When is the best time to do laundry?

I think about energy efficiency a lot, so my question of the moment is... when is the best time to do laundry? For me, my laundry consists of machine wash and machine dry.

Washer Efficiency
With the wash, the question is when is the best time to use a pretty much fixed amount of water and energy. I think that's when electricity production is at its most efficient, which is at night and on weekends. That's because the energy companies use their most efficient electricity generators 24 hours a day, but add less efficient generators as load increases.

Dryer Efficiency
With the dryer, the question is when is it easiest for the dryer to remove moisture. I think that's during low-humidity times. Dryers draw in air to work their magic, so the more dry the air is, the more quickly the laundry will dry.

Also, note again that dryers suck in air, and exhaust warm moist air outside. During extremely cold or hot weather, a heating system or air conditioning system will need to heat or cool this new outside air. It's good to minimize this expense too. Therefore, it is best to avoid doing laundry during very hot or very cold weather.

Conclusion
So I try to do laundry on dry nights and weekends. If it is particularly hot, cold, or damp outside, I'll put off laundry for another day.

The Trick to Properly Fixing the Rubber Feet of a MacBook Pro

A black rubber foot of my trusty old MacBook Pro finally broke off, and I didn't like how it made the laptop wobbly. A fix was needed, and quick! First I bought some replacement feet, the kind that just stick on. These feet are nice because there is no need open up the machine to fix a broken foot. They're very inexpensive, and the ones I bought have adhesive tape already applied - just peal and stick. I bought feet like the ones found here. I have read many complaints about how the adhesive doesn't stick, but I think that's because people don't know the two tricks required to get the new feet to stick properly. New Feet to replace a lost Foot Important Trick 1: Make sure to remove all remnants of the old foot - including the pieces in the hole. My factory-installed foot was attached both mechanically and with adhesive, but when the old foot sheared off, some pieces of the old foot remained in the hole. Those plastic bits would h...

Canon SD890 Review

My Canon PowerShot SD890IS Review Wahoo! I just received my new Canon PowerShot SD890IS . Here's my review of the new SD890IS. Updated! (20-April-2008)! I like taking good photos. And I hate lugging around big cameras and equipment. And so I concluded that I needed to buy myself an awesome point-n-shoot camera. I often take pictures in difficult conditions, such as a museum where a flash camera is prohibited. Or a concert, where I can't use a flash, the lighting is low, and the people on stage are in motion. Or with the zoom cranked up and focused on a distant subject. Taking good photos in these conditions, with a small lens camera and without a tripod is a challenge at best. In comes the SD890. I was particularly excited about the SD890 because it is pocketable, yet it has awesome specifications: Image stabilization ; a 5x zoom lens, and 10 megapixel resolution. When I bought the camera, I imagined that these features would help me take much better pictures in the...

Fixing a SodaStream Jet, Repair #2 - Broken Fill Button

My Soda Stream Jet's fill button broke, which means I can not longer carbonate water by pressing the pushbutton. This caused all sorts of grief in my household. Here is how I managed to repair my Jet to give it another 10 years of life (hopefully). First, a look at the button The fill button on the top of the SodaStream is actually a simple lever. Pressing down on the button moves a pin that does the actual work of pressing open the Carbonator's valve. Unfortunately, the axis point is fairly thin and can see a lot of stress. That's where my Soda Stream button cracked. [ I think the usage tip here is "don't over-press the button like a gorilla, it doesn't do anything but put high stress on the button."] Cracked levering point of the button The Pesky Lever Retaining Pin The Fix It was pretty easy for me to replace the button: Take off the back of the Soda Stream and remove the carbonator. Push out the the button lever's steel retaining pin. This takes qu...

Sodastream Carbonator Leakage, Usage, and Weight

SodaStream 60L "Carbonator" CO2 cylinders have a specific weight when empty, plus about 410 or so grams for the CO2 they should have when they're "full". A little while ago I went to buy a replacement Carbonator from my local hardware store. The dealer pulled a new Carbonator out of the box and sensed it was lighter than usual. He put the "light" Carbonator in the "empty" pile and sold me a different one. At that moment I concluded that it would be smart of me to weigh both new and empty SodaStream carbonators. Here are the results. Weighing a SodaStream Carbonator - for both Science and Consumer Protection. The dealer told me that sometimes the carbonators leak after they leave the SodaStream filling facility. That means there could be an opportunity for customers like me to get ripped off! The SodaStream cylinders I buy claim to have a net product weight of 410 grams - and that means that a full Soda Stream Carbonator shou...

Fix a Lightning Cable with Heat Shrink Tubing

We've all seen a Lightning cable that has started to fall apart. They get used every day, and after enough tugs and yanks on your iPhone, they start to fray. I've seen a lot of these frayed cables, so I've started to fix them before they break with heat shrink tube. I get my heat shrink on Amazon, like this handy and inexpensive pack. I prefer the heat shrink tubes without internal glue - it has higher flexibility and a smaller outside diameter once shrunk. Heat Shrink Tubing on an Old, Frayed Lightning Cable In the photo here, you'll see that I slid on a 1.25 inch length of heat shrink over the lighting connector, and then shrunk it into place. I chose a diameter that just barely fits over the lightning connector. In all, it took about 60 seconds to perform this repair. Warning: the white plastic of the lightning cable has a pretty low melting point. It seems to start to melt at about 125°C (or about 250°F), which is the same temperatur...

Repairing a MagSafe Charger's Cord

Here is how to repair the cord of Apple MacSafe power adapters. There are three common failure modes of a magsafe wire: The base of the cord becomes frayed where the wire enters the power brick. This is usually caused by repeatedly wrapping the cord far too tightly around the brick's "ears". The head of the magsafe connector becomes frayed. This is usually caused by repeatedly removing the magsafe magnet by yanking on the cord. Chewed up cord. This is where a pet or other pinching device weakens the cord. These types of failure are usually repairable at home using the technique described here. Tools Required: A beginner's Soldering kit, like this one, including a low-wattage soldering iron, rosin-core Solder, and wire strippers. Heat shrink tubing . Any color works, but these days I use white to repair a MagSafe cord. One Soldering Sleeve, appropriate for 22 or 24 AWG wire Heat gun (optional.) Process: The general process is t...

The Lance J. Technoweb

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