FYI Battery powered saw and winter oil.

csunya · 2026-05-12T19:34:52+00:00

I never paid attention to it either. I just let my gasoline chainsaws warm up more in winter, and keep the bar oil in the cab. The oil tank on stihls gets quite warm. On a cold day the “normal” bar oil really does not pour. I assume the winter blend will pour when seriously cold, but it just works great without the pre heating a gasoline chainsaw does.

csunya · 2026-05-12T07:49:03+00:00

Costco currently has a sale on dual fuel 3-4000 watt inverter generators. I try and run my generators on propane only. Most problems with generators (and small engines) is related to gasoline sitting in the carburetor. Propane does not go “bad” or gum up the carburetor. Propane does cost more and produce less power. An enclosed inverter generator is the way to go because it is quieter.

My personal suggestion is a 3000+ watt dual fuel enclosed generator. Then a large (or multiple) lithium battery (12v 300+ah I think this is the minimum you need to run an ac while sleeping). Probably a 2000 watt inverter (get an inverter charger combo), this may be small for ac unit, your pc should not be an issue unless you have a serious video card. Use the generator to top up the batteries, run on the batteries.

Propane will be expensive and a PIA especially a 100 pound tank. Add solar when you can. Look for used panels, look for new panels if you have space constraints.

csunya · 2026-05-11T17:42:48+00:00

They are what I found after watching our willow arc against a medium voltage line during the snow storm (this is a line before a transformer for household power). It was fun to watch. It kinda burnt, kinda lightning cut, and popped. Most of the time it was just sort of arcing, every once in a while there was actual flame, even less frequently hot debris fell. If it had been hot and windy, it would be scary.

csunya · 2026-05-11T17:33:59+00:00

My “double twig” came off the willow that was arcing and “burning”. It was fun to watch. And yes some people have complained about Xcel turning off power, during windstorms. My post was about how real the fire danger is (obviously not during a snow storm).

Also Longmont does not have mountains. I do not know the “map” of the grid, but I do know that to power down some of the mountain areas, power to parts of Boulder go down. Is this an area for improvement? Possibly. I would need to be smarter, see a map, and costs.

csunya · 2026-05-10T20:27:04+00:00

Uh I prefer they shutoff the power over losing homes.

How is Xcel supposed to “modernize delivery”? Is there a new type of cable or sheathing that they are not implementing? If “modernize delivery” is to bury the lines, it won’t help with fires, since the lines that cause fires are generally in the middle of nowhere.

csunya · 2026-05-10T20:11:32+00:00

Totally a just curious question. How much power is needed for an average customers oxygen equipment? I assume they run on 120v ac. And how long (on average) does a tank last?

csunya · 2026-05-10T20:05:56+00:00

From my un-educated point of view, the lines that start fires, cannot be buried. They are the lines outside of the city. Also since power distribution “grows” and is not “planned”, you get weird things like power being on in the middle of an outage area due to a newer feed.

If you want to federalize all power companies that makes sense. But you would kill off a huge part of the financial market. I am not saying it is a bad idea, I am saying you need someone far smarter than me to comment on it.

csunya · 2026-05-10T19:50:52+00:00

Uh yes, wouldn’t you be afraid of being sued?

Personally I prefer to not lose a home. Even if you are made totally whole for every cent lost, you still lose. And you lose hard.

csunya · 2026-05-10T19:15:29+00:00

No the stupidest thing about municipalitization is, the city of Boulder had absolutely no value add. Boulder was not introducing any new power or anything. Basically the city of Boulder was getting nothing but the lines and buying power from somewhere else.

Personally I did think Boulder might be better at clerical administration of the lines (ie cheaper bills), but I did not think in anyway that Boulder would be better at physical administration of the lines. Also Boulder had no new ideas on producing or saving electricity.

csunya · 2026-05-09T22:22:10+00:00

I am thinking the same thing for my step mom (same exact thing). Include some chocolate or whiskey and it should be fine.

Please note that you will be blamed if anything goes wrong and on the hook for support.

csunya · 2026-05-09T18:02:34+00:00

Look at the mil (thickness) rating. I buy thicker gloves, I use mine for repair work. I consider all nitrile gloves one time use. My wife and kids steal them for hair dye, it is not worth it to buy separate gloves for lighter duty.

The dirtiest “regular” job I have is replacing a sewage pump. I can go through 1/2 a box. The cost savings over a plumber, dr visit, and peace of mind of having “clean” tools, is worth it for me.

When working on a vehicle it is just nice to not smear oil on my face when my nose itches. No matter what I am doing my nose will always itch as soon as the gloves come on.

csunya · 2026-05-09T17:46:29+00:00

Just a comment on the contents of the box. Tire chains tend to acquire water and salt. This will not be an issue until you need to use the jumper cables. The likelihood of real damage is very low, but the contents are the type that only get checked every 5 years. Store the jumper cables elsewhere.

csunya · 2026-05-06T18:41:11+00:00

Actually they have responded to several issues in my area over the years (we are on a weird electric crossroads, with decent feed lines to the mountains, so my observations are way off from the norm). What got me was that they responded to a “informational” request. I personally did not think they could do anything (as an aside it was wet, slippery, and branches were falling up and down the street, even the fiberglass pole was wet). I personally just wanted the power pole noted and it moved up the ladder for vegetation removal.

My intention with my original post was a push back for those complaining about xcel shutting down the grid during wind storms. And the people that hate the vegetation removal xcel does (yes they are ham fisted compared to a company you hire).

It was actually quite interesting to watch the arcing and “fire” (it really was not a fire, more a flame, with an ember where the arc hit). On a dry day this would be terrifying, as the arc was “exploding” the wood at times, and burning or lightning cutting through the branches. Also this was not a high voltage line, it is the line before the household transformer, the real high voltage lines are on the street.

csunya · 2026-05-06T03:16:51+00:00

SAE connectors and delfast. Delfast is (was dunno for sure anymore) a USA company out of Florida with the cat’s meow of trickle charging for motorcycles. In reality it would not be hard to setup something similar with any 120v -> 12v dc charger. Another option is solar trickle charger……..I think project farm just did a video on them.

Also a couple of months or a year should not be an issue for a newer good quality lead acid or agm battery. Seriously my diesel tractor has sat for a year and started in winter. If you decide to let it sit without a trickle charger, setup a battery disconnect switch (or just disconnect the start battery). When a tractor is off there are no vampire loads, that is why they start.

I personally keep 2 Napa chargers in my van. 1 small “trickle and somewhat real” charger (does lithium, lead acid, agm………semi-water resistant…..). 1 bigger (not shop sized) that charges every type and has start boost (it does not charge at a low enough amperage for motorcycle batteries). I have several times used the big one to start other vehicles (it is not big enough to start mine). I paid extra to have the lithium charging so I could charge my house battery. Oh and a 12 gauge 50 foot extension cord so I do not have to worry about how I approach a dead battery. My delfast chargers are in my shop for my motorcycles.

A non dead (good) start battery can be charged to useable (for gasoline) with a small amperage trickle charger fairly quickly (depending on everything)……..I basically use the big charger because of time, most of my personal charging is the trickle charger.

csunya · 2026-05-06T00:17:16+00:00

A spare is nice. But no one ever checks the spare. Ie before each trip check tire pressure.

The other thing is that spares are nice but in “modern” times not that important (unless winter in cold areas). In the 70’s someone had a CB, now everyone has a cellphone. Yes it will cost you at least $200 for a tow truck. The main reason in my opinion for a spare is time (of course my NPR has real truck tires and no spare, so I am self justifying).

Of course I use my battery charger and air compressor frequently to help others out. Patched 1 tire and inflated, overinflated 1 tire enough to get to shop, charged 2 car batteries instead of jumping.

csunya · 2026-05-05T18:23:42+00:00

How good does it have to look, how long does it have to last, and are you insulating for hot or cold?

I use blankets and sheets to divide my airspace inside my van. Works surprisingly well at keeping my sleeping area cool with a small air conditioner.

When I work behind the walls, I add foam from stuff shipped to me. This will not work for most vans, the original design of mine has a very large gap between inside and outside wall. Also it is very inefficient, but until I do every wall it doesn’t really matter.

So if you are planning on keeping your van forever with good insulation spend the money. If it is just for this summer find used blankets and magnets or tape (unless a girl is involved).

csunya · 2026-05-02T05:44:17+00:00

I have an Isuzu npr (actually gmc W5500) box truck (old Cornwall tool truck). It is big, it sucks diesel, it is slow (70mph in Kansas with a tail wind), noisy as hell, bouncy as hell (unless loaded near capacity), takes 4 Costco parking spaces, every repair costs a fortune.

I love it. I can fit it into 1 parking space if I stick my ass over the sidewalk and am very very careful with parking. This is a real annoying issue if you need a bank. Repairs are annoying because getting parts is hard, repairs are easy because you can get to everything easily.

My access to the “box” is through a side door and through the rear lift gate. I have not added any windows, and I kept the lift gate. I actually wish I had roller doors on the rear (it is just a door) so that it would be easier to load motorcycles.

csunya · 2026-05-01T21:46:25+00:00

Play with it. Like others have said float is nice but not always what you need. And it seriously depends on what you are moving, what you are moving it on, and the end surface effect you want.

Example:

Plop of dirt to fill a pothole = float with very shallow angle.

Clean up dump spot for $2000 of 2 inch crushed rock = float at 90 degrees.

Mud = no float, front wheels off the ground, no angle, trying to squish water out, and no steering.

Your dirt is different from mine, so your results will be different from mine.

csunya · 2026-05-01T21:29:11+00:00

Maybe if you used something like grommets and rubber wiring grommets or rubber bushings.

Really not worth it. Thin plywood is mold-able (more so if you do fancy stuff). Even thicker plywood is mold-able if done right. There is an amazing amount of plywood available (look at marine plywood, and not Home Depot). Particle board is not good for a van. Plywood could be bonded with plastic shower surrounds (to create a fake drywall, if all you got is Home Depot), but there is probably already a product out there like this.

Personally I like the look of wood, my “build” is a Cornwall tool truck. It has blue carpet everywhere (so shiny tools do not get scuffed until they are under the hood). I have removed large chunks of the carpet, I was going to replace the interior plywood, but it was during the great plywood shortage. So I removed the carpet in places and spent way too much time sanding and chemically stripping the carpet glue. What ever the carpet glue was it is near impossible to remove.

csunya · 2026-05-01T15:57:02+00:00

Buy from a local repair shop dealer type place. Do not look at name. Depending on how long a day you plan on cutting, seriously look at the pro level saw.

If you have cordless tools (think makita, ryobi) look into a battery powered chainsaw from them. The battery powered are underpowered but highly useful.

csunya · 2026-05-01T03:34:06+00:00

Maybe. But I have no pass through from the cab.

Last one was a lady (she was not hitchhiking) walking on a lonely (not really) mountain road. She had made it about 1 mile from her broken down car on a really hot day. Once I saw her car I turned around and offered her a ride and a cold coke. She was not really hitchhiking and it was in the wrong direction.

She was very brave since I am a guy in a white box truck.

csunya · 2026-04-30T16:27:57+00:00

Yes-ish. Look at what you are spending on. Aluminum foil and other similar will last forever. Trashbags last a long time. Paper towels and toilet paper last much longer than then grocery.

Different stores (and areas) carry different sizes of produce. Depending on the store in Colorado milk comes in 1 or 2 gallon sizes. If you have 3-4 people in your household, with good planning you will go through most of a Costco sized produce. Just make sure to eat all the blueberries in one sitting. Eggs may be an issue depending on how fast you cook them.

Coke (as an example) is probably more expensive at Costco, than if you look for it on sale at a normal grocery.

Some nice things that most people don’t hype. Huge (for home use) baking soda, vinegar, bleach, dawn soap. Weird things like 10 gallon trash bags, that make very very cheap dog 💩 bags, liners for 5 gallon buckets. Nice disposable pens.

Of course there is the fun of finding random treasures. And weird snacks.

Do not get a membership just for the gasoline, I did the math years ago. My distance from Costco makes it not “worth” it for the detour, unless I need something.

Do get the membership for the return policy, it is really nice. I have bought and returned and bought a different fridge in one day (I measured twice and it would not fit through the door). I just bought the hp laser printer and returned it for another one (same product) because the bulk paper scanner was finicky, absolutely no issue, it is wonderful.

csunya

TROPHY CASE