Recent content by Tom NJ

IMHO, the "Spectrum" has gotten so broad, has so many degrees, and overlaps with so many other common differences in brain processing as to be almost meaningless. Its use these days seems to be approaching a term for "not perfect", even though "perfect" is undefined. Our brains are not all...

Shhhh! You are welcome here, but don't spread the word. We want to keep our small mountain town feel! ;)

Yes I used Rick Gibson. He came same day as we were out of water, as he has done in the past. Surprised you know Gibson, a local pump guy in Floyd.

Had mine replaced last year - just the pump, not the wire or piping so depth did not matter. 3/4 HP pump installed was $2,000.

Our DMV allows appointments. My wife was in and out in less than 20 minutes for a license renewal with photo and eye test. She had all of her paperwork with her as instructed in the appointment website.

Here is a comment from a pilot's forum that I thought was interesting: "The authors of the preliminary report would surely have known that the report as drafted would raise strong suspicions of an intentional act by one of the pilots to shut off the fuel switches. If the investigators had...

I fell in love with the idea of parachuting from a TV series called Ripcord back when I was 13 and wrote to parachute clubs across the US requesting any pamphlets or other information they could offer. I had to wait until I was 16 to jump, and made four static line jumps back in 1966 at a NJ...

Esters have the C=O bond and so will increase the oxidation number result, but do not reduce the oxidation stability of the oil - in fact they often increase the oxidative stability depending on the ester. Esters are also polar and increase swell and softening of elastomer seals. For more...

The specification ranges are pretty wide. There is room to change elastomer compatibility with additives, but must be balanced across the different elastomers, which may respond differently to different additives. Here are the specifications for SN, the latest I have handy:

Depends on the total formulation and type of ester. They all need to pass the seal compatibility specifications.

A higher starting oxidation number means that the oil has more of a component containing C=O molecular bonds. It may or may not mean extra seal conditioners. One would have to identify the source of the C=O bonds to determine its effect. In any case, a starting oxidation number does not mean...

Just a little perspective on seal compatibility. Back in the 70s my employer (Hatco) was selling 100% diester based motor oils meeting SE/CC for rebrand. The major oil companies were pushing back against “synthetic” in the early years, and one item of contention was seal compatibility. In order...

Amazing coincidence! Two weeks ago I decided to check my water heater, suspecting it was the original from when the house was built. Sure enough, the label shows it was made in week 40 of 1996! So I went to Home Depot and took home their flyer on water heaters, and after studying it decided...

Reproducibility for the pour point test by ASTM D97-17b is 6°C, meaning results from two different labs that disagree by up to 6°C are considered acceptable. In addition, different companies may choose different approaches in reporting their pour point, such as production average, production...

I eat a lot of fruit. Well, more specifically a lot of grapes. Well, more specifically a lot of grape juice. Well, more specifically fermented grape juice. Hey, it's fruit!