*OT* - And so I will be buying a Dyson Vacuum too...

So I figured while I'm out at ABT buying that TV tomorrow I'd also buy a GOOOOOOD vacuum since I don't have one. I want a nice one, as I'm generally NOT a cheap guy (unless it comes to things I don't need then I can be cheap ). My best bud of mine swears by his...

I found the DC25 ball Dyson on ebay for $400 shipped: NEW Dyson DC25 Ball All Floors Yellow Bagless Upright - eBay (item 250725548843 end time Dec-11-10 15:35:10 PST) Now this is a $500 vacuum so unless Abt electronics cuts me a deal at around $370 + tax I'll just pay cash and buy it online from that guy. He seems to be VERY reputable and his email responses were VERY quick.

The ball one is MUCH lighter than it’s bigger brother the DC33. Samantha is not very strong. Initially we were looking at the DC24 because It’s only 11LBs… BUT, it’s also HALF the suction, HALF the canister capacity for the dirt, HALF the hose reach, 2” less cleaning path and $100 - $150 less… Also when you have to use the hose, you have to disconnect it from one end of the handle and re-connect it to the other end = pain in the .

The bigger one (DC25) you just pop the hose out and go like our old fantom vacuum… Remember that thing? It worked great!

I’ve vexed because we’re only gonna have a 2 bd/2 bath apt, not a huge house… so to buy a vacuum that is larger doesn’t make much sence… plus the little guy’s handle goes down for easy storing

Thoughts? Comments?

~Rob: Growing up VERY quickly~

 

@ ~Rob: Growing up VERY quickly~

Yup, that's how it goes, $400 for a vacuum cleaner, washers, dryers, new 'fridge, diapers, DIAPERS? How long 'til the race car turns into a mini-van?

CAP

 

It's a race truck... and it's slow! I already got rid of my race car... remember? I used to have an SRT8 300C... fully loaded...

haha, yea, I may need to get a microwave too...

 

naaaa , no way , go find yourself the small industrial nilfisk , the alloy one , run a buff over it , and bung in the new motor pack , super retro looks , modern performance ,,, well trendy , do you a lifetime , and still only half the price of a dyson , just my 2 cents worth

 

Where is the this thread vacuums button? :laugh:


Nilfisk? You mean like this?
Nilfisk

I'll bet my cat would be a bit disturbed by that running through the living room.

 

its slightly larger than mine ,,, but it would be fun ,,, a ride on hoover,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
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quick way to loose a cat though

 

bagless vacumms are the worst

 

You need to get off the grid for a spell. My spell is 14+ years and counting.
1. No Microwave.
2. No Toaster. (heating element)
3. No TV. Doesn't count as I have never had one. OK OK 62 years.
4. No Hair Dryer. No hair either. I lied, there's one in the saddle shop but it kills the inverter if set on high.
5. We do have a vacuum ...more of a electric broom. Dust don't cha know. NO PAVEMENT.
6. NO POWER BILLS. They told me they could hook me up for $80K in '96. And send a bill every month. That's right .....no power co. bills since '96. I did buy two sets (16) golf cart batteries. And a 8.5 horse B&S with electric start driving a "GET THIS" 72 caddy alternator. They last five years. 2500W 24v true sine wave inverter with a meter and shut-off in the bathroom. Modded the fifty foot cable with phone cable as the generator is 70 feet from the casa.
7. Main part of the 104 year old house done in vinyl so a mop cleans it up good. Neighbors come by and the boots stay ON.

I feel very blessed to be able to stay here.

Gork! getting over the worry of not hearing from Rob for a spell.

 

Gork!... Seriously???!?!?! You seriously are running on a generator to power your stuff???? Natural gas or diesel?

Where the HELL do you live that you don't even have power??!?!?!

But you have internet? hmmmmmmm..........

 

Funny this should appear on woot.com today

Dyson DC17 Animal Cyclone Upright Vacuum
$359.99

* + $5 shipping

Woot® : One Day, One Deal?

 

Rob, You need to get out more. Jeff lives in a very beautiful place with really big trees(actually the biggest), a really big ocean, medium sized mountains, and a lot of pot farmers. They are there, Jeff (I'm assuming) and the pot farmers, because there are not a lot of people around. My first wife and I lived off the grid from 1972 to 1978.
CAP

 

My wife's family has been here since the 1860's. We have solar power in addition to the generator. I've got a dish on the end of the house and a clear view of the receiver/transmitter 15 miles to the south.
Pay for view I call it. When the south wind blows a storm in you really pay for the view.
Welcome to the 19th century.

 

I can get this from Target (DC17) for $269.99 on Black friday... : Target Black Friday Ad - Page 10

 

This is truly awesome! ... You live in the US right (NW Cali)? How about your internet's?

I really had no clue that there were still places in the US that were off the grid... In Canada I know... Parault Falls for example...

 

Back in the day, 1912?, when power lines were being brought through this area, two companies were vying for the job. My wife's step grandfather decided he liked one of the companies better then the other. Unfortunately, they did not get the contract, so he told the winning company that they would not be coming through his property. The company went to court and got the right of way by eminent domain. Every other ranch in this area received power when the lines were built (including my wife's other relatives) but even when the lines were 100 feet from this house no power came to it. We like it that way.
Original power was a propane generator with insulators in a cottonwood tree to cross the County road. The generator was stolen. When we moved in circa 1996 we started off 12v, then inverter then more panels and now are pretty good. It's a change of pattern in that you shut off the light when not used.

 

And internet???

It's funny that you convert DC to AC just to be converted back to DC again (as most things like laptops, tv's and small appliances run off DC anyways!) lol

PS, happy thanksgiving! It would be fun to have a thanksgiving by candlelight...

 

Dyson vacuums really suck! (Someone had to say it!)

GORK... Cheers to you... I'm building my next house, most likely, underground. I plan on using the earth to heat and cool my home. I will have power but will try not to use it that much as I plan on generating my own power.

 

I saw a Dyson "fan" yesterday, what a huge price and big deal about nothing! A captured turbine fan focused through a venturi with air intakes camouflaged around the base. And the price, "unsettling," indeed.

 

Now they really blow!

 

The trout got eaten for thanksgiving?

 

I will say that Dyson's warranty service is second to none. I had a problem with my Dyson (it sucked that it didn't suck), I called them, they told me to remove the accessories, asked if a UPS store about a 1/2 mile from my house was convenient for me to drop it off.

I took it to the UPS store, they had a call tag and a box ready for it to ship it to a service facilty, got it back in 5 days, 3 years later, it's still working good.

 

Have you priced any copper wire lately? Some do the conversion at say a wind generator or hydro 400' from the control panel and batteries. They will then step up the voltage to allow the smallest wire possible (usually direct burial of some sort) for the 400'. Then step that back to battery voltage 12,24,48. Battery to inverter to standard house wiring. It seems high but the most expensive part is the 400'. The last 1/0 I bought was $3.50/ft. The higher the DC voltage the smaller the wire. Read the information section in Backwoods Solar Electric Systems for a taste.
On a new build a DC outlet can be installed in each room. On an old build you might get one in all the outside walls if you have to install new siding or something. Otherwise it's voltage converters that squander power by generating heat and those little lights they all have.
I think one difference in this stuff in the "woods" is the distance. In a metropolitan area the power infrastructure is in place. In the "woods" on say a 40 acre parcel the water (if there is any **BLUE GOLD**)may be at one end, the best building site at the other and the best solar/wind at a third/fourth.
The house should be located down-hill from the water tank, the tank down-hill from the spring. Drill a well and things change. Now you need power for the pump AND WIRE.
The similarity of water and power come to mind. Storage tank=battery, wire=pipe.
It's been fun.

 

bags are way better. less mess and more volume

 

Jeff, gas fridge? (that should get Rob all spun up!)
CAP

 

ehh, we have a pop up camper and the fridge on that is powered by propane or electric... no CLUE how the hell it works but it's pretty sweet!

 

The combi fridges use a convective heat exchanger with Ammonia as the refrigerant; a heating unit heats the ammonia up a heat riser, it changes state to a gas generating cooling, then as it flows through the condenser it returns to a liquid state and flows back to the heat riser via gravity.

The primary heat source is usually considered to be the small gas burner, while the AC/DC operation is managed by 12V and/or 120V heating coils wrapped directly around the base of the heat riser.

mnem
Knowledge is POWER.

 

Of a surety.... the fridge is L.P.G. as well as the cook stove (circa 1947) which also has a "trash burner " wood stove on one end. Makes for a good pot of beans as well as heating that end of the house. Heating is wood.
Just finished splitting and stacking about a cord and a half of wood. I ran the wheelbarrow and a friend the wood splitter. It's all inside now under the same roof.
The original part of the house was ordered from Sears Roebuck Catalog. I've seen the part numbers on some of the studs we had to replace. A correction in the Power War. The power lines went in in the late 40's. The house was built about 1912.
A neighboring ranch used pipe salvaged from the 1906 earthquake. My father-in-law was patching it when he lived on the ranch just before the Korean war. To patch a pipe.....cut strips of inner tube from Model A. Wrap them around the pipe tightly and then wrap THAT with baling wire. The object is to fix stuff with what it "to hand".

Jeff

 

That's funny, the original structure for my converted seaside summer cottage was also purchased from the Sears and Roebuck Catalog, circa 1916. Over the years it has expanded to almost 950 square feet. Big enough for two little old people and the cat, although the Toughbooks sometimes put a little strain on the basement walls. Whilst in Vermont years ago, we cooked on a Glenwood "Home Grand" wood range, heated with a couple of Round Oak stoves and kept stuff cool in a Servel propane fridge circa late 40's. Used to put the ash pan from one of the wood stoves under the oil pan of the old Land Rover for a while to get it to go on those -15 to -25 degree mornings.
CAP

 

At our summer camp we have several Servels. A couple of them used to work and the others were mouse but not bear tight so we used them to store stuff away from the mice anyway. When the bears open them they can be repaired with an older model Jeep hood latch.
Sadly to say the mice over forty years have eaten their way up through the insulation and now have made an apartment building of the reefers.
For sale: 4 Servel Refrigerators w/ occupants.
Which reminds me of the time my father-in-law got up for a drink of water in the night and saw a light on in the carport. Grumpily and half asleep he walked over and flipped the switch but the light came ON. What the???? He figured the door was open on the freezer and muttered a few choice words about the girls leaving the door open. He then looked down through the glass of the door and saw a big brown dog curled up on the stoop. (It was snowing) Angrily he threw open the door to kick the dog in the rear for getting in his freezer and WOOF up sprang the BEAR and he actually kicked the startled animal in the nether region whilst falling over backwards getting away, only his grip on the door knob saving him from a fall. The bear is still running.

 

Yeah... I remember growing up in the Finger Lakes region of central NY; one day I was out in the big woods in back of the main property when I almost stepped in a steaming pile of bear dung.

I never ran so fast, or so silently in my entire life.

mnem
That pair of tighty-whiteys weren't anymore...

 

Jeff, although living "off-beat" from what is generally considered "normal" for most urban folks (myself included), your description of life around you is very interesting, even if I couldn't live that way (ok, short term, maybe).

I was wondering if you've considered harnessing wind power, which I would presume to be plenty, given the open areas surrounding your home. I lack the space and expertise but am intrigued by Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT). Perhaps a setup like this will complement your existing solar panels? Compared to conventional bladed windmills, the VAWTs look very compact and efficient (in capturing wind source). FWIW, take a dig at the following links;
How I built an electricity producing wind turbine
VAWT Lenz type. Stage 1. Converting wind power to rotary motion.
Lenz2 turbine
WindGenKits.com Wind Turbine kits and supplies

About that topic that sucks, Rob, how about that round, robot-like vacuum that auto-return to it's charger as needed. Kinda nifty to install a unit for each level (if not in an apartment) and coming home to clean floors. Suits busy lifestyles and those dreading routine housework. For the life of me, I can't remember the manufacturer... but I'm fairly sure somebody here will.

Personally, I prefer a bag-less, water-based vac where I don't have to worry about replacements or busted bags.

Cheers!
Ron in SG

 

I'm using an Air403. Pretty low wattage but it does keep the batteries warm. Designed to stall out to preserve the graphite blades. The blades are designed to twist in a high wind, not on an axis but the blades themselves. Sounds like a hammer being pulled over a tin roof. Max wattage at 28mph stalls at around 40 and when it gets above that I turn it off. Has a built in brake.
I've been here in +60 mph and that when we "pay for view". The neighbors had their trailer sardine canned one night several years ago. The roof was in three pieces in the yard and they had to crawl out over the walls as the doors were stuck. He saved his computer until the wind started throwing pieces of tin at him and then he abandoned it. Spent the night in the car.
Next day it looked like the Grapes of Wrath. Their clothes were hanging on the fence and the computer sat forlornly in the yard amidst the debris. What a sight.
I'll check out your sites. As far as being off the beaten path it feels normal to me and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Thank you.

Jeff

 

You remind me of my grandparents... "If you can see your neighbors they're too d@mned close."

mnem
One day I'll be able to build on the old homestead...