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| Author |
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| 25 new of 365 responses total. |
keesan
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response 275 of 365:
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Nov 22 02:37 UTC 2000 |
Can someone explain why it is supposedly better to run electric space heaters
at 220 (assuming they have the insulation to handle it and are rated for it)
than at 110V? We have a collection of heaters of both sorts and plan to wire
the house to take either. It would cost about 5 years' worth of heat to buy
all new heaters as they will not be on much. (In theory one 1500 and one 750
watt heater will be adequate at zero degrees if we do not cook.)
If this is a long answer, I will switch the discussion to the dwellings conf.
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mdw
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response 276 of 365:
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Nov 22 03:16 UTC 2000 |
220 V takes half as much current as 110 V. That means half as much
copper can conduct the same power safely. That is the main difference
between the two. The line into your house is always 220 V and has a
certain fixed size. Any large current draw appliance will produce a
voltage drop on your line input. The drop will be greater if you have a
small feed into your house, and the drop will be twice as great for the
same power if the appliance is 110 V instead of 220 V. That drop may be
noticeable as a dimming in incadescent lights. In the case of inductive
loads (large electric motors) there can be more serious problems as
well, and if you had multiple large loads and were expecting to use all
of them, it would be worth spreading them evenly across the two legs --
this is easier if they're 220 V and inherently even.
You probably have at least 60A service, and more likely 100A. That's at
least 3 and as much as 30 times your projected peak load. The heaters
you're talking are not large and will certainly work on a regular
lighting circuit. I imagine you don't plan to make much other use of
your electrical input, and intend to be frugal. If you get annoyed by
flickering lights, you might want to try 220 V, otherwise, don't worry
about it. You might want to try for a larger feed to your house, and
put extra large wiring and extra outlets inside the house, if you want
to be kind to any future owners who might have a less eccentric
house-keeping style. An air conditioner seems like the most likely
"extra" for which you have probably not allowed.
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rcurl
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response 277 of 365:
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Nov 22 03:52 UTC 2000 |
Running large loads on 240 also reduces current on the neutral, which
also reduces ground currents, since the neutral is grounded at each
site.
You would be able to run only *one* 1500 watt heater on an ordinary 14A
120V circuit - and not much else. That kind of load should go on appliance
(20A) circuits anyway. Even better, if on 240V circuits, you can have a
couple on the same circuit.
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keesan
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response 278 of 365:
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Nov 22 04:06 UTC 2000 |
We have two 100 amp circuits, because if we have HVAC on a separate circuit
the power company will give us a reduced rate (they can switch it off for 2
minutes at a time by radio). The heating circuit will have heaters and the
central dehumidifier (which in the summer will function to dehumidify and at
the same time somewhat cool the air). I doubt anything will flicker. So if
we want to be able to have a choice of 110 or 220 volts, that means running
copper wire thick enough for 110? The thicker wire is probably cheaper than
going out and buying other space heaters. One 20 amp circuit per 1500 watt
heater - we have lots of extra circuits to use. If we install one 110 heater,
we can later replace it with two 220 heaters (all the same wattage)? What
size wire would we use on a 110 circuit for a heater? What size for a 220
circuit? The attic fan can go on the heater circuit too. The other circuit
will have a 220 stove, a refrigerator, a freezer, and lights, and central
vacuum cleaner some day. Do I understand correctly that with 220 the ground
(neutral) wire is not normally conducting anything, but with 110 it is?
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rcurl
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response 279 of 365:
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Nov 22 04:41 UTC 2000 |
Lots of questions. You need to pick up a (used) copy of the electrical
code. Circuit wire sizes for different services are all dictated by code -
and you *have* to follow them or an inspector may make you rewire everything.
Our lights never flicker when the stove or A/C is started - they are both
on separate 240V circuits originating at the main panel. However when our
photocopier is running on a lighting circuit the lights dim whenever the
fuser is on. It makes a big difference how things are wired with what.
240V can be thought of as +120 <> 0 <> -120. All homes are wired this way
but most circuits are between one side (like that +120) and 0, or the
other side. Hence the current is carried by the 'hot' wire and neutral.
If you are not drawing the same current on the two sides, there is net
neutral wire current - which actually flow in part through the ground.
However if you wire across the full 240V, each of the two sides carry the
same current and nothing flows on the neutral wire.
This is related to the problems on some farms from "stray currents". Farms
may be far from mains - and underwired many years previously. There is
some significant resistance in the neutral wire between the farm and the
transformer on a pole somewhere, so the neutral wire current also flows
from the required local ground (if you don't have that, the neutral wire
can get way above "ground" and be a serious hazard). These ground currents
still produce voltage gradients along the ground (depending on soil type
and moisture) and disturb livestock or even injure them.
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arabella
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response 280 of 365:
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Nov 23 10:36 UTC 2000 |
An answer to some of the previous discussions about cold feet: I
recently read that sprinkling a little cayenne pepper on the outsides
of your socks is an effective and quick foot warmer. I haven't
tried this yet, though I often go to bed with cold feet, and hence
wear socks which I'd rather not wear (they feel uncomfortable in
bed). I plan to try it soon. Also, cold hands can be warmed
up by placing them in your armpits, which have lots of heat to
spare. (This is also a good way to warm up frozen batteries
before using them in walkmen and the like.)
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mcnally
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response 281 of 365:
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Nov 23 12:13 UTC 2000 |
I'm trying to imagine a mechanism, aside from placebo effect,
by which the cayenne pepper treatment described above would work.
Aside from positing extremely unlikely (and potentially dangerous)
exothermic reactions between the cayenne and whatever cotton blend
your feet prefer, I simply can't imagine how that could possibly
make any difference whatsoever.
Wherever did you come across such a notion?
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jor
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response 282 of 365:
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Nov 23 16:08 UTC 2000 |
Cayenne is also being used now in arthritis treatment.
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gull
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response 283 of 365:
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Nov 24 02:28 UTC 2000 |
Well, I know what gives the 'hot' taste in one's mouth is a mild irritant in
peppers. I suppose it's possible it could mildly irritate the feet and
increase blood flow that way. Seems unlikely, though.
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wings
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response 284 of 365:
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Nov 24 03:35 UTC 2000 |
I just made a webpage for one of our beginners, with all the permissions
readable, and put it in his www directory as index.htm. We can view it while
dialed or telnetted into grex, but we cannot view it with Arachne via an ISP.
We can view it with Arachne if we move this same file into Jim Deigert's www
directory. Why? Do we have to activate it somehow? The account is wings
(we are telnetted in here right now, this is keesan typing). Please email
us the answer as we are hoping to deliver this computer very soon to wings,
who will use it to read Russian news via links at his homepage on grex.
email keesan@grex.org, thanks. And also post the answer. I don't recall
activating Jim's homepage. www.grex.org/~wings. (E-mail David hello while
you are there.) Sindi and Jim.
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scott
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response 285 of 365:
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Nov 24 14:47 UTC 2000 |
Works fine for me.
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arabella
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response 286 of 365:
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Nov 25 03:57 UTC 2000 |
I read the cayenne stuff in a health magazine. I will investigate
further.
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keesan
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response 287 of 365:
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Nov 25 04:43 UTC 2000 |
The blank web page problem fixed itself somehow overnight. A kind grexer
reported that it worked for him. Now it works for us. Jim says the cayenne
pepper is an irritant and he assumes it draws blood into the area, just like
the ingredients in ointments for sore muscles. (The extra blood probably gets
rid of the lactic acid faster. The acid builds up when you use your muscles
too much.)
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mcnally
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response 288 of 365:
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Nov 25 20:27 UTC 2000 |
I still think that no matter how much you irritate the outside of your
socks (which is where #280 says the pepper is to be applied) it won't
draw more blood into your extremities..
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rcurl
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response 289 of 365:
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Nov 26 06:25 UTC 2000 |
A "mustard plaster" (of old) did irritate the skin and redden it, with
the theory being this was good for the "croup", or some such.
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flem
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response 290 of 365:
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Nov 27 16:45 UTC 2000 |
The cayenne pepper thing is also known in skiing circles. At least, that's
where I heard of it. Though, I seem to recall that you put it inside your
socks, but I could be wrong; I never did it.
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arabella
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response 291 of 365:
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Nov 28 03:04 UTC 2000 |
It's possible that the magazine article contained a misprint when
it referred to the outside of socks.... Have to go find it and
reread.
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jor
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response 292 of 365:
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Nov 28 15:13 UTC 2000 |
The last I read, a couple years ago, was that
there were findings that topical applications of
cayenne had beneficial effect on "inflammation",
but the details of exactly what and how were not
discovered yet. A natural remedy that turns out
to be real, science still catching up . . .
Shortly after, products appeared in stores,
ointments with cayenne, actually they call
the extract capsaicin.
"Inflammation" itself is pretty mysterious
already, like fever, a defense mechanism that
can backfire and cause damage.
Main Entry: cap7sa7i7cin
Pronunciation: kap-'sA-&-s&n
Function: noun
Etymology: irregular from New Latin Capsicum
Date: circa 1890
: a colorless irritant phenolic amide C18H27NO3 that is found
in various capsicums and that
gives hot peppers their hotness
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other
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response 293 of 365:
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Nov 28 17:07 UTC 2000 |
re: 292
John, do you have any similar reference for the stuff which gives wasabe
its hotness? (I don't think it is the same compound.)
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keesan
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response 294 of 365:
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Dec 5 22:56 UTC 2000 |
Is there some good reason that grex is using lynx 2.7 instead of the newer
2.8? What are the new features or improvements to 2.8?
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keesan
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response 295 of 365:
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Dec 6 00:07 UTC 2000 |
See lynx.isc.org/release/ for info on Lynx 2.8.3. They are working on 2.9.
There is improved support for charsets, and ssl and table support. And many
bug fixes. Mich.com (bignet) has this version or some 2.8.x version. There
is one place still using 2.3.X!
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janc
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response 296 of 365:
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Dec 6 07:49 UTC 2000 |
Probably the reason is that lynx is moderately hard to get installed and
configured right on this system. It'd be nice if someone did it.
Actually, there are probably newer versions of must of the software on this
system. We aren't all that aggressive about updating things.
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keesan
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response 297 of 365:
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Dec 6 17:29 UTC 2000 |
The page I looked at implied that there was now support for tables and SSL,
both of which sound useful. They are working on 2.9 - would it be worth
waiting for that? Someone else suggested that I use Links instead of Lynx,
which probably would not fit on grex (mouse support, tables, fonts).
I found a statistical list of most popular browsers. IE about 75%. Lynx
about .4%. Netscape and Opera about 20%. Some people still use Netscape 2
and even lynx 2.3 and 2.4. I added grex to a list of places you could go to
get a UNIX shell account. ALong with bignet/mich.com.
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mdw
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response 298 of 365:
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Dec 6 20:33 UTC 2000 |
I looked at a version of lynx with ssl and wasn't very impressed.
Perhaps the support has gotten better since then, but it had some pretty
serious problems.
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keesan
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response 299 of 365:
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Dec 6 22:12 UTC 2000 |
They said 2.8.3 had improved SSL, I think. How did your version do with
tables?
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