Drying Laundry Under Vacuum

Because when i moved the exhaust pipe of the drier was clogged with condensed water in the basement, for years, i reinvented drying laundry by using a heat pump as condenser and heater and recirculating the dry jot air saving energy, by modifying a window AC (because i saw the water that is coming when the window AC is working).

Re-invented because after i saw that only years before such driers that included a heat pump were commercially available, using a third less energy and not requiring an exhaust pipe. It's faster and especially cleaner since the air that goes in the drier does not come from the room but it's the exhaust that is dried and heated inside the heat pump and recirculated and some of the heat in winter time heats the room instead of being evacuated outside with the exhaust. However i am tired to uninstall and re-install it every year when the inspection come and now that the pipe is fixed in the summer it probably works as well in normal mode, while evacuating the heat outside.

Coincidentally i've been dealing these days with car's AC and saw a video that shows that moisture can be extracted from the AC system using a vacuum pump. Because of water's properties, under enough vacuum (low pressure) it may boil at room temperature or even less. This principle is used a lot in concentrating juices, where the water is removed again with a vacuum pump, without much heating thus without destroying nutrients though some heat is applied, because by boiling, the juice looses heat and it may even freeze. In this diagram fast drying (boiling) occurs anywhere right of the curve in the pink area.
So i made a connection in my mind, but instead of re-inventing anything i went and did some searches first and found out it was possible, it requires much less energy, again, no exhaust, however none available commercially yet. Currently around 6% of household electric energy and 2% of household gas consumption in the US is done by drying.

Problems With the Newer Refrigerants

This is one of the most important posts ever. Another problem i ran into, caused by yet another monumental technical and commercial blunder. Replacement of R11, R12 and R22 refrigerants which are chlorinated and are using mineral oil as lubricant with R134a, R410a, R404A which do not have chlorine in their chemical formula and use synthetic glycol or PAG (Poly Alkyl Glycol), POE or PVE as lubricant. The commonly used lubricant/refrigerant ratio is 1/4 (one ounce lubricant to 4 ounces liquid refrigerant).

First. They are saying that chlorinated refrigerants like older R11, R12 and R22 deplete the protective ozone layer of the Earth (ionosphere) hence they needed to be phased out and replaced with non chlorinated ones but to me this is highly controversial, because freon is 4 times heavier than air and chlorine 3 times. Ionosphere is the outermost area of the upper atmosphere where oxygen is converted into ozone by solar radiation and is as thick as the radiation penetrates. It's a self regulated process and ionosphere will be there in the same thickness as long as there is oxgyen.

Second. Chlorinated refrigerants may be anti-fungal (because they contain chlorine).

Third. Glycols though they outperform mineral oil in many applications including refrigeration, are highly hygroscopic. Which means they have an affinity for water and will attract water inside the pipes though the pressure is 2-3 times atmospheric pressure (on the lower pressure side of the system or before the compressor when in use).

Fourth. Unlike window ACs which are completely sealed, cars and homes ACs have 2 servicing valves or the so called core valves which are similar to core valves at the tires though they work at higher pressure (up to 200 psi or 13 atm on the high pressure side of the circuit or right after the compressor). Valves are sealed with tiny soft pieces of rubber.

Fifth. Lubricant in AC applications contribute to sealing the areas that have rubber seals. When not in use, the lubricant gathers at the bottom of the circuit and the valves "dry". Them they start leaking, but not only inside out, though the pressure in a fully charged system when not in use (on both low and high pressure areas) is about 50 psi at 50 degrees, 70 and 70 etc., they also leak, though much less, the other way due to partial pressure phenomena. Though there is pressure inside the circuit, that is caused by freon. Water vapor partial pressure is smaller inside then outside and water molecules that are also smaller get can also get inside in very small amounts, where they meet the lubricant, get dissolved in it until saturation and some end up in the silicon beads of the desiccant bag that is present in any AC circuit. And in there, if  there is no anti-fungal agents or additives in the circuits, water and oxygen contribute to developing mold and/or bacteria.

My car has been sitting in auction sites and shop for months and the valves have dried and leaked most of the freon, pressure was so low it was not triggering the switch that starts the compressor). After i first accidentally released some freon and PAG oil when i tried to refill the AC (and then i brought the hoses inside) i got very sick for about a month and a half after. Kinda realized what happened and bought a vacuum pump that is meant to remove all moisture from inside the circuit by applying vacuum. In vacuum, water evaporates faster or boils and vapors are eliminated by the pump. It is hard to obtain a very high vacuum due to continuous evaporation, at least until you eliminate most of it and it's a long process that might take up to an hour. But in the end it worked and the needle of that gauge was not moving down visibly when the pump was stopped, and the vacuum was achieved much faster after letting air in than the first time when moisture was present (actually should have used a digital gauge for deep vacuum, which measures in (mercury height) microns instead of psi, one psi is about 50k microns and for boiling water you will need some 1500 microns, and don't know if that is visible on a gauge marked in psi. 1/40 of one line on the scale). I also tried to replace the core valves, but did not realize i have bought two different sizes for each valves (4 valves in total) and i replaced only the low pressure one. My mistake.

Anyways, i've done it, added the right amount of freon, checked for the right amount of oil with some indicators i bought on Amazon.

As for newer than R134a. R410a and R404A which are newer than R134a are even worse. POE used in R410a saturate with water at 0.2 to 0.3 percent while PAG saturates at 0.7 which means there will be more free water in the circuit and desiccant bag.

But the next day. All my symptoms came back, though not as intense (it may be my immune system adapted to the strains that grow inside those circuits). Including belly pains which i had for a year before the accident. Which means the other car had it also. Which means they most do. Here in this image the pump is connected to the low pressure valve. The high pressure one which to me seems useless is in the bottom middle of the image next to the alternator. BTW i just remember, my low pressure valve tip was touching the cap when tightened which contributed to the leak.
This image shows the "zero" position of the gauge, which is a bit off to the right.And this the ultimate vacuum i have achieved in about an hour or soAnd yes i believe it's a good idea to start the AC in winter time at least once a week, to wet the valves with oil (glycol whatever).

An idea just came to me and went and looked for what kinda AC (heat pump whatever) a Tesla has. Since it should be obviously electric, like the window ones, of comparable capacity (around 10k btu), i was hoping it is as compact and does not have servicing valves. But no, it's got the same type of huge compressor and clumsy plumbing with long pipes that loose heat (cold) all cars have, is spread all over the what used to be engine compartment and has at least one servicing valve (yellow cap in the image). Why not make a compact AC (heat pump) of comparable size and price with the window ones, that last maybe 10 years, and could be cheap enough to be replaced all together or as cheap as the cost of servicing the existing?

Grommet vs Connector In Power Brake Booster Design

(Though i have a degree in mechanical engineering since 1986 from Romania, it is in Machine Tools and not Automotive Engineering. After i graduated, most of the work i've done was in computer programming though at the beginning related to engineering CAD after which i swicthed to accounting, payroll and medical insurance. Also my level of English when i came in the United States, especially in the technical area was much lower than today, after i started writing on social media. Thus it is only recently when i understood the below described phenomena and also became capable of describe it.)

A rubber grommet is a ring with a groove on the outside that fits in a hole and helps with the passage of a pipe, cable or connector through that hole, preventing the last one touching the edges of the hole. Most common use of grommets, as described in this Wikipedia picture, is for passing cables through holes.

In automotive industry they are also used for passing and sealing of ribbed connectors and holes, mostly in PCV valve or power booster applications. Here is the image of a power booster check valve with two connectors on each side (in and out). It is a one way valve with a spring and seal inside that allows the flow of air in one direction only and it ends with two ribbed connectors, of which one goes into the power booster grommet and the other to the power booster vacuum hose that at the other end is connected to engine manifold or throttle body on the manifold side. The function of this valve is to make sure that vacuum does not escape from the booster or air it's not getting in immediately after the engine stops, ensuring one or two brake cycle in case of engine failure or sudden stop while the vehicle is driven. For the purpose of this discussion it does nothing more than an L shape connector.

A brake power booster is a big cylinder with one or two diaphragms inside that helps with braking by adding extra force to the master cylinder when a smaller brake force is applied on the pedal. The extra force is generated by the suction power of the engine on the admission cycle, which in automotive terms is named manifold vacuum, or the difference of pressure between the inside of the manifold and atmospheric pressure applied on the opposite sides of the diaphragm.

Many don't understand. In combustion engines the air volume necessary for running the engine is small, at least at idle and under no load conditions. Thus, the flow of the air in the engine is restricted by a round shape valve called throttle that turns inside a cylindrical air passage with the same diameter with the throttle called throttle body with the pressing of the "gas" pedal. At idle the throttle is in perpendicular position with the air flow and closing the passage. A small amount of air (by)passes usually through a parallel passage that is also controlled by the computer through a solenoid or actuator, that is open only at idle. On the rotation axis of the throttle there is a potentiometer like sensor (similar with those in older audio devices) that turns with the throttle, thus transmitting to the computer a variable voltage that tells the computer how much the throttle is opened. Because of this severe restriction of the air flow inside the engine, vacuum is created on the intake side of the throttle. This vacuum is available and engineers long time ago figured they could use it for powering different devices and actuators in the vehicle as if would come from a vacuum pump), as the brake power booster.

In a normally running engine, at idle, this vacuum generates a difference of pressure with the atmospheric pressure of or above 22 inches mercury, that is about 11 psi and can go a little higher but obviously not higher than the atmospheric pressure itself that is about 14.7 psi since the difference it's generated by vacuum, or suction, or lack or pressure that can obviously cannot go lower than zero. 11 psi is equivalent with about one third to almost half of the pressure inside a tire that is above 32 psi.|

Here is a picture with a power booster that uses a grommet for passing the connector of a check valve.

Another type of design for solving applying manifold vacuum to the power booster described in the picture below uses instead of a grommet a connector that is part or welded or pressed on the power booster in the same place where the grommet hole is in the grommet solution, connector that is similar to the connector used on the other end of the hose as in both solutions, in which case the check valve is placed somewhere else like inside the booster.

Due to the way it is created, by the reciprocating motion of the pistons inside the cylinders that follows a time dependent sine pattern, engine vacuum has a pulsating nature that is partially smoothened by the volume of (low pressure) air inside the manifold and hoses (there are other pneumatic devices that are also fed with the pressure difference of pressure between inside the manifold and surrounding air that are connected to the manifold side of the throttle body though smaller and less important that also hold a certain volume of the same low pressure air in all the hoses and devices).

In a normally running engine, at idle, vacuum is  about 22 inches, relative or lower than atmospheric pressure. When the gas pedal is slightly pressed and throttle opens a little, around 2000 rpm, the vacuum gets even higher, closer to zero pressure or absolute vacuum or 14.7 psi relative to atmospheric pressure due to increasing need of engine for air because of faster movement of the pistons and the throttle's opening resistance. When the throttle is opened even more, thus allowing more air freely into the manifold the vacuum starts to decrease again.

The more vacuum in the manifold, the more pulsating is the pressure difference due to increasing amplitude of the sine wave due to reciprocating motion of the pistons.

Also. Due to various dynamic forces the engine has a tendency of moving or vibrating on its rubber mounts, mostly following the cycle of pistons' reciprocating movement, but also the rpm. There are certain rpms that make the engine move more or at higher amplitudes than others due to resonance phenomena.

Also, all the hoses, including power booster vacuum hose are not rigid and move around together with the engine having their own moving pattern and resonance with certain rpms.

The grommet in the grommet solution in all different design variations (i've seen so far) have the length and diameter of the groove comparable with the sheet metal and the hole they seal, design that cannot generate a sealing force on the wall of the booster. Thus the sealing is being insured by the difference of pressure between inside and outside of the booster applied on the outer side of the grommet that presses against the booster's wall.

The check valve's connector on the grommet side has a slightly bigger diameter than the hole of the grommet and it is ribbed, and when is inserted into the grommet it causes very hard to predict deformations of both parts which in this case are static but asymmetrical due to the weight of the hose but at least at the beginning of its life and at idle it seals the vacuum or at least partially, up to a certain pressure difference or pulsating amplitude at certain rpms.

Thus there are two sealing surfaces regarding the grommet. One is between outer rim of the groove and the sheet metal around the hole and one is between the hole and the connector.

As i said the vacuum hose has its own weight. This weight is applied on the grommet side as well but with dynamic variations following the different relative motions between the grommet and the hose, generating variable forces that are impossible or very hard to predict that are in the end applied onto and sustained by the grommet, causing it to slightly change shape many times a second, or causing dynamic deformations, following the relative motion of the engine and the hose. Those changes of shape are asymmetrical due to direction of the variable force being applied on the grommet and very hard or impossible to predict, in the end changing the sealing surface, in a dynamic way and increasing it on one side and decreasing on the other.

In conclusion, both the pulsating nature of the engine manifold vacuum and the forces generated by the hose moved by the engine moving on the mounts deform the grommet dynamically, combined can change the sealing areas and pressures on the sealing surfaces of the grommet, possibly leading to small, pulsating leaks that might appear only on certain rpms and engine loads.

The power boosters are oftenly painted on the outside to check corrosion. The sealing surface between the grommet and the power booster is also painted. Paint thickness can be irregular causing unpredictable variations on the final shape and smoothness of the sealing surface and can also degrade in time or even be peeled or chipped due to age causing irregularities to grow in time and sealing to decrease, thus increasing  the pulsating vacuum leak.

Peeled, eroded paint an a small indentation at the power booster grommet hole

The grommet solution compared to welded connector solution brings several more areas than need to be sealed in the vacuum transmission assembly between throttle body and booster, that is throttle body connector-hose, hose-check valve, check valve-grommet and grommet-power booster.

Grommets are made of rubber. Rubber is a material that often has irregularities but also changes properties in time due to aging. Constant pressure like from the ribs of the connector can cause grooves inside the hole of the grommet thus in time decreasing sealing capacity on that side. Also rubber looses elasticity with age thus the initial installation pressure and sealing capacity between grommet and check valve connector and capacity of following the irregularities on the painted area.

The welded connector design is much simpler, and cost comparable solution, it follows the solution on the other side of the hose, has less sealing surfaces and much less like to cause vacuum leaks.

Uncontrollable vacuum leaks in the end translates by air flowing in the engine in uncontrollable ways, bypassing the throttle body and throttle.

Small intermittent vacuum leaks on carburrated engine can cause trouble by changing in unpredictable ways the fuel/air ratio.  The computer responds promptly by the reading of the oxygen sensors, thus adding more fuel.

But on injected engines even small vacuum leaks are critical because in injected engines fuel/air mixture is adjusted by a computer based on reading from one or more oxygen sensor inside the exhaust system, among others. The more oxygen the sensors read due to a vacuum leak or air escaping uncontrollably into the manifold, the more fuel it adds. Also air/fuel ratio is adjusted by the computer using readings from other sensors, including throttle positioning sensor and pressure sensors inside the manifold and intake hose. Air flowing into the manifold due to unpredictable, intermittent leaks translates into reading in the sensors than cause the engine running erratically and mainly increasing fuel consumption with all its consequences, like more fuel burning with the extra air inside the exhaust and catalytic converter, shortening the life of the catalytic converter and overheating other components of the vehicle, like floor, transmission and clutch. Extra fuel consumption also translates in more fuel being used, extra cost, pollution, etc.

The following pictures are done with my old check valve and hose and a new original grommet.

All the deformations that remain permanent due to aging of the grommet, abrasion of the paint, inevitably lead in time to more important vacuum leaks that can lead to decreasing braking capacity, but that is not obvious since it occurs very gradually and the driver gets used to. Though vacuum is present in the booster, it is diminished due to vacuum leaks that appear only in this design up to a point when the computer finally sets an error that usually indicates a lean condition (too much air in the air/fuel mixture), because through its oxygen sensors it actually measure the amount of oxygen left after the burning cycle inside the cylinder that is increased in case of vacuum leaks or more air bypassing the throttle thus unaccounted for by the TPS sensor inside the intake manifold. But when usually that happens that engine has been functioning abnormally for too long and other components have been damaged by overheating. Also the vacuum leaks even at the beginning of the life of this vehicle that are due to the grommet solution are intermittent, and the computer is programmed to put a check engine light only after a contentious malfunctioning or a high reading on one of the oxygen sensors of a certain period of time, cycles and events, that only happens when the vacuum leak grows bigger and/or gets permanent.

All these consequences can be averted if the pressed or welded connector solution is used instead of the grommet one.

It is hard for me to estimate the amount of fuel being used by multiplying this type of failure due to a faulty design to the the number of vehicles that still use it, but i estimate it in the enormous area.

May 6

6:07/4:07 Mai aveți țevi de plumb sub chiuvetă? Îmi amintesc că în România bucata de țeavă dintre coloana care era din oțel și robinet era din plumb, mai ales pentru flexibilitate în timpul instalării.

Romanii foloseau mult plumbul în instalații, (chiar și pentru vase de gătit), ceea ce a dat în engleză cuvântul plumbing, care înseamnă tot ce e instalație pentru apă într-o locuință.

Există teorii care spun că Imperiul Roman a căzut din cauza toxicității instalațiilor din plumb. Însă americanii au renunțat de mult la plumb, un metal cu rezonanțe masonice (firul cu plumb folosit în construcții, a treia unealtă simbolică a masonilor speculativi, după echer și compas) din cauza toxicității. Deși a fost folosit decenii și ca aditiv, pentru a mări cifra octanică la benzină (azi e înlocuit de alcool etilic).

De asemenea cuvântul plombă, care vine din franceză are tot plumbul la origine. Inițial cariile se acopereau (umpleau) cu plumb, fiind mai apoi înlocuit cu amalgamat, ceea ce este controversabil.

8:18 For my own records. So far i only chocked (had dysphagia) with pieces of meat. Aggravated by rice that was dried and/or pasta al dente. But noise, other stimulants (stressors), are essential and were present always.

This morning, no exception, the man started to walk when i tried to eat some (way overcooked) lean pork like he did so many times before.

I almost choked but felt the urge to drink coffee which literally helped the piece of meat go down. I guess from all foods, even after chewing thoroughly, lean meat is not smooth, i mean it has a rather non-smooth (coarse) texture.  For some reason, came to mind this older idea of mine which seams a bit sci-fi but still entirely credible to me after all the years since i wrote it.

12:39 On Keywords. I'm so sick and tired of all this. Every time i post something they come to create confusing information, sometimes just by choosing or even creating events like this one.

Also, cannot separate my life from what i'm posting, while they have infinite resources. This morning i ordered a vacuum pump to remove moisture and air from inside the AC (yes, water boils at ambient temperature if enough vacuum is applied). Buying the pump is times cheaper than going to a shop and it is also a much better option because at the shop you don't know where that pump was been hooked before, if it's within specs, if the tech really knows what he's doing (applying vacuum deep enough for enough time). How does the moisture gets in the refrigerant pipes? That is a very good question. By molecular leaks at the valves, because PAG "oil" is so hygroscopic. Using it is as simple as hooking it up to one port.

Besides reducing efficiency and corrosion, the moisture and air creates living conditions for virulent mold inside the pipes. Every time i ride or drive that car i get sick again. Also because i have my parotid glands (salivary) full of petrolatum from the dental adhesive i used for years.

But yesterday. When we passed this "open air" mulch factory there was this mold smell (i really don't understand, why every time i pass do i get to breathe their fermentation results and my clothes should get contaminated with their molds?). Better said, wood alcohol created by mold smell. And a truck with modified exhaust provided the necessary vibration for a new strain of mold to get inside the circuit.

Yesterday afternoon i went to an ATM to deposit a check and withdraw 100 dollars. Next to me there was this Spanish speaking woman who cornered me, putting up a scene, talking aloud on speakerphone while i was navigating thru menus with my card inside the machine. I got to hear her conversation partner coughing.

Then, when i looked at the news and see in disbelief a news about a hotel in Havana that has just been renovated (construction) blown because of a gas leak? Another similar one in Madrid? Gas leak, plumbers?

Did i use the words speculative masons?

Many years ago when all these started i was frightened. Now i'm just frustrated because i know much of the stories, like the number of dead, aren't real. These are staged events. But the fear is real. Fear was real during the pandemic, so it is during the war. And fear wipes all judgement and hope and trust.

8:36 The illusion factory still going strong. Last night at Spirit Mt  they were featuring... At the bar, outside smoking, walking on the central alley her 51 years old still sexy body.

11:38 After mentioning the freemasons several times in the last days, tonight when the guy upstaris came, a weird smell got in here. Could be very find ground elemental sulfur and paper. Both masonic tools present in the chmaber of reflections. Then when the smell started to subside, he went out, which brought more smell and came back in, again. The smell is very strong next to stairs. The stairs are covered in a dust that leaves a black residue on a paper towel.

Chevrolet S10

Chevy ES 10, Isuzu Hombre, 2.2 liter engine.

Some of the biggest and time consuming problems i ever had in US were with my vehicles.

In late April 98 May i had an accident with my 89 Ford Escort.

Got that Escort from Insurance Auto Auction in Sherwood while i was still working at Credence in 1996. I went to the auction with Lyle, my buddy at Credence (at one time i thought he was Sir Tim who invented internet, today i think he was just another actor). I was doing lots of overtime and had some money, but the auction was rigged. The moment i stopped bidding the car was sold to me though other guy bidded after so they made sure they got biggest priced i was decided to go with. 850 dollars. Car was 7 years old and was wrecked. I went to Lyle's place in Hillsboro i guess, tied the car with a cable from a tree and backed up until i straightened the frame enough so i can put a fender on. Got the fender don't remember from where. Bumper was still peeled of paint from the wreck. Threw in a radiator, painted the fender with a can and voila. However it had a problem somewhere under. Frame was broken and squeaking and every time i was accelerating it was pulling right and breaking left. 1.9 liter, for that size (it was GT figure), wide custom wheels with one bad tire and broken exhaust. It was making a terrible noise until Shawn Parker in 97 helped me fix it by simply pressing a new muffler after cutting the old corroded one.

It had a stick and Angela learned how to drive on a permit it but didn't pass the test twice, last time from a loose belt on the steering pump. I think she passed the test in 99 after we bought the Nissan that was also totalled and fixed by another "Romanian" guy, George, from Dallas, Oregon who was buying cars from insurance and fixing them for a living.

In that April we went at Tillamook and by the bay she lost control of the car, we rolled over but did not have a scratch. http://georgesblogforfriends.blogspot.com/2012/11/shawn-parker.html

The car was also driveable but the hood was 1 inch shorter on the right side i guess. I could have waited to get another totalled car from another auction (i was told all Romanians did that way) but i went to Russ Chevrolet in Tigard and got the S10. First on lease then after three month i bought it on a finance of 190 dollars a month. Then i was working at Credence as software engineer with two guys who now seem to had been again Shatner, Nimoy, Andy Carson, other celebrities in fact all Hungarians, declared or not and i was making 25000 a year.

Another episode with the Escort before the accident. I got a cell phone (Motorola, smallest in the world at that time, a flip phone like the size of most flip phones today). I was driving towards Corvallis, because i was curious to see how Michelle, the black woman i was in contact for my project was looking like (insurance eligibility through mainframe - PC connection for a hospital in Corvallis, working remotely that was too hard for my programming level which however i finished before leaving). It was not long before the shooting in Springfield and i stopped to eat at Subway http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/fourteen-years-later-looking-back-at-a-school-shooting/ where it thought i saw a couple of teenagers talking loud and drawing attention in the restaurant.

On my way there not long after leaving Portland there was a portion of I5 that had big grooves in it from being eroded from traffic. That day for some reason i could not figure i was extremely sleepy and at a certain time the phone ring (it was Angela's break at Sentrol i guess) and she called me from a payphone and i woke up in a different landscape. I must have fallen asleep but the car was kept on the road because of the grooves.

Michele was looking ok, she was almost as tall as me and she told me from the start about her two kids. Can't really remember her face.

So in May 1998 i bought the truck. Right from the start, two problems. It had an exhaust leak under hood that made a noise like a little flying bird i could not figure what it was and also pulling severely right, something i had not fixed until 2005.

I went back to the dealer and different mechanics and one of them created a new problem, a coolant leak by loosening the coolant temperature sensor and telling me something else (thermostat housing and heater pipe) and the leak was not big enough to worry etc.. Strangely enough the reservoir was never getting empty. I replaced the thermostat housing with the heater pipe 3 times before i gave up not knowing the leak was actually at the temperature sensor.

http://georgesblogforfriends.blogspot.com/2012/09/computer-age-auto-service.html

In October or November that year i quit at Quadramed (the software engineer job) because after lunch i had so big stomach pains i could not do anything. My next job was at AVX between August 99 and August 2010 working with probably Axl Rose, Don Henley, Victor Orban and others.

Job was swing shift and i was coming after midnight home, Angela was not sleeping more than several hours at night, etc..

I was commuting about 30 miles i guess and truck was using about 15 gallons for 400 miles on freeway and 23 mpg in town.

In 2004 i went for three months to Romania. When i came back the truck was totally different. Exhaust pipe and catalytic was heating the floor (and transmission). Fuel consumption went about 15% higher. So i tried to do the things i could. I replaced first spark plug wires, than spark plugs, put back the original, replaced coolant and put green one not knowing it was more toxic (that in shop at Macavei, the guy who looked like Leo Iorga, the Romanian rock singer from Compact), i replaced the ignition coils. Replaced the fuel filter myself in the parking lot and made a big smell.

Can't remember when first clutch failed. Maybe 2006 or 2007. I went to Macavei in Oregon City and he replaced the master cylinder. That day i got so sick in his shop i thought i was going to die. Waited for hours in a parking lot for a towing cause i could not drive anymore. The engine was stinking due to coolant being spilled on or oil leaking from the gasket cover.

However the next day all the brake fluid from the clutch leaked on the parking lot again. It was not the master but the slave cylinder that needed to be replaced and i think it was the first job i done at Steve (I went once before 2004 in there when it was a guy who Steve said it was his father, Chang, who passed away in the mean time, to replace the heating hose on Angela's car cause i kept adding coolant and finally figured it was a hidden hole that looked like a screwdriver hole in the heating hose while Angela was sicker and sicker. By that time Steve's English was much worse than now).

Don't know how many times i went to Steve to complain about the exhaust leak and bad mileage. He said the same as Macavei, not to worry and especially not to spend more money since gas was cheaper than repairs.

It was after the clutch failed too more times and the catalytic 3 times i started to try to figure out why. The same problems i could not figure after i returned from Romania in 2005. A bad fuel pressure regulator. An intermittent signal from computer to fuel pump relay. Leaking coolant sensor. Numerous vacuum leaks. Oxygen sensors. The extra fuel was burning in the exhaust and catalytic also heating the transmission that boiled and some 1/3 of the transmission oil was missing, also Juan, the only mechanic at Steve pulled shavings of metal from transmission with a magnet.

http://georgesblogforfriends.blogspot.com/2015/11/grommet-vs-connector-in-power-brake.html

http://georgesblogforfriends.blogspot.com/2012/07/fuel-pump-relay.html

In total for both vehicles i spent maybe 3 times the amount of money one would normally spend for car maintenance.

On @ September 1st my truck stopped in the middle of the road because i stalled the engine (it happens to me every once in a while). But i could not restart it. Maybe because i forgot to put fuel in it. Mileage on the trip odometer was 400 miles and the total capacity of the tank is 17 gallons. It is possible the fuel pump being old it failed while overheating because of trying to start it for so long.

I towed the truck back home and i though i saw the driver's face in the news the next day. He looked like English football player Wayne Rooney. In the same evening i saw one more guy in the news, an American football player who looked like the second towing driver, i forgot his name.

I tried to crank it more and wouldn't start. I looked in the fuse box and saw the fuse for the fuel pump was burnt and replaced it and it burnt again. Then i looked at the trip odometer and gauge an finally realized i had no fuel. I walked to a gas station nearby and bough 2 gallons of gas and added and after it sputtered a few times it burned the fuse again.

The truck is at Steve's shop, Lucky Autobody and they cannot figure what happened. Last time this afternoon they told me they have to replace the ignition module with the coils (the ones i replaced myself in 2005) before they can test the fuel pump and that was the drop that filled the glass. I don't believe fuel pump cannot be tested directly with simply applying voltage with a fuse somewhere on the circuit.

Also i read on forums that if you run out of fuel the pump needs to be primed before being able to use it. However i remember i ran out of fuel once in Lake Oswego and i called a towing truck and they added some gas and it started and did not burn fuses.

Today i talked to several shops around and i found a mechanic who agreed to test the fuel pump before anything else. Had to explain him the fuel pump relay signal is hard wired to the ignition switch (not module, semantic coincidence).

Also i found the email address of a guy at Carr Chevrolet in Beaverton who agreed to bring the truck there, pending finding a time in their schedule. Have not decided yet where to go.

How big of coincidence could be this. Stalling, running out of fuel, breaking the fuel pump and ignition module in the same time?

Catch Can

Due to normal wearing of cars' engines after several tens of thousands miles hot gases from cylinder start to escape by the ring of the pistons inside the engine or on the other side of the pistons. Since the engine is closed by seals and gaskets, pressure starts to build up. Depending on how much the engine is worn, more ore less gas have to be released in order to obtain maximum efficiency. Also. Exhaust gases may have water and gasoline in them. Water would emulsify the oil and gasoline would thin it.

However those are exhaust gases and unburned fuel, you can't simply let them escape in the air. Most manufacturers choose an option design called PCV (Positive Crankcase Ventilation). It's a very simple idea. When pressure builds up (certain rpms and engine output) a valve opens (PCV valve) and lets those gases back into the intake manifold. The parameters of the process are more complicated, cause manifold vacuum that varies with the rpm and output. A simple valve is not the best solution but this is what we got on most cars.

PCV valve is usually placed on the valve cover in the highest point to avoid oil that splashes to escape into the circuit and into the intake with the gases. However that is an ideal that never happens.

Every time when i replaced a PCV valve i saw it had oil in it. And sometimes oil cooks in there and stuck the ball and spring of the valve either open or closed, again decreasing engine efficiency. But i never had a major problem with it until i owned a Hyundai.

Hyundais are different from other cars at least by two accounts. Valve cover is minimalistically low. Main design engineer there who worked at Daimler chose to copy an improvement from Daimler which they also took from diesel engines. The so called swirl flaps. There are two rows of butterfly like valves inside the manifold that open and close according to vacuum (first row) and actuated by computer (second). Those are installed in there to create turbulence and again get you a few percent of more gas mileage.

Now comes the interesting part.

I recently installed a modified filter for water to catch the oil from PCV line. The filter was transparent and i could see inside it's not only oil coming on PCV line. Oil is emulsified by the water present in exhaust. When that emulsion ends in the intake somehow interferes with the functioning of the first row of flaps, those actuated by vacuum. It changes the weight of the flaps on one end and they start oscillating, creating variations in engine's functioning which in the end translate in vibration. Vibration that surpasses the design performance of the exhaust manifold sealing gasket and starting intermittent exhaust leaks. Again vibration transmits to the hood that intermittently opens and let small amounts of exhaust pass by the seal and into the cabin fan intake. Shall i say more?

The filter i installed after a few improvements catches most of that emulsion however it restricts the flow of gasses at certain rpms decreasing efficiency.

The problem is known to car enthusiasts from race cars. There are what they call oil catch cans that costs up to hundreds of dollars. I once found a cheap one on Amazon made of blue anodized aluminum, looking nice and shiny, and... one quart capacity (hard to find a place under the hoos).

The lead's sealing gasket was made of cardboard and looked weak and i didn't want to take the chance for parts of that gasket to get into the intake so i sent it back. Drop of efficiency with installed filter is more severe in town and generally when accelerating when pressure builds up inside engine. I finally decided to build my own catch can. First i went to NAPA to buy some connectors. Had no idea what to attach them to. The idea was to go later to Home Depot or Lowes an buy anything that looked close to a can and had a detachable lead (you need a detachable lead because you have to screw the connectors). However, conveniently next to the connector there was what they call a "brake bleeder".

Don't know, in auto mechanics slang, for some reason they call purging of the brake fluid "bleeding". At Les Schwab they even have the so called "power bleeder" LOL. It's some sort of round reservoir with several gallons of brake fluid in it where at one end you attach a hose with compressed air and the other all sorts of adapters that go in the place of master cylinder reservoir. Pressurized brake fluid would go into the reservoir. On cars at each wheels brake caliper and pistons have a small screws with halls call again... "bleeder". You unscrew those a bit and usually can have someone press on the pedal to "bleed" the system then screw them back when the pedal goes up. With the power bleeder though, one person can do it. But it's very wasteful. The caps would not fit really well on top of master cylinders and much fluid is lost on the floor. However. You could purge the whole brake fluid from lines and reservoir and cylinder and replace it with new one.

The brake bleeder from NAPA works in the opposite way. You are supposed to attach a vacuum hose (supposed you have a vacuum pump) at one end and connect it to the bleeders at the wheels. Or just attach it and use it to just collect the fluid. While pumping on the pedal fluid would not go on the floor but in the can and air would go out on the other connector. Why it was there at NAPA next to the air connectors? Did they know i was looking for something just like it?

Anyways. It has a tight sealed lead, two connectors and it seemed to fit the purpose. However when i came home and cut those connectors which where too small and again would obstruct the PCV flow, i realized it was all made of cheaper plastic, not nylon as i thought. There is a serious chance it would melt at summer. While working at it was thinking of gluing those connectors that i almost self thread in the very tight holes i made in place of built in connectors, an idea came to me. Why not making the whole thing out of a... tin can. Drill the holes, force self thread the connectors, use JB weld to seal them and voila. Only trouble would be i would not be able to see inside and empty the can. Don't know yet.

Purge Canister Air Filter Solenoid

It's not your grandpa's car anymore. Since the 70s, they introduced a most puzzling concept followed by a number of devices. PCV. It stands for Positive Crankcase Ventilation.

It does pretty much what it says. Releases pressure from the engine. Engine runs, pistons open easier especially on admission cycle if there is no pressure on the other side of combustion chamber. Here's an illustration showing how this occurs. A small percentage of the energized gas during combustion cycle pass the piston's rings and pressurizes the main engine compartment or the area beyond pistons.

Up until 70s they had this relief opening on top of the engine that was ending with a small pipe under. Blowby gas is a mixture of unburnt fuel, raw exhaust (not passed through catalytic converter), water vapor and oil vapor.  Due to pollution complaints, that was not acceptable anymore and they came with this idea. Returning those gases in the intake manifold, mix them with air and gas and burn them again. It was called PCV system.

It was working and nobody complained about for a long time. However, if uncontrolled through design, it may produce a variety of problems, including corrosion and mainly condensation of oil on the cold intake runners' walls and pouring in the engine, affecting valves, spark plugs and creating carbon deposits on the top of the cylinder, etc..

The biggest problem of course is carbon deposit on valves which start to interfere with their functioning. Valves become "sticky" that is they can't open anymore at certain engine stages (low RPM, cold engine) by they hydraulic lifters wichi are designed to fill with engine oil to eliminate any play. Oil gets squished out of the lifters and starts foaming, which is a bad condition for the bearings that are lubricated with that oil.

At non GDI (Gasoline Direct Injection engines) has injectors spraying fuel in the intake runners, or before the valves. This help with cleaning of the valves. However, there are new generation high efficiency engines that use little gasoline at cruise speeds and that is not enough to clean those.

Many gas sellers advertise their gas as having cleaning features. This is what they're talking about and it's a real problem.

There are ways to minimize this phenomenon however not used by any manufacturer i know about. You can install an empty can on the return PCV line and have the oil condensate and fall in it. However, it may not work if the pipe before the can is close to the engine and gets hot. Blowby will still pass and condensates inside the intake. Last version of the catch can i installed on the Hyundai uses a corrugated copper pipe that is passed through an larger pipe (empty can) that allow air to flow and prevent heat from engine to reach for it and indeed it minimized the sticky valves phenomenon, becoming marginal and intermittent.

However, there is another problem. Fuel pump filter is not or hardly serviceable at this car, being in the tank and in time fuel pressure start do decrease. This is aggravated by a bad battery and connectors at the battery, lowering the voltage for the fuel pump, bad gasoline or gasoline without alcohol which usually cleans and especially dissolves water.

Last time i filled the car with gasoline at Spirit Mountain Shell i noticed the noise condition improved dramatically. For the first gallon of fuel used or that 50 miles trip back home. The next day it came back to "normal". I figured, maybe it has something to do with vacuum being created inside the tank by the purging system. Another newer anti-pollution feature of cars which insure that the fuel tank does not have and/or releases fuel vapors in the air, with a charcoal canister and a system of valves that allow the computer to "purge" or literally scuk back in the again intake the extra vapors. However, if too much vacuum is being applied to the fuel tank, it starts to interfere with the fuel pump and ultimately the fuel pressure at the injectors. (Some of) the injectors start to drip and can't clean the valves anymore. On this car computer has the possibility to allow atmospheric air to go into the tank to release the vacuum however through a, you guessed, title of the post, a small air filter. Which is on the service list of 30k and is located under the car next to the charcoal canister.

So i opened and closed the tank cap every time when i noticed the noise and mostly at the beginning of every trip and voia! Noise was gone last night for most of the 150 mile round trip to the beaches.

The ironic part is, i had the filter since 2 years ago when i almost figured the problem. But finding oil and manually purging it from the intake and fiddling with the catch can made me forget about it. Also three years ago i almost went for an appointment to replace fuel filter, which doesn't make much sense to replace at this car without the fuel pump.

So today i went and jacked the car and removed the small air filter. I was expecting to find it clogged (and or the air pipe) with pine needles that were built in that area up to half inch when i got the car (from the road she was doing daily probably). That was not the case. But what i found was a solenoid next to filter again used by computer, that could have been intermittently stuck. I poured some 91% isopropyl alcohol in it and it came dirty. I tested it with a meter and a battery and it works and on the bench it doesn't get stuck. I put it back together with the new filter.

In the image representing the whole purge system, solenoid is nr.6, filter is 7.

I figured it would have been useless to go to a dealer and have it done at service interval, if they didn't check the solenoid as well.

Too many times i noticed all these optimizing devices interfere with the function of the vehicle, in the end making the pollution worse because the conditions they create are hard to diagnose, unsignaled by "check engine light" and sometimes expensive to fix not because of parts involved but because of high quality labor and time needed for diagnose. Most mechanics ignore them anyways.

April 16

12:15 When i described the latest version of the catch can (there's a new one in my head already), i forgot to say one more time what i said before. The modern cars have the intake manifold under the level of the engine's head and the out ports are above the throttle body. For that reason, it is possible for oil from the PCV to pool in there.

When i got my first Elantra in 2018, a  2013 model which i still like a lot as body stile, much nicer than the 2018 anyway i used a normal vacuum cleaner to which i attached at the end of the hose a thin 5-6 mm piece of PVC flexible tubbing about two ft long (that was not so perfectly attached, allowing air to get in that hose anyways, which helped with functionality).

With the engine off, i was holding with one hand the throttle open, and with the other i was inserting the flexible tubing downwards, making sure it reaches the bottom of the intake. I pulled so much of it, to my engrossment, it coated the whole vacuum hose on the inside.

Must have been ounces of it. But i must confess: i poured earlier a full can of valve cleaner. But it was black which proves the intake was coated on the inside with oil mixed with soot from EGR that was still trickling up the ports getting to the valves after the cleaning.

And because more oil kept getting in there and could not do the stunt too many times, i invented a small vacuum for that purpose only. Again a piece of tubing connected to the other (suction) side of a pneumatic mat pump that works at 12 volts. Of course the air that gets out of it has drops of oil when you hit the puddle inside. I encased the whole pump into a one gallon water bottle.

However after i got tired of periodically vacuuming the intake, i built the first version of the can. Which actually was an inline filter that was clogging fast. Then i found about catch cans on forums.

The 2018 model had the valves cleaner, however is very sensitive to the smallest amount of oil it gets in there. I also did not pull much from the bottom of the intake.

But if your valves look like this, a catch can won't help. I thought it was understood. You need to clean those first. Get a can of Seafoam or whatever, spray it in the intake through the throttle or a vacuum port while someone presses on the gas pedal to keep the engine running.

You will see black smoke coming out of the exhaust until those are clean, and then can vacuum the intake for the remaining cleaner trapped in. Or wait until it trickles up and get burnt in the engine (maybe). And then the catch can will help with the tick.

And of course if you think this method is nuts, there's always R2D2.

Pour... Les... Roumains. Încercați totuși să faceți un efort de imaginație ca să realizați cât de fioroși sunt ăștia și cum încearcă prin subliminale care de data asta sunt foarte subțiri (criza) să distrugă munca oricui deși Dinescu se dă de partea celor cu nădușeala pe piept. Mai înlocuiți mai devreme în poezie cuvântul talanți cu talenți. Telefon cu fise. Bine oricare din ei se dă de partea cuiva, ca să-i ducă mai repede în prăpastie. 

11:04 PM Hai să lămurim o chestie. Din când în când, cam de 2 ori pe an săptămână Fürjes Dinescu se bagă în seamă cu câte o poezie, scrisă cu ceva meșteșug, care le fac atractive.

Fiindcă s-a luat iar de mine și i-am răspuns, s-a stârnit acum în media o frenezie legată de subiectele deschise de meșteșugul dlui. Una din "știri" vorbește iar despre punerea sub acuzare a foștilor lideri revoluționari (un banc răsuflat) iar pe mine mă face iar să mă gândesc cum să demonstrez că zâmbărețul Iliescu, capo di tutti capi rivoluzionari, sărac dar curat, e mort de mult iar ăștia îl țin așa în vila aceea de lux ca să îi încaseze Ionuț Vuliescu, valetul lui se pare, pensia.

Ultima poză a lui György Illés înainte de a muri în 2006 îl arată cam așa.

De când e poza asta? (ultima cunoscută, datată 2022). După calitate, e făcută cu un telefon foarte vechi. Alfred Moses era mai chel (care aici avea un mic moț în chelie) și în 2018. Alfred Moses e născut în 1929, teoretic cu un an mai în vârstă decât Iliescu.

Ar fi multe metodele de a demonstra că el trăiește, cea mai modestă ar fi un scurt video cu el în pat sau poate doar audio vorbind gângurind despre un eveniment curent. Îi știm cu toții vocea. Sau dacă nu poate, măcar să miște un deget, să ne bată cu el în microfon?

12:42 Black holes are hypothetical entities. Of them, the biggest in our galaxy is thought to be at the center and it has several million times the mass of our Sun. However, from time to time, they discover big ones, 32 times the mas of our Sun, and really close, 2000 light years away.

They call them stellar because they think they were initially stars. Not like the one at the center of the galaxy which was formed by dust. How do they know it was not a star covered by dust? Dormant, stopped feeding. Why would a hypothetical dormant black hole stop feeding? Does it have diabetes?

3:12 I came from my walk, wanted to make some corrections in the last posts. 3 supposedly Spanish little girls came and started to hit the cable box. However i think one of them is a 20 years old who poses as a 10, which is not difficult for some Japanese. There was a red Nissan with the LPN PPY parked on the red line next to mailboxes. Pulled the blinds, went to cook and eat. 

4:57 Two hours later, the girls, the papy car are still there.

8:36 Tocmai m-am prins la o chestie. Site-ul wunderground are grafice inclusiv cu presiunea atmosferică pe următoarele zece zile. Portul Constanța este destul de aproape de zona seismică Vrancea ca să fie în aceeași zonă de atracție a lunii și soarelui, iar mareele, deși sunt foarte mici din cauza dimensiunii Mării Negre comparată cu cea a oceanelor și a mareelor terestre simultane sunt o măsură a atracției acestor corpuri cerești.

Atracția nu se exercită la fel în partea apropiată de lună relativă cu partea depărtată, din cauza diferenței de distanță. Forța gravitațională este invers proporțională cu pătratul distanței. Forța de atracție medie dintre masa totală a lunii și a pământului este 10 urmat de 15 zerouri, în tone forță.

Partea mai apropiată e atrasă mai tare iar Pământul se lungește, ca un ou, cu până la câțiva metri (mareele terestre și oceanice), deci se deformează.

Dacă se combină predicția presiunii atmosferice cu cea a mareelor, putem avea șanse de cutremure în zona Vrancea în momentele cu mareele cele mai ridicate și presiunea cea mai scăzută.

Începând cu 23 aprilie, sunt 5 zile cu maree ridicate și două cu maree duble (Soare-Lună). Avem deja presiunea până pe 26, este ridicată, stați liniștiți. Poate doar unul mic pe 24. Dar a plouat mult recent.

9:47 PDT Am început să cred că și precipitațiile pot avea un rol. Dacă de exemplu avem presiune scăzută dar 2 cm de ploaie (20 kg/m²), greutatea apei pe suprafața mare a zonei seismice, (4,863 km² sunt 4,863,000,000 m²) contracarează presiunea atmosferică scăzută și mareea terestră (care este însoțită de cea marină). (Presiune scăzută împreună cu umiditate mare declanșează automat precipitații).

Deci cutremurele se pot produce la presiune atmosferică scăzută combinată cu umiditate scăzută, precipitații recente scăzute (secetă) și maree terestră (atracție soare-lună), deci și marină, înaltă.

11:15 Asta a apărut după ce am scris eu cu bătutul în microfon, chestia de mai sus, nu? 9:47 PM Pacific Daylight Time, ora pe coasta de vest, este 7:47 AM ora de vară în România) Gropița singură dintre sprâncene, ceva unic ce nu am mai văzut decât la el. De obicei, au două. Da, nu știu, alunițele mai migrează sau se pot acoperi la machiaj. Da, politicienii și actorii (bărbați) se machiază tot timpul. Discret.

12:21 (17).  Not included which means the thing is only the vacuuming part. Wondering if it can be used for vacuuming the intake, after using spray valve cleaner. Yeah i know. Too expensive for the ocasional user. My invention is much cheaper though, @20 bucks.

A Long Day

Got roughly awakened by a carpet cleaner (ending the possibility of awakening confusion i wrote yesterday about, why they have to steal all my ideas). Though i wrote many times, i will repeat it. In the US they have these vans with a vacuum cleaner inside (ok, a giant vacuum cleaner inside) with its own engine that in some other countries could power the van itself (up the 50 HP). It also has a long hose rolled on a drum about twice the size of a normal vacuum cleaner hose, fitted with a small parallel hose for steam. At the end, one "normal" vacuum cleaner floor nozzle (had to go through several diagrams, didn't know the name of it). Nothing wrong so far, just the old good American tradition based on the slogan "bigger is better". So they pump steam through the small hose and suck the h... out of the carpet through the big one and the whole procedure may last up to 30 minutes for a small 600 sqft apartment. However it's not invincible. At the apartment at Sussex Village in Beaverton, they didn't "power" clean the carpet for 15 years. After they finally done it once, i went with my own vacuum cleaner and filled one reservoir with the dirt they barely dislodged (Christine McVie, Carol King as managers, possibly Zsolt Semjén as general manager, Regency).
Probably the short shiny metal pipe in the picture is the exhaust. Don't know about this particular type, but i once passed one of the vans that was on in the parking lot with a measuring app running on my phone, noise level was over 100 dB at 20 ft or something like that. That is, they don't have mufflers on those exhausts.

While still in bed, listening, started to smell the smell of litter dust falling through unknown cracks in the ceiling. Though less and less (since i started to go for those as well, could not imagine there could be holes in the ceiling, who of the past tenants would stick nails there, they are actually cracks between panels and nail pops). Tediously probing suspected areas with a dental probe, then cleaning the hole, and filling it with joint compound (gypsum). Could not stop my mind racing towards an older idea. Gas leaving the exhaust without muffler at nearly the speed of sound. Gas leaving any pressurized volume at the speed of sound. More molecules close to same speed means again breaking the normal or Gaussian distribution of molecules in gas, Maxwell's demon, reverse entropy, Szilard.

And the belief that the noise of exhaust does more than annoying sound. Could create disturbances in the space time continuum as well, physically destroying your thoughts, this being the reason i brought this subject at the beginning of what i hope it's going to be an hours long blog post.

Could not possible  lay my ideas in some order right now. Before i write "to be continued", here's a piece of information. Last night at the Ilani casino, where i went mostly to escape here and get some air, they created a new rule especially for me. Can't go out the door with an alcoholic drink in your hand, get a few quiet moments and than walk back inside. I will discuss this later. That made me talk to several security guards and though with mask, i think i recognized one of them being this guy. His distinctive facial features, especially eyes and especially the undisturbed calm are recognizable through a mask. I'm not sure but now that i think, he was watching an entrance where you could go outside and accidentally come back in without any temperature check, if not paying attention. I recorded several conversations with him and activated the recording app in front of him and he knew it and in the last one, when i asked a difficult question (if the privately owned parking lot is still "premises"), he claimed he cannot talk if i record it. For what purpose they brought him there last night? For the same purpose media confuses us ever since "Orson Welles" broadcast.

For the last few days they messed with my computer's keyboard driver or the keyboard itself, cause the space key works only intermittently so i had to bring the keyboard from Lenovo to be able to write this. Which as a few keys in different spots and makes it very painful to use.

And can't help here but thinking about "space travel" and what it brought us. The benefits.

First, what is space travel, as we know it.

I've seen footage from ISS. It is real. They do find people with the special ability of coping well with stress and all kinda extended time extreme situations, like lack of gravity, the natural tendency of your gut spilling out when its content is not pulled down by it, your blood flow changed for the same reason, with more blood to your head, dizziness, nausea, lack of up and down direction, etc. and convince them to climb on top of giant fuel tanks with engines at the bottom end which can take you into orbit alright after a few minutes at 3G. With a very narrow tolerance for mistake, it is a one way, one direction only trip, which is powered for months or for ever in case of ISS by inertia and small corrections (re-boosts) necessary to prevent your ship from falling back to Earth due to some very rare but still existing gas molecules at that altitude. That is you don't control it other than initial trajectory and periodic small corrections which prevent you from falling to Earth.

With no proven benefits to human kind, to me at this very moment is seem rather a glorified circus act than an necessary endeavor (could they make a vaccine, cure a disease with their "research" in space?) (Just another prop to occupy our time).

The only interesting part in a space travel is called orbital maneuvering. "The rest of the flight, especially in a transfer orbit, is called coasting." However, satellites including ISS do not carry enough fuel on board to significantly change trajectory. Barely enough to make correction to sustain altitude and one final burn, when needed to return, their lifetime in orbit equals the amount of fuel for correction. So your space travel is one long coasting with no steering, no change of speed and no fun.

"This plot shows the orbital height of the ISS over the last year. Clearly visible are the re-boosts which suddenly increase the height, and the gradual decay in between. The height is averaged over one orbit, and the gradual decrease is caused by atmospheric drag. As can be seen from the plot, the rate of descent is not constant and this variation is caused by changes in the density of the tenuous outer atmosphere due mainly to solar activity.

Just finished filling another hole that was done in top of an old one fixed by me. They also messed with the sign of the door, that was moving now by itself and never showing if someone was here. One continuous, obstinate, never ending offense. Breaking every time in here and sabotaging. One of those holes allow at vibration s... in here. On demand. They schedule through their AI continuous control over the whole area a "legitimate" trip for a noisy vehicle and they shut you down or change your mind when they want to.


To be continued..."

Unincorporated

It is unclear to me to this day what makes in the US living in a city or county optional. I met with this situation when i tried to figure the county of residence when i was living in Lake Oswego. Though the address was in Lake Oswego and most of Lake Oswego was in Clackamas county my address was showing Multomah county (old Native American names). Apparently one small northern area of Lake Oswego is part of a Multnomah county. But the situation is so confusing even authorities have trouble figuring it out (had trouble explaining to the Police what county i was living in when making a complaint, BTW, there are no forms on which one can make a written complaint to a local Police or FBI) also i once saw a car from Clackamas county sanitation inspection or something inspecting the area. It is also confusing regarding jurisdiction of local polices and courts.
But there are situations when an address is not within neither a city or a county. Apparently freedom or tradition in the US can go to such an extreme where people may choose to be or not to be part of any city or county.

https://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0082/twps0082.html

That's why sometimes is difficult to asses the limits of a city or county. This morning i left Tualatin, went through Tigard (pronounced like the word tiger) and ended in Sherwood after a 5.3 miles trip for a... walk in the park. All three cities are part of Washington County, OR but who can really know...

BTW. Talking about city limits and counties, Tualatin, Tigard (pronounced like tiger) and Lake Oswego (which name which doesn't have to do with local anything reminds of... Lee Oswald) and the whole Portland area are built on a lava field called Boring Lava Field with many extinct volcanoes among which most interesting is Mount Sylvania, on which Mountain Park community where i lived 5 years was built in the 70s.

What a feat for the Church of Scientology who have volcanoes at the center of their belief system.

Portland is also built at the merging point of two great rivers so it fits somehow the biblical definition of "city of many waters" though it competes with many other cities in the world for it.

But was my attempt successful? After all the trouble i went through to get there which included passing through the cloud of wood alcohol emanated at the composting factory near 99, near the huge school buses depot, i had to turn around and get quickly into my car because of... smoke.

But not before i took several pictures, in an attempt to figure where the smoke was coming for. Then i drove in the direction of one of the plumes and got lucky and took some video and pictures together with the address.

On my way there i was thinking that last summer about 90% of the time there was smoke during my trips and most of the times it started way after i got there or at the end of it. Mainly, if the wind was blowing from west, then i was done. At time i had surgical masks in my pocket which diminishes aerosols (of which most of the smoke is made of).

Also. Last trick. (i'm editing this post now, i just figured what happened right when finishing it). Before i left the first time i tried again to suck more oil from the intake with the vacuum. Very little came this time. Then i saw a an Asian guy in a on older Kia van idling in the spot next to my car. He turned his big fat head around so i couldn't see his face. His van's exhaust was stinking really bad for 5 to ten minutes (they knew how long was going to last from previous attempts last few days) his exhaust was so strong i actually had to give up. Then at the intersection of 124 and 99 where i was waiting at the stop light there was this huge engine not so big truck that actually went right that was vibrating my car. Right behind me there was a woman in a white older car with out of state LPT. I assume now the vibration of that truck shook the exhaust that probably filled my car (especially the trunk since i left windows open for a while). (suddenly now blogger severely cuts resolution for pictures linked here from drive which became very slow, got to download them and upload them again to be seen at full resolution).

Chapman Rd, Shwerwood?
There is a similar smoke inside the apartment most likely coming from burning asphalt dust on the fridge's coils. (Got to mop the floor every day because i go at the car all the time, still got some oil left in the intake). A couple of hours later went back to the Refuge. On my way there i took some pictures of the compost facility next withing a couple of hundred ft from 99. Interestingly how the big piles of compost are being covered from view by some mounds of gravel and other materials. There is a new Subaru dealership next to it i didn't see before. At the time i took the picture the hole place was smelling nicely like freshly milled pine.
Here's a story from media about it too. Apparently they're too blonde to figure out it's wood alcohol from fermenting wood chips (aka methanol, very toxic BTW).
There in the parking lot i almost didn't see this Verizon or whatever truck parked in the middle of it (if it came there for wi-fi or something should had parked near the main building). (i figure know why that Jap was staring at me while i passed him, the ninja was probably waiting for me to take that shot).

This time i went inside and talked to a beautiful senior citizen of another country judging by the accent. Feels good when you see foreigners helping this country. I saw a couple of scopes next to a big clear observation window at the end of the lobby. She let me point the scope next to the large window to better view one of the three remaining fires. She also said "if it's an agricultural fire they probably have a permit and their permits are going to end soon" (like they never did last year) "if it was that bad the neighbors would complain" bla bla. I think that's a good point, how come the citizens of Sherwood never complain of those (and i have a theory for it, the city is actually deserted and there are only mimes living there that show on streets when someone passes by). I asked  her repeatedly if she knows the approximate address of the fires, all she could say was the're above the city of Sherwood. I told her how the birds are going to come this year if there's smoke etc..

I had the inspiration to put my phone next to the scope and took a picture. But as soon as i got outside that fire was out like it's never been there. Two more to go. Then i realized i should have asked the password for the wi-fi there so i can upload the picture. First she said it wasn't working (i had the prompt screen for the password for a wi-fi called FOR, i assumed it was Friends of the Refuge) then she said she doesn't know the password.
I only took one pictures from outside with the DSLR unfortunately it's blurred (moved), But one can still see the high voltage pillar right in the middle where the fire was behind. However there's a whole city between the pillar and where i saw the fire but most likely the fire is on the Refuge side or near side of the city. I think that pillar is right a the transformer station near Walmart, Target and the other stores.

Most likely the main fire was somewhere on this line.
On my way back home this white cube popped in front of me for some reason. That is the approximate millage of the Hyundai when i got it. Don't know if this is voodoo or something similar.
In the last three days (i actually done the first time Sunday) every day i pulled some oil from the intake. Every day less. Oil got in there through the PCV valve when engine started to wear out (go 40 k miles now), due to blow by pressure increase and overfills. Today i didn't pull much but still some. I figured car sits in the parking spot at a slight angle to the left (much bigger to the rear) and more oil gathers through gravity from the walls of the intake on the side with cylinder nr.1. When i start the engine, the flow of air (1500 rpm during warm up it then drops to half) raises the oil from the puddle in the nr.1 pipe all the way to the valves and makes the valve stick). Now i stopped the flow from the PCV by leveling the oil to normal at Jiffy Lube, installing a filter on the PCV line but i also had to either take the intake apart and clean it or do some successive... suctions out of it. It is visible on the transparent vacuum pipe. I used the vacuum with an attachment made of transparent vynil tubing. No oil got so far as the bag inside. It is remarkable how the famous Hyundai ticking sound stops when i pull oil from the intake.

But it's not only a simple tick. It comes with a partial misfire due to sticking valve ignored by the computer because it has purely mechanical causes. That leads to engine imbalance and small exhaust leaks. That together with the aerodynamic shape of the vehicle that builds negative pressure on the surface, thus also at the seal between hood and body, where cabin fan pulls the air, finally may lead to exhaust in the cabin.

And it can be done selectively, by overfilling at the dealership.
If you own a Hyundai (to my best knowledge newer that 2010 that ticks) this is what you should do.

Find an loose the screw on the clamp on the hose on throttle body and expose throttle (about 1 minute job with a longer Philips screwdriver). Gently push throttle at the bottom end with one finger.


Inspect the intake on the inside with a flashlight. If you see oil on the surface, you can do one of the following:

If still under warranty go to a dealer and asked them to clean the intake from oil and stop the leak.

If not.

While keeping the throttle open with your finger insert in the first intake pipe from the throttle (nr.4 cylinder) (or second or third depending of how much you can see and feel) a piece of tubing from a transfer pump bought at O'Reillys, NAPA, etc.. (around 10 dollars). Have someone pump oil from the intake while fiddling with the tubing inside the intake trying to reach bottom).

Or use a device like the one on top (vacuum cleaner hose will get dirty with oil but it can be cleaned).

Or go to a shop and have the intake taken out and cleaned - at least 300 dollars.

Etc..

Also check oil level and replace PCV valve. If oil level on the gauge is above High sign go to Jiffy Lube and have them level the oil (it needs a crush washer and an experienced mechanic that can replace it fast enough). Some may find it difficult to figure oil level on a Hyundai gauge because of the color and shape of the gauge.

Clean and check the PCV line. If you can see oil after replacing PCV valve and leveling oil and then driving you should install a small compressor filter (7 bucks at Lowes) on the PCV line.

If you can still see oil getting in the intake you can do one of the following.

Get rid of the car.

Sue Hyundai in small claims court.

***Next day***

I think i got the ideal tool for the job. It's got enough flow and vacuum to suck a bit of oil from the bottom of the intake. I will try it later when the oil will settle at the bottom more. And it was all ten bucks and 30 miles drive to two Walmorts. I can now take it in the car and do it every time i want (hopefully one day i will suck all oil from the intake, what happens the thing is very complicated and has numerous places where oil hides and when you drive it some will reach at the bottom where i can pick it from). However it makes alomost as much noise as the vacuum i used until now. It's going to probably spit oil at the output port but who cares since i can remove it from where it shouldn't be (I can maybe use a rag or even a vacuum bag). https://www.walmart.com/ip/Intex-12-Volt-Quick-Fill-Electric-Pump/23894708
It worked as expected. I went in the parking lot at Fry's (too much noise here) but ran into more trouble. Stuck in traffic on I5 (one lane closed due to work), people seem to be curious about what i was doing, i went in one corner of that huge almost empty parking lot to be alone, the started to pop near me. Exactly like it happened with the vacuum, i could only pull a small amount of oil, about 2 spoons or maybe an ounce. Traffic on I5 nearby almost stop and some very bad oil burning smoking vehicle(s) filled the place with so much smoke i had to leave not before getting a headache. In the video i only caught the last few seconds of the flowing before oil finished.

Also got a new theory about the noise. In early google searches about the intake of this car i saw some butterfly like or throttle like valves inside each runners on some diagrams. Can't see them anymore on any type of search i try. Today i found out the're called swirl flaps. Today it felt like i reached some moving parts with the tube (this time guided with a piece of coat hanger wire all wrapped in gorilla tape). Decided to research about those. They are like i said throttle or butterfly like valves on newer engines' manifolds that create turbulence inside the runners in order to improve fuel efficiency and are actuated either by vacuum or by electric actuator. I think somehow oil inside manifold interferes with functioning of those, most likely by unwanted lubrication and/or corroding of plastic parts. The only video i could find about those (very little info as very few know about those) is about a Ford, though it makes a similar noise with my car. Note how the guy seem to completely ignore the fact that his manifold and parts are also soaked with oil which may be the cause of all troubles for the swirls flaps, apparently yet another German invention.

"Early Duratec HE motors had problematic tumble flaps which tended to fail and dump pieces of their metal rod into the engine's intake ports, leading to disaster." (first comment on the video).
After doing all this i felt like going for a walk. When i got at the refuge, surprise. No smoke coming from the hills. Just some... progressive housekeeping going on. A guy first on foot then with some sort of vehicle with a mask and/or helmet was spraying something near the trail near the entrance exactly where the wind was blowing for towards my car. So i just went to the other entrance. There came a woman with small children about the same age or close that didn't seem to be her etc..