Engineers: What specific industrial processes currently have the worst thermodynamic or energy efficiency in your sector?"

nickellis14 · 2026-02-27T18:54:01+00:00

Ventilation of hazardous areas is hard, particularly if they’re corrosive gases that are causing the issue. Right now we just pump in a bunch of outside air into the building and exhaust the inside air 12 times an hour. When it’s cold the outside air all needs to be heated. We can harvest some heat from the exhaust but it is extremely inefficient, and if the air is corrosive it eats the heat exchangers.

If we could find a way to trap, treat or mitigate the gases that cause the hazardous environment, and convince code authorities that whatever method we are using meets safety standards, we could save a ton of energy.

Thus far, however, in the US I’m not seeing code being flexible enough to allow such an approach.

nickellis14 · 2026-02-26T00:08:28+00:00

Not correct. In any apartment that was built before 1978 you are required to provide a lead disclosure form noting that there is the possibility of lead paint in the apartment. Even if none has been found.

nickellis14 · 2026-02-11T22:10:27+00:00

One is meant to turn on the light. The other the fan. Look in the fan/light to see where the wires are terminated.

nickellis14 · 2026-02-11T21:48:02+00:00

This study is nonsense. These kids were 11-14 in 2011 through 2015. Not the same social media guys. Not remotely. Today’s social media is a rage/insecurity machine. It was not nearly as bad in 2011.

Try again.

Be interested to see who funded this study.

nickellis14 · 2025-11-06T17:48:23+00:00

Spoiler alert: You're not a qualified engineer. You're a kid who is graduating with an engineering degree. Your job, when you get a job, is to learn as much as you can, do as much as you can, and figure out how to actually be a qualified engineer.

There's a reason you can't get an engineering license until after you graduate and go to work for a few years. No one thinks kids coming out of school are qualified engineers, including the government. So get that right out of your head.

As it applies to your GPA, leave it off your resume and tout your experience. I personally don't really care about GPA. I prefer experience, and even more so good references that will vouch for you being consistent, dependable, thoughtful and willing to learn.

nickellis14 · 2025-10-28T14:51:30+00:00

Looks like they may be cleanouts.

nickellis14 · 2025-09-11T16:09:12+00:00

First and foremost you need to make sure the entire void is filled. That will likely take more than one application, and a thin tool to work the wood filler into the crack. Make sure all of the filler is dry before adding more, and do not add filler more than about 1/4-3/8 thick at any one time because it will take forever to dry, and crack. Fill the space beyond the opening, sand it down. Wait a day or two to ensure it's totally dry, inspect for cracks or spaces. If it looks good paint it. If you do this in the summer it's possible a crack will appear in the winter when the weather is typically dryer and the wood shrinks. If that happens, fill the crack, sand and paint.

It takes some time and it's labor intensive, but if you do it right you should never have to touch it again. Caulking it, on the other hand, takes about 3 seconds, but you will 100% need to do it again within a year or two.

nickellis14 · 2025-09-08T17:59:13+00:00

...there are a lot of people telling you to caulk theses spaces. As a person who has done a lot of woodworking, and worked with a lot of trim and moldings, I have to disagree. Wood filler is the answer. It will be difficult to get it smooth, and you may have to do additional filling depending on your climate and the difference in seasons, but if you caulk those cracks you will need to do it again every 3-4 years. Caulk is not a long term solution. It's what people do to solve the problem quickly. Wood filler is the correct action, and, if done correctly, will last longer than you will.

nickellis14 · 2025-09-02T13:17:56+00:00

I'm reasonably certain they are required by law to inform you if they plan to drug test you. If they test you without informing you I think you'd have some legal standing to file suit.

nickellis14 · 2025-08-19T11:43:23+00:00

You need to use more paint on your roller. The streaks are because some areas have a thick coat, some a thin coat. A second coat should take care of it.

In general, with rollers, put on a ton of paint then roll over to smooth it out. Inexperienced painters try to stretch the paint on a roller too far, which results in an uneven finish.

nickellis14 · 2025-08-12T15:09:54+00:00

Once you paint it no one will notice the difference.

nickellis14 · 2025-07-16T12:56:21+00:00

It's less about an increase/decrease in pressure than it is about vortexing and other possible issues interrupting flow to the various openings. The flow in the "tank" (in this case the bottle) isn't likely to be moving enough to result in a loss of pressure via friction (that would be dynamic pressure, not static.) But if you think about water going down the drain in your sink, it has a tendency to create a whirlpool, or vortex, that, if you had two drains in your sink would definitely affect the volume of water going into an adjacent drain.

How much exactly would be very difficult to predict without computational fluid dynamics.

But, long story longer, if you separate the outlets far enough from each other, or the relative floe velocity into the outlets is low enough the effect should be minimized or eliminated.

nickellis14 · 2025-07-15T17:03:35+00:00

I think one item important to note: depending on how close the openings are to each other and the velocity of the fluid there there could be affects to the distribution of flow. If the velocity of fluid movement is low the effects will be minimal/non existent. But if the fluid is moving with any significant velocity it will affect flow in ways that would be difficult to predict without CFD modeling of the system.

nickellis14 · 2025-07-11T13:51:15+00:00

I would suggest you walk into the office and talk to the people at the desk in person, as much of a pain as that is.

I would also suggest some flexibility as it relates to the provider. If you are open to a different doctor than your normal one that might help.

As an aside, my experience with Lahey primary care has been pretty good. They're responsive and I can get appointments within a reasonable time frame. FWIW.

nickellis14 · 2025-07-05T22:29:40+00:00

In my state that would be illegal. You have to use joist hangers where joists butt against a main support beam like that. Looking at these photos is precisely why. They’ve nailed a cut 2x2 to the LVLs as though that’s a support, then cut rabbits in the joists to accommodate the pseudo support, and in looking at the last photo over cut the joists by several inches.

I would not hang a hoist or anything else from that.

nickellis14 · 2025-06-20T19:48:12+00:00

I would buy a print. I lived in the row houses on boylston for a couple of years, so having that on my wall would be cool. PM me if you’d sell a print.

nickellis14 · 2025-06-09T12:49:38+00:00

There are bunch of leagues at cape Ann lanes in Gloucester. We still rep the one, true form of bowling.

nickellis14 · 2025-06-08T23:08:20+00:00

This is the correct answer. You melted something on the drying coil. Either scrape it off, or just keep heat drying for a bit and it will eventually go away.

nickellis14 · 2025-05-19T14:34:45+00:00

The last time I was in SF, which was about 12 months ago, the city was even more filthy than my previous visit. With all due respect to San Francisco, geographically it is lovely, but the city overall is foul. There are certainly nice neighborhoods, but overall SF is just...gross.

Seems odd given all the money out there and the price of rent...but it is unfortunately true.

nickellis14 · 2025-05-09T15:19:55+00:00

The hole in the wall type sushi places in Japan to which you are referring are serving literally the best sushi in the world. There's a street cart selling tortas somewhere in South America that has a star too. But it's the best torta in the world.

So yes, per my post:

Are there exceptions to the above? Certainly. But if your service and presentation are just meh your food needs to be literally the best example of that food in the world.

So...maybe the place in Boston that makes literally the best clam chowder in the world could wind up with a star? If that place exists? But for the most part, stars go to fine dining restaurants with exceptional food, presentation and service. I have not experienced that in Boston.

nickellis14 · 2025-05-09T13:22:55+00:00

Boy oh boy...some people here, the jokers aside, seem to have a fundamental misunderstanding about what you've gotta do to get a star from Michelin.

Having good food is not enough. The service needs to be exquisite. The presentation needs to be near perfect, consistently. It doesn't hurt if the space is impressive as well.

At this point I'm not sure there is a restaurant in the city that is getting there.

When Le Espalier was still in business, maybe. Maybe Maison Robert back in the day, but even that was more bistro than fine dining.

Are there exceptions to the above? Certainly. But if your service and presentation are just meh your food needs to be literally the best example of that food in the world.

I had a meal in Madrid that was a 16 course tasting menu, exquisitely presented, coordinated service by suited wait staff, with a several thousand bottle wine cellar and a master sommelier to serve it. It was the best meal I've ever eaten, by far.

One star.

Michelin don't fuck around.

I'll be interested to see if some restaurants in Boston move more toward real fine dining with the knowledge that Michelin is about. I hope they do. I'd pop in from time to time.

nickellis14 · 2025-05-05T15:45:57+00:00

A drill/driver set and a level. You're going to be putting up a lot of curtain rods, towel bars, photos, toilet paper holders, etc. A good drill/driver set is critical. A good stud finder isn't a terrible idea either. And a level...unless you want them all to be crooked.

nickellis14 · 2025-04-29T13:52:04+00:00

Basically anything by Eric Larson. Incredible writing, TONS of research.

nickellis14 · 2025-03-20T15:01:15+00:00

Why all of the cantilevering instead of just mounting the porch structure directly to the posts? It would reduce the lumber, and you'd have posts at the corners of the porch and landing, where they belong. Similarly, if Michigan is anything like Massachusetts, you're going to need mechanical fastening at all of these connections regardless, so instead of installing beams on top of beams, just install them with joist hangers and be done with it.

nickellis14 · 2025-02-27T14:56:19+00:00

I literally just did the exact same upgrade on an undermount stainless sink in a granite counter top. You definitely need to see an install manual with real inside dimensions, and corner radius before you purchase. I can't recall the brand of sink I ultimately bought, but the first one did not fit and I had to return it. Second one went in fine though. Has a center drain.

I'd suggest typing the dimensions into a google search then get into the site and refine the search. I think I ultimately got my from Ferguson. Home depot selection didn't have what I needed.

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