October 2012 Archives

It may not be all that pretty, but we have been functionally able to repair heat exchanger coils from air handlers where water got in them and they froze, resulting in loss of liquid integrity.  There typically is a slight loss of efficiency do to a reduction in number of tubes or loss of fin area.  However, the degree of loss is generally insignificant and it is cheaper/faster than getting a new replacement coil that exactly fits the space.

We pickup up some unusual looking structures.  Turns out they are training wheels for teaching extreme driving.  They are specific for Ford 1 ton vans and Marmon Tractor Trailer Semi Trucks.  They hydraulic reduce the weight on the tires as well as providing outrigger support so that these large vehicles can slide at low speed on dry pavement surfaces.  This allows safely teaching extreme driving techniques for slipper conditions such as icy surfaces and extreme maneuvers at high speeds.  They can be adapted to other vehicles.

We recently picked up a 200KW Genset. Got new batteries in it and fired it up yesterday.  It runs nice.  Not very many hours on it.  Missing a few indicator lights but otherwise seems flawless.  This unit can be paralleled with other like gen-sets for more total power.  Internal fuel tank is supposed to be good for 24 hours of operation.

We picked up 3 unusual items recently. They are Grid Connected Fuel Cell Generators that can also supply heating.  They are rated at 5 Kilo Watts.  They use natural gas for the hydrogen source.  We don't yet know anything in detail about them.

This really nice looking 2003 Ford E-350 4-wheel drive, 7.3 liter diesel Van was set up and used as a chase vehicle for the semi trucks that haul nuclear stuff (bombs too?) around the country.  It was tweaked for power and handling so its not like one off the show room floor.  It had lots of tactical stuff, most of which has since been removed. However, it still has the tactical bumpers, skid plates, lights, gear rack, night lights, bed, etc.  For about 207 K miles it looks really clean--could almost pass for having only 20K. Has special high strength alloy wheels and nearly new over sized Michelin tires all around.