Going metric

Uwe said:

I use indirect domestic hot water heating as well; fed from a mod-con boiler.

Sorry buddy, but a furnace makes hot air while a boiler makes hot water.

http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-furnace-and-vs-boiler/

Click to expand...

Uwe: Do you guys have the same crazy rule that is mandated down here where new hot water units are not allowed to have the temperature exceed 50 degrees C at the outlet? It's apparently implemented to save folk from scalding themselves. The water temperature in the storage unit needs to exceed 55/60 degrees C to avoid the growth of bacteria, but our rules makes us install a mixing valve at the outlet of the tank so that cold water is injected back into the hot water line . Way too much nanny watching IMO -it means that gully traps for kitchens, never get sufficiently warm water to melt grease - which means more work for plumbers!. If adults can't get their water temperature correct in the bathroom, then perhaps there are larger issues at play. And if kids aren't taught this basic requirement at an early age -then .........!


Don

Don

...then...


No crazy laws up here that I know of about hot water tank outlet temperatures that I know about. I'm pretty sure that mine is set to 60 degrees, unless the in-laws (who don't understand thermodynamics) turned the furnace (or boiler to make Uwe and the steam lobby happy) upper cutout down to 50 degrees again thinking that it will save fuel. Besides that, I'm sure that you can see the folly in having the BoilerMate at 60 degrees constantly calling for heat, but the boiler (the steam lobby's check just cleared) only delivering < 50 degree water.

Actually, we do have one crazy law that makes about 95% of houses fail a pre-purchase inspection. There is some sort of regulation about the height of hot water tank blow-off valves that was changed in the past decade or so, and most existing installations are not compliant.

I'm not too worried about biological problems in our hot water tank, since the water that comes out of the ground here is so toxic/acidic that nothing can possibly live in it! The stuff has actually eaten through two different copper pipes, and we have been changing over to PVC as each run fails. Oh yes, in case anyone was wondering, all of the remaining copper segments are bonded to ground via 12-gauge wire to the BoilerMate/not-a-boiler.....

DV52 said:

Uwe: Do you guys have the same crazy rule that is mandated down here where new hot water units are not allowed to have the temperature exceed 50 degrees C at the outlet?

Click to expand...

That's the "recommendation" and as a general rule, if you hire someone to install a domestic hot water heater, that's what it will be set to. But there's nothing that prevents the homeowner from cranking it up some as soon as the installer leaves.

FWIW, I agree that 60-65 is far better for a multitude of reasons.

Last night's low was 3/4 of a degree. Winter will be here soon.....

vreihen said:

Last night's low was 3/4 of a degree. Winter will be here soon.....

Click to expand...

vreihen: Autumn/Spring - best thought of as the battle between Summer and Winter - the winner being the dominant season in the opposite hemispheres!

Actually your use of the term "fall" up there is interesting - the word would never have been adopted down here because we don't have deciduous trees in Australia (well not many). We used to have all sorts of trees in historic times, but the practice of Aborigines in setting fire to the country side (as a form of food gathering) and natural fires from lightning strikes promoted the dominance of gum trees - which aren't deciduous!!


Don

DV52 said:

....promoted the dominance of gum trees - which aren't deciduous!!

Click to expand...

They DAMN good at dropping branches tough! There are some down the valley below us, and they're hugely tall (as they tend to be). Sometimes we think there is thunder, but it's just a branch cracking off and falling

It sounds like I should create a tourism company to bring people from the antipodes up here for the experience of raking the leaves from my lawn. Feel free to take as many as you can carry home with you...the trees will make more of them next year.

Seriously though, we are probably about two weeks away from peak fall foliage colors here...and I wouldn't trade the view that we're about to get for all of the gum trees in Australia! Past years:











Remember, I was hospitalized through the entire fall foliage season last year, so I've got some catching up to do.....

vreihen said:

Last night's low was 3/4 of a degree. Winter will be here soon.....

Click to expand...

Received this picture (taken this morning) from some friends today.



Wanna guess the temperature and location?

Is there snow on the mountain already?!?!? Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana saw some snow today, but I'm going with Virginia and -1 degree since the flowers on the table are still in full bloom.....

vreihen said:

Is there snow on the mountain already?!?!? Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana saw some snow today, but I'm going with Virginia and -1 degree since the flowers on the table are still in full bloom.....

Click to expand...

The above pic is from 2200m above sea level in Colorado, not 900m in Virginia.

-Uwe-

I'm not surprised. Back in 2008, I was at a conference in Kansas City mid-October, and planned to head home via South Dakota so that I could cross Mount Rushmore off of my bucket list. Mother nature threw a spanner into my plans to go via Denver and then turn north, thanks to an unplanned blizzard in western Kansas and Colorado. I did get to see Mount Rushmore via the northern I-90 route, but did not have the opportunity to cross off urinating in the parking lot at Denver's Mile High Stadium from my bucket list.....

Uwe said:

Uhm, you may recall I'm an immigrant, from a metric country. I was transplanted to the US in elementary school, when I already had a good grasp on the metric system. Then I had to learn lunacy like 16 ounces to the pound, 12 inches to the foot, 5280 feet to the mile, and my reaction was: "Who is the idiot that came up with this?"

Click to expand...

I grew up in England, using inches, lbs etc. As I grew up the metric system was pushed on us and I just could not grasp it. The only measurement that I understand is the ºC temperatures...
I worked 13 years in a maternity hospital, newborns were always recorded and announced in lb and oz, but measured in cm when doing body charts.
Outside in the big wide world grocers were prosecuted for using lb and oz to sell produce or meat.
The road signs are all in mph and refer to miles and yards, speeds are measured in MPH, but police accident reports and insurance claims detailing a scene always refer to meters and centimeters - total lunacy!
At school we had to recite rhymes like "Two and a quarter pounds of jam weigh about a kilogram." and "a liter of water-s a pint and three quarters"

To complicate things further, the non metric measurements formerly used in the UK are not always the same as the US ones.

Djaylulu said:

... "a liter of water-s a pint and three quarters"

To complicate things further, the non metric measurements formerly used in the UK are not always the same as the US ones.

Click to expand...

You can say that again. A liter of water is over two US pints, and a smidge more than a US quart. The imperial system can't even standardize on standards!

My foot in the official public UK reference measurement for a foot outside of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich:





Apparently I share the same shoe size as some dead former king.....

Speaking of dead king's shoe sizes, this timely article popped up today to show that the grass isn't always greener on the metric side of the fence:

Why scientists are redefining the kilogram

https://www.engadget.com/2017/10/24/why-scientists-are-redefining-the-kilogram/

In Canada we do have the metric system (officially the only legal measuring system) but our proximity to the US has us using both systems, which can be really confusing. "It's 30C outside, but the swimming pool temperature is 82F". I drive a 52 kilometer commute to work, but my land lot is 8000 sq.ft. Don't ask me how many square meters this is, I have no clue. I'd have to use an online converter to get it, or look at my paperwork. No where does it mention the land size in square feet, but that's the number we use everyday.

When I arrived in the USA my employer had to fill out an online form to book me in for an FBI fingerprint test. When she asked how much I weigh I told her "17 stone" I had never heard of being weighed in lb or kg as scales in the UK, popular culture, and society always use stone as the only measurement of adult human weight.
FYI 1 Stone is 14lb. Today I am a healthy 13 stone and seven sizes smaller, but that is another story...

I'm sure I read somewhere, although I could have dreamt it..., that although both the UK and German first gen Ford Transit vans looked identical (except for LHD v RHD) but were actually so different due do the UK van being imperial and German van being metric that almost nothing was interchangeable between the two vans.

There is that possibility, I know that we have issues with metric bolts/screws and spanner (wrench) sizes, I also learned plumbing fittings in metric and am only familiar with the terms 15mm, 22mm, 28mm, rather than 1/2 in 3/4 in etc. Transits are all made in the same place now regardless of drive position, so its definitely not true now!

Djaylulu said:

I know that we have issues with metric bolts/screws and spanner (wrench) sizes

Click to expand...

During the changeover in the UK from Imperial to metric it wasn't uncommon to find bolts with metric size heads and Imperial thread sizes - that really caused confusion!

automat said:

In Canada we do have the metric system (officially the only legal measuring system) but our proximity to the US has us using both systems, which can be really confusing.

Click to expand...

It IS confusing. My old man uses Imperial gallons in his MPG calculations, so that can get confusing in conversation...since the rest of the North American world usually uses US Gallons, and the younger folks all use L/100km. I have to be fluent in all three units...lol. What a PITA.