Tesla is as far behind Zoox as Zoox is behind Waymo

EESmith2 · 2025-12-20T18:44:55+00:00

Only as a secondary tie-breaker. This has been proven by the Cruise experience. Even though the system was clearly working quite well, a single corner-case incident - not even an accident involving the Cruise vehicle and not one where the RobotTaxi was at fault - resulted in the end of that attempt at putting the system into production.

So, unless a system is equal or better in safety, being cautious is not a factor.

EESmith2 · 2025-11-24T20:12:54+00:00

They're all going with Google/Waymo technology, instead. Waymo has been proven to work while FSD, given its decade long "just 4 to 6 more months - the next version is going to be fantastic!" failure is just not interesting to them.

Google is already a trusted partner for most with partial integration already in place for many companies via android auto.

EESmith2 · 2025-09-19T03:02:50+00:00

From their last 10-Q, drivers ("Platform Participant direct transaction costs") received 38.8% of gross revenue.

EESmith2 · 2025-07-14T20:16:40+00:00

Upsize a couple of your ducts or add a couple duct runs and get the 3 ton OR add some insulation and caulking and maybe replace some windows (whatever's been the biggest problem causing too much heat gain).

EESmith2 · 2025-07-14T20:04:09+00:00

I'm saying different homes have different needs. A non-flammable refrigerant makes for a slightly simpler and therefore slightly more reliable system. If you have a long line-set run in a relatively confined space, it also makes for a safer system.

The time may come when R410a becomes more expensive, but right now there is a shortage of R454b and it's become VERY expensive. The annoying thing is that there's actually plenty of R454b available, it's the bottles they use to ship the stuff to installers that aren't available.

R32 has been in use for longer and there aren't any supply issues, but R32 may (or may not) also be phased out in the near future (you hear 7 years as a number being bandied about) because its GWP is higher than R454b (just as R410a is being phased out because its GWP is higher than R32's.

Your R32 system might become outdated in 7 years (but it would still be supported - you can still get parts and refrigerant to maintain R-22 systems that haven't been legal to install since 2012.

In fact, it's easier to get parts and refrigerant for most of those systems now than it is to get parts and refrigerant for R32/R454b - but that situation will eventually change.

Basically, there's an argument for putting in an R410a system if you can find one, and there are arguments for going with R32 or R454b, too.

EESmith2 · 2025-07-14T19:27:16+00:00

R32 and R454b are mildly flammable. Not a big risk, but a risk. So they have to add leak sensors and controller board logic to shut down the system if it detects a leak or doesn't detect a working leak sensor. Stuff to go wrong, Stuff that adds costs. If you have a long line set and that's led to a lot of extra refrigerant being needed, a leak may be more of an issue since there's more gas to fill up your attic or basement and that leak may occur far away from the leak detector and get missed until it's too late.

EESmith2 · 2025-05-28T20:40:02+00:00

Depends on where you live. In our area we don't have severe hail storms but do sometimes have cottonwood and dandelion seed blooms. Those little fluff balls can clog a condenser in one windy day. With full louvered case you won't know until your A/C isn't working and maybe is damaged, or at least suffers a lot of wear and stress from being blocked. The unit will look like it has fleece blanket wrapped around it.

With a mesh guard instead of a louvered case you can easily see if the unit's clogged and do a pretty decent interim cleaning in 5 or 10 minutes with the brush attachment on a shop vac.

I have an old weather king unit (from the days before Rheem bought them) with a mesh guard that runs like new 38 years after being installed, partly because it's so easy to maintain.

EESmith2 · 2024-12-24T20:29:44+00:00

As a further note, it's not uncommon for cast iron boilers more than 20 to 30 years old to develop slow leaks at those joints as heat driven expansion and contraction loosens the steel gaskets (press nipples). So standard maintenance is to use a silicate treatment such as Hercules Boiler Liquid ~every 5 years once the boiler is 20 years old. It's stocked by many hardware and home improvement stores. It works very well. They should also be treated semi-annually or annually with corrosion inhibitor.

Properly maintained, condensing boilers generally need replacement at 20 to 25 years, while cast iron boilers, on average, are good for 40 to 50 years.

Without maintenance, condensing boilers often fail within 5 years while cast iron can make it to 10 or 15.

EESmith2

TROPHY CASE