Hey guys, just got my membership approved yesterday. I work as a specialist for my local dept of water and sewer. Mostly pumps and motors, but I also do some controls work and occasionally work on generators. I deal with anything from 12v up to 480v. I'll be glad to help or contribute any way I can, just give me a shout.

@Erika can you verify me or should I DM @Marius ?

Nice man! My wife is expecting our second kid in April, haven't found out if it's a boy or girl yet.

Anybody else on here trade/invest in crypocurrency?

My mother in law called me yesterday, she’s selling her house and moving (farther away thank god) but she had a ceiling fan in one of the bedrooms that worked intermittently and wobbled pretty bad, stopped by after work to take a look....

Apparently the previous owner just stuffed the housing full of socks trying to keep it from wobbling

It wobbled because it was half ass attached to a light box, not one for a fan. I would have had to crawl about a mile through her attic to change the box, so I just put a light in its place. I thought the fan motor might have had a short anyway, but it had no continuity to ground, checked the incoming voltage, it was fluctuating between 110 and 40v. Pulled the light switch, whoever put it in had used the stab connectors instead of the screws and had cracked it.

not to discount in any way the dangers of ammonia gas..but the above video is actually a staged training exercise

I originally saw that as part of a FD hazmat training course, anhydrous ammonia is often present at meth labs, and in the full vid there is a series of credits at the end, noting that the video was developed as part of a training program. That being said, anhydrous ammonia is an intense irritant that can certainly kill you in a high enough concentration,

second those redwing boots

can't go back to wearing any other brand, theyre just not the same

I believe Gemini and bitstamp have the option as well

I have not personally used bitstamp, but Gemini is as legitimate as coinbase, it’s FDIC insured as well

@Volkmom BitFlur is another service that allows you to exchange btc for usd into your PayPal account, I believe they will also exchange btc for amazon gift cards. I have not personally used them, but as far as I know they are legit. The fees are supposedly very low as well. JM Bullion and APmex will allow direct purchase of precious metals with btc. I have done that several times myself

@this_that5553 you should still be able to register at Coss, Kucoin, Hitbtc, and Cryptopia. Hitbtc and Coss have shit for volume, cryptopia is a little better, kucoin has most of the alt coins and ICOs that binance offers as well. Coss and Kucoin both offer a sort of “dividend” payout of trading fees that are distributed to holders of “their” tokens.

not familiar with that exchange

looks like its got pretty low volume

which is fine if you're just looking to acquire, but trading may be a problem if that's what you're looking to do

are you registered on any of the main exchanges? binance or bittrex, etc?

gotcha

well hitbtc has xrp

lower than bittrex..and lower than gate.io from what it looks like

also the price of xrp is almost .40 higher on gate right now

no problem. I don't think its nearly as reputable as the main exchanges fwiw

ive never had any problems withdrawing funds from them, but I've heard of other people that had lengthy delays, no response from support, ect

I would also advise anyone who uses one of the smaller exchanges to not store any large amounts of funds directly on the exchange

the larger, more established exchanges are "safer" probably not as likely to exit scam. But i'd recommend keeping larger amounts in a hardware or paper wallet, even a desktop wallet if you're careful with your security and keys. I keep some btc on binance just so I can have some liquidity. But the majority of my funds I store elsewhere

Any of you goys with significant crypto holdings will probably appreciate a little something I whipped up in mspaint after seeing my blockfolio this morning

Posting a PSA in here, please let me know if its too graphic / breaks any rules and I’ll remove. Any of you guys that are in an industrial field no doubt get your PPE policies drilled into you over and over. But it’s all too easy to neglect that when you’re working at home. Almost lost my thumb this weekend, taking apart an automatic louver/damper motor, and I neglected to relive the tension from the spring inside. Had I been wearing gloves it probably wouldn’t have been as bad.

Friday night trip to the ER for a severed tendon and artery, severed the nerve also, Dr says I probably won’t get the feeling back, at least not fully. Stupid mistake.

Yeah, just an oversight. Could have been way worse. Could have flown up and hit me in the eye or something permanent. Or another 1/4in I would have been picking my thumb off of the garage floor

Funny enough, the initial cut wasn’t very painful at all. I believe because of the severed nerve. It was more of a dull pain, and I still have very little sensation at all on the whole side of the thumb. It has mainly been a huge annoyance not being able to grip with that hand. It’s damn near impossible to do anything without a thumb, even simple things, like having to reach across with my left hand to start my truck. Luckily I’ll be healed up in a week or two and it’ll be a lesson learned. Just take care of yourselves gents, be safe out there

What in the actual fuck. I cant even fathom abandoning my wife like that. I mean I ccw pretty much everywhere but even unarmed...just running away? Situational awareness is so important also, just keeping an eye on who’s around you can help you avoid being approached by a machete wielding vibrant and diverse member of the local community like that asshole ^

@Deleted User just a still image?

the image of the dog is a little better quality than the highwaymen, so I can try to fuzz the dog a little bit if you want it to match a little more closely

kidding

hopefully someone else here is a little more skilled at photoshop than I am and can blend the layers a little more smoothly

Typical. Wouldn’t want people to actually read le evil far right nazi opinions, might damage the narrative! Better just shut it down

Are you looking to pump strictly water, say for a basement? Or something to handle small solids, for.grey/wastewater?

Also 120/240v?

Also for anyone else here, I’m the chief mechanic wastewater operations for my municipality. I can potentially be a good resource for any plumbing/mechanical/electrical questions you goys may have. Not too knowledgeable about vehicle engines unfortunately, but feel free to reach out and I’ll help any way I can.

Honestly you’d probably be fine with a standard 1/2 hp submersible. If you have a Grainger Supply in your area they’ll several to choose from. They’ll also have replacement parts regularly available as well. I’ve had good luck with Dayton Pumps, and Little Giant Pumps. Up to you whether or not you want to get one with an automatic float installed, but they’re always nice to have just in case the pump needs to start when you’re not home.

The real limiting factor isn’t so much the size of your basement, its the height difference between where your pump is installed (the suction) and where it ends up (the discharge)

It’s calculated in “feet of head”, i don’t want to complicate anything so tl;dr- if you have to pump water up 20ft to clear your basement, make sure your pump has a head rating that’s greater than the height it needs to overcome

The vertical distance is the main resistance that the pump has to overcome.

The max head rating in that pic basically means that pump is capable of pumping against 36ft. It’s actually a little less due to friction and elevation from sea level etc, but it’s close enough

That’s measured in Gallons Per Minute (gpm) and it will vary depending on Ft. of Head. Here’s the rating for the pump in that picture (just for an example)

Nothing wrong with going a little bigger. Sorry for rambling on about head pressure and all that, I’ve just seen several times where someone will go and buy a pump not knowing to look for that.

Sure thing, good luck and definitely let me know if I can be of any help.

Hey @Prestor John , I’ve got a 2 year old and a 4 month old myself. I can’t speak for everyone but I’ve never been a fan of co-sleeping. Of course you’ve “gotta do what you gotta do” but I’ve seen it backfire. I’m friends with two couple that both have 3+ year old children sleeping in their bed at night.

My 2 year old didn’t seem too phased when we brought his baby sister home...at first. But now that she’s more active during the day, he’s started with the jealousy. Every family dynamic is different, and every kid is different, but one thing that worked well for us was to make sure our son was getting plenty of physical activity, he is much more likely to fight naps, or just generally act out when he hasn’t had much exercise.

As far as bedtime/sleeping goes...my wife and I just had a discussion about it to make sure we were on the same page, bedtime is pretty much non-negotiable here. When we moved our son from in a pack n play in our bedroom to a crib in his own room, naturally we had to deal with the “growing pains.” But we set up a sort of timer system. The first night, we let him cry for 2 minutes before one of us would go in. We would not pick him up, but rather just lay him back down and comfort him briefly before walking out. The next night we started at 3 minutes, next night 4...etc. I think it only took 3-4 days before he was falling asleep on his own with no drama. Recently we started dealing with a bit of a sleep regression, where he started fighting his naps, getting out of his toddler bed and coming out at night. Basically I think he’s realized that life goes on outside of his room while he’s napping, and he doesn’t want to “miss out” He can reach doorknobs now and come and go as he pleases, so it actually got to the point where we had to lock his door at nap-time, or else he would come out of his room, or start slamming his door and waking the baby. Once we locked it, the first couple of days he would lay on his floor kicking the door and having a tantrum, if he didn’t calm down after a few mins, I’d go in and just put him back in bed without saying anything, and walk out. He fell asleep on the floor in front of his door a few times but eventually he gave up and started staying in bed.

I’m sure there are a million different methods and expert opinions for parenting little kids, some better than others no doubt. I’m sorry this got way longer than I meant it too.

Tl;dr whatever you do, be consistent. Kids, especially toddlers thrive on consistency and boundaries. They’re getting to that age where they’re starting to test you, and assert some independence. They may not quite grasp “why” the need to

They* need to nap, sleep, etc. But they do understand cause/effect. If you stay consistent, they’ll pick up on that.

I’m no expert by any means, my wife and I are figuring this out as we go along too. It’s by far the most challenging experience of my life. Feel free to message me anytime, it’s great to be able to bounce ideas off of people here, I’m sure there are way more experienced parents here with tons of valuable knowledge

@Prestor John see what I mean about every family being different! We opted for the cry it out method (sort of) and our two year old is great about sleeping. Not that I have anything against co-sleeping of course, just wasn’t for us. @Volkmom is spot on about the one on one time, a little extra reassurance and attention can go a long way. And I agree with you both about limiting sugar, with one exception, we only limit added or refined sugars. Naturally occurring sugars, especially in foods with a high fiber content, like fructose in fresh fruit, or lactose in milk/yogurt..we don’t really limit them per se. But we do strictly limit sugary snacks and junk food. We don’t give him juice, they don’t need it and he doesn’t like it anyway. Cookies/candy are saved for very special treats. I really like that stool! I may have to make one for when he “helps” me work in the garage

@missliterallywho @Prestor John yes you guys are absolutely right, my mom is actually a pediatric NP, so we had a great resource. She told us that you shouldn’t attempt to let a baby cry it out until they are old enough to sleep through the night without needing to eat. Usually 6 months old at absolute minimum. And only after you make sure their other needs have been met, they’re fed, not too warm/cool, in a dry/clean diaper, etc. A child that is crying ONLY for comfort at bedtime, IMO it’s ok to begin letting them cry it out. Learning to self soothe is actually an important skill that they need to learn. I will say that it’s hard to listen to your child cry, but eventually they all have to sleep on their own. The “timer” system my wife and I used was a happy medium between having them cry vs sleeping in our room forever

@Volkmom none taken! Discussion is great, two very different schools of thought, two very different approaches towards meeting the same goal...happy, well adjusted, confident huwhyte children. @Prestor John I agree with you both, breastfeeding is so vital. Formula has its place but any amount of breast milk is better than none IMO. Curious as to your guys’ opinion on spanking? My siblings and I were spanked as children but very rarely. It was like the nuclear option for my parents, that’s kind of how we’ve been doing it with our son, when he needs discipline he first gets a sort of time-out, which isn’t really a punishment, more of a re-direct. One of us will sit with him in the rocking chair and talk about why we don’t (pester the dog, stand on the coffee table, take sissy’s toys..etc) after that we go back out to play. If he continues the behavior he gets one very clear, stern warning, we make sure that we have eye contact and he knows what he’s being warned about. If he still continues, he gets a spanking, a couple of firm swats across his diapered behind usually does the trick. We’ve been very consistent with the redirect, warning, spanking. And after a few times of that, we very rarely ever get past the warning stage anymore. I think once he realized that we weren’t kidding, he thinks twice before we get to that point lol

Only asking because I was at the grocery store earlier and a girl I’m guessing around 4 was having a full on tantrum in the store, her mom was pretty much ignoring it, but the dad was doing the “ok that’s the last time, I meant it! Don’t do that, stop it, alright I’m counting to three, one two three, alright that’s it! This is your final warning...”

I know my mom would have pulled me out of that cart and spanked me in front of everyone without a second thought, thankfully our 2yo is far too curious at the store to be getting upset.

Yeah don’t spank angry

Lol, one of those hard learned lessons

We’ve all been there.

Yikes. I know that feel all too well, wife has long hair so every 6 months ago I have to pull a wad of it out of the shower drain.

Hey goys anybody @here got a second to answer a question about back-feeding a panel?

With the impending storm, I’m going to wire my generator to my panel instead of running extension cords. I’ve got 50ft of #8 5-wire outdoor power cable, leftover from a 240v submersible pump. Thinking of landing a 30amp 2-pole breaker in my panel, and installing a standard twist lock outlet, or a knife switch. That way I can power my panel up and just turn off any breakers I won’t need (especially the main)

Basically my plan is to install a breaker(yellow) run the neutral and ground to the bars, the hots to the breaker, and power the bus bars from “the top down” I realize that backfeeding is frowned upon, I know plenty of guys that run a suicide plug into their dryer outlet, but at least with my idea, all of my circuits are still protected by their regular breakers, I’m just supplying the panel with power from the other end. Just curios as to your guys’ thoughts? I’m not a licensed electrician but I do plenty of panel work on 230/460v three phase systems

@John O - you’re right, I was using the term incorrectly. Thanks!

No worries, just wanted a second opinion is all.

DAS RITE

>Kavs Law

Anybody here have any experience with homeowners insurance claims and/or fema disaster claims? Thanks to Florence, I lost my fence, most of my shingles, had driving rain and seepage come in on the windward side of the house. Also had a tree crash down on my shed, punctured the roof, some of my tools are kill...

Tl;dr I’ve got a bunch of damage, could’ve been much much worse. I’ve got homeowners insurance, and wind/hail. I have filed a claim and the adjuster is coming in the morning.

My question is, does anyone have any experience applying with FEMA for disaster assistance or an SBA loan? I’m very reluctant to apply for any kind of assistance, I’m also worried about getting myself in a bind financially. Even with insurance, i simply cannot afford several thousand dollars in extra cost/deductible. I am the sole provider currently, as my wife stays home with our 2 year old son and 5 month old daughter. We do not spend frivolously, and we’ve got a small savings, which I would rather not erase completely on a deductible and miscellaneous cleanup costs. The FEMA website certainly makes it very clear that even “undocumented immigrants” can receive assistance if they have a “child who is a citizen” but I have a sneaking suspicion that any gov’t funds will be prioritized for basically everyone besides white taxpaying families.

I apologize for the wall of text, I’ve never filed an insurance claim before, and I certainly don’t want to let my insurance company get away with not taking care of my home.

@TheWhiteRationalist#8239 ayyy it’s nice to see another water/wastewater guy here. I’m in the same line of work, pump mechanics and electrical, anything from 1/2hp up to 200hp. Currently hold a Collections 3 license, going for 4’s this spring

Not much to it really, I do my garage/beer fridge once a year if I remember, I usually just unplug it, slide it away from the wall, and go over it with the shop vac brush attachment. Don’t go crazy and bend the coil or cooling fins, other than that it’s pretty straightforward tbh.

I’ve got a super easy go-to meal for the slow cooker, easily made /fit/ friendly as well

Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken
2 lb boneless skinless chicken (breast or thigh)
2 jars salsa
1 can black beans
1 can yellow corn
1 brick cream cheese, (non fat, 1/2 fat or full) doesn’t matter.

Put chicken in slow cooker, cover with salsa, beans and corn. Cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 4-5. About 30 mins before done, pull chicken out and shred, return to slow cooker and add cream cheese. Once cheese is melted, stir thoroughly and enjoy.

Protip- take the cream cheese out of fridge to soften for an hour or 2 before shredding the chicken, it’ll melt a lot faster and mix more easily.

I had a Hyundai Santa Fe that I drove during my last year of school, i had to commute from Wilmington nc to Goldsboro 2x per week for an 8:00-8:50 class

It had belonged to my mom, I sold my f150 since gas was like $5 per gallon then, that Hyundai had about 260k on it when I started driving it, somewhere around the 300k mark the timing belt broke, RIP 2 cylinders. I have a feeling that if the timing belt had been changed when it was supposed to have been, that car would still be on the road

Had to have been early 2000’s, probably an 03-04. It died on me in 2010

That thing had to have been an exception, I remember how shitty those cars were. My wife was driving an 05 sorento when we met. That thing was a massive POS. Barely made it to 90k. When we went to replace it i had to park it behind the dealership in the shade so that it would cool off enough to stop smoking when they came out to figure the trade in value

Lmao those 4cyl Honda engines are indestructible

Best overall vehicle I’ve ever owned has to be my wife’s Honda CR-V. I love my truck but we get a lot more use out of her car. Great gas mileage, room for 2 car seats, holds value about as well as any car can

@godric diversity is truly our greatest strength

I can’t seem to get away from driving my pickup, it’s just too useful when you need it. But for a family type vehicle it’s hard to beat those small/mid SUVs