2200dfi, which will run on propane or gas, for $425.  Unfortunately they aren't selling them in California because of some sort of issue with the California Air Resources Board.  But I watched a couple of YouTube video's of people trying that model, and it has a giant yellow CARB sticker on the side of the box it comes in, so apparently it's just a paperwork issue.

There are other models - the Honda EU2200i is the gold standard (reliability and noise), but it's also twice as much ($1009) and doesn't have a propane option.  You can buy a kit for $300, but that voids the warranty.  A company I found does an aftermarket dual fuel conversion and warranties the unit afterwards, but charges an extra $750, which brings the price up to about 3X the standard $500 or so that other people are selling dual fuel units for. 

If it was charging my pacemaker it'd be one thing, but it's just a convenience for me.  I do have friends with big freezers, and I've warned them that the PUC has essentially given the power companies in California a blanket waiver to turn off power whenever, but they don't seem motivated to get a backup power source.

Ah well.  They are probably right, mostly.




Picture of the Week

storm cell over the antelope valley
A storm cell over the Antelope Valley.

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