Archive for March, 2010

Rooftop Residential Wind Turbines

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

With the ever increasing “pinch” on homeowners wallets coupled with more awareness placed every day on our mother earth’s health, more and more folks are searching for alternative energy sources to help lower their electric and fuel bills, and at the same time, helping the earth’s ozone layer.

DIY rooftop wind turbines have become hugely popular as one of these alternative energy idea solutions.

Rooftop wind turbines are fast becoming the answer for thousands of homeowners. These wind turbines for houses can be built with ordinary materials for as little as $200 and can be built and installed in a weekend.

Wind turbine blades are made out of pvc drain pipe. One 6″ x three foot section of pipe can be quartered down to four pieces which are then shaped into turbine blades. The natural cup of the pipe forms the camber necessary just as seen on an airplane propeller.

DC electric motors can be found on E-Bay for less than $50. The pvc wind turbine blades are connected to these motors which in turn are connected to a battery system to collect the wind generated power.

The entire idea is amazingly straightforward and most everybody can accomplish this task in a weekend. There are many wind turbine kit plans available today. These manuals sell generally for a little less than fifty dollars.

These kits are instructional manuals only, but are complete and very thorough. They also offer online support and videos if you should need more help than what is in the guide.

Do not be fooled into thinking that a rooftop residential wind turbine will supply your whole house with an abundant amount of endless energy though. These DIY wind turbines are just a supplemental source of alternative energy, but they still can save you hundreds, if not thousands of dollars in the long run on energy expenses.

 

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Non Detergent vs. Detergent Oil

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

A frequently asked question that continues to arise with car owners is whether to use non detergent oil or detergent oil.  Even though detergent oil has not been widely used for many decades, it is the predominant type of oil used today.  Whether you choose to use detergent oil or choose non detergent oil, it will depend on the engine manufacturer’s recommendations.

Oil enthusiasts sometimes pontificate about whether detergent oil even contains detergent.  Experts will site that, for engines that need detergent oil, the oil prevents sludge from forming by keeping collections of sludge from sticking together and forming longer chains of sludge within the engine.  It is believed then that before deposits join together to create oil sludge, they would be filtered out by the oil filter.

Non detergent oil may also be an effective gear box oil for certain types of gear boxes currently in use today.  Each engine or gear box should come with recommendations from the company on the best lubricant to use for optimal performance and maintenance.  Engine owners can usually access information about their motors or gear boxes from online sources such as downloadable PDF files or owners manual documents.

In addition to ND oil or non detergent motor oil, there is also HD oil, which is high detergent oil.  Higher amounts of detergent are present in high detergent motor oil as one may suspect.  One way for people to clean the inside of engines is to engage the use of a high detergent oil.  It varies by auto tech, but high detergent oil can be used as a viable solution for some engines.  HD oil is considered to be more gentile on breaking up sludge and less likely to break off sludge in large pieces that would clog oil passages.  What ever your chosen solution for reducing your engine sludge, be advised that every solution has advantages and disadvantages and that to maximize the life of your engine, you need to also maximize your lubrication.

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