MrVilliam

joined 3 months ago
[–] MrVilliam@lemm.ee 14 points 1 day ago

Dude, you're gonna get disappeared for typing r@!nb0w5 out where children could conceivably read it, assuming they are allowed to learn how to read in the first place still.

[–] MrVilliam@lemm.ee 11 points 2 days ago

Ahead of its time, predicting the consequences of tariffs like that.

[–] MrVilliam@lemm.ee 46 points 5 days ago

And they're terrified of all the childless cat ladies opting to not produce their next generation of laborer/consumer brood to be said replacement. Hence the crackdown on abortions and contraception and people who pair up in ways that cannot yield children. You can't have the infinite growth that capitalism demands if the number of producers and consumers goes down.

[–] MrVilliam@lemm.ee 6 points 5 days ago

Combined cycle natural gas plant operator in the US here. Bridging the gap between low demand and high demand times is a big part of why it's so challenging to try to reduce fossil fuel power solutions. The grid is basically a pressurized pipeline, and it's only reliable if that pressure is maintained no matter how many "faucets" get opened or closed. Green energy solutions aren't really able to raise that "pressure" unless we build significantly more than we need and keep a bunch of them off most of the time until peak conditions demand them. Nuclear is extremely slow (relatively speaking) to (safely) alter output to meet demand, so its best usecase is for baseloading as much as possible. But with a natural gas plant, I can put my foot on the gas pedal, figuratively speaking. It's fucking terrible for the environment, but that's the cost of everybody insisting on consuming so much goddamn electricity all the time. If you don't like it, stop supporting power hogs like data centers by using AI bullshit and cloud storage and web hosting and media streaming.

This is a complicated problem, and complicated problems almost never have simple solutions. I wish we could minimize the problem of what happens when 100M+ EVs get plugged in at 7pm on a Tuesday by already having put together a strong public transportation infrastructure that people feel comfortable and safe using, but the time to start doing that was probably during the gas shortage in the 70s when we saw how overly reliant we were on cars. It's probably not too late to start, but it's gonna be a challenging transition now no matter what we do.

[–] MrVilliam@lemm.ee 13 points 6 days ago

So it'll be the sharpie then.

[–] MrVilliam@lemm.ee 18 points 6 days ago

They're on board with it because they think it will only happen to "those people" and will be appalled when it happens to themselves or at least their neighbors and friends and families.

[–] MrVilliam@lemm.ee 6 points 6 days ago

And as we all know, planes can't turn around. Too bad those Wright brothers couldn't figure that little maneuver out. And it's made air combat in wars very complicated and pointless since planes can't just turn around and get back to where they took off from.

/s

[–] MrVilliam@lemm.ee 12 points 6 days ago (2 children)

I thought authoritarianism was supposed to at least make the trains run on time. Or maybe the dictator will just edit train schedules with his sharpie if anybody dares to ask.

[–] MrVilliam@lemm.ee 22 points 6 days ago (2 children)

there's always one when you need to cross the tracks.

This, but you ever notice that it's pretty much never passenger trains? This efficient mode of transportation is largely designed for and used by industry rather than for travel or commute. The exception is within big enough cities like DC and NYC to get from one side of the city to the other or anywhere between. Sure there are some trains that go between cities, but they're largely unreliable because passenger cars yield to industrial freight, and so people are less inclined to opt for them over planes or cars, and so there are fewer trains available to go wherever you're going in the window you're trying to go. So you book a flight instead.

I'd take a long train ride over a road trip any fucking day. I don't understand anybody who would rather drive than chill and read a book or play games or watch movies or nap.

[–] MrVilliam@lemm.ee 14 points 1 week ago

"you can't read it properly"?

[–] MrVilliam@lemm.ee 16 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I'll be more excited to vote for Democrats if they can find their balls and start obstructing the fascist takeover. Was it not enough that they used ICE to kidnap and try to deport a legal resident for exercising his first amendment right?! Why the fuck shouldn't we want a government shutdown when that's the sort of thing this regime would use it for?!

[–] MrVilliam@lemm.ee 8 points 1 week ago

Eggs.

Eggs.

Eggs.

56
submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by MrVilliam@lemm.ee to c/dull_mens_club@lemmy.world
 

Thanks to some tips from you guys, the heating element replacement was completed without incident. Unfortunately, that did not resolve my issue. I am happy to report, however, that my dishes are now coming out dry and sanitized due to further troubleshooting, and I wanted to offer a PSA for how I did it because nothing I found through googling was ever gonna point me in the right direction. In fact, it was this comment from Dave. which got me started down the right path.

He was absolutely right. There should be some sort of protective device, not only to protect the element, but to protect against fire. So I started over and dragged the dishwasher back out, but this time I tipped it into its side to get to the underside and looked around. I followed some wires to a little switch mounted to the underside and there was a little black button on it. I pressed it. click

That's. All. I. Had. To. Do.

It's a little thermal cutoff switch. I just had to reset it. If anybody has a problem like mine, try this. But just know that it tripped open for a reason, so figure out why. In my experience, it was from my wife not knowing that "I'm flushing the water heater" doesn't just mean "no access to a hot shower"; it means "don't run appliances that are connected to hot water lines" lol.

Thanks again, Dave. I'm happy to have solved another problem!

 

My dishes have been coming out wet ever since flushing my water heater; my wife started a dishwasher load without telling me while I was in the middle of that project so I'm guessing it ran dry and fucked up the heating element.

I haven't noticed any issues draining. The dishes are coming out clean but wet. I've already run a reset on the board in case there was a fault that wasn't clearing or something. So now the most likely culprit is a dead element or maybe the switch for it?

I've acquired a new heating element and I'm planning on replacing it in hopes of getting dry dishes again today. Any tips beyond what a tutorial on YouTube would already bring up? Open the breaker, close the water valve, have a towel handy for any water that comes out of connections I'm breaking, etc. But maybe you know of some challenges in the process and a sort of life hack to make them easy?

 

I bought a house a couple months ago and have been fighting water heater issues since day one. First it was the thermal overload. I figured that out and adjusted the thermostats. Then the breaker was tripping. Once we moved in and started using hot water more, the breaker started tripping less for whatever reason. Lately, it started tripping very frequently, and water stayed hot for way less time. So I decided it was time to truly investigate. I assumed it was a dead lower heating element.

I opened the breaker, closed the fill valve, and opened the drain. Once water stopped draining, I removed the wiring from the top element and removed it. Water came out.

WTF, this should be drained... I shoved it back in to plug the hole and investigated the drain. I got my oil pan out and straightened a wire hanger and shoved it in there, ready to catch whatever came out.

I was not prepared for this. So much goddamn scale. I don't think this water heater has ever been flushed. I'm still hard at work, but I'm not exaggerating when I say that I've been working for hours to get this shit out. There was scale and brine sludge up to the lower element, which had corroded it apart. That's like a foot of this shit.

New elements are in and wired up (I found a pack of two elements and two thermostats for only like $35) and I'm continuously filling and draining while alternating between using the wire hanger and a small pipe cleaner to fuck the drain hole.

I've never looked forward to a hot shower more than I do right now.

Edit:

My wife cooked a delicious steak, potatoes, and asparagus dinner, paired with a nice Cabernet Sauvignon. I took 400mg ibuprofen for my back and then enjoyed an aged, cold Mad Elf Ale in a hot shower. The breaker has not tripped. I'll call this a success. I didn't fully flush all the crap out because I ran out of time, but I'll plan on doing a monthly flush until the chunks stop coming, and then I'm thinking a semiannual PM to flush it unless somebody recommends otherwise? I'm gonna also buy a new magnesium anode rod and replace the existing one within the year because it doesn't look like this one has ever been replaced. Magnesium because I'm on a water softener and I plan to have all of the hardness out of the heater soon enough, so hardness shouldn't be an issue.

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