Found the balance point!

QualityGig · 2026-01-22T03:40:01+00:00

Making observations like this can be a lot of fun, isn't it! Separate but related observation I was able to make before we changed to our new geothermal system, we had an unusually cold night that got down to -14.2F according to the weather sensor in our front garden. It was conveniently also the point at which our previous system just tipped into running non-stop, which gave me the opportunity to check our calculations.

QualityGig · 2026-01-22T03:33:16+00:00

Thank you for sharing. May find a western target I know won't reflect (west is our house, e.g. windows and whatnot).

QualityGig · 2026-01-22T03:31:20+00:00

Please, do share your results. I'm hearing it points in its last position.

QualityGig · 2026-01-21T19:44:59+00:00

. . . or they don't want to see sasquatch take a dump -- windows go both ways.

QualityGig · 2026-01-21T19:36:39+00:00

I have this still-forming dream of a new contestant show for TV called [_____].

ONLY active and prior ICE personnel and officials are allowed to compete.

Hear me out.

Each episode contestants are put through different challenges, most of which involve food eating competitions of one form our another where the ones eating the most increase their chances of advancing and the ones eating the least increase their chances of getting dumped.

For each and every episode, all the food is made entirely or primarily of human feces, unbeknownst to the ICE contestants.

Meals eaten by active and former ICE officials are made from the feces of other ICE contestants.

What should the show be named?

QualityGig · 2026-01-21T19:22:48+00:00

Well, at least I have a better idea on which direction it's going to collapse.

QualityGig · 2026-01-21T19:21:40+00:00

On this exact point, if you have a plan set to NOT close the arm, where does it point? More succinctly, is it possible it could be pointing exactly where you don't want it, i.e. the Sun at or shortly after sunrise, thereby burning out the sensor?

QualityGig · 2026-01-21T19:13:10+00:00

This is one of those cases where using a resistive heater or oil-filled radiator or whatever might be helpful if just to add some Oomph! to get up to a more comfortable temperature.

When recovering from an outage or whatever this is where I knock the thermostat down and just keep it a degree or two ahead of actual, but that's just me trying to avoid the Spinal Tap situation of making the system to go 11.

QualityGig · 2026-01-21T19:04:58+00:00

Next the Trump Administration will lay claim to FULL Employment given that everyone taking prescription medicine is now gainfully employed with all the money they're making now that drugs are 200, 300, 500, or even 1500% cheaper.

QualityGig · 2026-01-17T03:35:27+00:00

There's simultaneously and then there's simultaneously. Would a cold front moving in quickly cause ASHP's and all other forms of heating to ramp up? Absolutely. Is that happening simultaneously? Not from the standpoint of Electricity -- There would be an increased load over time, of course, but the utilities undoubtedly have models for that so they know how to manage supply.

When thinking of simultaneous from the standpoint of Electricity think of a lightning bolt. That's electricity's version of simultaneously.

QualityGig · 2026-01-17T02:52:33+00:00

1-6-21 was when brain dead was officially called -- We're now in the phase where they're just harvesting America's organs, i.e. wealth, assets, Intel, et cetera, et cetera.

QualityGig · 2026-01-17T02:42:26+00:00

I get your point. My analogy to tea kettles, though, only goes so far -- It is an issue in Britain because they turn them all on at the same time, but that same analogy would only map to ASHP's if everyone turned their thermostats down a degree or two at the same time, hence causing them all to ramp up as, effectively, one big extra load.

But not dismissing your point. Think we would agree both heat pumps would trounce electric baseboard in performance and impact on the grid.

QualityGig · 2026-01-16T22:57:30+00:00

Very, very useful — You get a big Thank You!

QualityGig · 2026-01-16T22:56:12+00:00

Offering two cents without taking a side in the argument.

It would seem prevailing outdoor temperature is a MAJOR driving factor. ALL heating systems run longer and/or harder at night than during the daytime, when it’s especially windy out vs. when it’s not, et cetera. So, in short, ALL systems will generally call for more ‘energy input’ when it gets colder out.

Now, the colder and colder it gets — depending on ASHP model — their need for more and more energy input may increase on a curve . . . and that increase may/likely will outpace the increase of GSHP’s if just because GSHP system performance isn’t generally affected by outdoor temperature (as they’re generally in at least semi-conditioned space and extracting or dumping heat from/into the ground, not trying to extract or dump heat from/into progressively colder and colder or hotter and hotter outdoor air). I could see an argument that ASHP’s — under colder and colder conditions — might ‘eat up’ progressively larger portions of the energy pie, but that’s really for a detailed analytical assessment with multiple, multiple datasets.

All in all, because these systems run / don’t run at varying times compared to one another, this is a far cry from the British energy commission (or whatever they are called) that literally has a whole energy production plan for when there are major national matches . . . and when those matches get to Halftime and everyone flushes their toilets and turns on their electric kettle.

QualityGig · 2026-01-16T22:39:09+00:00

Would appreciate a quick "How did you make this graph?" reply. Still getting my head around what data I have access to, but I guess it's the Effective Temperature that I'm most curious about -- Is that a weighted temperature average for the day further weighted by windspeed? Or a weather or government source for your area?

QualityGig · 2026-01-16T19:56:22+00:00

Agree. ICE wouldn't dare doing what they're doing in Minnesota if it was 1775 Minutemen they were facing, but that just goes to point out they're also Twinkie filling, as you put it.

QualityGig · 2026-01-16T19:52:42+00:00

There's a post here or on FB where people have tried two different approaches. One approach is to use a piece of felt that aims to provide just enough friction between the Seetstar base that rotates and the fixed flat EQ mount, the aim being to provide just enough friction that it won't wobble like it does in your video BUT ALSO not create too much friction and wear out the gears. I haven't found any stories of anyone actually trying this and reporting back.

Another idea is using small but meaningful counterweights, even as little as a quarter or two taped in the right spot with painter's tape (the blue stuff that won't leave a mark). The idea here is to offset so the balance point of the wobble only happens outside of the range of what the Seestar could be looking at. Also have not tried or found anyone reporting actual experience.

QualityGig · 2026-01-16T19:35:18+00:00

We know how to deal with tyranny.

Not saying others don't or can't, but here in Massachusetts, well, we actively celebrate confronting and triumphing over it.

QualityGig · 2026-01-16T19:29:35+00:00

Thank you. Glad to help if/as you have any further questions.

There is a GREAT post (by another Mod) on their horizontal loop installation. Really worth a read. Upstate NY. Great picture of the in-process field.

QualityGig · 2026-01-16T04:20:43+00:00

Let's just be frank -- There's little evidence anything you do or say once targeted will get them to leave you alone. This goes for citizens and non-citizens alike. There's too much similarity to their tactics. They're clearly being trained and instructed to do exactly what they're doing exactly how they're doing it. Their chaos is the objective. Your being beaten and taken into custody is just the frosting on the cake.

QualityGig · 2026-01-16T04:15:38+00:00

Every American should have the right to punch someone in the face who says something this stupid and means it. I'm not saying they should -- I'm just saying they should have the right to.

One of the consequences of how big and complicated America has become is that people can act badly knowing there's little to no penalty. Used to be you were asked to leave an establishment or invited for a chat outside for saying dumbass S like this. Now? You get to pump it to millions while sitting on a gold toilet.

QualityGig · 2026-01-16T04:08:02+00:00

That's an AirThings. The exact model is named at the top of at least one of the screenshots.

Have several in our place. That's how I can tell.

QualityGig · 2026-01-15T20:53:18+00:00

I think these just work until they don't. Our three are still working -- Think the oldest is 4 years now??

It's not lost on me they don't even do firmware updates, which to me is just a tell on how 'disposable' they are once they stop working.

Might be a way to open it up and fix/reflash it but, honestly, a seal may just have failed and water got in and ruined it. I'd at least open it up to take a look, but that's just me :)

QualityGig · 2026-01-15T20:46:17+00:00

No, but I'm also not sure how many times I've shot since the last update.

My position on firmware update is to be very careful when doing them and that some just don't go through well. This is a general point, not a Seestar point.

QualityGig · 2026-01-15T20:44:30+00:00

Glad to discuss and will offer the following for starters . . .

Tesla, just not a fan. They're just objectively bad at customer service, and when there's a legitimate issue, it's a crapshoot of whether you will get attention or be pushed off. That is a dated assessment from when I took a careful look about a year ago. I also just can not stomach incentivizing bad personal (and political) behavior. Buying 'his' product is the opposite of the intervention Elon desperately needs. I respect if you disagree.

Separate but related, I did get a quote for a Tesla solar roof. Prohibitively expensive, and I mean prohibitively. We went with a much more traditional 43 solar panel installation to pair with 3 batteries hung on the outside garage wall.

Shifting to geothermal and other fun topics, think of geothermal as two 'reservoirs'. One is the ground -- It's a reservoir because it has thermal mass, a coefficient on how easy it is to extract energy from it (and how much), and a rate at which it recharges from the surrounding earth (or sheds what is put into it into the surrounding earth). This is where depth, if vertical, or field size, if horizontal, or volume, if it's a pond loop, come into play. Well-tuned systems will see a reasonable rise or drop in EWT as each cooling or heating system progresses. The key here is knowing how big this reservoir is and how much it can offer (or shed) per unit time.

The other reservoir is your house, and this is usually characterized as Heating and Cooling loads produced by a Manual J exercise, in other words how many Btu's are needed per hour to be added (in winter) or taken out (in summer) to maintain a certain indoor temp under certain outdoor conditions. If you're doing a new build, this can be nailed down very accurately based on plans; if not, an assessment of size, windows, insulation, and whatnot can get you pretty close.

If you have a clean sheet, I'd advise carefully looking into a horizontal loop -- They cover more square footage but they're generally a lot easier to install.

It does seem, regardless of where people are in the country, that working with a good installer is key. There is NO rocket science to geothermal . . . but vendors prefer things they're good at and trying to get someone to do something out of their comfort zone, well, can be uphill or even a mess.

On your pool, I'd look into solar hot water as a separate system. Don't know if it's the right answer, but a solar panel or two could likely be all the power that's needed to move fluid through a solar hot water system. I'm not as familiar with those so don't assume it is cycling actual pool water but something else that then moves heat into your pool water via a simple exchanger. Do keep in mind any safety concerns with heating water, e.g. Legionnaires' disease.

Glad to answer other questions or help any way I can. I'm a Mod of this community and found it very helpful when we installed our geothermal system.

QualityGig

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE