totm nov 2023 Thread to discuss negative things in a very general way, just see where it goes y'know?

[kerbiloid]

10 minutes ago, DDE said:

to ultimately defeat the fraudsters you need to take a Molotov to where they are.

As Molotov is dead long ago, his appearance would make indelible impression for the rest of their life.

[AlamoVampire]

Lets see… 103, feels like 105, 25% humidity and my ac is out… the EARLIEST i can get a tech is 0700 but its a full 12 hour window… 

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[TheSaint]

8 hours ago, DDE said:

Well, it's been a terrible week on the phone fraud front in Russia.

https://www.rbc.ru/politics/02/08/2023/64ca45769a7947fe52564167

At least half of last week's spate of 16 arson attempts at military muster stations have been the result of phone fraud. Yes, seriously, it's proven possible to convince people from all walks of life that (1) if someone is trying to get a loan in your name, you need to get that loan first! And sell the flat if you have one, too! (2) the obvious next step is to transfer all your money to a safe account indicated by your "benefactor".

  Reveal hidden contents

Example of proof of ID such benefactors offer in WhatsApp:

Not only does this look nothing like an actual Bank of Russia ID, but it takes about 15 seconds to locate the source of the extensively brushed-up photo on the website of a Moscow document photo studio: https://xn----ptbfema1ao7aze.xn--p1ai/

A more crafty group had put together a fake registrar of government employees that also allowed a user to look up "suspected fraud cases".

And (3) to ultimately defeat the fraudsters you need to take a Molotov to where they are. Previously the preferred target used to be the nearest Sberbank branch, but this week the supposed dens of villainy have shifted to military comissariats.

In one particularly egregious case, the commissariat in Podol'sk was attacked twice within the space of a few hours, by a 20-year-old shift manager at not-McDonalds, and then a 76-year-old. The latter had been robbed blind in April and has been used as a de facto sleeping agent. Another case saw a woman fly from Moscow to Saratov to torch the commissariat there. There's one casualty from all of this: a 74-year-old attacker committed suicide afterwards, in the flat he'd just sold off.

Equally crazy was a case to weeks ago, where the man was being guided to the local ATM to wire his money away, ran into cops twice, got recognized as being manipulated both times, walked away and finally parted with his money at a third ATM.

https://www.ufa.kp.ru/online/news/5360335/

Which means Ufa's police were actively staking out the local ATMs looking for glassy-eyed people talking into their phone. And they aren't the first ones doing this.

https://76.ru/text/gorod/2021/05/04/69899852/

https://www.vk.com/wall-180791822_891203

https://infoya.ru/?module=articles&action=view&id=44817

Information on the operation of Ukranian and Georgian fraud call centers beyond Russia is somewhat sporadic, and they seem to be leaning into investment fraud in Europe and US, but ultimately it's highly unlikely such a business model and political psy-op won't be replicated elsewhere. All you need is are two unfriendly jurisdictions and linguistic adjecency... or AI.

Worse yet, don't think it's just old jeezers and financial illiterates that are being milked (and small children, but there's a very different scenario for those). It's only largely old jeezers and financial illiterates.

I lost 3 IQ points just reading this....

[AlamoVampire]

I am nearly in tears right now. My ac after being shut down by its float sensor (absolutely can confirm this as its slowly been weeping since 1630 yesterday) being lifted by water. At 2245 i took my poor 15 year old dachshund for a ride in the car for her to cool down. 2345 we get back and the dripping from a secondary weeping port had picked up speed. I open my front door expecting a sauna and while not very cool it was INSTANTLY noticeable that something had changed. I said to my pup: no. “No. Theres no way. Im not that lucky.” I took her leash off and put her in her area and raced for my thermostat. And as i opened the double doors separating me from it i heard it before i saw it. I heard my air return gulping air and the thermostat had a glaring red light telling me the system had suffered an error. Well DUH you dumb piece of junk, 6 hours no ac tells me you errored! Anyway not wanting to trust my air return or my thermostat i ran for my old bedroom. Compressor unit is just outside. I shut the ceiling fan off and heard it! The compressor chugging along!! I know this is likely temporary (its likely to clog again) but if it holds tonight and the tech comes early enough 0700-1900 window today 08052023, i and my pets wont die of excessive heat. Yes august in my state SUCKS! 
 

now so you guys understand:

1. The house is badly designed, thermostat is behind double doors.

2.  over an air return that also shares a wall with my garage.

3. the thermostat also just happens to be not 3 feet from a SOLID STEEL DOOR that leads into the garage.

4. there is a huge plate glass sliding door nearby.

5. why dont i just empty the drip catch pan for my ac? Its in my attic.

6. Why is that a problem? The same genius that put that thermostat where it is decided that my attic access does not need or warrant a built in ladder.

7. Well if thats the case why not just get a ladder? Well im built like peter griffin and id rather not risk falling onto my camaro or onto the cement floor or the crap in my garage.

so yeah i nearly wept feeling my ac. Btw right now as i wrap my post up: it is 0020 its 87°F feels like 92°F 61% humidity. Its bad.

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[SunlitZelkova]

2 hours ago, AlamoVampire said:

I am nearly in tears right now. My ac after being shut down by its float sensor (absolutely can confirm this as its slowly been weeping since 1630 yesterday) being lifted by water. At 2245 i took my poor 15 year old dachshund for a ride in the car for her to cool down. 2345 we get back and the dripping from a secondary weeping port had picked up speed. I open my front door expecting a sauna and while not very cool it was INSTANTLY noticeable that something had changed. I said to my pup: no. “No. Theres no way. Im not that lucky.” I took her leash off and put her in her area and raced for my thermostat. And as i opened the double doors separating me from it i heard it before i saw it. I heard my air return gulping air and the thermostat had a glaring red light telling me the system had suffered an error. Well DUH you dumb piece of junk, 6 hours no ac tells me you errored! Anyway not wanting to trust my air return or my thermostat i ran for my old bedroom. Compressor unit is just outside. I shut the ceiling fan off and heard it! The compressor chugging along!! I know this is likely temporary (its likely to clog again) but if it holds tonight and the tech comes early enough 0700-1900 window today 08052023, i and my pets wont die of excessive heat. Yes august in my state SUCKS! 
 

now so you guys understand:

1. The house is badly designed, thermostat is behind double doors.

2.  over an air return that also shares a wall with my garage.

3. the thermostat also just happens to be not 3 feet from a SOLID STEEL DOOR that leads into the garage.

4. there is a huge plate glass sliding door nearby.

5. why dont i just empty the drip catch pan for my ac? Its in my attic.

6. Why is that a problem? The same genius that put that thermostat where it is decided that my attic access does not need or warrant a built in ladder.

7. Well if thats the case why not just get a ladder? Well im built like peter griffin and id rather not risk falling onto my camaro or onto the cement floor or the crap in my garage.

so yeah i nearly wept feeling my ac. Btw right now as i wrap my post up: it is 0020 its 87°F feels like 92°F 61% humidity. Its bad.

002108052023

 

Out of curiosity, has this happened before? Or is it specifically this extreme heat that is causing it?

[DDE]

7 hours ago, TheSaint said:

I lost 3 IQ points just reading this....

Did I recount a third innovative fraud scheme, the self-abduction? "Hello, I'm from the FSB, there are people trying to kill you, don't contact anyone, go to ground, fly to some random city, buy a burner phone, and BTW, wire me all your money." And then on top of it all, the victim's relatives get a ransom call.

I've counted three media reports thus far. And again, this is all going to spill over and menace the world at some point - criminals read too, and language barrier isn't a problem (e.g. the well-documented Brazilian Portuguese traffic on Russian hacking forums).

[AlamoVampire]

4 hours ago, SunlitZelkova said:

Out of curiosity, has this happened before? Or is it specifically this extreme heat that is causing it?

Its becoming a yearly thing. Though yesterday was the most extreme instance. Last year it tripped the float but it would stay off 30-60 minutes before draining enough, yesterday took 6 hours. The last 3 years have seen an increase in algae or something in the drip pan causing discharge out of the secondary weep port, and as a result the build up hits a point where both primary and secondary ports get blocked. This year has seen a huge spike in humidity and i guess its worse. But why is it just mine having this issue? Something i plan on asking the tech. House was built in late 76 early 77 and only used to be rare to see the secondary weep drip, but again since 2019 or so has it started being a yearly thing.

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Edited August 5, 2023 by AlamoVampire

[tater]

7 hours ago, AlamoVampire said:

Its becoming a yearly thing. Though yesterday was the most extreme instance. Last year it tripped the float but it would stay off 30-60 minutes before draining enough, yesterday took 6 hours. The last 3 years have seen an increase in algae or something in the drip pan causing discharge out of the secondary weep port, and as a result the build up hits a point where both primary and secondary ports get blocked. This year has seen a huge spike in humidity and i guess its worse. But why is it just mine having this issue? Something i plan on asking the tech. House was built in late 76 early 77 and only used to be rare to see the secondary weep drip, but again since 2019 or so has it started being a yearly thing.

So the AC works, but it won't right now because the condensed water off the coils has no place to go, and there's a lot of said water because humidity is high?

Why not run a hose from the water outlet to the outside, bypassing the float entirely? This will prevent you from ever having to have it emptied again.

How high is the ceiling with the hatch? Does it need an extension ladder, or will a step ladder do? I have one of those super strong "Little Giant" ladders, and it folds up very small, and can make a pretty tall (8ft) step ladder, or a ~16ft straight ladder. VERY sturdy ladder, all thick metal.

Edited August 5, 2023 by tater

[richfiles]

It's a shame the unit is in the attic. My AC is just a simple wall mounted window/wall all in one unit. It was designed to allow condensation from inside to drip into a tray at the back of the unit, where a ring on the fan picks up the water and sprays it on the condenser coil to help cool it off. I've been dropping algaecide tablets into the tray in back to try and keep algae growth down, but it hasn't been perfect... I think my own ports are blocked, and I have to manually add water to the tray every few days, or it eventually runs low. The difference has been like night and day. Once I add water to the system, the cooling comes back and it's immediately noticeable.

I know with mini-split systems, or central systems, the indoor units need a drain line to give the condensation from the evaporator somewhere to go. Many years back, I had a central air system in my basement that had it's drain pipe run across a floor to a floor drain, but there was insufficient slope, and it would frequently clog with pink algae. For me, part of the issue was that there was an established growth in the pipe already, so each time it came back, it came back sooner and worse. If I recall, I think I bleached the pipe, and eventually just replaced it with a bigger pipe. Maybe yearly accumulation on the drainage pipe has led to the repeated and more frequent blockages?

While I used compressed air at the source of the pipe, another, often far easier option, is to use a vacuum at the destination of the drain pipe. If it drains to the ground, then you should be able to have easy access, and if it drains to the pan of the external AC unit, then it should be as simple as detaching it temporarily... Use a Wet Vac to try to literally suck the obstruction out of the pipe. I've seen literal rags be used to wrap the drain and adapt the drain's size to the vacuum's hose size. You don't need fancy adapters. Algae obstructions are generally soft and pliable, so they should be able to be drawn out with relative ease, so long as they are located in the main drain. Best of all, no climbing needed. just find where your AC drains to. Even if you don't have a wet vac, buying one to have on hand is probably cheaper than an HVAC technician, and you don't have to wait to give it a try.

They do also make something like a big pipecleaner brush on the end of a long flexible wire... I have no idea what those cost, or how long they make them, but you could probably use something like that to scour out algae buildup inside the drain pipe too, but if you only go at it from the bottom of the pipe, or might push a clog up the pipe. Suppose you can always try vacuuming it back out. Worst case, is the HVAC guy clears the clog from the top end if that happens.

[DDE]

22 minutes ago, richfiles said:

I know with mini-split systems, or central systems, the indoor units need a drain line to give the condensation from the evaporator somewhere to go.

Maybe 'm dumb, but don't people usually just stick this pipe outside the building at their earliest convenience?

[AlamoVampire]

32 minutes ago, DDE said:

Maybe 'm dumb, but don't people usually just stick this pipe outside the building at their earliest convenience?

The way mine works is below the coils that are doing the heat exchange is a huge drip pan. In this drip pan it has 2 drains. The primary drain is connected to a pipe that runs along my attics floor to an exterior wall. The pipe takes a 90° turn and heads down. It then goes down the stud bay in the wall to about 24 inches off the foundation turns 90° to exit the wall then one final turn 90° towards the ground where it drips. The second drain is connected to a different pipe headed towards my front porch where it turns 90° and exits the porch ceiling. The reason its getting so clogged is the coils are so wet with condensation they are producing a large amount of slime/algae. Its this substance thats causing the blockages. The float sensor is a safety system to prevent rafter bay flooding. I said earlier my house was designed in the 70’s so its not easy to maintain. I could buy a ladder to get up to my access as its like 8-9foot up but my attic for a guy built like peter griffin is a risky thing. I have a service contract for this sort of thing. Saved me no joke 352.00$ USD today. They fall thru the ceiling, they have workers comp and work insurance. I dont. Easier to let pros do it and also check systems health whilst at it.

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[richfiles]

@AlamoVampire A small wet-vac might save you some suffering when you'd otherwise have to wait for a technician to come over and clean things up. Literally just suck the algae blockages out the drain pipe. I'd still have the service calls for routine cleaning, and for follow up after blockages, particularly since you said you have a service contract... Still consider the vacuum option, as it might save you from suffering the heat while you wait.

[DDE]

You'd think that at high humidity, natural draft arrangements would be decently effective...

[AlamoVampire]

6 minutes ago, richfiles said:

@AlamoVampire A small wet-vac might save you some suffering when you'd otherwise have to wait for a technician to come over and clean things up. Literally just suck the algae blockages out the drain pipe. I'd still have the service calls for routine cleaning, and for follow up after blockages, particularly since you said you have a service contract... Still consider the vacuum option, as it might save you from suffering the heat while you wait.

I have considered it, but my shop vac is tiny and am uncertain if it has the power to pull a household equivalent of a major booger through it. Worth a try down the road. Ive seen hvac videos of techs doing similar things but with slightly larger vacs. Principle is sound, but my vac is questionable lol

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[richfiles]

@DDE It's a non pressurized system. It's simply gravity fed, so if algae blocks the drainpipe, then at best you have the weight of the water in the pipe. Since most blockages form near the top, there will be no significant water mass to push against them, and the flow tends to be just a drip, so no water column will tend to form below to create suction from down the line. It's super easy for these clogs to form, and once algae gets growing, it can be hard to stop.

@AlamoVampire Consider the volume of the AC's drip pan and the pipe itself will be the only significant volume the vacuum will need to contain. Even a small wetvac ought to be fine. If the wetvac has a float valve, then you're doubly fine. Worst case, is you stop mid way, dump the vacuum tank, and then continue sucking out the blockage from the drain. As for power... Algae boogers are pretty soft and slimy. Doesn't take much force. BRAVE souls have used nothing more than their lungs to blow out a blockage... My mouth is going no where near one of those nasty pipes... 

Edited August 5, 2023 by richfiles

[AlamoVampire]

8 minutes ago, richfiles said:

BRAVE souls have used nothing more than their lungs to blow out a blockage...

Not enough money in the whole universe for me to do that lol! Id say the pipe is about a half inch internal. Volume unknown of the pan, ive never clapped eyes on it. But over the course of 3-4 hours it can fill a regular bucket 

tech was seen dumping this type of bucket:

his tho was red w/no markings but close enough

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[Shpaget]

Obligatory IANAHVACT (I am not a HVAC technician), but I had a displeasure of unclogging a few algae boogers in AC units. Mechanical agitation always worked wonders. If you have access to the drain pipe that goes from the drip pan to the big outdoors, just shove a soft wire the wrong way. As richfiles says, they are soft and will easily break apart into chunks that can fit the drain pipe. Wear gloves since the boogers will come at ya!

[tater]

The shop vac is a good idea. Get a plastic funnel that fits tightly in the  drain pipe, then press shop vac hose into the large side of funnel.

Once dealt with more definitively, maybe you can have an algicide put in?  They make ones that sit in swimming pools and last months.

Edited August 6, 2023 by tater

[AlamoVampire]

The tech said its a thing caused by the coils and that its just gotta be cleaned by them yearly. Funny thing is the tech last year put algae killer up there and it happened again this year…. Also the clogs are most likely near the unit in the attic so i doubt a wire pipe cleaner can reach more than 40+ feet of run

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[tater]

On 8/6/2023 at 11:05 AM, AlamoVampire said:

The tech said its a thing caused by the coils and that its just gotta be cleaned by them yearly. Funny thing is the tech last year put algae killer up there and it happened again this year…. Also the clogs are most likely near the unit in the attic so i doubt a wire pipe cleaner can reach more than 40+ feet of run

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randomly showed up

[AlamoVampire]

Dont have a compressor big enough for that. My compressor is sized for an iwata eclipse hp-cs airbrush. But maybe a can or two of compressed air or a shop vac in reverse… but for now its clear so time enough to mull options

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[Nuke]

my birthday was a week ago. i dont remember it happening or anything since then. there are more kittens taped to my speakers, i guess that was my birthday card. the cheese cake i got is gone, there are no presents, and im missing a week. i found an empty jim beam bottle and a tupperware container full of brownie crumbs in my desk. getting old is bad for your health. makes you forget things. dont do it. 

[tater]

10 minutes ago, Nuke said:

dont do it. 

Beats the alternative

 

[DDE]

Got woken up at 7 AM sharp by a woodpecker having a go at the verge of the roof just outside my window. Well, probably not the bird itself, but the utter feline pandemonium that ensued. I've realized I'd heard the sound at least once yesterday, too.

[Gargamel]

A large number of posts mainly covering Climate Change and then the rigors of the scientific method have been moved, starting with this post:

Since that's an established topic, it's discussion is best continued over there.

If there's any specific parts of a post that you'd like to bring back here that aren't on that topic, feel free to do so.