- Awesome Clouds
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Vertical Clouds
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Vertical Clouds
This morning I saw something I don't recall ever seeing quite like this. Vertical clouds growing out of the under layer. There are some amazing sky shows to be seen here in Missouri.
Re: Vertical Clouds
Awesome, but fairly common, in any place that has a rolling landscape.
You should see some of the clouds we have here with all the mountains, and especially the Cumberland Plateau.
We get clouds that look like cylinders rolling across the sky. With lighter normal clouds above them.
They say it is the way the wind blows across the Plateau and the heavier rain clouds that just barely got light enough to end up on top of the Plateau.
Then, up in the mountains, just above the fall line, we get clouds shaped like cones. Especially if it has been hot outside.
Here too, they say the colder air created by the trees on the mountain, and no trees about the fall line, causes a downward sweeping wind, and also cold air falls, so together they basically pull part of a could out of the sky leaving the conical look.
This time of year, when the nightime temp is below 60 and the daytime temp is 90 or above, there are some strange sights down along the rivers as they create a fog that curls upwards, like smoke from a chimney.
Lot's of things in Mother Nature are interesting to see take place.
You should see some of the clouds we have here with all the mountains, and especially the Cumberland Plateau.
We get clouds that look like cylinders rolling across the sky. With lighter normal clouds above them.
They say it is the way the wind blows across the Plateau and the heavier rain clouds that just barely got light enough to end up on top of the Plateau.
Then, up in the mountains, just above the fall line, we get clouds shaped like cones. Especially if it has been hot outside.
Here too, they say the colder air created by the trees on the mountain, and no trees about the fall line, causes a downward sweeping wind, and also cold air falls, so together they basically pull part of a could out of the sky leaving the conical look.
This time of year, when the nightime temp is below 60 and the daytime temp is 90 or above, there are some strange sights down along the rivers as they create a fog that curls upwards, like smoke from a chimney.
Lot's of things in Mother Nature are interesting to see take place.
Re: Vertical Clouds
The topology of the land where I lived in Illinois is flat with a gradual slope down to Lake Michigan. I didn't see any hills or valleys until I went west to the Mississippi River. The hills around O'Fallon were not very impressive the first time I saw them. Certain places around town will provide a spectacular view due to it's elevation, but the hills never impressed me as being significant. The sky shows around here are breath taking. It might be the same sky up north but I could not see it there. We were surrounded by trees in our forest and lived more or less in a low spot. That has some advantages of it's own, but the view of the sky was not one of them.
I can imagine how a mountain would be capable of altering air currents. But hills? It never occurred to me that they could have an effect on the air currents. However, I have noted more than a few times that storms tend to evade us or split up by the time they get here. And it frequently rains on the south side of town while us folks on the north end remain dry. I think those clouds in the photo are along that demarcation line. I don't know what caused those clouds to form, but I am glad Mother Nature was feeling creative this morning.
I can imagine how a mountain would be capable of altering air currents. But hills? It never occurred to me that they could have an effect on the air currents. However, I have noted more than a few times that storms tend to evade us or split up by the time they get here. And it frequently rains on the south side of town while us folks on the north end remain dry. I think those clouds in the photo are along that demarcation line. I don't know what caused those clouds to form, but I am glad Mother Nature was feeling creative this morning.
Re: Vertical Clouds
This may sound odd to say regarding this topic.
But you can have a huge field with only one large tree right in the middle of the field.
And if we could see the air moving, which we can on some foggy days.
You'll see while the entire field the air is rising slowly,
Right over that tree you will see a heavy downdraft, and at the base of the tree the air blowing outward from the trunk of the tree across the ground.
This also causes the fog at ground level to roll away from the tree like rolling clouds.
And, if you happen to be flying an RC airplane or a kite, better not get it over the top of lone tree or you will end up being sucked down into the tree.
My point here is, trees do have an affect on the clouds high above by altering air currents.
Sorta goes in hand with the way the air flows above the fault line on a tall mountain, but the cold up there plays a part in that also.
Down in the deep city where all the tall buildings are, it is not uncommon for a particular street to channel air forming like a wind tunnel. In St.Louis where I worked, I had to walk down the 9th street wind tunnel to get to work from the parking garage where I parked my car. Some days it was so bad, we would walk up to 10th street, then cross over to 915 Olive Blvd. where I worked.
On the bright side. The air temp along 9th street was always about 5 degrees cooler in the summer due to the wind. Plus the fact our bodies are subjected to wind chill also, even in the summer, which is why a fan makes us feel cooler.
But you can have a huge field with only one large tree right in the middle of the field.
And if we could see the air moving, which we can on some foggy days.
You'll see while the entire field the air is rising slowly,
Right over that tree you will see a heavy downdraft, and at the base of the tree the air blowing outward from the trunk of the tree across the ground.
This also causes the fog at ground level to roll away from the tree like rolling clouds.
And, if you happen to be flying an RC airplane or a kite, better not get it over the top of lone tree or you will end up being sucked down into the tree.
My point here is, trees do have an affect on the clouds high above by altering air currents.
Sorta goes in hand with the way the air flows above the fault line on a tall mountain, but the cold up there plays a part in that also.
Down in the deep city where all the tall buildings are, it is not uncommon for a particular street to channel air forming like a wind tunnel. In St.Louis where I worked, I had to walk down the 9th street wind tunnel to get to work from the parking garage where I parked my car. Some days it was so bad, we would walk up to 10th street, then cross over to 915 Olive Blvd. where I worked.
On the bright side. The air temp along 9th street was always about 5 degrees cooler in the summer due to the wind. Plus the fact our bodies are subjected to wind chill also, even in the summer, which is why a fan makes us feel cooler.
Re: Vertical Clouds
My wife worked many years downtown Chicago. She told me stories similar to yours regarding wind tunnels between the skyscrapers. Up there Lake Michigan had a huge effect on temperatures, but only for about a quarter mile off shore. Lake Shore Drive, which ran adjacent to the lake, obviously, could be ten degrees cooler than State Street which was only a few blocks inland. I guess that's part of the reason the Windy City got its name.
One of the more interesting weather effects brought about by the city is it's lack of tornadoes. Only on very rare occasion has the city proper seen a touchdown of a funnel cloud. It happened twice that I can recall, and I lived there 72 years. That is the city proper. The suburbs, especially the southwest ones facing Tornado Alley got blown away on a regular basis. I suppose all the concrete and steel do exactly opposite of what you say trees do. The hot air from the dense mass of buildings rises and somehow that is not a good environment for a tornado to form.
So, back here in Missouri, with our rolling hills, and trees, and farmland all over the place, we get those columns of clouds. If trees are sucking the air down, that seems contrary to forming hot air pillars above them. Plus, those pillars in the photograph appear to be aligned along some kind of weather front. As is usually the case, all the weird weather action is along the front where hot and cold mix in unusual ways.
There is a common belief that wind chill is a reality. I have my suspicions. I'm well aware of what happens when a liquid evaporates, and agree fully that would conceivably lower the surface temperature of my skin. But, back home in Chicago the wind chills were often quoted to be -30 to -40 ℉. I have a hard time believing my skin will cool down to that temperature in a winter wind storm, particularly since my skin is bone dry when the temps are that low. It's all a theory that weather announcers like to use for drama purposes. I doubt that it actually happens. In summer the wind will keep the perspiration off my skin, and THAT lack of moisture feels better, but the surface temperature doesn't change, in my humble opinion.
One of the more interesting weather effects brought about by the city is it's lack of tornadoes. Only on very rare occasion has the city proper seen a touchdown of a funnel cloud. It happened twice that I can recall, and I lived there 72 years. That is the city proper. The suburbs, especially the southwest ones facing Tornado Alley got blown away on a regular basis. I suppose all the concrete and steel do exactly opposite of what you say trees do. The hot air from the dense mass of buildings rises and somehow that is not a good environment for a tornado to form.
So, back here in Missouri, with our rolling hills, and trees, and farmland all over the place, we get those columns of clouds. If trees are sucking the air down, that seems contrary to forming hot air pillars above them. Plus, those pillars in the photograph appear to be aligned along some kind of weather front. As is usually the case, all the weird weather action is along the front where hot and cold mix in unusual ways.
There is a common belief that wind chill is a reality. I have my suspicions. I'm well aware of what happens when a liquid evaporates, and agree fully that would conceivably lower the surface temperature of my skin. But, back home in Chicago the wind chills were often quoted to be -30 to -40 ℉. I have a hard time believing my skin will cool down to that temperature in a winter wind storm, particularly since my skin is bone dry when the temps are that low. It's all a theory that weather announcers like to use for drama purposes. I doubt that it actually happens. In summer the wind will keep the perspiration off my skin, and THAT lack of moisture feels better, but the surface temperature doesn't change, in my humble opinion.
Re: Vertical Clouds
I believe you are correct about major cities being a deterrent to Tornado's, and that is one on the plus side for them.
Maybe tornado's don't like poor air quality, and why they stay out in the suburbs, hi hi.
I told Debi not to worry about tornado's as they never come further south than tornado alley, and on the day we got home from our honeymoon, we came home to a tornado in our neighbors backyard that picked up a large tree and dropped it across the power line. This in turn pulled the power line from our house, tearing the weatherhead and meter basin off the wall along with it. Good thing I had a generator for power. But Debi was always worried about tornado's after that, so she was glad when we moved south to her home town. Where of course we got hit with the worst hailstorm of the century, hi hi.
I've had many opportunities to use a wet bulb thermometer, and the speed of the air blowing across it produces a truly accurate figure of transpiration and the cooling affects of it.
There have been many experiments using wind speed on humanoids over the years.
You wouldn't believe how much water your body looses when you are in a windy situation.
It's a whole lot more than you think it is. It's good those type of tests are no longer needed.
As we have calibrated instruments that tell us what is happening.
We bundle up to go outside in severely cold weather. This helps us to hold our body warmth as well as our liquid content.
But they are right about what it feels like outside. If the temp is -10, and they say it feels like -40, that means if there were no wind at all. It would have to be -40 for you to feel like you do at -10 in a wind of such n such a speed.
In the winter, I have seen what looks like a cloud coming up out of a single tree. A tree transpires water, which technically is warm, so rises when it is super cold outside, and appears as a cloud floating up from the tree. And often a cloud will form higher above the tree if there is no wind to carry it away or break it up.
Living down here in the Great Smoky Mountains, we see this steam rising from the trees quite often. But also you will see areas that are clear where the air is going down into the trees. So what is climbing upward from one group of trees is being sucked back down in the next group of trees, sorta like circular motion of the air flowing down, across the ground, then back up again. Interesting to watch.
Maybe tornado's don't like poor air quality, and why they stay out in the suburbs, hi hi.
I told Debi not to worry about tornado's as they never come further south than tornado alley, and on the day we got home from our honeymoon, we came home to a tornado in our neighbors backyard that picked up a large tree and dropped it across the power line. This in turn pulled the power line from our house, tearing the weatherhead and meter basin off the wall along with it. Good thing I had a generator for power. But Debi was always worried about tornado's after that, so she was glad when we moved south to her home town. Where of course we got hit with the worst hailstorm of the century, hi hi.
I've had many opportunities to use a wet bulb thermometer, and the speed of the air blowing across it produces a truly accurate figure of transpiration and the cooling affects of it.
There have been many experiments using wind speed on humanoids over the years.
You wouldn't believe how much water your body looses when you are in a windy situation.
It's a whole lot more than you think it is. It's good those type of tests are no longer needed.
As we have calibrated instruments that tell us what is happening.
We bundle up to go outside in severely cold weather. This helps us to hold our body warmth as well as our liquid content.
But they are right about what it feels like outside. If the temp is -10, and they say it feels like -40, that means if there were no wind at all. It would have to be -40 for you to feel like you do at -10 in a wind of such n such a speed.
In the winter, I have seen what looks like a cloud coming up out of a single tree. A tree transpires water, which technically is warm, so rises when it is super cold outside, and appears as a cloud floating up from the tree. And often a cloud will form higher above the tree if there is no wind to carry it away or break it up.
Living down here in the Great Smoky Mountains, we see this steam rising from the trees quite often. But also you will see areas that are clear where the air is going down into the trees. So what is climbing upward from one group of trees is being sucked back down in the next group of trees, sorta like circular motion of the air flowing down, across the ground, then back up again. Interesting to watch.
Re: Vertical Clouds
To be honest I think there are very few places exempt from experiencing tornadoes. Places such as deserts and large bodies of water all have them, but they are called something else when they aren't over the midwestern United States. It seems odd to me that the spin of the tornado wind is parallel to the earth's surface given that the rising and falling of air masses that create them are vertical for the most part. I never heard of a natural horizontal tornado, but that is what I'd expect to happen. In fact they do occur at upper altitudes when aircraft zoom through it high speed. Those kind of horizontal tornadoes have been known to be safety hazards for the aircraft that didn't create them. I lived close to O'Hare airport and would see how during rush hour they would stagger the landing approaches of aircraft to avoid these horizontal tornadoes.
My old house was built on land that at one time was a tree farm. By the time I got there a lot of trees were scattered about the subdivision but only a few acres of it were left and nothing like a nursery could be detected. Some of my best times were spent in my 3/4th acre forest, but it was all at ground level. I never noticed any of the transpiration effects you mentioned, but then I wasn't looking for them. We had a few weeping willow trees close to the house and a few people warned me to get rid of them. They were lightning magnets, so I was told. That didn't make sense to me and I loved the look of the trees so I kept them in place. And, sure enough, one fine summer day there was an explosion in my back hard that blew up part of one willow tree. I had the trees removed after that but never understood why they were particularly vulnerable. Other trees in my forest were taller.
Moving to Missouri was an eye opener in a real sense. I could see a lot more of the sky from my hillside house than I ever saw through my forest trees. I have some spectacular cloud pictures and a few good rainbows too. It's amazing how all that is taken for granted, and I suppose that is normal activity. I just never got to see much of it in the big city.
My old house was built on land that at one time was a tree farm. By the time I got there a lot of trees were scattered about the subdivision but only a few acres of it were left and nothing like a nursery could be detected. Some of my best times were spent in my 3/4th acre forest, but it was all at ground level. I never noticed any of the transpiration effects you mentioned, but then I wasn't looking for them. We had a few weeping willow trees close to the house and a few people warned me to get rid of them. They were lightning magnets, so I was told. That didn't make sense to me and I loved the look of the trees so I kept them in place. And, sure enough, one fine summer day there was an explosion in my back hard that blew up part of one willow tree. I had the trees removed after that but never understood why they were particularly vulnerable. Other trees in my forest were taller.
Moving to Missouri was an eye opener in a real sense. I could see a lot more of the sky from my hillside house than I ever saw through my forest trees. I have some spectacular cloud pictures and a few good rainbows too. It's amazing how all that is taken for granted, and I suppose that is normal activity. I just never got to see much of it in the big city.
Re: Vertical Clouds
Hurricanes, Typhoons, Cyclones, and Tornado's ravage nearly every place on planet earth.
My dad's ship, when he was in the service, got caught in a Typhoon, and it looked like they wouldn't survive.
Had only one more hatch blown out, they would have sunk for sure.
My house here is on the north face of Rodgers Ridge, and the acre of land extends to the top of the ridge.
I was so glad to be on top of a hill instead of in a valley, so I could get my ham radio station up and running.
But alas, that never came to pass. Which is actually probably a good thing at the price of ham gear today.
But from this high vantage point, I see a lot of things in the sky that most folks never see.
Like a sunset as it dips down below the Cumberland Plateau, always beautiful.
Unfortunately, living on the North Face means not only do I not see the sunrise, but don't see the sun for at least an hour to an hour and a half after sunrise. Plus I have the woods to my south too, and that is uphill from my house, hi hi.
If I walk half-way up my upper back yard, meaning half the distance of my backyard, I'm higher up than the roof of our house.
My dad's ship, when he was in the service, got caught in a Typhoon, and it looked like they wouldn't survive.
Had only one more hatch blown out, they would have sunk for sure.
My house here is on the north face of Rodgers Ridge, and the acre of land extends to the top of the ridge.
I was so glad to be on top of a hill instead of in a valley, so I could get my ham radio station up and running.
But alas, that never came to pass. Which is actually probably a good thing at the price of ham gear today.
But from this high vantage point, I see a lot of things in the sky that most folks never see.
Like a sunset as it dips down below the Cumberland Plateau, always beautiful.
Unfortunately, living on the North Face means not only do I not see the sunrise, but don't see the sun for at least an hour to an hour and a half after sunrise. Plus I have the woods to my south too, and that is uphill from my house, hi hi.
If I walk half-way up my upper back yard, meaning half the distance of my backyard, I'm higher up than the roof of our house.
Re: Vertical Clouds
Some of the most dazzling sky shows I've captured digitally were created just prior to official sunrise (when the upper limb of the sun crosses the horizon). It's less than ten minutes when the light from the sun is coming from below the horizon to illuminate the underside of any clouds in the area with its refracted light. Some of the most innocuous clouds take on a heretofore unnoticed shape and structure. Most of the clouds I've seen in my life were viewed with top lighting, and as you must know the top of clouds are not always the same as their underside. The image posted here was taken just after sunrise and provided side lighting. The contrast it shown on those cloud pillars is remarkable because those same clouds were washed out by the brilliance of the full sun just eight minutes later.
This has been a fairly uneventful year for sky shows above O'Fallon. Last year when the entire western part of the country was on fire the smoke drifted our way. It was thin and acted like a filter to produce some of the most amazing sunsets and sunrises in terms of color. Even cloudless skies were a glowing orange and gold.
Going off topic a bit, my wife of many years is recovering from the malaise that sent her to the hospital last week. Basically her blackouts were likely caused by dehydration and electrolyte imbalance. So we are now drinking a lot of GatorAde. The drop in blood pressure seems to have been somewhat related but as a precaution wife is now wearing compression stockings and shaking her legs a lot to get the blood flowing. And under all that are the original symptoms she suffers from vertigo. Today was her first physical therapy session where they exercised her in ways that encourage the vertigo, of all things. It's a temporary stress and of short duration, but they claim doing it enough will make the vertigo disappear. That will likely happen over the next two weeks worth of therapy.
When we had a doggie for a pet my wife would frequently meet one of the neighbors, Lisa, who was walking her doggie too. Finally after about a year or two of this chance meeting they exchanged phone numbers and messaged each other from time to time. Lisa took ill and had some hip or knee surgery, not sure which, so that she invited my wife to come visit her to break up the boredom. This was the first time in the six years any neighbor made such an offer. Well, there were two visits and that seemed to be the end of it. Yesterday, at least a month after wife's last visit to Lisa's place, Lisa came ringing our front doorbell. She had a handful of sunflowers fresh from her garden and wanted to share them with my wife. Little did Lisa realize my wife was hospitalized last week. That was of great interest to her because Lisa is/was a nurse for many years. So, they had a lovely chit chat and Lisa offered a few suggestions for how my wife could go about handling her recovery. That and the flowers just made our day. Wife never mentioned it to Lisa, but she absolutely abhors sunflowers. LOL Regardless, the fact that Lisa reached out and came on over just to be friendly gives the old O'Fallon we have come to know a different look. And, by the way, Lisa moved here from Kirkwood (of all places) and made the comment about how distant and aloof the neighbors seem to be. No kidding, Lisa?
This has been a fairly uneventful year for sky shows above O'Fallon. Last year when the entire western part of the country was on fire the smoke drifted our way. It was thin and acted like a filter to produce some of the most amazing sunsets and sunrises in terms of color. Even cloudless skies were a glowing orange and gold.
Going off topic a bit, my wife of many years is recovering from the malaise that sent her to the hospital last week. Basically her blackouts were likely caused by dehydration and electrolyte imbalance. So we are now drinking a lot of GatorAde. The drop in blood pressure seems to have been somewhat related but as a precaution wife is now wearing compression stockings and shaking her legs a lot to get the blood flowing. And under all that are the original symptoms she suffers from vertigo. Today was her first physical therapy session where they exercised her in ways that encourage the vertigo, of all things. It's a temporary stress and of short duration, but they claim doing it enough will make the vertigo disappear. That will likely happen over the next two weeks worth of therapy.
When we had a doggie for a pet my wife would frequently meet one of the neighbors, Lisa, who was walking her doggie too. Finally after about a year or two of this chance meeting they exchanged phone numbers and messaged each other from time to time. Lisa took ill and had some hip or knee surgery, not sure which, so that she invited my wife to come visit her to break up the boredom. This was the first time in the six years any neighbor made such an offer. Well, there were two visits and that seemed to be the end of it. Yesterday, at least a month after wife's last visit to Lisa's place, Lisa came ringing our front doorbell. She had a handful of sunflowers fresh from her garden and wanted to share them with my wife. Little did Lisa realize my wife was hospitalized last week. That was of great interest to her because Lisa is/was a nurse for many years. So, they had a lovely chit chat and Lisa offered a few suggestions for how my wife could go about handling her recovery. That and the flowers just made our day. Wife never mentioned it to Lisa, but she absolutely abhors sunflowers. LOL Regardless, the fact that Lisa reached out and came on over just to be friendly gives the old O'Fallon we have come to know a different look. And, by the way, Lisa moved here from Kirkwood (of all places) and made the comment about how distant and aloof the neighbors seem to be. No kidding, Lisa?
Re: Vertical Clouds
When we had all those forest fires down here a couple years ago, we too had some awesome and strange looking skies.
And every once in a while, when clouds are high over the Cumberland Plateau, just at sunset, they first look like the edges of the clouds are on fire, and right at sunset, the center bottom of the cloud looks like a big red fireball.
I'm glad they figured out what was going on and getting her fluids back up.
My mom had vertigo really bad, and my wife has a touch of it.
They did something with my mom that I can only describe as being like a Witches Cradle.
She was strapped to a small gurney like bed that rose up close to vertical, then it rocked back and forth, the front to back, and back and forth. She had to do this for like 30 minutes for 4 or 5 days. She hated it big time! But then when the treatments were done, she was like 80 to 90% better than before and it lasted for a long long time, several years, before she started having to worry about falling again.
Now that was very nice of your neighbor, even if your frau doesn't like sunflowers.
But it reminds me of a story about my late wife. You'll get a kick out of.
When my late wife's mother passed away, they had a fairly large funeral.
Someone had sent a huge basket of dried flowers, and Ruth decided to bring it home.
One of the items in that basket of dried flowers was the larger sized cat-tails.
She had placed it top of a corner cabinet in the corner of the living room, where it sat for several years.
We went on a small vacation out to Clearwater Lake for around four days, so we had turned the AC off in the house.
I probably should have just set it on a higher setting just to keep the humidity down, but I didn't.
In any case, when we got home and opened the front door, it looked like a million dandelions must have blown in there.
Everything was totally covered with the fuzz from those cat-tails which probably exploded to spread their seeds.
But it was everywhere, all throughout the living, dining room, and partway down the hallway, and also down the basement steps. There wasn't one square inch that wasn't covered in this fuzz.
Now there were only like 5 of these cat-tails in the arrangement, and all of them were now bare stalks.
After filling the shop vac about 4 times, I finally decided to use up some old pillowcases over the filter and wired around the vacuum inlet. This way I could just tie them up and toss them in the trash. Turned out to be a good idea because doing it that way the compacted tighter in the pillowcase and didn't bog down the motor in the vacuum so quick. Ended up using four pillowcases and we still had that fuzz showing up for at least two months, a little here, a little there.
Ever since then, the frau HATED cat-tails with a passion, hi hi.
And every once in a while, when clouds are high over the Cumberland Plateau, just at sunset, they first look like the edges of the clouds are on fire, and right at sunset, the center bottom of the cloud looks like a big red fireball.
I'm glad they figured out what was going on and getting her fluids back up.
My mom had vertigo really bad, and my wife has a touch of it.
They did something with my mom that I can only describe as being like a Witches Cradle.
She was strapped to a small gurney like bed that rose up close to vertical, then it rocked back and forth, the front to back, and back and forth. She had to do this for like 30 minutes for 4 or 5 days. She hated it big time! But then when the treatments were done, she was like 80 to 90% better than before and it lasted for a long long time, several years, before she started having to worry about falling again.
Now that was very nice of your neighbor, even if your frau doesn't like sunflowers.
But it reminds me of a story about my late wife. You'll get a kick out of.
When my late wife's mother passed away, they had a fairly large funeral.
Someone had sent a huge basket of dried flowers, and Ruth decided to bring it home.
One of the items in that basket of dried flowers was the larger sized cat-tails.
She had placed it top of a corner cabinet in the corner of the living room, where it sat for several years.
We went on a small vacation out to Clearwater Lake for around four days, so we had turned the AC off in the house.
I probably should have just set it on a higher setting just to keep the humidity down, but I didn't.
In any case, when we got home and opened the front door, it looked like a million dandelions must have blown in there.
Everything was totally covered with the fuzz from those cat-tails which probably exploded to spread their seeds.
But it was everywhere, all throughout the living, dining room, and partway down the hallway, and also down the basement steps. There wasn't one square inch that wasn't covered in this fuzz.
Now there were only like 5 of these cat-tails in the arrangement, and all of them were now bare stalks.
After filling the shop vac about 4 times, I finally decided to use up some old pillowcases over the filter and wired around the vacuum inlet. This way I could just tie them up and toss them in the trash. Turned out to be a good idea because doing it that way the compacted tighter in the pillowcase and didn't bog down the motor in the vacuum so quick. Ended up using four pillowcases and we still had that fuzz showing up for at least two months, a little here, a little there.
Ever since then, the frau HATED cat-tails with a passion, hi hi.
Re: Vertical Clouds
Wife has had allergy problems for most of her life. Her ears would fill with fluid and cause all sorts of havoc. But, it wasn't until we came south to Missouri that Vertigo was added to the symptoms. Last season she was in bed for about a week before it eased off enough for her to try and act normal again. It didn't bother her until about the same time this year. We probably would have just tried to deal with it if she did not have those two fainting spells. Essentially the hospital stay was to check out a few things to be sure her head was OK enough to take on the therapy for the dizziness. That's when they found the tumor and the low blood pressure. Fortunately those things turned out to be minor and easy enough to cure. The first therapy for the vertigo was just a matter of turning her head and remaining still for 90 seconds. That had to be done sitting and laying down. Amazing as it seemed to me, when she turned her head far right and held it there, that made her nauseous and somewhat dizzy. It turns out that was the desired effect. When she sat up again it cleared up fairly quickly and will improve over the next few sessions. They will be working on balance next week and she has to do some weird eye exercises to retrain her eyes. Apparently when you move you eyes too fast, that can bring on the vertigo. It's all very odd to me, but not nearly as odd as the story you tell about the rocking bed.
I've seen cattails in the wild and have played with their fuzzy offshoots when I was a kid. The cottonwood tree we had in our back yard at the old house did exactly the same thing. It's fuzzy little parachute seed pods were all over the yard for several days. It looked as if snow fell in the middle of summer. I can't imagine the mess it would cause inside the house. It must have been a nightmare. I guess the shop vac would be the best way to clean up, but the shop vac I have has a whirlwind exhaust. It certainly would send all those cattail seeds flying while trying to suck them up.
Labor Day weekend is coming up and it's hard to believe it came so quickly this year. My surgery recovery took up a good part of the summer and then we end it all with wife's visit to the ER rooms. And to add insult to injury, today she received some snail mail about planning one's estate so that the heirs won't have any problems. Talk about targeted advertising.
I've seen cattails in the wild and have played with their fuzzy offshoots when I was a kid. The cottonwood tree we had in our back yard at the old house did exactly the same thing. It's fuzzy little parachute seed pods were all over the yard for several days. It looked as if snow fell in the middle of summer. I can't imagine the mess it would cause inside the house. It must have been a nightmare. I guess the shop vac would be the best way to clean up, but the shop vac I have has a whirlwind exhaust. It certainly would send all those cattail seeds flying while trying to suck them up.
Labor Day weekend is coming up and it's hard to believe it came so quickly this year. My surgery recovery took up a good part of the summer and then we end it all with wife's visit to the ER rooms. And to add insult to injury, today she received some snail mail about planning one's estate so that the heirs won't have any problems. Talk about targeted advertising.
Re: Vertical Clouds
Well, my late wife's problem was now over 35 years ago. Medical knowledge has come a long way since then.
Back when I had my tonsils out, they were still using Ether to put you to sleep for the surgery.
When I was kid and had so many problems with my eyes due to warped lenses.
My eye doctor hand-made a pair of glasses for me that contained NINE individual lenses in each side.
He had hoped making them would cause my eyes to draw properly. Apparently it worked, and also, the making of glasses has come a long way too. They build in the lenses the polarity to help adjust for astigmatism which I also have.
Now when I have a pair of glasses made, I have to tell the person fitting the glasses about a special angle that does not go on the script to make the glasses. I can't see diddly out of pair of glasses they say the lenses are perfect unless they add the downward tilt the eye doctor told me to have them adjust the glasses to. They also have to be glass glasses, not plastic lenses.
Back when that happened, my shop vac was a Hercules brand. Both the intake and exhaust are on the top of the 10 gallon bucket shaped like an oil drum. The motor was in the lid and had a sponge sleeve and a cloth bag over that, plus you put a paper filter sleeve over that. Trouble was, those little fuzzies clogged up the paper almost instantly. Then trying to take the top and motor out to empty the can made yet another problem. That's when I put a pillowcase over the inlet tube to catch all the fuzz. It expanded inside the bucket, but caught all the fuzz so none got to the motor filter itself. Easy to clean up the mess that way too. On that particular Vac, it was easy to add something to the inlet tube, so after that experience, I continued to do so, usually using the leg of an old pantyhose the frau was going to throw away.
I later got a huge 25 gallon shop vac that would play music through the hose when you turned it on or off, but not once it was up to speed. Loved that thing, but it sure didn't last long. Then too I used it for cleaning up construction debris and drywall dust, etc. Which I suppose made it through the filters somehow and caused the bearing in the motor to go bad.
Right after I had a hearing test, I got tons of mail for hearing aids.
After my first heart attack, I also got estate planning and a few other types of letters, all after my money, hi hi.
After my second heart attack, along came the burial plan offers, which I already have well taken care of, hi hi.
Currently with my COPD, I'm getting all kinds of snake oil ads for cures that can't possibly work, hi hi.
So I know what you mean!
Back when I had my tonsils out, they were still using Ether to put you to sleep for the surgery.
When I was kid and had so many problems with my eyes due to warped lenses.
My eye doctor hand-made a pair of glasses for me that contained NINE individual lenses in each side.
He had hoped making them would cause my eyes to draw properly. Apparently it worked, and also, the making of glasses has come a long way too. They build in the lenses the polarity to help adjust for astigmatism which I also have.
Now when I have a pair of glasses made, I have to tell the person fitting the glasses about a special angle that does not go on the script to make the glasses. I can't see diddly out of pair of glasses they say the lenses are perfect unless they add the downward tilt the eye doctor told me to have them adjust the glasses to. They also have to be glass glasses, not plastic lenses.
Back when that happened, my shop vac was a Hercules brand. Both the intake and exhaust are on the top of the 10 gallon bucket shaped like an oil drum. The motor was in the lid and had a sponge sleeve and a cloth bag over that, plus you put a paper filter sleeve over that. Trouble was, those little fuzzies clogged up the paper almost instantly. Then trying to take the top and motor out to empty the can made yet another problem. That's when I put a pillowcase over the inlet tube to catch all the fuzz. It expanded inside the bucket, but caught all the fuzz so none got to the motor filter itself. Easy to clean up the mess that way too. On that particular Vac, it was easy to add something to the inlet tube, so after that experience, I continued to do so, usually using the leg of an old pantyhose the frau was going to throw away.
I later got a huge 25 gallon shop vac that would play music through the hose when you turned it on or off, but not once it was up to speed. Loved that thing, but it sure didn't last long. Then too I used it for cleaning up construction debris and drywall dust, etc. Which I suppose made it through the filters somehow and caused the bearing in the motor to go bad.
Right after I had a hearing test, I got tons of mail for hearing aids.
After my first heart attack, I also got estate planning and a few other types of letters, all after my money, hi hi.
After my second heart attack, along came the burial plan offers, which I already have well taken care of, hi hi.
Currently with my COPD, I'm getting all kinds of snake oil ads for cures that can't possibly work, hi hi.
So I know what you mean!
Re: Vertical Clouds
When I was young and in grammar school I had trouble reading. They tested my eyes and sent me to an ophthalmologist who determined my right side pupil was not round. It was oval shaped. I had to do all sorts of weird eye exercises and wear a patch for a couple years. None of that helped much. When I got the measles, however, the doctor was floored at the next exam. The pupil straightened out and became round as it should have been. The measles did something to promote that change. I always think about how strange that all seemed to me, but the description of your eye problems are even more strange. Nine lenses seems like something a fly would have for its eyes. It's amazing that a doctor would know how to go about remedying such a condition.
My shop vac is pretty much like your Hercules. Mine was the store brand of Home Depot, the name of which I don't recall at the moment. The innards of mine is pretty much what you describe for yours except I don't see how I could attach a pillow case or stocking to the input tube. There is something I can put over the motor when I want to vacuum liquids. It protects all the paper filters and the electric wires of the motor. I don't recall exactly what it is but I do recall lending it to my neighbor many years ago when his basement flooded. It worked perfectly for him.
Back up north I used the shop vac more often as a leaf blower than a dust cleaner. LOL The exhaust was pretty powerful and there was a conical tip for the hose provided as an accessory. Here in Missouri I use that same arrangement to blow out the dust from the garage. It works a lot better than a broom and is a heck of a lot more fun too.
My shop vac is pretty much like your Hercules. Mine was the store brand of Home Depot, the name of which I don't recall at the moment. The innards of mine is pretty much what you describe for yours except I don't see how I could attach a pillow case or stocking to the input tube. There is something I can put over the motor when I want to vacuum liquids. It protects all the paper filters and the electric wires of the motor. I don't recall exactly what it is but I do recall lending it to my neighbor many years ago when his basement flooded. It worked perfectly for him.
Back up north I used the shop vac more often as a leaf blower than a dust cleaner. LOL The exhaust was pretty powerful and there was a conical tip for the hose provided as an accessory. Here in Missouri I use that same arrangement to blow out the dust from the garage. It works a lot better than a broom and is a heck of a lot more fun too.
Re: Vertical Clouds
I don't think any other doctor would have went to the trouble to build a multi-lensed pair of glasses.
I used to keep that pair of glasses just to prove such a thing existed to some of my later eye doctors.
My cousin was borne cross-eyed, and using a lens at an angle, plus a piece of cardboard taped over it, his eye doctor managed to get his eyes straightened out. I think their must be something about me and my relatives, because almost all of us need our glasses angled down to see out of them properly, and they must be glass glasses for most of us. Apparently, plastic glasses do not have the same properties, and tilting them down does not produce the same affect, in fact it makes this worse.
The type of shop vac I was talking about was NOT a wet/dry type for sure. If you did need to suck up water, you used a second shop-vac can with no motor, just an inlet tube and a highly baffled outlet tube. The outlet tube connected to the motorized shop vac. There was a ball inside of the baffled tube so if the water in the can got high enough, it would close so water didn't get into the shop vac. I also remember when Shop Vac stole that generic name and made it their own!
The top of my shop vac had white PVC cylinders that the hose slipped over. One was like a 4 inch, and the other like around 2 inches or slightly larger, some shop vacs only had the 4 inch opening and an adapter that fit it to use the smaller 2 inch hose.
But just like the part that stuck out the top of the vac, it was almost identical inside the vac, so you could put a bag over the inlet pipe on the inside. It had a little flange so a tied bag would stay on it. They called it a nuts n bolts collection bag, used for picking up things you spilled but wanted to keep and not let it get into the trash part of the vacuum.
When I had to pump water out of my basement, I just used a blower motor I had. I couldn't use it like a pump pump, I had to let it suck air along with the water else it would bog down trying to lift water up 6 feet to the basement window. But it did the job amazingly fast, and then I let the submersible pump take care of the rest that was left. I had it running all the time too.
If you've ever used a simple sand blaster, this is basically how I set up my blower to get the water out, but pulling a bit more water than what a sand blaster pulls sand.
I've done that too, used a leaf blower to get the bulk of dirt and dust out of the garage, and sometimes from my walkway inside the garage to my office, hi hi. Makes quick work of all that gets tracked in from outside on the walkway.
I used to keep that pair of glasses just to prove such a thing existed to some of my later eye doctors.
My cousin was borne cross-eyed, and using a lens at an angle, plus a piece of cardboard taped over it, his eye doctor managed to get his eyes straightened out. I think their must be something about me and my relatives, because almost all of us need our glasses angled down to see out of them properly, and they must be glass glasses for most of us. Apparently, plastic glasses do not have the same properties, and tilting them down does not produce the same affect, in fact it makes this worse.
The type of shop vac I was talking about was NOT a wet/dry type for sure. If you did need to suck up water, you used a second shop-vac can with no motor, just an inlet tube and a highly baffled outlet tube. The outlet tube connected to the motorized shop vac. There was a ball inside of the baffled tube so if the water in the can got high enough, it would close so water didn't get into the shop vac. I also remember when Shop Vac stole that generic name and made it their own!
The top of my shop vac had white PVC cylinders that the hose slipped over. One was like a 4 inch, and the other like around 2 inches or slightly larger, some shop vacs only had the 4 inch opening and an adapter that fit it to use the smaller 2 inch hose.
But just like the part that stuck out the top of the vac, it was almost identical inside the vac, so you could put a bag over the inlet pipe on the inside. It had a little flange so a tied bag would stay on it. They called it a nuts n bolts collection bag, used for picking up things you spilled but wanted to keep and not let it get into the trash part of the vacuum.
When I had to pump water out of my basement, I just used a blower motor I had. I couldn't use it like a pump pump, I had to let it suck air along with the water else it would bog down trying to lift water up 6 feet to the basement window. But it did the job amazingly fast, and then I let the submersible pump take care of the rest that was left. I had it running all the time too.
If you've ever used a simple sand blaster, this is basically how I set up my blower to get the water out, but pulling a bit more water than what a sand blaster pulls sand.
I've done that too, used a leaf blower to get the bulk of dirt and dust out of the garage, and sometimes from my walkway inside the garage to my office, hi hi. Makes quick work of all that gets tracked in from outside on the walkway.
Re: Vertical Clouds
I know very little about optics (where is Juan when we need him) and find it slightly amazing that plastic lenses don't do you any good. All I ever read on the subject had to do with cameras. There was a review about Nikon cameras many years ago that claimed they were the last of the consumer type cameras to still use glass lenses; something serious photographers preferred. Based on that review I bought a Nikon camera. Looking back on the decision the logic I used was flawed. Glass might be superior to plastic, but the light sensor was digital. You could not get any better resolution than that which the sensor was capable of providing, and it did not come anywhere near to being as good as film. That was then. Today the sensors are a lot better and might even exceed what film can do.
You are correct to say I own a wet/dry type shop vac. I didn't know much about them when I bought it and went with what was on sale at Home Depot. LOL I do recall thinking how clever it was to make a vacuum that can suck up water as well as powder without being damaged. The system you describe using two canisters undoubtedly worked very well. It seems like an unnecessary complication to need a second can for water, but I understand the logic behind it. No doubt the shop vac you have is more powerful than what I have, which is probably well suited for the kind of work you were doing. All I was concerned about was the sawdust from the skill saw I used in my garage. LOL
My tool shed was well stocked and I did a lot of outside work around the house. I kept things tidy enough but of all the power tools I accumulated a leaf blower was never among my collection. They seemed too expensive for the single purpose for which they were designed. That is what led me to using the shop vac in place of a leaf blower. I got as much wind moving as any of my neighbors did with their fancy blowers, but I will admit it was slightly inconvenient to wheel that vac across the lawn, not to mention the fact it needed a very long line cord. I happened to have a 50 ft heavy duty cord to server the purpose. It did just fine because the motor in the vac didn't draw a lot of current. Neither did the weed wacker which also was electric.
You are correct to say I own a wet/dry type shop vac. I didn't know much about them when I bought it and went with what was on sale at Home Depot. LOL I do recall thinking how clever it was to make a vacuum that can suck up water as well as powder without being damaged. The system you describe using two canisters undoubtedly worked very well. It seems like an unnecessary complication to need a second can for water, but I understand the logic behind it. No doubt the shop vac you have is more powerful than what I have, which is probably well suited for the kind of work you were doing. All I was concerned about was the sawdust from the skill saw I used in my garage. LOL
My tool shed was well stocked and I did a lot of outside work around the house. I kept things tidy enough but of all the power tools I accumulated a leaf blower was never among my collection. They seemed too expensive for the single purpose for which they were designed. That is what led me to using the shop vac in place of a leaf blower. I got as much wind moving as any of my neighbors did with their fancy blowers, but I will admit it was slightly inconvenient to wheel that vac across the lawn, not to mention the fact it needed a very long line cord. I happened to have a 50 ft heavy duty cord to server the purpose. It did just fine because the motor in the vac didn't draw a lot of current. Neither did the weed wacker which also was electric.
Re: Vertical Clouds
Every camera I've ever owned had glass lenses, and all the telephoto lenses, as well as the add-on filter lenses were all glass also. But I don't think Digital has quite caught up with the higher quality hi-speed films yet. But it's getting there!
There's no plastic as clear as glass. I learned that when I was developing my optical light/water meter. Plastics have improved some, such that they can be used for short run fiber optics, such as used in decorative lighting. But it will be decades more before they can get it clear and clean enough for transmission type fiber optics.
The reason I had such a big and powerful shop vac, was because a plastic hose, like a swimming pool filter hose, went to each of my woodworking machines. These all connected to a 4 inch PVC pipe hanging from the ceiling, and at the far end is where I had the shop vac, the normal white flexible shop vac hose led from the PVC down to the vacuum. At each machine hooked to the vac system, I had a small baffle I could turn on and off, because if I didn't keep them turned off, the vacuum didn't have all that much suction with more than perhaps two lines open. I normally left the baffle open on the band-saw all the time, mainly because I used it the most, and there was enough suction to use another machine.
This was not the ideal way to do this, but at the time, that was all I could afford. Later I bought the larger blower. It was much quieter and the collection drum was outside bolted to the garage wall.
As I was remodeling the house, I added 2-1/2 inch PVC pipes inside the walls for installing a central vacuum cleaner, but not the ones you buy as a central vac, they are just too darn expensive. But I did by the power switch outlets for them. Since my house had a basement, it was fairly simple to add the central vacuum system piping. Rather than run 120 volts to each plug in outlet, I used a low voltage 24 volts DC using the same transformer that ran my doorbells and the lights over the address plate. I also used flat ribbon style wire, sticky on the back, so I could simply peel and stick it to the pipes inside the wall. The vertical pipes only had to run about 2 to 3 feet from the basement up inside the wall so the hose connector was 18 inches above the floor in each room, usually next to the entry doors. I used long-sweep street ell's so there were no sharp turns in the pipe to prevent clogging from junk that could get into them. I also added a few clean-outs just in case I ever did have to unclog the system. This was the reason I bought the littler 5-gallon shop vac with the same size motor as the 10-gallon shop vac I had in the garage. I did find out commercial whole house shop vacs only add a couple of outlets in the hallway and give you a super long vacuum hose, hi hi. Storing such a long hose would have been a pain, so I'm glad I did mine the way I did.
I had a Black n Decker electric blower for a very short time, then I bought a small gas blower made about like a weed eater and just as noisy. When it died, I bought a gas Backpack Blower, loved it. I gave away almost all of my gas powered equipment last summer to one of Debi's cousins who's house burned down about a week or two before he lost his job. He started doing yard work to make some money, and these tools helped him get started. He lived too far away to come do my yard though. My wife bought a little battery powered leaf blower and that thing surprised the heck out of me, it really blows hard, but through a much smaller wand. It will run for about an hour before it needs charged again, while new.
There's no plastic as clear as glass. I learned that when I was developing my optical light/water meter. Plastics have improved some, such that they can be used for short run fiber optics, such as used in decorative lighting. But it will be decades more before they can get it clear and clean enough for transmission type fiber optics.
The reason I had such a big and powerful shop vac, was because a plastic hose, like a swimming pool filter hose, went to each of my woodworking machines. These all connected to a 4 inch PVC pipe hanging from the ceiling, and at the far end is where I had the shop vac, the normal white flexible shop vac hose led from the PVC down to the vacuum. At each machine hooked to the vac system, I had a small baffle I could turn on and off, because if I didn't keep them turned off, the vacuum didn't have all that much suction with more than perhaps two lines open. I normally left the baffle open on the band-saw all the time, mainly because I used it the most, and there was enough suction to use another machine.
This was not the ideal way to do this, but at the time, that was all I could afford. Later I bought the larger blower. It was much quieter and the collection drum was outside bolted to the garage wall.
As I was remodeling the house, I added 2-1/2 inch PVC pipes inside the walls for installing a central vacuum cleaner, but not the ones you buy as a central vac, they are just too darn expensive. But I did by the power switch outlets for them. Since my house had a basement, it was fairly simple to add the central vacuum system piping. Rather than run 120 volts to each plug in outlet, I used a low voltage 24 volts DC using the same transformer that ran my doorbells and the lights over the address plate. I also used flat ribbon style wire, sticky on the back, so I could simply peel and stick it to the pipes inside the wall. The vertical pipes only had to run about 2 to 3 feet from the basement up inside the wall so the hose connector was 18 inches above the floor in each room, usually next to the entry doors. I used long-sweep street ell's so there were no sharp turns in the pipe to prevent clogging from junk that could get into them. I also added a few clean-outs just in case I ever did have to unclog the system. This was the reason I bought the littler 5-gallon shop vac with the same size motor as the 10-gallon shop vac I had in the garage. I did find out commercial whole house shop vacs only add a couple of outlets in the hallway and give you a super long vacuum hose, hi hi. Storing such a long hose would have been a pain, so I'm glad I did mine the way I did.
I had a Black n Decker electric blower for a very short time, then I bought a small gas blower made about like a weed eater and just as noisy. When it died, I bought a gas Backpack Blower, loved it. I gave away almost all of my gas powered equipment last summer to one of Debi's cousins who's house burned down about a week or two before he lost his job. He started doing yard work to make some money, and these tools helped him get started. He lived too far away to come do my yard though. My wife bought a little battery powered leaf blower and that thing surprised the heck out of me, it really blows hard, but through a much smaller wand. It will run for about an hour before it needs charged again, while new.
Re: Vertical Clouds
When we were looking at houses in O'Fallon I was surprised to see how many homes had central vacuum systems. It could be that the same builder was involved with all those homes, or perhaps it was the trend at one time. I've talked to a few people who had those systems and they all gave rave reviews. I'm kind of neutral on the subject which is due to the fact that I don't do much vacuuming. Not as a matter of housekeeping anyway. My first impression is that the system is too complicated and offers too many opportunities for something to go wrong. Then you have to call somebody in to fix the system if it breaks down instead of running over to Target and getting a replacement immediately. But, it's about convenience. I realize that is an important feature for many folks. Maybe some day when I build my mansion with all that lottery money I have yet to win, a central vacuum system would be designed into it. 
It makes sense that plastic would not conduct light as well as glass. I don't know the physics of it all, but plastic being dirty compared to glass makes sense to me. I am pretty sure Spectrum laid fiber from their junction box all the way up to my house. Inside the house, however, they used copper. That seems to defeat the purpose of having fiber but I don't need a lot of bandwidth here. The TV signal gets messed up frequently which I attribute to poor signal quality. Then, too, the mismatch of wiring could be the problem as well.
There is a small mystery in progress here in O'Fallon. Last year we started hearing some noise from what sounded like an electric motor running from time to time. I could not identify what it was. I eliminated the fridge and the A/C because the humming sound persisted when those things were off. Nothing I could find in the basement seemed to be running either. The furnace ducts above the fire box seemed to be picking up the vibrations, but it wasn't from the furnace. Lately the vibrations seem to be getting more intense at certain times. It then dawned on me that there must be a fan in the attic which is making the racket. We have ridge venting on the roof so that I don't understand why a fan would be required. However, each end of the house has venting near the peak. I guess the wall vents are needed for the ridge vent to operate properly, but my old house never used a fan in the same situation. I also looked for a way to turn off the fan, assuming that is what is humming. Nothing in the breaker panel was marked for vent fans. So I'm guessing this fan has a temperature sensor that turns it off and on, but no manual switch in the house. I have no way to get up into the attic to inspect things so that I really don't know what is going on. Unfortunately this damned "fan" is now running well into the night and seems to be right above our bedroom. It's very annoying. So, tomorrow I'll call upon a fan repair man to see what he can find out. It seems to be a toss up between HVAC and an electrician, but I found a company in town that does it all, regardless. So much for the newness of this new house.
It makes sense that plastic would not conduct light as well as glass. I don't know the physics of it all, but plastic being dirty compared to glass makes sense to me. I am pretty sure Spectrum laid fiber from their junction box all the way up to my house. Inside the house, however, they used copper. That seems to defeat the purpose of having fiber but I don't need a lot of bandwidth here. The TV signal gets messed up frequently which I attribute to poor signal quality. Then, too, the mismatch of wiring could be the problem as well.
There is a small mystery in progress here in O'Fallon. Last year we started hearing some noise from what sounded like an electric motor running from time to time. I could not identify what it was. I eliminated the fridge and the A/C because the humming sound persisted when those things were off. Nothing I could find in the basement seemed to be running either. The furnace ducts above the fire box seemed to be picking up the vibrations, but it wasn't from the furnace. Lately the vibrations seem to be getting more intense at certain times. It then dawned on me that there must be a fan in the attic which is making the racket. We have ridge venting on the roof so that I don't understand why a fan would be required. However, each end of the house has venting near the peak. I guess the wall vents are needed for the ridge vent to operate properly, but my old house never used a fan in the same situation. I also looked for a way to turn off the fan, assuming that is what is humming. Nothing in the breaker panel was marked for vent fans. So I'm guessing this fan has a temperature sensor that turns it off and on, but no manual switch in the house. I have no way to get up into the attic to inspect things so that I really don't know what is going on. Unfortunately this damned "fan" is now running well into the night and seems to be right above our bedroom. It's very annoying. So, tomorrow I'll call upon a fan repair man to see what he can find out. It seems to be a toss up between HVAC and an electrician, but I found a company in town that does it all, regardless. So much for the newness of this new house.
Re: Vertical Clouds
Well, my central vac worked just great using a large shop vac for the power unit.
But then too, I installed it quite a bit differently than they install the commercial home units.
It takes about a good foot thick of good clean glass before it looks green.
Almost all glass, if you view it from the ends or sides is dark green.
Plastic are like that too, but can be green, orange, or brown. But plastic at only a couple of inches is orange looking.
They do have special plastics that they can make a couple of inches thick and still be reasonably clear, like polycarbonates.
When I was trying to make my light/water meters, I needed a good 1 foot of clear plastic, and tried over 20 types of plastics before I started getting close. Then, once I picked the clearest of the plastics, I had to continuously run it through an extrusion machine, recycled back on itself for like 8 hours of continuous running before the rods were clear for the full 12 inches of the longest ones. In the end though, I only needed to have them clear for around 9 inches.
The plastic I used for this was Polysulfone, very expensive plastic, and then cost of running an extrusion machine continuously for 8 hours was also very expensive. But the point is, I achieved what I was told was impossible to do, and also by running so many feet to make the rods from, it wound up making the final cost about 2/3rds less than red line glass rods.
You must have good hearing, because you shouldn't hear an attic ventilation fan at all, unless perhaps the rubber mounts have dry rotted away and it is now metal frame against wood rafters. Attic fans usually work on a temperature sensor, so if it is hot up there, then they would kick on. Maybe as it is getting cooler now, they won't run so much.
You might also have in-duct-fans if your house is a long one, but they should only go on and off with the furnace.
There are also other devices that have a small fan that could be running.
If you have a long wooden dowel rod, or a handle from a broom, you can touch it to various areas of your ceiling, and while holding the broom handle, stick the knuckle of your thumb against your ear. Or better yet, if you have a hollow round curtain rod, they transmit sound much more clearly. You'll find where that noise is coming from in short order.
If you happen to have a stethoscope, using a hollow curtain rod works well with those too, and in some cases you don't even need to touch it to anything, just sit in a quiet room and point the open end of the hollow rod in different directions and then start looking in the direction where it is the loudest. I used to use something similar when working on cars to find a valve rocker that was too loose, hi hi.
Good luck tracking down where it is coming from.
But then too, I installed it quite a bit differently than they install the commercial home units.
It takes about a good foot thick of good clean glass before it looks green.
Almost all glass, if you view it from the ends or sides is dark green.
Plastic are like that too, but can be green, orange, or brown. But plastic at only a couple of inches is orange looking.
They do have special plastics that they can make a couple of inches thick and still be reasonably clear, like polycarbonates.
When I was trying to make my light/water meters, I needed a good 1 foot of clear plastic, and tried over 20 types of plastics before I started getting close. Then, once I picked the clearest of the plastics, I had to continuously run it through an extrusion machine, recycled back on itself for like 8 hours of continuous running before the rods were clear for the full 12 inches of the longest ones. In the end though, I only needed to have them clear for around 9 inches.
The plastic I used for this was Polysulfone, very expensive plastic, and then cost of running an extrusion machine continuously for 8 hours was also very expensive. But the point is, I achieved what I was told was impossible to do, and also by running so many feet to make the rods from, it wound up making the final cost about 2/3rds less than red line glass rods.
You must have good hearing, because you shouldn't hear an attic ventilation fan at all, unless perhaps the rubber mounts have dry rotted away and it is now metal frame against wood rafters. Attic fans usually work on a temperature sensor, so if it is hot up there, then they would kick on. Maybe as it is getting cooler now, they won't run so much.
You might also have in-duct-fans if your house is a long one, but they should only go on and off with the furnace.
There are also other devices that have a small fan that could be running.
If you have a long wooden dowel rod, or a handle from a broom, you can touch it to various areas of your ceiling, and while holding the broom handle, stick the knuckle of your thumb against your ear. Or better yet, if you have a hollow round curtain rod, they transmit sound much more clearly. You'll find where that noise is coming from in short order.
If you happen to have a stethoscope, using a hollow curtain rod works well with those too, and in some cases you don't even need to touch it to anything, just sit in a quiet room and point the open end of the hollow rod in different directions and then start looking in the direction where it is the loudest. I used to use something similar when working on cars to find a valve rocker that was too loose, hi hi.
Good luck tracking down where it is coming from.
Re: Vertical Clouds
My hearing is terrible, especially at high frequencies. That is why I became concerned about the attic fan. If I can hear it, it must be a lot worse than it sounds to me. Most of what I am hearing is low frequency hum. My first thought is that the fan bearings are worn, but the rubber mounts could be bad too. The fan can't be more than 7 years old. We haven't lived here that long. I find it hard to believe such fans must be serviced so frequently but maybe that's normal. I never had a need for an attic fan in the old house.
How do I find somebody to look over the situation and repair what needs to be repaired? A vast majority of craftsmen here in the O'Fallon area do not work for independent companies. They seem to be in a pool of tradesmen that work for a placement agency of some sort. Something like Angie's List. I found one of those companies who claimed they specialize in HVAC and whole house fans. I know whole house fans are not the same as what I'm looking to repair, but I thought they would be able to do the work. Their website was interesting in that they blocked off about half a dozen cities in the area. Click on the city closest to you and get the phone number for the group of specialists. This company happens to have a group of technicians right here in O'Fallon who do "Home Repairs." I clicked on that and got some blurb with a phone number. As a precaution I took a minute to write it all down on a piece of paper. When I looked back at the screen, the phone number had changed. I have no idea what that is all about, but I'm guessing some robot software is picking up contractors who are available at any given moment and that is the number you get on the website. I called the latest number, and, of course, they don't do attic fans.
I called an HVAC guy, and he doesn't do attic fans either. Not sure what kind of ventilation he does do, but I didn't want to find out. He did suggest calling an electrician. I happen to know of a local electrician who did work for me a few years ago. Called them and BINGO! They will be here tomorrow, Wednesday, to check things out and make things quiet again. I'm guessing ... mmm ... $500 to $700 will be the going price. Which brings to mind a question you might be able to answer. What if I don't use an attic fan? Will my shingles melt off the rooftop or something? I didn't have one in the last house, which was ranch style, and it had ridge venting too.
Also, can you tell me what it is about extrusion that will purify plastic? I have an idea what the process is all about. You melt the plastic, put it in a tube, and inject it out like toothpaste. I don't quite get how doing that a number of times would purify the plastic. And I do know about green glass. I've seen it in plate glass and in old time Coke bottles. Yeah, I can still remember when soda came in glass bottles. LOL
How do I find somebody to look over the situation and repair what needs to be repaired? A vast majority of craftsmen here in the O'Fallon area do not work for independent companies. They seem to be in a pool of tradesmen that work for a placement agency of some sort. Something like Angie's List. I found one of those companies who claimed they specialize in HVAC and whole house fans. I know whole house fans are not the same as what I'm looking to repair, but I thought they would be able to do the work. Their website was interesting in that they blocked off about half a dozen cities in the area. Click on the city closest to you and get the phone number for the group of specialists. This company happens to have a group of technicians right here in O'Fallon who do "Home Repairs." I clicked on that and got some blurb with a phone number. As a precaution I took a minute to write it all down on a piece of paper. When I looked back at the screen, the phone number had changed. I have no idea what that is all about, but I'm guessing some robot software is picking up contractors who are available at any given moment and that is the number you get on the website. I called the latest number, and, of course, they don't do attic fans.
I called an HVAC guy, and he doesn't do attic fans either. Not sure what kind of ventilation he does do, but I didn't want to find out. He did suggest calling an electrician. I happen to know of a local electrician who did work for me a few years ago. Called them and BINGO! They will be here tomorrow, Wednesday, to check things out and make things quiet again. I'm guessing ... mmm ... $500 to $700 will be the going price. Which brings to mind a question you might be able to answer. What if I don't use an attic fan? Will my shingles melt off the rooftop or something? I didn't have one in the last house, which was ranch style, and it had ridge venting too.
Also, can you tell me what it is about extrusion that will purify plastic? I have an idea what the process is all about. You melt the plastic, put it in a tube, and inject it out like toothpaste. I don't quite get how doing that a number of times would purify the plastic. And I do know about green glass. I've seen it in plate glass and in old time Coke bottles. Yeah, I can still remember when soda came in glass bottles. LOL
Re: Vertical Clouds
Does the Hum sound like a 60 cycle hum? If so, that's just the motor vibrating is all, probably touching a wood stud. If you have an old inner tube or piece of neoprene rubber you can push under wherever it is touching wood, that should stop it for 50 years.
Some of those lists are set up so you can click yourself as available until you get a call, then you click yourself off while gone from your house or office.
The idea behind using an attic vent fan is to help reduce your cooling bills.
But that fan costs money to run too, and that money might be better spent adding another layer of insulation in the attic.
In my house in Creve Coeur, although I had a good 6 inches of insulation in the ceiling, I tacked up batten insulation to the roof rafters themselves. This helped make the attic cooler for storing stuff up there. Insulation was fairly cheap back in the '70s.
The idea of continually running the plastic through the extrusion machine was to get the grain in the plastic to line up in straight rows. In essence, each cycle was not from molten bulk plastic, the extruded plastic was fed back to the top of the machine where it could coil up, and we ran it sorta like an 8-track cartridge feeds its tape, the coil was continually pulled from the center and the extruded plastic was wrapped around the outside of the coil. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 feet at a time. Now the tube itself was reheated to the melting point, but not to a liquid state, just enough to be drawn into the extruder head which does work under pressure which creates even more heat on the rod.
There are only a few machines around that work this way, and it took a lot of begging to get a company to tie up a machine for a whole day, just to run an experiment for me.
Think of it like taffy pulling in an odd sorta way. Except you don't wrap it back on itself between each pull in loop, you just lay it back on itself to pull again. Eventually it will be like a bundle of long thin strings but still solid.
Some of those lists are set up so you can click yourself as available until you get a call, then you click yourself off while gone from your house or office.
The idea behind using an attic vent fan is to help reduce your cooling bills.
But that fan costs money to run too, and that money might be better spent adding another layer of insulation in the attic.
In my house in Creve Coeur, although I had a good 6 inches of insulation in the ceiling, I tacked up batten insulation to the roof rafters themselves. This helped make the attic cooler for storing stuff up there. Insulation was fairly cheap back in the '70s.
The idea of continually running the plastic through the extrusion machine was to get the grain in the plastic to line up in straight rows. In essence, each cycle was not from molten bulk plastic, the extruded plastic was fed back to the top of the machine where it could coil up, and we ran it sorta like an 8-track cartridge feeds its tape, the coil was continually pulled from the center and the extruded plastic was wrapped around the outside of the coil. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 feet at a time. Now the tube itself was reheated to the melting point, but not to a liquid state, just enough to be drawn into the extruder head which does work under pressure which creates even more heat on the rod.
There are only a few machines around that work this way, and it took a lot of begging to get a company to tie up a machine for a whole day, just to run an experiment for me.
Think of it like taffy pulling in an odd sorta way. Except you don't wrap it back on itself between each pull in loop, you just lay it back on itself to pull again. Eventually it will be like a bundle of long thin strings but still solid.