[rant] The really bad design thread

[DaleB]

I'm gonna chime in every time someone makes that assertion. I LOVE my current gas cans. By far the best I've ever owned. Easiest to use I've ever owned. Spills are a thing of the past. I still have multiple five gallon cans with pre-legislation tops, but I now only use them to refill the new ones.

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We have those. If you’re impatient, they do take a fairly long time to drain. So my original partner helpfully put vents in all of them. Now the current partners all complain about the dripping fuel. Those leak like a sieve without a slight vacuum in the can as it empties.

Sigh. My solution is to just cover the vent with my thumb enough to keep it from leaking, but let it drain faster. It’s not hard, you’d think pilots could figure this stuff out.

 

[KE5BM]

I'm gonna chime in every time someone makes that assertion. I LOVE my current gas cans. By far the best I've ever owned. Easiest to use I've ever owned. Spills are a thing of the past. I still have multiple five gallon cans with pre-legislation tops, but I now only use them to refill the new ones.

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I have one of those, too. Not impressed compared to the old straight-tube style. I still spill more fuel out of this style than I ever do on an old straight spout.

I've modified every gas can I own to have a straight spout with a vent. Fortunately the Chinese don't care about the environment so those kits are easily purchased through Amazon.

 

[Dana]

I'm gonna chime in every time someone makes that assertion. I LOVE my current gas cans. By far the best I've ever owned. Easiest to use I've ever owned. Spills are a thing of the past. I still have multiple five gallon cans with pre-legislation tops, but I now only use them to refill the new ones.

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I've used a few of those. They work great... until they don't, when they break or the rubber seal fails... at which point they spill more gas than would every have been lost through a simple old style non "environment friendly" spout.

I've modified every gas can I own to have a straight spout with a vent. Fortunately the Chinese don't care about the environment so those kits are easily purchased through Amazon.

"For water use only", of course. I've bought a few of those... for my "water" jugs.

 

[JackL-3J]

Had low and high.. never going back to high

 

[JackL-3J]

From the tankless water heater thread, I noted that the drain valve hose bib had plastic threads, which immediately stripped out the first time I tried to perform a maintenance flush. Why you would use plastic in a highly stressed part, on a hot water heater no less, is boggling to the mind.

I bought a house that had plastic shower heads in each shower. The hot water caused the plastic to soften, so even if you turned the head a quarter-turn before you began - an absolute necessity - it would leak before your shower was over.

Brass doesn't seem to have that problem.

 

[Sac Arrow]

Why would you want to heat hot water?

Because I don't like doing a job halfway. Double or nothing.

 

[Sac Arrow]

Supposing the light was an LED that generated negligible heat, consumed negligible power and is expected to outlast the rest of the fridge, what would be the implication of removing the switch and leaving the circuit permanently on?

Sounds good but as pointed out, it's not that negligible.

 

[Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe]

EVERY attempt at complying with the federal mandate that gas cans be ventless and have some sort of a shutoff mechanism in the spout has resulted in a bad design.

Every one

Buy one that doesn't comply with the mandate that is not a mandate.

 

[JackL-3J]

Because I don't like doing a job halfway. Double or nothing.

But do you drive on parkways and park on driveways? (Old George Carlin line.)

 

[SoonerAviator]

It's apparent few have dealt with a radiator drain in the past 2 decades, lol. Just about every one of them uses a plastic drain petcock which usually snaps off the first time you try to do anything with it.

 

[Old97]

It's apparent few have dealt with a radiator drain in the past 2 decades, lol. Just about every one of them uses a plastic drain petcock which usually snaps off the first time you try to do anything with it.

Mounted to a plastic radiator that’s going to leak after 7 years of use

 

[asicer]

Sounds good but as pointed out, it's not that negligible.

 

[Sac Arrow]

Yeah we have a couple of those in the closet.*


*not that there is anything wrong with that

 

[JackL-3J]

It's apparent few have dealt with a radiator drain in the past 2 decades, lol. Just about every one of them uses a plastic drain petcock which usually snaps off the first time you try to do anything with it.

Radiator?

 

[asicer]

Yeah we have a couple of those in the closet.

One could think of a refrigerator as a closet that happens to be very cold...