So the House Finch might be It, maybe. They look nearly identical too when seen side by side.

Finches are pretty small (wingspan < 10"), the bird in the pic is much too big. Any way you can measure it?

In any case, Back to topic, I'm hoping My next electric bill won't go above $176 as It's warming up around here, We actually had a day that was in the mid 70's(Ducks for cover).

Wide range of temps here in SE Texas 30-80F like a yo-yo lately. Electricity bill might go up just a bit this month to $100 as I bring the new Q-Ball online and dial her in while letting the P4 Prescott drain her WU cache.

The Temps around this part of California range from 20-115F, Although lately It's been from 40-75F lately and windy(I'd rather It be a little windy than not as It gets HOT with no wind here), In any case on the Electric bill I've allocated about $176 until I know what the bills really going to be like in nearly 3 weeks. :D Actually It would pay to have a Wind Turbine farm in this area as We get lots of wind and some guy down the road has both photovoltaic panels and a small wind turbine on His/Her property. I'd put one up Here, but since I don't own the land and since the lot size My house sits on is really so small, that It wouldn't be allowed by the county even If the park ok'ed It, Besides the one neighbor I have nearby would probably object to It in any case, It would be different If I had an acre of land that was mine, But that's not the case.

You could always put up a few photovoltaic panels on Your roof. They could help You reduce Your electricity costs a bit, and Your neighbor has no right to object against these.
You can always ask the fellow down the road about his experiences with his PV- panels, to see if it will be worth the trouble for You.

ChrisD

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So the House Finch might be It, maybe. They look nearly identical too when seen side by side.

Finches are pretty small (wingspan < 10"), the bird in the pic is much too big. Any way you can measure it?

In any case, Back to topic, I'm hoping My next electric bill won't go above $176 as It's warming up around here, We actually had a day that was in the mid 70's(Ducks for cover).

Wide range of temps here in SE Texas 30-80F like a yo-yo lately. Electricity bill might go up just a bit this month to $100 as I bring the new Q-Ball online and dial her in while letting the P4 Prescott drain her WU cache.

The Temps around this part of California range from 20-115F, Although lately It's been from 40-75F lately and windy(I'd rather It be a little windy than not as It gets HOT with no wind here), In any case on the Electric bill I've allocated about $176 until I know what the bills really going to be like in nearly 3 weeks. :D Actually It would pay to have a Wind Turbine farm in this area as We get lots of wind and some guy down the road has both photovoltaic panels and a small wind turbine on His/Her property. I'd put one up Here, but since I don't own the land and since the lot size My house sits on is really so small, that It wouldn't be allowed by the county even If the park ok'ed It, Besides the one neighbor I have nearby would probably object to It in any case, It would be different If I had an acre of land that was mine, But that's not the case.

You could always put up a few photovoltaic panels on Your roof. They could help You reduce Your electricity costs a bit, and Your neighbor has no right to object against these.
You can always ask the fellow down the road about his experiences with his PV- panels, to see if it will be worth the trouble for You.

ChrisD

Yeah I know that no neighbor would object to the idea of photovoltaic panels and the manager and I have been meaning to ask the owner of that place, But the guy isn't always out front or home and We really can't tell as He's about 3 miles away down near the end of the road, It's not like I have enough income for a loan as I have a fixed income and as such limited extra money every month which so far is seasonal(And I'm pushing the limit most of the time anyway), Maybe after I get rid of the last of the items on My shopping list in May 2010 I could devote most of the extra income to saving up $2,000.00 for a starter photovoltaic panel system(I've got 40 items/labor to pay for and so that will take time to do, It's about $3,020.16), I know the Grid Inverter I'd need alone is not cheap at nearly $1,000.00 and having a savings limit of $2,000.00 imposed on Me by SSA doesn't help matters either(Note: I'm not interested in going off the grid as that would require expensive batteries that I have no place to house as they would need their own wooden shed and I'd like to keep costs as low as I can and still receive/have electricity at night), I'd have to buy the system piece by piece and then save up to have It installed and that could take an unknown number of years, Besides since the trusses here only support a thin metal roof and a man standing on the trusses is ok, but not between them as the roof isn't stressed to do that I think(the roof flexes some when the wind gets real windy here and is normal)and those trusses aren't most likely all that big and I've seen some on another place and they are thin trusses there that were about an 1" wide and largely a box truss and hollow(even If the that place was a lot older than mine, So who knows), In any case I'll have to call Best Buy Solar(Not related to the other Best Buy who sells electronics) and see If they'll come out from Victorville for an estimate or not and a lot of places over in Victorville won't as It's at least 50 miles one way to drive to where I live(there are no solar photovoltaic installers in nearby Barstow CA) and You know what gas prices are like today. Also the LIEE Program for Low Income people in CA to help people get into solar power production has one call the Energy companies(SCE, Southwest Gas, Etc, Although Monday I'll call and ask as the numbers are toll free and if they rebuff Me I can only complain to the usually non-responsive California state government) and since I don't get My Electric or Gas bill from them they traditionally say We can't help You go away as the electricity is not on a normal meter, It's on a sub meter instead as the park is a direct customer and the park has no money for solar or desire to help in that way... I at least own My own house free and clear(No mortgage) and so conservation and other efforts for the next two years will have to do. Oh and Solar Tax Credits don't work for Me as SSI income is not eligible at all and therefore I can't get them.

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Savoir-Faire is everywhere!
The T1 Trust, T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, America's First HST

Hi JokerCpoC.

I know all about being on a fixed income, and Your overall situation may call for some ingenuity instead. (Here I mean cheap and efficient solutions that costs next to nothing).

One problem that can be adressed is the problem of cooling Your computers when the HOT season is on. I know this extra heat can tax Your A/C bill.

One idea that comes to mind is getting a 10 or 15 watts 12 Volts PV. ('ll be back with some prices, or maybe some nearby crunchers know where to find an affordable 10 Watts PV Panel?).

Next, ask around for some defective PC Power Supplies, preferably with large fans. Cannibalize the fans and make them run off the PV Power. Some clever ducting to get the air from where it is coolest and expell it without heating up the rest of Your living space, could save You a few $$ on Your Cooling Bill, and making Your computers run cooler.

Just an idea.

ChrisD

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Hi JokerCPoC.

I know all about being on a fixed income, and Your overall situation may call for some ingenuity instead. (Here I mean cheap and efficient).

One problem that can be addressed is the problem of cooling Your computers when the HOT season is on. I know this extra heat can tax Your A/C bill.

One idea that comes to mind is getting a 10 or 15 watts 12 Volts PV. ('ll be back with some prices, or maybe some nearby crunchers know where to find an affordable 10 Watts PV Panel?).

Next, ask around for some defective PC Power Supplies, preferably with large fans. Cannibalize the fans and make them run off the PV Power. Some clever ducting to get the air from where it is coolest and expel it without heating up the rest of Your living space, could save You a few $$ on Your Cooling Bill, and making Your computers run cooler.

Just an idea.

ChrisD

Thanks ChrisD, 12v is nice, But as I've said I have no wish to have batteries as I have no where to store them and the electronics to keep them fed and such, So without batteries at night the PCs would go down, So It's not practical, I'm looking at replacing the Vigor Monsoon II and Ultra ChillTEC heatsinks that I have with 3 KINGWIN Revolution RVT-12025D 120mm H.D.T. CPU Coolers as the TECs in the current heatsinks can't keep up with My quads without help in the summer and that tends to drive up My bill here(They may also be adding to My bill too), So that is for Me easier to do and since I do rent My space(not My house) I can apply to the LIEE program, I just have to do It on Monday and they can replace My old furnace and non working a/c unit and maybe My old swamp cooler too, among other things that is.

---

Savoir-Faire is everywhere!
The T1 Trust, T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, America's First HST

Hi JokerCPoC.

I know all about being on a fixed income, and Your overall situation may call for some ingenuity instead. (Here I mean cheap and efficient).

One problem that can be addressed is the problem of cooling Your computers when the HOT season is on. I know this extra heat can tax Your A/C bill.

One idea that comes to mind is getting a 10 or 15 watts 12 Volts PV. ('ll be back with some prices, or maybe some nearby crunchers know where to find an affordable 10 Watts PV Panel?).

Next, ask around for some defective PC Power Supplies, preferably with large fans. Cannibalize the fans and make them run off the PV Power. Some clever ducting to get the air from where it is coolest and expel it without heating up the rest of Your living space, could save You a few $$ on Your Cooling Bill, and making Your computers run cooler.

Just an idea.

ChrisD

Thanks ChrisD, 12v is nice, But as I've said I have no wish to have batteries as I have no where to store them and the electronics to keep them fed and such, So without batteries at night the PCs would go down, So It's not practical, I'm looking at replacing the Vigor Monsoon II and Ultra ChillTEC heatsinks that I have with 3 KINGWIN Revolution RVT-12025D 120mm H.D.T. CPU Coolers as the TECs in the current heatsinks can't keep up with My quads without help in the summer and that tends to drive up My bill here(They may also be adding to My bill too), So that is for Me easier to do and since I do rent My space(not My house) I can apply to the LIEE program, I just have to do It on Monday and they can replace My old furnace and non working a/c unit and maybe My old swamp cooler too, among other things that is.

My solution did not include a battery. You'll still have to cool Your computers at night, but as the thermal stress tends to escalate when the sun is shining, this breath of extra fresh air provided by the solar powered fans, will take the top off Your A/C Bill. (Or that was at least, the general idea.)

Best of luck with the LIEE..

ChrisD

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Some time back we looked at the power consumption of different graphics cards, in an effort to reduce power consumption.

Here is some very good news for You:

If You have a dedicated cruncher, You don't even need a Graphics Card :)

You'll need one to set up Your cruncher, but when this is done, You can remove the Graphics Card alltogether...

How does that sound??

My Phenom3 cruncher is now running without any graphics card at all..

It is all about remote desktop and setting BIOS to ignore errors.

Want the recipe?

ChrisD

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I am very happy with my 7300GS card, very low power, and the graphics are off most of the time anyways, except when I'm playing with something on there.

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Daniel

Well lets see on Video cards, In My 3 running PCs I have a 7800GTX in PC1(I'd like to eventually replace the 7800GTX w/a ATI 3870 X2 card or an 8800GT[whichever is cheaper]) as I do play a game sometimes and a NX6200TC w/128MB ram in PC2 and in PC3. My 4th PC(4) uses an AGP GeForce 4400 video card w/128MB ram, But It's not running right now as It's an AMD system and I'm trying not to use any more power than I have to as money is tight right now.

Although I'm working on getting a 1Kw Photovoltaic system, a new Heatpump w/a backup electric heatstrip(for when temps are below 40F outside) to replace a 21 year old heater & A/C system(the A/C condenser was never hooked up after I moved the house due to a lack of money), a water heater blanket, get some caulking done and maybe a new more efficient swamp cooler that is of the right size for My house and My needs.

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Savoir-Faire is everywhere!
The T1 Trust, T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, America's First HST

I thought I'd keep this thread alive for a bit longer(Or until the OP decides differently), As I just got My bill for the month and I somehow saved $7.09 on the Electric Bill($120.86-7.09=113.77) and I only used 865KWhs to boot. Next month I should see a rise in the electric bill as I have the swamp cooler powered up and set on the low setting as It's getting into the high 70's to low 80's outside(It's a warm spring here).

---

Savoir-Faire is everywhere!
The T1 Trust, T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, America's First HST

I thought I'd keep this thread alive for a bit longer(Or until the OP decides differently),

It can run forever ;)

I am winding down my old machines now as I have set up some Quads to take over. The quads are loads more efficient, more crunch for the £ so will work out some comparisons when I have some more spare time.

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I thought I'd keep this thread alive for a bit longer(Or until the OP decides differently),

It can run forever ;)

I am winding down my old machines now as I have set up some Quads to take over. The quads are loads more efficient, more crunch for the £ so will work out some comparisons when I have some more spare time.

Yeah they sure are, I just had replaced 2 dual cores with one quad core and My power usage went down, Now next month hopefully with the swamp cooler reequipped It won't go higher than another $20-$30.00 a month more with three quads online. I'd tightened the timings to 4-4-4-11 on the PC(PC1), I may need to adjust It slightly as the browser just crashed.

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Savoir-Faire is everywhere!
The T1 Trust, T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, America's First HST

I thought I'd keep this thread alive for a bit longer(Or until the OP decides differently), As I just got My bill for the month and I somehow saved $7.09 on the Electric Bill($120.86-7.09=113.77) and I only used 865KWhs to boot. Next month I should see a rise in the electric bill as I have the swamp cooler powered up and set on the low setting as It's getting into the high 70's to low 80's outside(It's a warm spring here).

I tapered off on a P4 single core and a Prescott and powered them off before I left home. That made some room in the monthly KWh to throw another Q6600 together... I've already got the MoBo, DDR2 RAM, graphics card and HSF, so if MicroCenter still has the CPU for $200 and I don't go totally bust here in Vegas, I'll try to get the chip soon after my return home. Only issue will be keeping the chips cool enough as ambient will rise to ~85f in a few months. I sure hope those "Direct Touch Heatpipe" HSF's are up for the challenge.

@Joker - Made the drive over to Baker and up toward Death Valley today, beautiful. Desert flowers are in bloom lots of yellow & purple... temps topped out at 80F. Simply a wonderful 220 mile loop back through Pahrump. Much better drive now than in July or August. If I'd known that "The Mad Greeks" Gyro Emporium was in Baker I'd have skipped breakfast so I could give it a try. I love Gyros and can't remember the last time I eaten one.

Well that's all the break I get, gotta head back to the PaiGow Poker table for another 4 hour run.

BOINC On..On...

I thought I'd keep this thread alive for a bit longer(Or until the OP decides differently), As I just got My bill for the month and I somehow saved $7.09 on the Electric Bill($120.86-7.09=113.77) and I only used 865KWhs to boot. Next month I should see a rise in the electric bill as I have the swamp cooler powered up and set on the low setting as It's getting into the high 70's to low 80's outside(It's a warm spring here).

I tapered off on a P4 single core and a Prescott and powered them off before I left home. That made some room in the monthly KWh to throw another Q6600 together... I've already got the MoBo, DDR2 RAM, graphics card and HSF, so if MicroCenter still has the CPU for $200 and I don't go totally bust here in Vegas, I'll try to get the chip soon after my return home. Only issue will be keeping the chips cool enough as ambient will rise to ~85f in a few months. I sure hope those "Direct Touch Heatpipe" HSF's are up for the challenge.

@Joker - Made the drive over to Baker and up toward Death Valley today, beautiful. Desert flowers are in bloom lots of yellow & purple... temps topped out at 80F. Simply a wonderful 220 mile loop back through Pahrump. Much better drive now than in July or August. If I'd known that "The Mad Greeks" Gyro Emporium was in Baker I'd have skipped breakfast so I could give it a try. I love Gyros and can't remember the last time I eaten one.

Well that's all the break I get, gotta head back to the PaiGow Poker table for another 4 hour run.

BOINC On..On...

Be glad It's not Summer there, Baker, Las Vegas and Yermo all get temps well above 100F, Baker is worse though, Only Needles and Death Valley get hotter. In Yermo We get about 110 days a Year with Temps above 100F and about two days at 115F, Not a place for a Whale. Have fun JD, Hope You don't lose too much in Sin City.

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Savoir-Faire is everywhere!
The T1 Trust, T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, America's First HST

Be glad It's not Summer there, Baker, Las Vegas and Yermo all get temps well above 100F, Baker is worse though, Only Needles and Death Valley get hotter. In Yermo We get about 110 days a Year with Temps above 100F and about two days at 115F, Not a place for a Whale. Have fun JD, Hope You don't lose too much in Sin City.

I'll be there soon :D I am counting down the days to my road trip. 2 and a bit weeks in June to come and play in the Sunshine - something we saw little of all last year in the UK! I can remember my last Summer trip to Death Valley, the wall of heat when you stepped out of the car was something I will never forget!

I am glad we don't get those sort of temperatures to contend with here!

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I'm in Phoenix, not much better over here. I remember a few years back Phoenix International was shut down because the tarmac was too hot for planes to take off on and land. It was melting the tires. I think the ambient was about 125 F that summer.

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Daniel

Be glad It's not Summer there, Baker, Las Vegas and Yermo all get temps well above 100F, Baker is worse though, Only Needles and Death Valley get hotter. In Yermo We get about 110 days a Year with Temps above 100F and about two days at 115F, Not a place for a Whale. Have fun JD, Hope You don't lose too much in Sin City.

I'll be there soon :D I am counting down the days to my road trip. 2 and a bit weeks in June to come and play in the Sunshine - something we saw little of all last year in the UK! I can remember my last Summer trip to Death Valley, the wall of heat when you stepped out of the car was something I will never forget!

I am glad we don't get those sort of temperatures to contend with here!

Yeah the ground would probably melt under ya. ;) Yeah places like Needles/Death Valley are like that, Really HOT(This are needs to be renamed Tamale, Then It would be a Hot place;)), As I got out of My parents car while on a trip to Arizona years ago(back around 1970-71) in Needles and I felt the same wall, So yeah It does have an impact, It's like who turned on the magnifying glass all of a sudden? Around here when It's been really hot the air smells scorched, almost like It was burned a bit, today I'm going to find out how much some pads, a belt for the pulleys and 50' of black swamp cooler hose(for water w/no algae) will end up costing Me for the Champion WC35 swamp cooler, hopefully not anymore than the $37.29 I can spend, Otherwise I'll just get the 1st two items and get the water hose next month.

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Savoir-Faire is everywhere!
The T1 Trust, T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, America's First HST

I must look up the technicalities of a swamp cooler. I am imagining some sort of compressorless a/c unit using a reservoir of water as the cooling source perhaps? Dunno, just guessing. Will be on Google later :D

Well, I am running down the old machines now. When they run out of work, they get turned off for good. The Quads are much more efficient & quieter and I have a few (ok, 5) of them now to keep the work turning over.

I have also treated myself to a new UPS which I picked up for a steal from Ebay. I already have a 1.5KW UPS running in the garage, fed back into the house to provide UPS supplied power for some lights, TV, alarm clocks and a PC, but have now purchased another to run the Quads from as they have all (except one!) suffered from power locks ups or shutdowns in the last week. The electricity supply seems to be very unstable here!

On a power related note: Each Quad is using about the same power as the old Optiplex machines, so I am getting 4 times the crunch for the same power, although will be running less machines now, so a big saving overall.

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I'm in Phoenix, not much better over here. I remember a few years back Phoenix International was shut down because the tarmac was too hot for planes to take off on and land. It was melting the tires. I think the ambient was about 125 F that summer.

Daniel, I was going to ask how you cope with it, but I guess you just do! Your houses and cars all have A/C. A/C in houses here is a rarity (I have it though :D) and A/C is only just starting to become commonplace in cars. I doubt very much our infrastructure could cope with anything more than a short heatwave - and the sort of heat we get here doesn't compare!

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I must look up the technicalities of a swamp cooler. I am imagining some sort of compressorless a/c unit using a reservoir of water as the cooling source perhaps? Dunno, just guessing. Will be on Google later :D

They are very simple indeed, just a big box with water and power connections, a pump to spray water and a large area of material that both holds water and lets air through (called a "pad"), and a big fan to blow outside air through the moist pad and then into the house.

They work pretty well in places with really low relative humidity and with daytime peak temperatures not much over 100F. They lose efficiency rapidly with higher relative humidity, and they can't really provide comfort at Death Valley-type 115+ temperatures.

In the 1950's and 1960's they traditionally they were the cooling means of the poor in the desert Southwest of the United States. But here in Albuquerque, their virtues of greater power efficiency and better interior relative humidity during most of the cooling season made them the dominant form of cooling in all types of housing, from mobile homes to mansions, for a few decades. Now there has been a bit of a trend back to traditional Air Conditioning, as people tire of the maintenance requirements, don't like feeling damp and warm in August, and have become more concerned about the water consumption.

On the other hand, in a more humid place such as Louisiana, Florida, or Ohio, you won't find them at all.

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I must look up the technicalities of a swamp cooler. I am imagining some sort of compressor less a/c unit using a reservoir of water as the cooling source perhaps? Dunno, just guessing. Will be on Google later :D

Well, I am running down the old machines now. When they run out of work, they get turned off for good. The Quads are much more efficient & quieter and I have a few (ok, 5) of them now to keep the work turning over.

I have also treated myself to a new UPS which I picked up for a steal from Ebay. I already have a 1.5KW UPS running in the garage, fed back into the house to provide UPS supplied power for some lights, TV, alarm clocks and a PC, but have now purchased another to run the Quads from as they have all (except one!) suffered from power locks ups or shutdowns in the last week. The electricity supply seems to be very unstable here!

On a power related note: Each Quad is using about the same power as the old Optiplex machines, so I am getting 4 times the crunch for the same power, although will be running less machines now, so a big saving overall.

A swamp cooler is an evaporative cooler, You pump water onto pads made of aspen or some other sort of material, have the blower in the cooler suck air through the pads into Your house to raise the humidity and lower the air temp, It's cheap to use, But using a swamp cooler in more humid areas outside of dry areas like the desert doesn't make too much sense as You'd just make the humidity go up and It would then feel sticky and warm instead of cool. The blower on My swamp cooler is rated at 3500cfm and may be undersized for the house as I've been told a 4500cfm would be better and one that turns Itself on and off at a preset temperature can only be mounted on the roof and this house was not designed with that in mind at all and would cost Me about $2,200.00 or so to have a Mastercool cooler installed(It's supposed to be 5% better than the type I have now and the pads don't need replacing twice a year, more like once every 5 years), But the dealer says It's not a problem to install. But It's going to be a bit as I have a good amount of stuff to get past on My to do list before I get there, Including burial of My Moms ashes one day, Install a new kitchen sink, new kitchen countertop, bathroom sinks and countertops, removing the a/c parts from the heater that are never used due to being old and not having the condenser hooked up due to cost.

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Savoir-Faire is everywhere!
The T1 Trust, T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, America's First HST