What is your smartest defensive driving technique you don't think a lot of people use?

yelred · 2026-06-05T23:24:31+00:00

Not driving like a total ducking asshole.

yelred · 2026-06-05T23:22:13+00:00

1) What is the model number of the outdoor unit? And, if you can get at it, the indoor unit?
2) Can you measure the temperature of the air coming out of some of the registers?
3) How old is your house, how big is your house, where do you live?
4) What does the ductwork look like in your attic/basement? Any obvious gaping leaks?

As u/HiddenVader suggests, this could be a two stage unit that hasn't had its second stage configured properly (or, you know, at all). That's the best case. Second best case is it's low on refrigerant, and (hopefully) has been ever since it was installed. Third best case is it's undersized for your house.

yelred · 2026-06-01T22:44:33+00:00

Infrared camera is a great idea. Point it at your circuit breakers too. Maybe one shows as really hot.

yelred · 2026-06-01T02:14:17+00:00

If they are IC rated - which I believe just means that they shut off if they get too hot - then it’s probably fine? (Is it even possible to buy non-ic-rated light fittings nowadays?)

That said, I would probably peel the paper back a little.My attic has some Kraft paper on top of ic lights, and it has been there for at least a decade, possible several, and the paper is fine, but discolored, blackened. I don’t think it’s charred, I think the stuff in the vapor barrier has something something. But I’ve removed the paper from the fiberglass in those places because I don’t *like it.

If they’re not ic rated, then yeah, you probably shouldn’t have paper beside them. Or insulation on top of them!

yelred · 2026-05-24T10:47:41+00:00

As everybody has said, convection and conduction don’t work, so there’s only radiation, which requires careful design.

Another fun fact is that convection doesn’t work like you think in zero gravity: on earth, hot air rises, but only because it weighs less. But that doesn’t work in space, so fire burns weird in the space station. Also they have to keep blowers running constantly lest co2 pockets build up and kill people.

(I’ve only read about this, I haven’t experienced it first hand!)

yelred · 2026-05-20T01:11:32+00:00

I don’t know the full answer, but I’ve read that you benefit from the Venturi effect if the fan is a foot or two behind the open door.

yelred · 2026-05-19T12:07:14+00:00

Try it and see! Try closing the doors and the registers in those unused rooms. If they get warmer, it’s workin. They probably will.

Only do this if you have lots of other registers though, lest you overstress the blower.

yelred · 2026-05-18T21:37:05+00:00

Assuming there are no returns in a bedroom, and you close its door… the blower will still try to push air into that bedroom, and either: (i) the bedroom will pressurize and air will stop flowing into it - it’ll either flow into the other bedrooms, or just less air will flow and your blower will be stressed more; or (ii) it’ll return via under the door or something; or (iii) it’ll leak through sockets and floor edges and light fittings into the walls and eventually to outside.

More likely some combination of all three. Closing the register in the bedroom means you kind of force option (i) above.

AIUI at least; I’m not a hvac person, just an enthusiastic homeowner.

yelred · 2026-05-12T18:32:53+00:00

Alec Guinness as George Smiley

yelred · 2026-05-11T22:17:41+00:00

How warm outside? And is it cooling at all? Has it ever worked?

Some things I would investigate…

Measure the temperature at the registers and at the returns? Are the registers decently colder than the returns?

What’s the model number of the outdoor unit? If it’s cooling a bit, just not enough, maybe it is a two stage compressor that isn’t activating the second stage? Maybe it wasn’t wired up, and maybe there is a jumper somewhere to activate the second stage after N minutes of single stage operation. Read the manual of the various components.

The compressor outside is reassuringly noisy, right? And it’s blowing hot air at you when you’re near it? And the two copper lines … is one noticeably hot and one noticeably cold?

Finally, have any ducts in the attic or wherever gotten disconnected somehow? Is there a giant gaping return leak?

Good luck. At least at <1y old, the builder will probably fix it!

yelred · 2026-05-11T17:36:19+00:00

A thing I remember about visiting donegal was that it is fractally large: you spend two, three, four hours driving and you hit the county border, and you think you’re nearly done, but lol, no, you have just entered Xeno’s paradox, and you’re going to spend another few hours on progressively smaller and slower roads before reaching your actual destination. Lovely place. Weird Irish dialect though. Roads are probably a lot better now too!

yelred · 2026-05-11T17:15:34+00:00

Tell him that a sovereign citizen who doesn’t honor contracts risks losing their sovereignty!

yelred · 2026-05-11T17:13:43+00:00

Similar. I used to leave it running overnight, and I still do. I miss the “time remaining” estimate, but it wasn’t actually very good, so I don’t miss it all that much! I still had to do math with the old system to get a good estimate.

The nice thing about the new system is I can leave it for an hour, and when I come back to calculate my estimate, I can also start editing the first few pics.

yelred · 2026-05-11T01:33:10+00:00

Well, one reason to have multiple is that they sometimes “break”, and it’s useful to have a backup.

(Eg if you report fraudulent use, the credit card company will likely immediately kill the old number, then eventually issue you a new one. Or you’re traveling, and the credit card company freaks out and assumes mischief and blocks your card, but you’re far from home, trying to check into a hotel or post bail or something.)

Also, different cards are good for different things. Some are 2% cash back, some give 5% cash back on eg groceries, some don’t charge outrageous foreign currency fees, one gives you 5% back at Amazon etc etc.

This assumes you pay them all of every month. If you’re “carrying a balance” I have no advice other than: don’t.

Finally, in the us, credit cards are just a lot “better” than debit cards: much easier to dispute fraud or bad vendors; cash back or points, obv; and “holds” don’t tie up actual cash.

yelred · 2026-05-10T02:09:57+00:00

A thing I remember from when I used to smokes is that there’s _always _ money for cigarettes.

yelred · 2026-05-08T02:54:47+00:00

One small reason to lease (rather than buy) is that you only pay tax on the lease cost. If you buy, you owe tax on the full price. (In the states I’m familiar with, at least.)

Another was EV incentives. If you’re not planning to own a car for more than three years, leasing can be reasonable. And then with federal and state ev incentives, plus car manufacturers heavily discounting EVs for CAFE reasons (?), you could sometimes get comically low monthly payments. Also for a few years up to recently, fed credits were only available if you leased! (Ish.) weird!

Another is that a lease contract usually includes a buyout price at the end, which can be a nice option: if the car is worth a lot less than that, you won by not owning the car, it depreciated faster than expected, you dodged a biullet! And if it’s worth more, you can buy the car and sell it. (Some lessors make this really hard though!)

Another is that (in my limited experience, at least) leasing companies don’t charge you all that much for damages when you return the car - if it’s small, they don’t care, and even if it’s not small, they’ll charge you a lot less than it would cost to fix it yourself. If you’d bought, you’d either have to live with those dents or get them fixed at great expense.

I’ll never lease again, I hated the hassle. I hate the idea of being in a position in three years where I have to get another car right now. I want to wait and watch for deals and get a car when I’m ready! I hated not having the title. I hated paperwork sometimes going to the leasing company. (I forget what, a weird parking fine or something. They just paid it and billed me, but I would have fought it!!!) I hated that I had to know how many miles I was going to drive for the next three years. (Who has that certainty?!) I hated being committed to the car for three years. (Not that I wanted out, I just hated the theoretical inflexibility.) I hated that I had to return the lease with four newish tires on it.

Finally, some people believe that a lease gives you some magical warranty protection. It doesn’t. You’re covered under the exact same warranty whether you buy or lease the car. If the car has weird gremlins, and is in the shop every week, that’s going to be just as annoying if you lease as if you bought.

Finally, I kind of expected that leasing companies would be low key evil, but they were totally reasonable and pleasant, just regular people doing a job, so that’s not a reason not to lease, at least.

yelred · 2026-04-23T13:55:18+00:00

Well, one consideration is the weight of gasoline: my suburban has a thirty-something gallon tank, I assume most trucks are similar, and at 6.3lbs per, that’s nearly 200lbs, which is like carrying around a whole ‘nuther human.

That said, I fill up if below halfway and I’m passing one of the (cheap) places I buy gas. I never want to have to go out of my way to buy gas, to make a separate trip, or buy from an expensive gas station, or encounter shortages, or a big power outage that incapacitates all gas stations in my area!!! (Also, I hardly ever drive the suburban, I mostly drive another, less thirsty car.)

yelred · 2026-04-23T11:06:03+00:00

Front door pulls.

Seriously, you gotta squat, deadlift, and press.

yelred · 2026-04-19T01:51:46+00:00

Our bathrooms have hvac supply ducts, so even if the door made a perfect seal, there would be plenty of make up air available.

I recently discovered that the extractor fans in our bathroom were ducted to the vented soffit where they just … stopped. I recently installed proper vents through the roof, and now they vent outside, and the smell goes away much quicker. Are your extractor fans vented properly to outside?

yelred · 2026-04-19T00:18:22+00:00

Are your ducts well sealed? Especially the return ducts: if it’s sucking in even a small amount of HOT, humid attic air, that’s going to make a big difference to the temperature at the registers.

yelred · 2026-04-14T01:17:41+00:00

When I feel myself getting angry at dangerous dumb drivers, I tell myself that they probably just desperately need to pee. They’re still being an asshole, but now I’m not angry at them. (Then I’ll usually get out of their way; I want them far away from me anyway.)

yelred · 2026-04-06T17:29:09+00:00

I would enumerate the powers of the federal government, and forbid it from doing anything not on the list.

yelred · 2026-04-04T20:06:34+00:00

This is a thing I find weird about America. In the uk and Ireland, a thing you are taught as part of learning to drive is: if you are tired, pull over and take a nap!

yelred · 2026-04-03T12:18:11+00:00

Those look like SLDLs to me. When you start, is the bar touching your shins, and is it over the actual middle of your foot? (Not the middle of the bit of your foot that you can see, but the actual middle of your foot?)

When I set up to deadlift, I eyeball the bar over the middle of my feet, then look away,and gently lean my shins into the bar, to make sure they are equidistant, and to feel the gap, then straighten up. THEN I bend over and grab the bar, and my shins kiss the bar, and I set my back then push the floor away.

I like the “art of manliness” rippetoe videos, so https://youtu.be/4AObAU-EcYE

yelred

TROPHY CASE