Video Review and Brief Overview of Installation
Economy Effects HVAC Buying Habits
Economy Issues Affect Change in Consumer Shopping Habits
By Betty Stephens
American household buying habits accounts for around 70% of the U.S. economy. What consumers shop for is seperated into two main categories. First, they spending on such items as food, clothing and shelter. Second, there is more discretionary spending. This is on items such as entertainment or non-essentials.
The good fortune of some and mis-fortune of others have caused financial ups and downs and a shift in the shopping habits of Americans have led to uneven outcomes for retailers. Companies like WalMart and Mattel have continued to struggle as people spend more cautiously in this type of uncertain economy. Amazon has however done well, as more consumers choose to shop on line.
Americans are very price conconscious, and will check as many as seven store or web sites for the best price before makes their purchases. I believe frugal is the the best word to describe the average American these days. Internet shopping rose 10% to $46.5 billion in November and December, according to research firm Comscore. However, sales at retail stores rose just 2.7% to $265.9 billion, according to ShopperTrak, which tracks data at 40,000 stores in the U.S. And the number of customers in stores dropped 14.6%.
Industry exucutives are starting to say this new American frugallity may be beccoming a new reality and a new permanet way of life in America and they don’t expect to see it go away anytime soon, if ever, even as the economy shows signs of improvement. With family budgets under pressure since the recession of 2008, consumers have headed to discount stores, switched from name brand goods to private-label alternatives and shopped more often at discount stores or online rather than spending on expensive fuel to drive to out-of-town hypermarkets.
Those trends have benefited discounters as well as retailers that have the widest own-label ranges and networks of smaller stores, prompting consumer goods firms to retaliate with brand promotions and smaller packaging.
“If you look at data from Millennials, who have really sort of grown up with this, price is more important to them than it was to the last generation,” WalMart U.S. Chief Executive Bill Simon told the Reuters Global Consumer and Retail Summit, referring to the generation born between 1980 and 2000.
WalMart U.S. is the largest unit of WalMart Stores Inc (WMT.N), the world’s largest retailer which benefited from trading-down during the recession, but cut its forecasts last month, citing weak results in many key markets.
The U.S. economy is expected to pick up towards the end of the year, helping cut unemployment, while Europe’s lack luster recovery looks set to continue, although wage growth will continue to lag inflation, hurting consumer purchasing power.
The Dollar Channel
Dollar store has been on an upward trend for several years now. They have had a big impact on the discount store market and are competing head to head with other discount stores on the routine shopping trip stop. The Family Dollar Stores are adding cooler space to more than 1,000 locations this year, and Dollar Tree is adding to its food and beverage assortment as well as opening a third-party pharmacy in a Florida location. Efforts like these have contributed to dollar retailers winning over shoppers from other discount stors. The most sizeable change is the shift of heavy drug store shoppers—the top one-third of spenders within the catagory -into the dollar store family of stores. This is not a big surprise, as the both dollar stores and drug stores carry many of the same type of goods and both are well positioned, geographically, for easy-access, fill-in trips.
Changing Habits
During the last year, Americans have been making less but larger shopping trips. Trips declined across grocery and large box stores. You might think the decline in stock-up trips would hurt Sam’s Club and Costco type stores, however trips have actually increased by 2.1% during the past year due to a number of factors. The club retailers are expanding the number of stores. Also, club trips are being bolstered by lower gas prices and low food inflation, which makes it easier for them to absorb bulk pricing. The dollar stores also saw trips increase significantly during the past year, which reinforces the notion that consumers are viewing dollar stores as a “smarter” choice for affordable solutions.
While people will continue to shop, the question now is what will they purchase, when will they purchase and where will they purchase. Name brand items are taking a backseat to generic or store brand products. Malls are beginning to show signs of weakness – a lot more stores are closing while consumers make their way to other, more affordable alternatives. Instead of going to one of the mall’s “anchor stores,” they are now going to places like WalMart, Target or K-Mart to purchase the things their families “need” rather than the things their families “want.”
graphics from Google Images
Heating & Cooling A Submarine
Heating, Cooling Submarines
By Betty Stephens
Heating Submarines
A submarine is mostly all metal, and metal is an excellent conductor of heat. The surface area of a submarine is large. The ocean is filled with convection currents, caused by the sub’s motion. This makes the heat transfer between submarine and ocean an active process. The temperature’s difference between the sub and the ocean is small, the total heat transfer is considerable because of the large contact area.
There is continuous production of heat, given off to the submarine air by hot engines, storage batteries, galley stove, electric lights, electric heaters, other devices, and human passengers. There is continuous production of moisture, given off to the air by evaporation from these same four main sources. The moisture production averages about 1000 pounds of water per day.
If the submarine is running on the surface, it is an easy matter to discharge this excess heat and moisture outboard. When the submarine is submerged, heat cannot be discharged outboard, and must be eliminated during recirculation of the air.
If the submarine is warmer than the ocean water, the interior heat of the vessel gradually passes through the shell into the water. The temperature of the air inside drops and, when it reaches the dew point, the water vapor in the air begins to condense on every available surface. So, the interior surfaces of a submarine are coated, with cork paint, to prevent or reduce this condensation to a minimum. The beginning of the condensation, however, depends upon the dew point, and this can be controlled by air-conditioning. Therefore, air-conditioning is just as essential for this purpose as for the comfort of the crew. It is always advisable to lower the dew point before a dive.
But, if the ocean is warmer than the submarine, there is a passage of heat from the water into the ship. However small this may be, it adds to the interior heat. The same result occurs if the loss of heat from this vessel to the ocean is less than the interior heat production. In hot summer weather, especially in tropical and subtropical regions, the air temperature in a submarine may rise to fairly high levels.
Air Conditioning the Submarine
In a submarine, there is only a few cubic feet of space available for air-conditioning equipment, and the cooling capacity is limited. The purpose of the air-conditioning system is not to cool the whole submarine. Let’s assume the air contains enough oxygen for the needs of all the occupants within the given space. A supply of oxygen compressed in cylinders is carried on board submarines to be released into the air as needed.
The submarine has room enough for air-conditioning machinery to control the dew point. Control of the dew point means control of the relative humidity, and the relative humidity is the factor of major importance.
Lowering the Dew Point.
The dew point of the air is the temperature at which that air is saturated with moisture. If the temperature of the air is then further lowered, some of the moisture must condense out.
The air in the submarine room is drawn by fans into and through the ducts to the air-conditioning evaporator. In passing over the cooling coils, its temperature drops below its dew point and part of its water vapor condenses out, inside the evaporation cabinet. The condensed water is not permitted to get back into the air, but is drained off into a tank. The air, now lower in moisture content and slightly lower in temperature also, continues its flow through the ducts and is finally blown out into the room again. This conditioned air mixes with the moisture and warmer air still in the room, resulting in an over-all condition that is drier than the original unconditioned air.
Air-conditioning in the tropics.
In hot climates, the air-conditioning system must be operated at maximum capacity. The procedure is to operate the compressors at full speed and the blowers at a speed that the temperature of the air from the discharge side of the evaporators is below the dew point. The conditions of high air temperature in the tropics are naturally adverse to effective air-conditioning, especially when the large area of open water surfaces in the bilges is considered. The plant must be run to obtain maximum comfort and protection of equipment against moisture, both of which are obtained by removing the large quantity of water vapor from the air. This condensing process is accomplished by always maintaining the temperature of the discharge air from the evaporators below the dew point.
Nuclear Submarines
The nuclear submarine, USS Sea Wolf was the only U.S. submarine to have a sodium-cooled nuclear power plant. It was commissioned in 1957, but it had leaks in its super heaters, which were bypassed. In order to standardize the reactors in the fleet, the submarine’s sodium-cooled reactor was removed starting in 1958 and replaced with a pressurized water reactor.
A liquid metal cooled nuclear reactor, liquid metal fast reactor or LMFR is an advanced type of nuclear reactor where the primary coolant is a liquid metal. Liquid metal cooled reactors were first adapted for nuclear submarine use but have also been extensively studied for power generation applications. They have safety advantages because the reactor doesn’t need to be kept under pressure, and they allow a much higher power density than traditional coolants.
Callahan Roach
Callahan-Roach Flat Rate Price Books and Software. This is a trend and the wave of the future. Read and link to article printed in Dallas Morning News on Thursday Jan. 9, 2014.
Alternative Heating Systems
If you use natural gas, oil, or are all electric a wood burning boiler may be an alternative heating method. You would have to look at the application and run the numbers but worth a look. I am told this is a more cost effective way to heat your home, shop, or out buildings.
They come in all sizes the average size uses about a cord of wood per month. A small unit runs around $5,500 a large commercial unit goes for around $15,000. Installation runs about $1,800 depending on the applcation.
There is a 50 minute interview with a couple of Dealers, that has some good information. Long but infomative.