Advice The Home Improvement/Automation Thread


Pro-tip for people who aren't wrecking the sewer with their used vegetable oil.

I've taken to just dumping waste oil in with my used automotive oil, which I store in a 5 gallon container in the garage (which then gets reprocessed after I drop it off at Autozone).
 
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Pro-tip for people who aren't wrecking the sewer with their used vegetable oil.

I've taken to just dumping waste oil in with my used automotive oil, which I store in a 5 gallon container in the garage (which then gets reprocessed after I drop it off at Autozone).
In a pinch you could just strain the bottle contents for some oil.
 
Anyone ever recharge their own home or car ac? Looks like a nice manifold kit isnt too expensive and r134a is cheap and available. Edit: r410a a bit harder to get.
 
To do it properly you probably need to vacuum it down and make sure it holds, then charge it.
Id bet @Jehannum has done his car

considering the slow decline and the fact that its still coldish on the Odyssey, im guessing the leaks are small enough that i couldnt find em anyway. This is more a maintence fillup. Its 12 years old now and the AC has probably never been serviced.
 
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considering the slow decline and the fact that its still coldish on the Odyssey, im guessing the leaks are small enough that i couldnt find em anyway. This is more a maintence fillup. Its 12 years old now and the AC has probably never been serviced.
If it's a slow decline, my money'd be on shit all over the condenser or evaporator rather than a refrigerant level issue. Clean it up first.
 
yeah, but he's probably using triple-strength-ultra-freon-with-extra-fluorocarbons
Fuck you and the horse you rode in on.

When I converted to r134a in the 300ZX, I rebuilt the compressor (out of like 3 other ones), flushed every line and the evaporator with acetone, replaced the condenser with an actual R134a unit with higher fin density and put a 3 way pressure switch in so that everything was totally proper for the conversion. None of this half-assed "It's just a little leak, this sealed system needs a top-up after 12 years" bullshit.
 
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yeah, needs pressure-side manifold.
No, they typically have different service ports from what you'd buy down at the Hazard Fraught, and they typically run radically different pressures from automotive applications as well.

If you have a variable cycle inverter compressor (like I do), the pressure differential isn't a static figure either.
 
yeah, i should check those. Im guessing theyre a pain in the ass to get to.
The one that's likely to be full of shit is the condenser, which should be hanging out in front of the radiator.

IDK how hard that is to get to on a Honda Odyssey, but I can generally spray coil cleaner right through the grill onto the condenser in my Z, my GTO, my Infiniti, and my Audi, then hit them with the pressure washer lickety split.
 
jesus... theyll stand up a to a pressure washer?

I try not to hit coil fins with anything heavier than rainshower mode on a hose for fear of bending em all up
 
you're right, its right in front of the rad.

Gotta remove the bumper to get to it though :/ Front bay is super cramped in the odyssey for all things. Getting to the spark plugs in a big effort
 
jesus... theyll stand up a to a pressure washer?

I try not to hit coil fins with anything heavier than rainshower mode on a hose for fear of bending em all up
I'm not right on it, and my pressure washer isn't fully PROFESSIONAL GRADE, since it's electric, but yeah. I go at it with a 15° tip, from a few feet away, and it cleans up radiators and shit easy as you please.