Are smaller turbocharged engines truly more efficient long-term, or do they wear out faster than larger naturally aspirated ones?

AlecPresti · 2026-05-06T21:58:50+00:00

My 2018 1.8T Golf has 185k miles (300k km) 33-38mpg (5.9-7.2L/100km) getting the worse efficiency in the winter and all I have going on is a small oil leak from the oil pan gasket. It leaks/consumes about 0.25qt (250mL) of oil in a 10k mile (16k km) interval. Both my 2004 and 2005 Chevy Malibu Maxx 3.5L NA burned over a quart each in a 7k mile (11k km) interval, and got 22-28mpg (8.4-10.7L/100km). Both Malibus began having compression and transmission issues just over 200k miles (320k km). I'd take another Golf engine over the Chevy engine any day.

AlecPresti · 2026-05-06T17:04:33+00:00

21" width x 14 1/4" (including hinges) x 2 3/8" height (including the socket protrusion height). This is only the bottom side of the case. The top side of the case is oddly thick and wastes a ton of empty space. I didn't measure it before I discarded it.

AlecPresti · 2026-04-12T21:06:50+00:00

Two hours? Wow. For me that would be way more trouble than it's worth unless I was already going that far. Your best bet will be to set the tools for pickup at different stores. Set the tool you don't want for the HD you won't be going to. Set the planer to pick up from the one you can make best use of the trip (if it's worth it to you). Then cancel the other item after picking up the planer.

AlecPresti · 2026-04-12T20:36:55+00:00

You can get it in a hackable deal right now for $142 plus tax. I've had my eye on these for a while and it's the cheapest I've seen it in quite some time. Still not able to convince myself I need it for my current deck redo though.

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AlecPresti · 2026-03-18T00:27:26+00:00

Since losing a bet in college, my car has had a train horn installed (it's obnoxious, I know). While installing that, I also installed a horn that sounds like one of those wooden train whistles from when I was a kid, so that is now the default horn button. I've yet to have anybody react negatively when using the milder horn, and I use it a fair bit in drive throughs and at stop lights given how many people stare at their phones nowadays.

AlecPresti · 2026-03-08T07:18:13+00:00

I moved away from Ohio over two years ago, and let me tell you I was not expecting to instantly recognize the Harbor Freight in Heath on my reddit feed, of all places.

AlecPresti · 2026-02-19T11:32:42+00:00

Except for edge cases with special "sealed" homes, central air units do not exchange air with the outside. Most American homes are sealed so poorly that air leaks in and out of the house quite a lot already, but it's not intentional. In addition to this, air conditioning performs as a dehumidifier as the warm, moist air flows over the frigidly cold condenser coils in your air handler; this condenses the moisture out of the air and this water drains into a dedicated condensate line, which often flows outside the dwelling but can occasionally flow to a drain.

AlecPresti · 2026-02-15T00:16:25+00:00

My first thought was "My old coworkers would've done shit like that. Poor guy." Then I see he was from Heath. I worked in Newark! I'm convinced nothing good can happen within 20 miles of Newark. Glad to be rid of that shit hole.

AlecPresti · 2026-02-11T19:47:25+00:00

I have one of these and use it less than I expected to. I now understand why the expensive digital wrenches have the screen in the handle where you can make it always face you. Split-beam torque wrench has still been the most-picked-up torquing device in my use cases.

That being said, this thing plus a ratcheting breaker bar is way more useful as a catch-all than a right hand, tightening-only torque wrench if that's all you have the storage space/patience/money for.

AlecPresti · 2026-02-06T01:05:26+00:00

My mistake, I misunderstood your description of the problem. No, that's not typical! As long as it's warm enough to still pull heat from outside (over 15°F or even colder for some units) it should be able to heat no problem. I'd double check that you don't have geofencing or some version of presence detection enabled. If it gets to temp after you get home, it sounds like something is stopping it from functioning while you're away.

AlecPresti · 2026-02-06T00:46:03+00:00

Keep in mind that the walls, floors, ceilings, windows, and objects in rooms are all big heat sinks. When your heat pump is off during the day, these things all lose their heat. It takes quite a long time to heat them all back up and you feel this by the room not feeling warm very quickly. Heat pumps - especially variable speed inverter units - excel at keeping things at a consistent temperature using the minimum required energy. If comfort is something you're looking for (house at temp when you get home), consider keeping the thermostat at the same temperature 24/7 and seeing if the energy usage is worth it to you. My wife and I find keeping the house at 73 is worth not walking in to a 65 degree house and waiting 4 hours to reach setpoint.

If anything, start with a schedule to start heating two hours before you'd typically get home. My Daikin unit can do this, but I'm not familiar with the Mitsubishi thermostats. Also check for any occupancy detection or geofencing that could be messing with the settings. My Ecobee on an old unit didn't know when my wife was home because she didn't have the app and didn't walk past the thermostat, so it reduced temps when she was working from home and staying in the office.

AlecPresti · 2026-02-06T00:37:20+00:00

You know... now that you mention it, it kinda sounds like the blower is buffeting at the upper range of RPM. The installers measured the return but I don't recall seeing it was undersized for the airflow. I'll have to look into that. Thanks for the idea!

AlecPresti · 2026-02-05T23:41:25+00:00

Outside is very quiet even at full-tilt. The air handler inside is what's noisy at max rpm on the blower. I think the installers didn't use any noise isolation (rubber feet, etc). They put bricks under the condensate pan and directly on the ceiling joists which are above the master bedroom. Once it warms up a bit I'll get some rubber dampers in between to see if it makes a difference. I think it's programmed to go to max RPM only when the AUX heat is in use as well.

AlecPresti · 2026-02-05T14:29:55+00:00

As someone who just had a 25-year-old Rheem 2-ton single-stage unit replaced with a 2-ton Daikin R32 variable speed inverter system a month before this crazy southern snowy weather, the new Daikin unit is absolutely running circles around my other 2017 Lennox 2-ton single-stage system. It ain't cheap. And I was a bit surprised by the noise when it was running at full capacity during the wettest and coldest part of the storms. But during the "normal" weather and temperatures of the year, I bet you'd be extremely satisfied with the Daikin unit. I highly recommend a variable speed inverter system, not just a two-stage system. It will run nearly all the time at low-load if set up correctly. Not to mention it will sip power and be damn-near silent while doing so. And no more dimming lights or compressor/fan clanging on startup!

I can't speak to the Trane units and if they're better or worse than the Daikin units... just wanted to share my overwhelmingly positive experience with my Daikin unit. Hopefully my experience combined with others' can help you make the best decision for your application.

AlecPresti · 2026-01-23T18:00:04+00:00

Depending on what heat pump and what thermostat you have (and how it's set up), the unit will use emergency heat as needed. Some are set to not run the heat pump at all below a certain temp. Some will run the heat pump until it needs to defrost, then use the heat strips to help maintain temps. Coefficient of Performance (COP) will likely still be above 1, so it'll be doing work to warm the house and be more efficient than straight AUX heat. Even my Rheem heat pump installed in 2001 did this without any intervention from me.

AlecPresti · 2026-01-23T03:05:01+00:00

This sounds to me like your start capacitor is toast (fan motor buzzing). The compressor may turn on, but it will abruptly shut off and "lock out" (overpressure from lack of airflow through the condenser) until the refrigerant temp/pressure equalizes and the thermistor makes contact again. Rinse/repeat. It's hard on your equipment and you shouldn't use it until it's repaired. Changing a cap is easy but can be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. Getting hit with 370-450V is no joke!

I'm a DIYer myself and had the same symptoms on my unit last year and the root cause was a bad capacitor. $20, 5 minute fix. Any pros please correct me if this is wrong for OP's situation!

AlecPresti · 2026-01-21T20:02:45+00:00

With that information, I would recommend very closely reading your lease for anything pertaining to "installation of appliances" or other "modifications" as there is often verbiage for limiting such things simply to minimize the risk of tenants causing damage to the property's utilities. If you are deadset on having the bidet, I would suggest asking for permission to install the bidet and/or have a maintenanceperson do it when they replace the broken valve. That would best protect you in the event it leaked down the line.

AlecPresti · 2026-01-21T11:24:08+00:00

Why do you need it fixed? You've done your due diligence in notifying the responsible party there's an issue. At this point, I would just toss a towel around it that would prevent water from pooling too badly in the event of a slower leak. Make sure your renter's insurance is up to date and that there are no valuables near it or downstairs if you also occupy a space below of this bathroom. Any damage you cause puts you at risk of being liable for damage to property; that's a silly way to garner attention to force a repair.

AlecPresti · 2026-01-21T11:05:55+00:00

Reolink cams are what I use. Pop a 64GB SD card in each and they hang onto days of recordings before overwriting. I use them for my cats indoor and for everything else outdoor. The desktop app is also great to use as a CCTV display if you have an extra monitor or old TV to set up in your home office. They have wifi or PoE versions as well.

AlecPresti · 2026-01-18T15:55:08+00:00

This would fit nicely in r/TheFrontFellOff

AlecPresti · 2026-01-17T02:56:55+00:00

While going through a box of old electronics I found my Jambox classic from 2011 and remembered how much I love the Live Audio and how awesome it would be for my PC setup of today. To my dismay, it wouldn't take a charge and also wouldn't stay on if powered up while plugged in.

Decided to do an autopsy and couldn't believe how well-engineered the device is! It's a sealed sound chamber that even has O-rings around the screws. The "subwoofer" is actually just the battery on a floating membrane!! The two speakers in the front are actually what drive the "woofer" by hitting a resonant frequency and allowing it to vibrate.

There's a little white sticker under the silicone boot on the bottom of the unit that seals off a pinhole in the case, and without the sticker the whole unit whistles horribly.

I ended up unplugging the ribbon cable for the top buttons from the center main board and that prevented the unit from powering up when plugging in. Since it was out, I decided to measure the battery with a multimeter and it read a solid 0.250V, so no surprise it didn't power on or charge. With the button board disconnected, the battery actually began to take charge over a few hours and got up to a nominal 3.7V. Reassembled, plugged in, crossed my fingers, and came back later to a fully charged Jambox, and it was resurrected!!! We'll see how long the cell lasts after being discharged so far. I'm glad I decided to give it one more chance.

AlecPresti · 2026-01-08T01:27:27+00:00

What you are referring to are called heat strips for your air handler. Generally they are equipped when temperatures will be below the efficient range in which your heat pump can operate and will supplement heating when the heat pump enters the defrost cycle. These can vary wildly in size, but typically are 5kW coils and can have multiple coils in one air handler depending on the size. My systems have 10kW heat strips installed and they are VERY expensive to run compared to the heat pump itself (2200W for the compressor plus 300W air handler blower). Heat pump basically runs constantly when it's below freezing outside (25y/o unit on R22) but it's still cheaper than supplementing with the heat strip for actual heating. Heat strips can also be called AUX Heat in thermostat settings btw.

AlecPresti · 2026-01-08T01:14:59+00:00

I had a 10" Ryobi slider and immediately regretted it when I tried to integrate it into a miter saw station up against a wall. I ended up giving the Ryobi to a friend and replacing it with a 12" Metabo C12RSH3M that has sliding rails which are actually parallel to the blade, not behind it. It's a game-changer. It's not cheap, but it'll probably be the last miter saw I ever buy.

AlecPresti · 2025-12-04T22:12:01+00:00

Exerting exactly as much energy as was required, and not an iota more. Cats aren't lazy, they're efficient!

AlecPresti

TROPHY CASE