sirmaxim

Formatting for lazy folks:

1) Were you specifically asked/assigned/approved to do this IAMA? 

1) Nope, the risk is all my own.

2) In general, what are the biggest threats presented to democracy and civil society by people in your line of work?

2) The fragile dependance on electronics in general

3) What risks do Intel structures that lack transparency have of being captured by undemocratic interests? 
And how would that capture affect our society? And how could that be reversed?

3) The risk is lower than you'd think, but a risk none the less. Domestically it wouldn't crush us as it's just not how things are setup. Internationally, they're all already doing the same thing.

4) Do you believe the American system, specifically in reference to the beneficiaries of the current socio-political 
and educational structure, is meritocratic, or oligarchical? 

4). I think it's a bit of both. I know a cop out answer. I think whom you're born to or where you're born can give you advantages in life, making it much harder for honest hard working individuals to reap the same benefits. I think technology is the gift changing that. All the old rules really don't apply. Any kid in his basement as often said, could be the next billionaire.

5) Why do you think people continue to adhere to the illusion that we are separate from one another? 

5) I think people over estimate their individual importance. No species survives because of one, it's because of group effort and sacrifice. Free will sorta messes this up a bit.

6) what will the world look like in 10 years? 100 years? 1000 years? 10,000 years? 

6)

• 10 years, I hope we've really made 3d printing economical and domestic goods are able to be produced as cheaply and efficiently as foreign made goods.

• 100 years, I hope we have the ability transcend more of our differences. Africa as a continent has been given new life, partially restored to it's pre imperialist state. That we've eradicated many diseases and can cure if not manage cancer to where it's negligible.

• 1000 [years]. I hope we make it beyond that.

Good questions, thanks!

Let me help you clarify a few things since this might get attention.

First and foremost, those guys who came out, charged your unit and ran? Those guys are lazy hacks who should have looked for a leak. Leak detectors are not terribly expensive for a tech's reusable tools. Technically those hacks, for not making an effort to find the leak, broke the law.

Second, that guy who charged your unit after you worked on it shouldn't have done that and I wish I was surprised you found someone who would risk their license. Certainly any warranty on your equipment is probably now void since you worked on it without a license, but I'm not an expert in that.

Now for the fun part... Burning up that seal? Reasonably common problem and totally detectable leak. There's basically no excuse for those hacks beyond laziness. If they knew you had someone come fill it recently, they should have damn well looked.

R-22 is being phased out. Yes, they're making a profit on the stuff, just like any part they sell you. Perhaps you don't understand the cost of a tech... I'll try to break it down some:

• The truck/van and the thousands of dollars of gear/parts on it to be prepared to fix whatever your problem is without having to go get parts for every single call.
• The tech's salary.
• Insurance costs (HVAC is one of the most dangerous and expensive to insure from all angles).
• Drive time between calls doesn't generate money and can be over an hour.
• Opportunity cost of not doing something else more profitable.
• Records of every oz of refrigerant must be kept because of EPA regs. (hacks use the 'shake the jug' method instead of proper weigh-in)

It's not especially more profitable than any other service industry where a guy shows up at your house to work on things, which you seem to be under the impression it is. Is it decent money? Sure. Is it a racket? No. Those hacks you unfortunately paid make the whole thing seem like crap to you, but an honest company with good techs is a fair deal.

Spray nozzle != rain setting. You weren't specific, so I wanted to point that out. That would be fine. And I know what it's called, but Average Homeowner doesn't so I described it. I have a love/hate thing with trane who uses them.

Prices vary by location. A lot of factors go into this. Some examples:

1. Units are a few hundred pounds each so where they're made changes shipping costs.
2. Some areas require heat pumps, crank case heaters, de/humidifiers, etc. (also impacts labor for installing)
3. Local and regional Building codes (outside air intake, etc)
4. Tech/installer salary can vary with cost of living and availability of skilled workers

In short, getting quotes on the internet is misleading without very specific information that most people don't have or even know about. Only a professional in the area can really give any specifics, so always get multiple quotes from different places and research the company before you pull the trigger.

ack. No sprayers. You'll just push junk into the coil. If you spray at an angle, you can bend the fins. Some houses have amazing water pressure and this risk goes way up. Second, if you have the fuzzy looking coil fins (looks like little foil hair covering a pipe) you don't want to use pressure at all since you could break the fins off entirely.

Just run water down from the top of the coil. If it's really caked up, call someone. They've got some fancy toys that will have it back to brand new clean.