Conservation should not mean forever

[peristaltor]

Be it a gas crunch, a shortage of water or electricity, calls often beckon the masses to conserve. The callers fail to mention, conveniently often, when to stop conserving and just get on with the collective lives of society without worry or imposed guilt. That is, I believe, because policy makers in particular often hail from enclaves that feel

Comments

[mcfnord]

I'm pretty sure I put some low-power bulbs in your house. Are they still there?

If it's yellow, let it mellow.

I'm futzing with my water pump, under $50. It's inexpensive and quiet, but tests so far have been mixed. I think I have to get the water input just right. Garden hoses seem to work fine, and I paid just ten dollars for the threading converters, which is reassuring.

I've noticed laundry has become a sort of daily small task. I've got a bucket of wet clothes here and items on the line there, all needing minor tending. The tasks are tiny, but spread over time, so it sorta implies someone is home which itself is a revolutionary thought. Compared to the laundromat ritual, am I better off? I'm not hauling the clothes around in the car, and don't mind the little tasks. It's totally like Better Off, where I'm the tool-user vs. trusting the machines. I do feel my clothes are sufficiently clean and notice no other ill effects. Certainly I spend less coins, though they never were much to begin with. It's not clear if I use less water, but the pump will let me re-use bath water, which should imply less water use.

[peristaltor]

A few of your bulbs are still here. They don't last forever. A rule of thumb: if it's a bulb you turn on and leave on, CF. If it's a once in a while light, like in an entry or seldom-used room, incadescent. The CFs don't like on-off all day. Shortens their life dramatically.

Lately, our shower has been dripping. I put a bucket under the spout to catch the drips, and fill the toilet tank after flushing. The alternative would be to gut the shower and rip out the old fixtures. Buckets are cheap.

I'll have to look at your water pump. I have a rain barrel in the shed I intend to use to catch toilet flush water from the downspouts, and need a way to pressurize it for the WC. I also, after I finish re-siding the garage side of the house, need to build my cross-flow heat exchanger for the drier. It will preheat the inflow air to the drier and, in the process, condense the vapor from the exhaust . . . if it works as I think it might. Best of all, it should work really well in the winter, improving drier efficiency.

Y'know, for a while now I've toyed with the idea of starting a community called Home Effinomics, short for Home Efficiency Economics, or Effin around at Home. It's based on a philosophy of minor changes to household tasks that maximize the return on improvement investment. Essentially, it would examine the rewards and penalties of tinkering with things like your bath/washwater reuseal and my crossflow exchanger and solar heater design.

Whatya think? I'll toy with a manifesto after I finish my chores.

[mcfnord]

dripping sounds drive me crazy.

the pump is getting a C grade. it's really tempermental about priming. get an air pocket in it, and no more pump. i'm not sure if it will work to circulate. but it should work to drain. in your rainwater scenario, you'd have to make sure the pump doesn't run dry, so you might need one of these. But that's not all; turning off the pump is one thing. Turning on the municipal source is another. I still don't have a good solution for this.

The Thor integrated washer/dryer device doesn't have an air out, just a water out. It's cooling the dryer outflow and draining the condensation.

That would be a good community. It could start with these very tribulations.

[peristaltor]

Then perhaps the community shall be created!

And so. . .

[peristaltor]

It has begun.