Then don't transfer it. Ditch the idea of small distributed reactors and reprocess it on-site at large IFR facilities. Put a few of these complexes around the country, and losing plutonium is a non-issue (if you RTFA, you'll see that getting anything remotely weapons-grade is impossible at an IFR facility). The danger will be moving our current waste _into_ the facility to burn it up.
At one point a proposal was floated that suggested that pilots be allowed/encouraged to play video games during those 'down times' so that they'd be more alert and ready to handle an emergency if one should pop up. I can't seem to find the link to the article. 8-(
I've launched single stage Estes-powered rockets with that many D engines. I can say with some certainty that it was a spectacular (and deadly to a few tomato plants) failure.
Amateur radio satellites have a long and successful history of exactly that - being smart ballast for other launches. As long as our sat is the right size and weight and passes flight worthiness tests, we get to replace the chunks of concrete or whatever else they were going to use.
Our newest birds are large enough to require their own launch, so we've got to come up with $LOTS_OF_MONEY to launch the big birds.
I've long thought that brake lights on cars should be proportional to the deceleration of the car, kind of bargraph style. A few red lights on the left means a light braking, and all lights on means Emergency Bat-Stop (tm). Couple this with an IR or radio signal beaming toward the rear, and cars following could automatically adjust their braking level.
Of course I also think that cars should have electromagnets on the front and back so that cars on the highway can link up to form convoys (with a professional driver in the lead car position). When you want to exit, you hit a button that detaches you from the cars in front and behind, who then connect to reform the convoy. A little data comm between cars could distribute power and braking along the convoy, and handle a small payment for the professional driver's services. I imagine there would be some fuel savings from drafting, and you could probably do other things while connected. It's sort of a hybrid train/car deal.
You're more likely to get lodged between two buildings driving an H2 in the UK.
Our _compact_ rental car barely fit on some of the 'white roads' (those semi-paved, one-lane-with-turnouts, sheep-infested roads in the Scottish Highlands).
Well, let's see. 2500 square feet of finished space. 1250 square feet of unfinished basement. Two heat pumps, one 2.5 ton, one 2 ton. A large (but EnergyStar) fridge. A '3 Jimmy Hoffa' freezer, 220V big amperage well pump. Macerating sewage ejector pump. All your normal AV and networking gear, powered by a 2400W inverter and bank of 6 110Ah gel cells to hold power until the gen comes online. The inverter has a 120V 30A charger _in addition_ to the 20A of load it can power. With the exception of the clothes dryer and stove, the usual high current suspects are propane-powered - instant-on Rinnai water heater, backup heat, 2 gas fireplaces, cooktop, etc.
If you do the worst-case startup current, assuming that both heat pump compressors try to start when the generator takes the load, then 20 kW is reasonable.
The 200A transfer switch is required by code because it is my 'service panel'. What you would call the main breaker panel is technically just a subfed panel. In fact, there's no main breaker in my breaker box!
That all said, the point of the generator is not to weather outages when we're home, but to run the house, no matter the state it's left in, when we're not there. I've come home from the Caribbean to 4 feet of water in my basement for the last time. (This basement is poured concrete, and is a walkout design. The one that flooded was a conventional block basement).
This search gives a few resources to calculate the required capacity for generators. This one is from my local utility, and this one is from Generac. Entering my data returns a 15-20kW unit.
The fuel for my old furnace was in an above-ground 275 gallon tank. When winter rolled around, I'd put a couple of bottles of a 'Diesel anti-gel/stabilizer' in per fill-up, and I was good to go. It was nasty when the deliverer dribbled fuel down the tank and our Scottish Terriers decided to scratch their backs under the tank. Nasty Beestes!
...I'm going to run a spare three pole 10-gauge direct burial (will cost some bucks) along with the main run out to the shed.
You might want to check to see if #6 aluminum wire is cheaper than #10 copper. Since you're going to run it between panels, it should be no problem - they all seem to have Cu/Al lugs and a little NoAlOx goes a long way. That'll give you some spare capacity, too. (#10 copper UF = 30A, #6 Al UF = 40A).
If you think you're perfect, then go right ahead with your reckless behavior. The rest of us realize that sometimes the simplest things can go wrong and take ordinary precautions to prevent disaster.
Aside from the risk to utility workers, if your setup is discovered during the investigation of any sort of insurance claim that involves electricity (fire, lightning, etc), you'll be denied coverage since it does not meet NEC code.
How's your 'negligent homicide' insurance for when you fry a lineman when you forget and turn the main breaker back on with the generator running? Is it worth the extra $500 to get a real transfer switch? Plus, you'll know when the utility power is back when the rest of the house comes alive.
Diesel turns into Vaseline in very cold weather, and it's smelly and messy. I'd stick to propane or NG. I just ditched a fuel oil furnace, and I say good riddance.
If you do choose the model you linked to, note that it says 'liquid propane', which requires different regulators and plumbing than generators that run on vapor.
Depending on where you live, there are electricians (like Master Electrical here in Richmond) that'll do it all from installation, hookup, and the gas work (they have folks with both gas and electrical licenses).
Make sure you size the genny for startup and inrush current - motors can pull 3x their running current at startup.
Lastly, I couldn't tell from the HD link, but try to get an air-cooled model. They're easier to service and there's no worry about coolant leaks and freezing. They're a bit more fuel efficient, too.
I wouldn't go the route of running all that extra wire. They sell 6 circuit generator switches for that exact purpose - you move the desired circuits from your main panel into this little box, and hook you generator to it via a standard twistlock connector on a flexible cord. When the power fails, roll the genny to the panel, plug it in, fire it up, and flip the switch. If you know evil weather is coming, pre-stage the genny and cover it with a barbecue grill cover until you have to fire it up. Once it's hot, rain and snow won't bother it.
I just built a new house, and had a 20kW Generac air-cooled generator installed along with a 200A automatic transfer switch and buried 1,000 gallon propane tank. It can run on propane or natural gas, and is manly enough to run my whole house. I have heat pumps with backup propane furnaces. The outside units are small enough so that I do not have to sequence the startup of the compressors, but I could do that if necessary (and may anyway). It self-tests once a week. All told, minus the tank (since many/most of you will have NG service), about $8,000 installed and tested. Well worth it for totally automatic, no-worries switchover even if we're away.
They [LEDs] don't generate heat as such, but AC->DC conversion does...
LEDs do generate heat - quite a bit of you're talking about this sort of thing.
Their Daylight White module typically produces 1853 lumens when driven at 11.3V/5A. That's 56.5W input for 1852 lumens. If they were 100% efficient, 1853 lumens should only require 2.7 W instead of 56.5W - the rest (~54 W) is dissipated as heat. Their own graph shows the Luminous Efficacy of the Daylight White varies between 40 and 70 lumens/W, depending on the drive current. Note that efficacy is not the same as efficiency. The article on Luminous Efficacy has a graph of power efficiency for various light sources - the entry for white LEDs shows LE's of 10-100 lumens/W that correspond to power efficiencies of 1.5%-15%. The voltage and current figures above (2.7W) results in a 4.78% efficiency figure, which correlates well with their figure of LE=40 lumens/W @ 5A.
Also, AC-DC conversion is not typically necessary if the reverse voltage figure for the LED is higher than the forward working voltage. All you have to do it wire two of them in parallel anode to cathode and vice versa, and you're covered. Also, instead of using a resistor for voltage drop, use a capacitor. You know the frequency of operation, so calculating the capacitive reactance necessary is trivial, and results in tiny losses in the capacitor.
Slashdot Mirror
Then don't transfer it. Ditch the idea of small distributed reactors and reprocess it on-site at large IFR facilities. Put a few of these complexes around the country, and losing plutonium is a non-issue (if you RTFA, you'll see that getting anything remotely weapons-grade is impossible at an IFR facility). The danger will be moving our current waste _into_ the facility to burn it up.
Who's John King?
Distant cousin to Rodney King, Martin Luther King, and most famously, The Burger King.
At one point a proposal was floated that suggested that pilots be allowed/encouraged to play video games during those 'down times' so that they'd be more alert and ready to handle an emergency if one should pop up. I can't seem to find the link to the article. 8-(
I was walking on 51st St. and suddenly a ladybug landed on my hand.
On 51st St, it might've been a gentleman bug dressed as a ladybug. Sometimes it's hard to tell.
I've launched single stage Estes-powered rockets with that many D engines. I can say with some certainty that it was a spectacular (and deadly to a few tomato plants) failure.
Amateur radio satellites have a long and successful history of exactly that - being smart ballast for other launches. As long as our sat is the right size and weight and passes flight worthiness tests, we get to replace the chunks of concrete or whatever else they were going to use.
Our newest birds are large enough to require their own launch, so we've got to come up with $LOTS_OF_MONEY to launch the big birds.
Soul Train There, fixed that for you. 8-)
Their culture was one of communication through dance, and status was attained by rating the latest songs as "Easy to dance to, I give it an 8".
Wasn't Clovis one of Jerry Clower's childhood friends?
Of course I also think that cars should have electromagnets on the front and back so that cars on the highway can link up to form convoys (with a professional driver in the lead car position). When you want to exit, you hit a button that detaches you from the cars in front and behind, who then connect to reform the convoy. A little data comm between cars could distribute power and braking along the convoy, and handle a small payment for the professional driver's services. I imagine there would be some fuel savings from drafting, and you could probably do other things while connected. It's sort of a hybrid train/car deal.
Or the Volvo logo flips to 'AMC Pacer' when it detects an imminent collision.
You're more likely to get lodged between two buildings driving an H2 in the UK.
Our _compact_ rental car barely fit on some of the 'white roads' (those semi-paved, one-lane-with-turnouts, sheep-infested roads in the Scottish Highlands).
You could claim "parody" and "fare use"...
You can't charge people to ride your song.
You're welcome, and Happy New Year!
Well, let's see. 2500 square feet of finished space. 1250 square feet of unfinished basement. Two heat pumps, one 2.5 ton, one 2 ton. A large (but EnergyStar) fridge. A '3 Jimmy Hoffa' freezer, 220V big amperage well pump. Macerating sewage ejector pump. All your normal AV and networking gear, powered by a 2400W inverter and bank of 6 110Ah gel cells to hold power until the gen comes online. The inverter has a 120V 30A charger _in addition_ to the 20A of load it can power. With the exception of the clothes dryer and stove, the usual high current suspects are propane-powered - instant-on Rinnai water heater, backup heat, 2 gas fireplaces, cooktop, etc.
If you do the worst-case startup current, assuming that both heat pump compressors try to start when the generator takes the load, then 20 kW is reasonable.
The 200A transfer switch is required by code because it is my 'service panel'. What you would call the main breaker panel is technically just a subfed panel. In fact, there's no main breaker in my breaker box!
That all said, the point of the generator is not to weather outages when we're home, but to run the house, no matter the state it's left in, when we're not there. I've come home from the Caribbean to 4 feet of water in my basement for the last time. (This basement is poured concrete, and is a walkout design. The one that flooded was a conventional block basement).
This search gives a few resources to calculate the required capacity for generators. This one is from my local utility, and this one is from Generac. Entering my data returns a 15-20kW unit.
The fuel for my old furnace was in an above-ground 275 gallon tank. When winter rolled around, I'd put a couple of bottles of a 'Diesel anti-gel/stabilizer' in per fill-up, and I was good to go. It was nasty when the deliverer dribbled fuel down the tank and our Scottish Terriers decided to scratch their backs under the tank. Nasty Beestes!
You might want to check to see if #6 aluminum wire is cheaper than #10 copper. Since you're going to run it between panels, it should be no problem - they all seem to have Cu/Al lugs and a little NoAlOx goes a long way. That'll give you some spare capacity, too. (#10 copper UF = 30A, #6 Al UF = 40A).
If you think you're perfect, then go right ahead with your reckless behavior. The rest of us realize that sometimes the simplest things can go wrong and take ordinary precautions to prevent disaster.
Aside from the risk to utility workers, if your setup is discovered during the investigation of any sort of insurance claim that involves electricity (fire, lightning, etc), you'll be denied coverage since it does not meet NEC code.
Good luck, fool.
How's your 'negligent homicide' insurance for when you fry a lineman when you forget and turn the main breaker back on with the generator running? Is it worth the extra $500 to get a real transfer switch? Plus, you'll know when the utility power is back when the rest of the house comes alive.
Diesel turns into Vaseline in very cold weather, and it's smelly and messy. I'd stick to propane or NG. I just ditched a fuel oil furnace, and I say good riddance.
Don't piddle around, do it right. See this post.
If you do choose the model you linked to, note that it says 'liquid propane', which requires different regulators and plumbing than generators that run on vapor.
Depending on where you live, there are electricians (like Master Electrical here in Richmond) that'll do it all from installation, hookup, and the gas work (they have folks with both gas and electrical licenses).
Make sure you size the genny for startup and inrush current - motors can pull 3x their running current at startup.
Lastly, I couldn't tell from the HD link, but try to get an air-cooled model. They're easier to service and there's no worry about coolant leaks and freezing. They're a bit more fuel efficient, too.
Good luck!
I wouldn't go the route of running all that extra wire. They sell 6 circuit generator switches for that exact purpose - you move the desired circuits from your main panel into this little box, and hook you generator to it via a standard twistlock connector on a flexible cord. When the power fails, roll the genny to the panel, plug it in, fire it up, and flip the switch. If you know evil weather is coming, pre-stage the genny and cover it with a barbecue grill cover until you have to fire it up. Once it's hot, rain and snow won't bother it.
I just built a new house, and had a 20kW Generac air-cooled generator installed along with a 200A automatic transfer switch and buried 1,000 gallon propane tank. It can run on propane or natural gas, and is manly enough to run my whole house. I have heat pumps with backup propane furnaces. The outside units are small enough so that I do not have to sequence the startup of the compressors, but I could do that if necessary (and may anyway). It self-tests once a week. All told, minus the tank (since many/most of you will have NG service), about $8,000 installed and tested. Well worth it for totally automatic, no-worries switchover even if we're away.
I didn't believe it, so I wrote a prog to 'and' each value w/ 0x03 and multiply by 85. It works! Freaky.
They [LEDs] don't generate heat as such, but AC->DC conversion does...
LEDs do generate heat - quite a bit of you're talking about this sort of thing.
Their Daylight White module typically produces 1853 lumens when driven at 11.3V/5A. That's 56.5W input for 1852 lumens. If they were 100% efficient, 1853 lumens should only require 2.7 W instead of 56.5W - the rest (~54 W) is dissipated as heat. Their own graph shows the Luminous Efficacy of the Daylight White varies between 40 and 70 lumens/W, depending on the drive current. Note that efficacy is not the same as efficiency. The article on Luminous Efficacy has a graph of power efficiency for various light sources - the entry for white LEDs shows LE's of 10-100 lumens/W that correspond to power efficiencies of 1.5%-15%. The voltage and current figures above (2.7W) results in a 4.78% efficiency figure, which correlates well with their figure of LE=40 lumens/W @ 5A.
Also, AC-DC conversion is not typically necessary if the reverse voltage figure for the LED is higher than the forward working voltage. All you have to do it wire two of them in parallel anode to cathode and vice versa, and you're covered. Also, instead of using a resistor for voltage drop, use a capacitor. You know the frequency of operation, so calculating the capacitive reactance necessary is trivial, and results in tiny losses in the capacitor.
Oblig. OnTopic comment: My new 'fridge has LED lighting inside. Makes sense that you wouldn't want a 20-40W heat source _inside_ Mr. Fridge.