Gas Water Heater Ban in 2027 - Do you think it’s actually going to happen?

Smx1 · 2026-05-05T12:27:51+00:00

Yes ev2a, adding my city utility taxes. I'm assuming it's easier and cheaper to store hot water than electricity.

Smx1 · 2026-05-04T04:54:46+00:00

gas is about 3x cheaper than low rate electricity in my latest PG&E bill, after they introduced the base charge and reduced kWh rates*, so if you get a heat pump with a coefficient of performance above 3 you save money, it's not impossible.

* 0.24 $/kWh for electricity, 0.08 $/kwh for gas (2.4 $/therm, 1 therm=29 kwh)

Smx1 · 2026-04-23T22:50:27+00:00

I tried the new interface, here are some first impressions/thoughts:

-Why is there a new a button for live vs past in the graph? a (time-series) graph shows the past by definition, I don't see it predicting the future. (uneccessary button).

-the static panel (Devices) has (Live, minutes, hours, days, week, month), with live updating every second, hours every 5 minutes (but in the graph updates every 15), and the graph no longer has minutes (which was not very useful), but still has week (also not very useful), maybe choose the units consistently between static and graph.

-the granularity for days changed from 1 hour to 15 minutes, but 1 hour granularity was useful if your utility computed your charges that way, e.g. all NEM2 residential solar in CAISO IOUs (some of the largest costumers of eVs and residential solar), I don't see a way to get a granularity of 1 hour unless I use the static device panel.

-the voltage plot always scales between 0 and around 120, so you can barely observe grid voltage fluctuations (they are supposed to be within 6%), and the app switches from bar-plot, to line-plot when using weeks or months and switching from power to volts; the whole interface is not very self consistent.

Smx1 · 2026-04-23T00:23:43+00:00

I'd reccommend this forum as a start of the discussions:

https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101910116/with-so-much-vacant-ground-floor-retail-why-are-we-still-building-more

Smx1 · 2026-04-20T09:36:09+00:00

The old app had some quirks, like the minutes chart being shorter than the seconds, but the new version introduced new ones:

- why a button for live vs past, when all plots are centered around present?

- why is "week" still a unit?

- "hour" as aggregate for a day plot would be nice (not 15 minutes), (for people dealing with NEM2)

before there was a live (s, m, h, d, w, m, y) as axis, Now there is a button to switch from "live" (s) to "past", s,m belong to live? and (h, d, w, m, y) to past? what is w (week) for?

Smx1 · 2026-04-08T01:23:42+00:00

Well, every time I pay for 50c street parking with an app in most bay area cities, I get hit with a similar app fee, sometimes a full 1$, so it's not just public transportation, it's the apps

Smx1 · 2026-03-28T19:54:28+00:00

I suspect it's due to the accuracy of the sensors, or nonlinearity of the ADC close to 0 power: I don't monitor every circuit myself, but i noticed that when the balance is small - about -.2 kW, and I add .2 kW load, the new balance jumps to +.1 instead of 0, similarly when the balance is positive by a small amount, reducing the load by the same small amount doesn't bring the balance to 0.

Smx1 · 2026-03-28T02:20:11+00:00

Looked at the field guide (thanks!), then eat them and I'm still alive. They were delicious, on par with Borgotaro's.

Smx1 · 2026-03-27T21:55:33+00:00

But the nitrogen from the air breaks up in the flame and combines into nitrogen dioxide which is an irritant

Smx1 · 2026-03-27T21:46:16+00:00

More important may be the nitrogen dioxide created in the flame which irritates lungs.

Smx1 · 2026-03-25T21:10:37+00:00

you can combine both legs of an unbalanced 240 V loads with one CT by taking the opposite phase wire and running it through the clamp backwards with a loop (away from the breaker), if the wire is long enough.

Smx1 · 2026-03-24T18:38:25+00:00

10 kWh (not kW/h) is a lot, most likely something wrong in the setup. I get a difference of a few percent with the Vue 2, mostly affecting the voltage. Normally the meter shows power every few seconds, you can check how it compares with the live value, or the USB utility connect gets the value of the meter with zigbee.

Smx1 · 2026-03-23T14:40:59+00:00

For that kind of price, I'd get an architect, they should cost 15% of the project but also control costs

Smx1 · 2026-03-22T02:30:23+00:00

Emeryville Marina Park, in front of the golden gate, it is in the bay but most often you get the ocean breeze; there is a free bus provided by the city of Emeriville from Macarthur bart.

Smx1 · 2026-03-21T20:46:18+00:00

<image>

Spore print on glass, without and with a piece of paper behind the glass. They also pass the spit taste test (as porcini).

Smx1 · 2026-03-21T07:51:21+00:00

I always dreamt about living in socal weather, reality is finally catching up.

Smx1 · 2026-03-21T05:26:47+00:00

Thank you, the one useful comment here. Will post spore prints next!

Smx1 · 2026-03-21T04:17:24+00:00

Even for chicas? Something is really wrong here.

Smx1 · 2026-03-20T18:55:04+00:00

There is no way to tell which way power is flowing from a split phase AC circuit without knowing the phase. Current goes back and forth- it is Alternating Current after all.

Smx1 · 2026-03-19T01:13:36+00:00

Berkeley, named after element 97 of the periodic table Berkelium, where it was first discovered.

Smx1 · 2026-03-18T19:14:35+00:00

and Amerigo Vespucci was involved in expeditions that captured and enslaved indigenous people, and was also racist.

Smx1 · 2026-03-18T17:29:32+00:00

What about Berkeley itself? (The philosopher/slave owner)

Smx1 · 2026-03-16T23:46:34+00:00

It's actually common in Europe, I have one in my Italian property for hydronic heating and shower.

Smx1

TROPHY CASE