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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,029
7,549
Ya. “Dry” side. Got dumped on by rain while there after photos.

edit: that last one’s Waimea, that is. First two are from east side, a lookout just across from Opaeka’a Falls.
 
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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,029
7,549
When we built this super insulated house (R-38 in walls and R-50 in roof + double paned glass throughout for those not following along) we hoped that its design and construction would result in the kids' rooms not getting hotter and colder than the rest of the house.

No such luck.

The two kids' rooms, both south facing with pretty big windows, are consistently 76-77 degrees these days when the A/C is keeping the main floor at 70. Can't defeat the physics of solar gain, even with double cell cellular blackout shades in place, especially since their doors are closed much of the time. In the part of winter that we went through the temperature differential the other way was less but they still were a couple of degrees colder than the rest of the place thanks to those windows again.

I am thinking that after bonus time this fall I'll hire a contractor to put in a two head ductless mini split heat pump system, with the two heads in their bedrooms. That way we won't have to set the main thermostat to extremes (e.g. set at 68 degrees now so as to get their rooms below 75), even though running the main system is cheap since it's 21 SEER...
This quoted post was from the first summer in the Denver house, 2016. Finally getting around to it: On August 8th I'm getting 4 quotes for a mini split heat pump system.

At least 3 heads, for the 3 upstairs bedrooms. Maybe a 4th for the basement bedroom. Doesn't need to be sized for the heating load of the house as it has a forced air system already (NG furnace and conventional single zone 21? 24? SEER Carrier Infinity AC) so I'm thinking small, 1.5 or 2 tons maybe.

The goal of this would be for localized cooling/heating of the bedrooms instead due to the whole physics "hot air rises" phenomenon and all, with the side benefit of shifting heating load away from NG to electricity. (Recall that I have 13.94 kW of PV on the roof and overproduce for the year at least at this point when I only have one PHEV in the garage--sized that system back when I also had the Tesla.)

Anyway, quotes then, but then a waiting game: Xcel has a $2k rebate for cold-climate-capable mini split heat pump installations, but Denver proper has a up to $5,700 rebate (!, capped at 80% max not that I think the total price will be less than $7,125) for such systems as well. The issue is that Denver is releasing additional funding for this rebate monthly in the fall so I'll have to wait for another batch. As this is for a luxury/additional system since we have the central air, albeit not distributed all too well throughout the house, I'll wait for $5,700 extra not spent by me personally.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,029
7,549
Turns out the Denver rebate is $5,400. The Inflation Reduction Act, passed by the House and to be signed by POTUS next week, also will add a 30% Federal tax credit up to $2,000 on heat pumps, effective Jan 1, 2023.

Anyway, I'm definitely waiting until at least 2023 given all this: the IRA, the unclear state of funding for Denver's rebate, and the high quotes (these prices all pre-credits/rebates):

$16.4k for Mitsubishi hardware
$20k for "Carrier" hardware, rebranded Chinese parts apparently
$22k for Daikin
$22.5k for Daikin

All of these are for 2 ton, 3 head systems with one head in each of the upstairs bedrooms. Makes my ~$20k all in system here in the mountains seem like a great deal (4 ton, 5 heads, Daikin hardware).

hmph. Even with $7.4k axed from these figures via the Xcel + Denver rebates that's still a lot. Maybe more palatable with $2k more off via the IRA next year. Or maybe some powered register fans in the bedrooms in question will make things good enough that we don't go the mini split route at all.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,029
7,549
maybe some powered register fans in the bedrooms in question will make things good enough that we don't go the mini split route at all
Giving two of these a try: one for one of the kids’ rooms, and one for one of the vents in our room for good measure:

AC Infinity AIRTAP T4, Quiet Register Booster Fan with Thermostat Control. Heating Cooling AC Vent. Fits 4” x 10” Register Holes.

 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,029
7,549
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Powered register fans x 2 plopped in. Temp on the unit is of the air in the duct, not the ambient temp as per the tiny standalone thermometers in the younger kids’ + our rooms, respectively. (72F with the AC set point at 70 on the main floor at this time as context, 89 Freedoms outside.)

I will update you all on whether the temperature budges after them running for a few hours.

For the curious, they run on 6V DC and draw all of 8W. Simple logic to turn on the fan below (for AC) and above (for heat) two temp thresholds. Fan speeds from 1-10, with this video showing noise from levels 6 and 7:

 
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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,029
7,549
Ran them at speed 7 until now. Dialed back the one in our room to 6 for less noise. Our room is currently at 69 Freedoms, which matches that at the main floor thermostat!

This might just work, especially as I can run them at higher speeds during the day if necessary.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,029
7,549
So with the IRA now signed into law this means no more tax credits for me*. Then again, I have taken advantage of them pretty well over the years:

Leaf: credit passed to me as a cap cost reduction (and then some, I think it was something like $12k cap cost reduction in total via VPP), so effectively took the full $7.5k Fed credit via the leasing company. Also got sales tax exemption on the lease payments while I lived in Washington.

RAV4 EV: bought used so no Federal credit, but this was a year when Colorado offered their full $6k-at-the-time state tax credit for EVs provided one did a VIN search and showed that the vehicle had never been registered in CO before.

PacHy 1: $7.5k Fed, $5k CO.

PacHy 2: $7.5k Fed, $5k CO yet again.

Tesla: $7.5k Fed, $5k CO.

* The Mercedes EQB should be the last vehicle I get credits for, under the old rules via the Transition Rule of the IRA. It'll ring up as $7.5k Fed and $2.5k CO (if delivered this calendar year) or $2k CO if it slips into calendar 2023. I'm going with the "nonrefundable deposit paperwork signed June 18, 2022 == contract" angle on this one.

Thank you all for subsidizing my EVs over the years.

:derp:
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,029
7,549
me + 7 year old:


me crashing into 9 year old after a woman ahead of her in the "fast" lane decided to match speed with her slow kid in the adjacent slow lane

 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,225
20,003
Sleazattle
me + 7 year old:


me crashing into 9 year old after a woman ahead of her in the "fast" lane decided to match speed with her slow kid in the adjacent slow lane

Yeah, blame that on someone else.

At least it wasn't a single vehicle crash.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,029
7,549
The good news is that they are super lax about monitoring things. So my mishap went unnoticed, privileges not revoked.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,029
7,549
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My new 1up Super Duty is a nice piece of kit. No plastic, made in the US. The Rack Stash will be slick once I get it mounted on the wall, too.

However, the 1up also doesn’t adjust automatically to different wheel sizes without unbolting the spool thing, won’t work with the 4” tires on my commuter bike without a spacer kit, and would be quite expensive to expand out to more bikes (limited to 3 total since I got a single, I think). So my 2 + 2 Thule T2 setup will persist as well for family use what with the different wheel sizes and all.
 
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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,029
7,549
Fancy new 1up also doesn't play nicely with the hardware for my rack on the acoustic commuter. Whoops. Ended up riding home from downtown due to this.



(train + elder two kids was on journey out there.)
 
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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,029
7,549
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allergies or teh rona?! hmm

: por que no los dos.gif:
 
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canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
20,188
19,155
Canaderp
me + 7 year old:


me crashing into 9 year old after a woman ahead of her in the "fast" lane decided to match speed with her slow kid in the adjacent slow lane

At least you didn't end up with the other cart, like in this one.. :rofl:

However, the 1up also doesn’t adjust automatically to different wheel sizes without unbolting the spool thing, won’t work with the 4” tires on my commuter bike without a spacer kit, and would be quite expensive to expand out to more bikes (limited to 3 total since I got a single, I think). So my 2 + 2 Thule T2 setup will persist as well for family use what with the different wheel sizes and all.
I got a 1up rack recently as well and it trully seems like one of those things that will last forever. There is really nothing cheap, plastic or anything else about it that seems like corners were cut.

I think there is a foam thing for use with fenders and another lower wheel thing, if its unstable.

But yeah, nothing on it other than the arms and tilting mechanism is a tool less operation, which IMO is a good thing.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,029
7,549


Commencal says this is for kids 135-150 cm tall. 26" wheels, tiny frame, 160 mm fork (!). Mariko-kun is 140 cm as just measured...
 
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6thElement

Schrodinger's Immigrant
Jul 29, 2008
15,825
13,054


Commencal says this is for kids 135-150 cm tall. 26" wheels, tiny frame, 160 cm fork (!). Mariko-kun is 140 cm as just measured...
She's probably not even heavy enough to use 100mm is she even with "appropriate sag"?
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,029
7,549
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My riding buddy Todd has a daughter about Mariko’s size and says this bike is a better all around option. So it shall be done, methinks (with a dropper, of course!)
 
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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,029
7,549
Go with a PNW Fern dropper.... it's been sprung specifically for super light kids as most around Mariko's size have trouble getting adults posts to drop (not enough weight).
Good call—she has that exact dropper on her current REI 24” wheeled rigid bike and it works well.

The Trailcraft build will come with one from the factory, though. Summer special on the XT builds: carbon rims, carbon bars, KS Lev dropper post. If it doesn’t work for her weight they’ll make it right as they’re based out of Ft Collins.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,029
7,549
Mariko now has all her DH gear. Just waiting on the bike.

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Bell Super Air R is very light, for the record.
 
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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,029
7,549
Good call—she has that exact dropper on her current REI 24” wheeled rigid bike and it works well.

The Trailcraft build will come with one from the factory, though. Summer special on the XT builds: carbon rims, carbon bars, KS Lev dropper post. If it doesn’t work for her weight they’ll make it right as they’re based out of Ft Collins.
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She may well have trouble dropping that Lev. But she’ll get bigger, and if it’s a “drop at the top of the descent with my help” kind of deal for now not a huge problem for a season.

Carbon wheels, bar, and XT group. :) Her first real ride.

Amusingly low pressures… I’m not sure if she’s even 70 lb in gear:

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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,029
7,549
I opted for a 26t ring. That’s a 51t big cog on the cassette, and 26” non plus meats. So she’ll have quite the low granny gear so as to not blow up.

I’m not convinced my middle child will turn out to be a mountain biker yet as she turns on the “I don’t want to do this” whine-mode too easily. But maybe I’ll be surprised. Youngest kid really loves to ride her bike out front so I bet she’ll take after her biggest sister.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,029
7,549
here be my hand





Soft tissue swelling as per my photos, and a thankfully non-intraarticular, mildly displaced, comminuted fracture through the left fifth metacarpal base.

Should be non-operative management for sure, a few weeks of avoiding use is my guess.
 
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6thElement

Schrodinger's Immigrant
Jul 29, 2008
15,825
13,054
non-intraarticular, mildly displaced, comminuted fracture through the left fifth metacarpal base
Pretty much exactly what I was going to say.

Heal up, maybe we can sneak in some DH before the lifts close for snow season.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,029
7,549
Pretty much exactly what I was going to say.

Heal up, maybe we can sneak in some DH before the lifts close for snow season.
Last day is Oct 2 so I think I’m out for dh season proper. Definitely will be back for trail riding season before the snows set in though!