[Toshi]

if I do this heat pump business--and I fully intend to at that price!--then that'll put the heat pump water heater project on hold until 2026. assuming the IRA doesn't get repealed, in which case then I'd wait a month for the market to adjust to this new reality then do it if cheap enough.

then NG use at my Denver house would be basically nil. (line to patio for the Weber that I never use, plus the turned on twice per year decorative/heat only gas fireplace.)


edit: emailed my contact at UniColorado for an updated new-gen hybrid heat pump water heater quote. he had the best net price when I did my quotes last time around (in 2023), and he had recommended holding off at that time and waiting for their next gen.

 

[Toshi]

Spotted tonight (and a few times earlier): a gen 2 RAV4 EV. the astute reader will recall that I had a blue one for a while. Insufficient range and FWD. and no heated wheel, egad

 

[Toshi]

Did some organizing

Initial state

many luggages. Nested some

Finally broke down the packaging for my WFH workstation. Two full loads. Four very dense monitor boxes and one square box full of accessory boxes

Found a Christmas village. A true Christmas miracle

also found ski tuning supplies that had been marooned up there

Final state is a bit better than before

 

[Toshi]

So the finances didn’t play out at all. Stupid capped Federal tax credit. But I did learn a thing or two:

- performance of a given compressor varies with which air handler and/or mini split heads one pairs it with, so specifics matter

- performance of my gas furnace (96% efficient nominally, two stage so has a ~60% capacity initial one then fires up to 100% if the thermostat is still calling for heat after a few minutes) is derated by altitude, which makes sense

- my current AC condenser is actually only a 2 ton, not a 2.5 as I thought. Furnace is 5 ton but derated to 46k BTU because of altitude.

- with that 46k at full tilt as context (and we never have days when we run at full load all day to keep up with the heating demand) the performance of the Mitsubishi cold climate heat pump is astounding. From a quote that actually had a 4 ton outside unit (sized for heating load, does 54k actually) with both an air handler and 3 mini split heads in upstairs bedrooms since the condenser can do that:

View attachment 197846View attachment 197847

Full rated heating performance—and greater than my actual NG furnace performance at this altitude through 5 Freedoms and only marginal falloff at -17! Amazing.

Admittedly this includes windchill. But from this I can get away with not running any expensive + expensive to run + service upgrade likely required 10 kW backup resistive strips!

Circling back to the above data, I have performance specs on the speced unit by Jetson for my fabulously priced heat pump quote (that being $1,395 net, plus the $1,400 for my service upgrade separately).

First, off, it’s a MRCOOL system. Before you run away screaming note that they have a huge lineup from the DIY quick connect systems you’re likely thinking of on up. And in particular they have a hyper heat lineup, and their second gen hyper heat offering running R-454B is what’s speced here. (Their first gen hyper heat running R-410 didn’t seem to perform that great from the specs I saw. But this is not that system.)

From the AHRI listing for this particular nominally 4 ton condenser and air handler:

50k BTU heat output at 47F ambient. 46k at 5F with a COP of 1.90. Online I read that it still should be ~65% nameplate at -22F so similar to Mitsu but can’t find that actually confirmed anywhere I can access. edit: I asked their support people for this datum but the did not have it.

(In their product release page they claim 100% cooling at 109F ambient! Although I note they also claim 100% heat at -5F whereas we’re actually at 92% at +5F per the AHRI data. That little “up to” along with specific pairings of condensers/air handlers/sizing is no doubt the cop out.)

Cliffs Notes: this 2nd gen MRCOOL hyper heat system should work just fine for my house per the AHRI data relative to my estimated house heating load of 36k BTU and Denver’s design temps of 1 and 92F.

 

[6thElement]

Circling back to the above data, I have performance specs on the speced unit by Jetson for my fabulously priced heat pump quote (that being $1,395 net, plus the $1,400 for my service upgrade separately).

First, off, it’s a MRCOOL system. Before you run away screaming note that they have a huge lineup from the DIY quick connect systems you’re likely thinking of on up. And in particular they have a hyper heat lineup, and their second gen hyper heat offering running R-454B is what’s speced here. (Their first gen hyper heat running R-410 didn’t seem to perform that great from the specs I saw. But this is not that system.)

From the AHRI listing for this particular nominally 4 ton condenser and air handler:

50k BTU heat output at 47F ambient. 46k at 5F with a COP of 1.90. Online I read that it still should be ~65% nameplate at -22F so similar to Mitsu but can’t find that actually confirmed anywhere I can access.

(In their product release page they claim 100% cooling at 109F ambient! Although I note they also claim 100% heat at -5F whereas we’re actually at 92% at +5F per the AHRI data. That little “up to” along with specific pairings of condensers/air handlers/sizing is no doubt the cop out.)

View attachment 226649

Cliffs Notes: this 2nd gen MRCOOL hyper heat system should work just fine for my house per the AHRI data relative to my estimate house heating load of 36k BTU and Denver’s design temps of 1 and 92F.

So does that plumb in to existing house ducting, rather than head units like with a mini-split?

 

[Toshi]

So does that plumb in to existing house ducting, rather than head units like with a mini-split?

yeah, Jetson only does air source ducted systems. makes their supply chain simple. (and since we have a ducted system as it is between our 2 ton AC and 60k BTU-at-sea-level NG furnace that's just what we need. mini split heads would be nice in upstairs rooms... but that price.)

 

[6thElement]

yeah, Jetson only does air source ducted systems. makes their supply chain simple. (and since we have a ducted system as it is between our 2 ton AC and 60k BTU-at-sea-level NG furnace that's just what we need. mini split heads would be nice in upstairs rooms... but that price.)

So if you were speccing the house from scratch for heating and cooling, what would you implement?

 

[Toshi]

So if you were speccing the house from scratch for heating and cooling, what would you implement?

a whole house ducted ccASHP (cold climate air source heat pump), but with supplemental mini split heads in the upstairs bedrooms. they could run off the same condenser, and the whole system would probably be upsized to 6 tons to run a 4 ton air handler a la this quote + 3 12k-18k BTU mini split heads.

as it is this 4 ton system will be overpowered for the house on the cooling side--we have a 2 ton unit now, and this one promises its full 4 tons of output to higher temps than we should ever see in Denver even with climate change. so it should be fine, just uneven because physics.

 

[Toshi]

if I were you in Michigan and had a plot of land to play with, though, then I'd look very strongly at putting in a ground source heat pump system instead. more money and work up front but if you're starting from scratch and have the room it's the long term play for sure.

 

[Toshi]

re Ann Arbor in particular, this Federal grant has probably illegally gone *poof* like so many others, but this is a very European (smart!) solution:

$10M federal grant to bring geothermal heating, cooling to Ann Arbor neighborhood

An Ann Arbor neighborhood is going to tap into the earth's energy in a big way with a $10 million federal grant.

www.mlive.com

Community Geothermal Opportunity Coming to Bryant Park - Current Magazine

The sustainable energy utility that Ann Arborites approved last November is already starting to bare fruit for Ann Arbor. A press release by the City just before Christmas announced a $10 million grant from the federal Department of Energy’s Geothermal Technologies Office to establish a...

www.ecurrent.com

 

[SkaredShtles]

re Ann Arbor in particular, this Federal grant has probably illegally gone *poof* like so many others, but this is a very European (smart!) solution:

$10M federal grant to bring geothermal heating, cooling to Ann Arbor neighborhood

An Ann Arbor neighborhood is going to tap into the earth's energy in a big way with a $10 million federal grant.

www.mlive.com

Community Geothermal Opportunity Coming to Bryant Park - Current Magazine

The sustainable energy utility that Ann Arborites approved last November is already starting to bare fruit for Ann Arbor. A press release by the City just before Christmas announced a $10 million grant from the federal Department of Energy’s Geothermal Technologies Office to establish a...

www.ecurrent.com

"Bare fruit"??

 

[Toshi]

"Bare fruit"??

I didn't know Westy modeled for stock photos

 

[Toshi]

I skied. Good times with my middle kid. Shall have media hosted at Threads whenever that actually uploads

edit: here it is

Toshi Clark (@toshi.clark) on Threads

A powder day with my sweet 9 year old middle child today Drunken Frenchman trees to start the day was overly ambitious in retrospect. But the tears dried up. Smattering of footage from various devices as the GoPro ran out of (external battery) juice very quickly. These are not in chronological...

www.threads.net

48% SOC used on way out, 30% on way back.

 

[Toshi]

Betterment to TurboTax import enabled as of today, so I was able to file my Federal taxes. Can't do my state yet as colorado.gov/revenueonline doesn't have the 2024 return form available as of today. Maybe this weekend.


edit: accepted as of 12:10 am

 

[Toshi]

@Pesqueeb

saw a stock TJ on I-70 last night

it looked so smol

 

[Pesqueeb]

@Pesqueeb

saw a stock TJ on I-70 last night

it looked so smol

Sometimes I miss my jeep.

And then I'll see some assclown with a stenciled/stickered name on the hood, full mall crawler regalia, Sasquatch/FJB stickers, and a hundred of those stupid fucking rubber ducks and then I'm grateful it's gone.

 

[Toshi]

I’m bidding on a government auction (from a real auction house locally) for a 5D IV and 24-70/2.8L setup. EF is old hat but this would be a cheap way back in the game with a newer body than the 5D II I sold off for disuse.

I won the auction. $951 + fees? for a 5D Mark IV, 24-70/2.8L, charger, and potentially a weird giant ball head? not sure what that is honestly

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Digital Camera With EW-88C Lens, 24-70mm, 1:2.8

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Digital Camera With EW-88C Lens, 24-70mm, 1:2.8

bid.rollerauction.com

note that they labeled it with the part number for the lens cap. anyway, back in business now. will pick it up on Friday mid day. should I hunt for a used 135/2L? is keh.com still a thing?

 

[Toshi]

is keh.com still a thing?

https://www.keh.com/shop/lenses/canon_canon-ef.html

they are indeed still a thing. no 135/2Ls in stock though.

 

[Toshi]

one of my fancy heated Outdoor Research gloves failed the other week: switch that’s supposed to go clicky clicky (but not bing) stopped clicking. And thus I stopped being able to turn on or control the heat part.

anyway, after a fair delay Outdoor Research now has a new pair of their heated mittens en route under warranty. and the old gloves were left to me after I marked them (basically invisibly—black on black!) on the inner cuffs to signify their non-warranty future status.

I thus was left free to engage in some glove surgery to find out what went awry. first I cut into the inner liner at the cuff to see if the electronics were accessible that way. No dice, only insulation there.

I then went in via the battery pouch area, following the wires inboard. I uncovered everything but it looked just fine and the switch in question was totally sealed up from this side

so I attacked it from the outside instead, cutting open the rubber ziggurat of the switch’s outdoors-facing side. In the center of this uncovered little circuit board sits a tiny switch. It indeed was not going clicky clicky

the astute reader will note the yellow circle. That denotes a tiny cylindrical piece of metal or dense plastic. I figured it may have migrated from the little yellow recess on the central switch so carefully got it in place after nearly flicking it away twice

here it is back in its home, at least for now. And lo and behold, it now goes clicky clicky again! (And thus the heated functionality works again)

I sealed up the incised rubber switch housing with gorilla glue. This definitely will be the weak point of my repair job here as that circuit board will not be happy if there’s water intrusion. So this may not be durable, but the gloves were already written off under warranty already so nothing lost. I might use these for bike commuting instead of skiing as I’m less apt to bury my hand in a snowbank when on the bike eh

 

[Toshi]

Gah. Tiny piece migrated again. I reexplored and tried to tack down things a bit more. Sealed up once again. This may not be a durable fix at all.

 

[6thElement]

Gah. Tiny piece migrated again. I reexplored and tried to tack down things a bit more. Sealed up once again. This may not be a durable fix at all.

View attachment 226842

Mebbe shoe goo for sealing the switch back up?

 

[Toshi]

Spotted on campus just now: a Freightliner e-Cascadia being run by Sysco. Single axle, day cab.

And just before this I spotted a University-liveried SilvErado WT.