Recent posts

#21

Off-Topic / Re: Minor things that bother y...

Last post by Max Rockatansky - Today at 12:26:35 PM

The more dry the air is the better a swamp cooler will work.  They work great out here in my semi-arid area but probably not so great out east.

#22

Off-Topic / Re: Minor things that bother y...

Last post by Scott5114 - Today at 12:14:14 PM

Have any of you ever used a portable evaporative cooler? Home Depot sells them and the prices are reasonable. Of course I know they would not make it feel like AC would. But I'm wondering whether they are a reasonable option to augment the various fans we have running. Evaporative cooling has traditionally been popular in the Southwest (the hotels at the Grand Canyon have it instead of AC, for example), and that's part of what gives me pause—I figure the results in the dry desert climate might well be very different from a humid July on the East Coast.

Evaporative cooling works because of a quirk of physics where water needs to have the energy of water at 212°F to exist as a vapor, but the air is sucking up liquid water at much lower temperatures, and basically sacrificing some of its own heat to do so. The faster the water evaporates, the greater the cooling effect.

(AC works by pulling the same trick mechanically, by forcing a fluid to repeatedly evaporate and condense  through pressure. By controlling on which side of a wall this happens, you can force the fluid to carry heat from cold areas and release it in hot areas. Run the same contraption in reverse and you have a heat pump.)

So you will not notice very much effect at all if you try to use one in a humid environment, because water evaporates much slower there. It may, in fact, make things worse because you're essentially running a humidifier. It works fine in the desert because you're basically raising the relative humidity from something like 5% to something more like 35%, which is still comfortable.

(Right after I moved to Las Vegas I spilled a little bit of a drink on the kitchen floor. The towels hadn't been unpacked yet, so I had to spend a few minutes rummaging through boxes to find them. By the time I found a towel and returned to the kitchen, I was quite surprised to find that there was nothing left to towel up.)

#23

Northeast / Re: PA Turnpike News

Last post by wildcat7176 - Today at 12:08:58 PM

I guess all new ramps they build on the turnpike won't have an official name anymore, especially since there will be no more toll plazas. They have never given the PA 29 interchange a name and it's been 15 years now, though I recall seeing a press release where they referred to it as the Malvern Interchange.

I always referred to it as the Devault interchange even in planning which goes back to the 1970s.

The area around PA 29 and the Turnpike ramp system straddles Devault's industrial corridor and isn't really in downtown Malvern. The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission never formally assigned a name, so local shorthand has filled the gap: some say Devault, some Malvern, and others just Route 29 Interchange or Exit 320.

If PA-29 was rebuilt between there and Phoenixville as was planned in the 1970s, it could logically be called the Phoenixville interchange.

Devault would have made the most sense, especially because the PTC already has the Devault Maintenance Station which I believe they recently rebuilt.

I really wonder how they would have rebuilt 29 in that area with the creek and the rugged terrain right around the roadway. Probably would have had to realign the route entirely, but overall it would have helped make a better and faster route from West Chester to Phoenixville.

#24

General Highway Talk / Re: Daily conversation: What ...

Last post by 1995hoo - Today at 11:53:15 AM

July 20:

Why do Interstate and US numbered routes use even numbers to denote east-west routes and odd numbers to denote north-south routes and not the other way around?

US history and Manifest Destiny involved westward expansion. So anyone who wanted to go north–south was "odd."

#25

General Highway Talk / Re: Daily conversation: What ...

Last post by jlam - Today at 11:26:37 AM

The average American is positively terrified of prime numbers. Sure, they can handle 15 minutes or so of driving on US 17 or I-89, but hours, or even days? Good heavens, no. Prime numbers are easily avoidable in the urban agglomerations to the east, but when road tripping west, there can often be no other choices. They can be heading down the same road for hours on end. Rather than risk motorists getting stuck on unsettling odd primes such as I-5 or US 67 whilst heading west, they made all E-W routes even. Now they can stick to good ol' I-10 or US 66.

Numbering the freeways heading north through California as I-5 and US 101 rather than nice round numbers like I-1 or I-9 and US 105 was a ruse by Big California to get people to take CA 1.

#26

Off-Topic / Re: Minor things that bother y...

Last post by JayhawkCO - Today at 11:16:52 AM

Have any of you ever used a portable evaporative cooler?

Not in my house, but this is a fairly common "accessory" in developing world hotel rooms. The place I've seen them most frequently honestly is in airport waiting areas in small airports.

#27

Off-Topic / Re: Minor things that bother y...

Last post by 1995hoo - Today at 10:52:39 AM

I've slept better than I thought I would the past two nights. That's not to say I've slept "well," of course. But I didn't have a horrible time of it (unlike my wife, who is a very light sleeper anyway).

Have any of you ever used a portable evaporative cooler? Home Depot sells them and the prices are reasonable. Of course I know they would not make it feel like AC would. But I'm wondering whether they are a reasonable option to augment the various fans we have running. Evaporative cooling has traditionally been popular in the Southwest (the hotels at the Grand Canyon have it instead of AC, for example), and that's part of what gives me pause—I figure the results in the dry desert climate might well be very different from a humid July on the East Coast.


Edited to add: I looked at the portable AC units where you run a tube to the window, but there's no realistic way to fit one in the master bedroom with the way we have the room set up. Hence why I'm long at other ideas (that might be cheaper, too).

#28

Great Lakes and Ohio Valley / Re: Wisconsin notes

Last post by SEWIGuy - Today at 10:30:24 AM

I-94 East/West is a far bigger problem than those two. It will be a long time before those have an increased capacity IMO.

#29

Off-Topic / Re: Random Thoughts

Last post by formulanone - Today at 10:30:21 AM

How Joe Namath still a viable spokesman considering his sports playing heyday was when my dad was in high school? 

1. He's never met a product he's not willing to hawk.
2. He's only hawking products meant for people from that generation.

Shaquille O'Neil will be filling that spot for the next thirty years, I presume. My kids aren't into basketball and TV but they know who he is because he hawks everything just about anywhere.

#30

General Highway Talk / Re: New book covering the firs...

Last post by Max Rockatansky - Today at 10:20:23 AM

I can't fathom the AASHTO database will last forever.

Boy, you are gonna love the fact that the wiki folks made their own copy of the whole damn thing.

https://wiki.aaroads.com/wiki/AARoads:AASHTO_minutes

Indeed, that is going to find a place in my bookmarks tab as soon as I get home.  Even still, I'll take the physical media backup.  I have a pretty large library of physical highway media at my house.