second thoughts on battery rebuilds

A long while back I was pondering rebuilding a cordless drill battery pack to revive the powerless, yet otherwise entirely functional, tool. I took one pack in to The Source to inquire about their price to rebuild the battery, to which they replied $80 for a single 12V battery pack. That is equivalent to purchasing a new one, and I know that there is plenty of profit built in to that figure. So I figured I’d give rebuilding the battery a crack at it myself. To that end, I’ve even acquired another drill with dead batteries for twice the fun.

Tonight, however, it dawned on me that I am once again just being more sustainable; even if I rebuild the battery packs myself instead of purchasing entirely new batteries (or an entirely new drill for that matter), I’m still going to be using batteries which will eventually die. Yes, I’m reducing the amount of garbage I’m producing, but could I do better? I think I can.

 

learn from my mistake: spare fuel filter first, biodiesel second

I knew better. I honestly knew better, but one piece of well-intentioned but contrary advice lured me in to not doing what I should have done. I really, honestly knew better, but got a case of the stupids.

I’ve been running my new-to-me Beetle on a biodiesel blend (approximately B45) for the past week. Up until last night I’d had no problems with the bio-Bug, when I had an unfortunate (but ultimately HIGHLY enlightening) experience. I was driving at highway speeds when I noticed a blip in engine power. It went away briefly, but returned, with the power fading quickly and speed dropping. I managed to get off the highway on to a side street, where it stopped and would not start. The culprit? Exactly what I suspected the instant power first dropped off: a clogged fuel filter.

 

we’re losing our ability to repair

Over the past two weeks I have been riding an emotional roller coast thanks to my KitchenAid blender. My blender is a wonderful device - it’s been faithfully serving my family for nearly 8 years, making everything from my proprietary fruit-and-yogurt “purple drink” for the kids to my uncle’s strawberry daiquiries for the adults. One recent day when attempting to make a drink for the kids, it would make noise but not actually blend. Somehow, the blades and the star-shaped wheel that is driven by the base started spinning independently. My blender was broken!

Obviously, with only one part malfunctioning and everything else in perfect working order, it only made sense to try and get a new blade assembly so we could have a working blender again. I called up Whirlpool Canada, who oversees the line of KitchenAid appliances, endured the 25 minutes on hold, and ordered a new part for $40. I was happy to have managed to save the blender… almost.

 

one last surprise

On my drive in to work this morning, I noticed even before I got out of the city that I was getting much better fuel economy than I normally do. At all my ususal “check points” I was ahead of where I normally am. So much ahead that less than halfway through my drive I hit an all-time best: 5.6L/100km. Today was the first time I’d ever seen that. Wow! You can then imagine my incredulous amazement when my vehicle decided that it just wasn’t all that thirsty, and went down to 5.5L/100km! I was astounded… and still not even halfway to my destination.

Over the course of the rest of the drive my trip average fuel economy crept up again to as high at 5.7L/100km, but I ended my morning drive registering 5.5. I was stunned. It really goes to show how much of an impact climate can make on fuel economy - I wasn’t doing anything different this morning, so it simply must have been a favourable temperature and humidity range for optimal vehicle performance.

This afternoon wasn’t quite as good. Typically, as I’m heading out of town towards home my trip average spikes and slowly unwinds again on my way home. It creeped back up to 5.8, but never saw anything lower than 5.7 all the way home. Ah well… I saw 5.5, and that was enough of a treat. And 5.7 is something to be exited about!

Perhaps my Elantra just knew that I had signed the bill of sale for a Volkswagen New Beetle TDI last night, and was trying to impress me one more time before we parted ways. Bravo, Elantra - you’ve done well. Now I’m charting a path through 5.0L/100km, down into the 3’s.

 

“more” sustainable vs. sustainable

I am really enjoying writing about the phenomenal fuel economy improvements I’ve been getting with my new driving style. I’m even more excited about trading in my Elantra for a Volkswagen TDI so I can get even more astounding fuel economy figures. One thing that has interrupted this enthusiasm is the quiet, persistent, nagging knowledge that what I’m doing is only being “more” sustainable. It is an improvement on my typically unsustainable Western lifestyle, but it still isn’t sustainable. The problem lies in where I’m focusing my energy and effort.

 

50 mpg!

I track my fuel economy on a per-trip basis. Today, on my way home, I managed to coax my vehicle down to using only 5.7L/100km, which I managed to keep all the way home. This, by far, is my best fuel economy ever!

Of course, a post entitled “5.7L/100km!” just doesn’t have any sort of ring to it… luckily, 5.7L/100km corresponds to 50 mpg Imperial, which DOES have quite a nice sound to it!

Remember, this was done with no advanced driving techniques; just driving slowly (just over the posted speed limit, actually) and coasting whenever possible. Go ahead - give it a try!

 

having a capital “G” Green lawn

Were I disposed to holding my nose high and telling the world just how good I am, I’d probably not hesitate to declare that MY lawn has ALWAYS been a Green lawn; no chemical fertilizers, herbicides, or pesticides have been used on it. However, I’m not disposed to do that, and truth be told my lawn is Green due to equal parts desire not to use chemicals and outright neglect.

Unfortunately, this means that the dandelions have been having a field day on our poor lawn. Our front yard (I can’t even really call it a front “lawn”) is simply chock-a-block full of dandelions, some Creeping Charlie, and who knows what else. It’s a sad state of affairs. Instead of being content to let my wife work out her frustrations on our multitude of dandelions, I bought myself a tool: a Lee Valley water-powered weeder. It arrived today.

I didn’t get a chance to tackle the front lawn yet (that task will be this weekend’s work), but I did manage to spend some good, quality time with my new tool in the back yard this evening. Let me tell you, this is a great tool. It works exactly as advertised, and I managed to extract quite a number of dandelion roots that were well over 15cm (6 in) long. With our hard-packed clay soil, there is no way we ever would have managed to extract those roots intact with a standard dandelion tool.

The only drawback? Muddy backspray. But I figure that’s just part of the learning curve. Yes, I got muddy, but it was a happy muddy - after all, I managed to de-dandelion the back yard while aerating and watering it at the same time.

Now we just have to deal with the grubs and leatherjacket larvae. Quotes for nematode applications (small worms that kill larvae in your lawn) are forthcoming. With luck and some proper attention, hopefully our Green lawn will become a healthy Green lawn.

 

weather & fuel economy

Boy, the weather sure does affect fuel economy. Since starting my hypermiling, the weather has changed from being a late winter chill (between -10°C and 0°) to becoming downright summery (mornings around 10°C, afternoons higher, as high as 27°C today!). As the temperature rises, I have seen a corresponding reduction in my fuel consumption.

Filling up today, I logged 794 km on 48.15 L for a tank average of 6.06L/100km. Sweet! Compare that to my hypermiling average of 6.5L/100km for my previous two tanks, and you can see why it’s advisable to use your vehicle’s block heater during the winter to reduce fuel consumption.

I am now actively looking to get out of my Elantra and into a VW TDI. With average fuel consumption figures in the 6.0L/100km range, I am hoping to be able to dip deep down into the 5’s, if not even the high 4’s. That will be exciting!

 

tracking fuel economy

Continuing with the fuel efficiency theme for a bit, I felt unsatisfied with my fuel economy estimates for my vehicle (a 2003 Hyundai Elantra GT 5 speed). Thankfully, I’ve kept a fuel log for the past five years, logging the odometer, trip, and amount of fuel at each filling. Instead of guessing at the approximate average fuel economy I’ve been getting, today I finally decided to calculate it.

Before I divulge my Elantra’s numbers, I’ll share the numbers from the vehicle we had previous to the Elantra: a Nissan Pathfinder LE. Yes, a huge, heavy, thirsty automatic transmission SUV. (I’m so ashamed.) It was a good vehicle to us, but boy, was it thirsty. According to my log, during the 53 000 km that we drove it for (second-hand) it consumed nearly 6700 L of fuel, for a lifetime average of 12.58L/100km. Yeesh! You can see why we opted for something thriftier. We replaced it with the Elantra. So far, over the 89 000 km we’ve driven it, our Hyundai has consumed 7200 L of fuel, for a lifetime average of 8.09L/100km. MUCH better.

Recalculating the last two tankfulls, during which I’ve been using my modified-for-optimal-fuel-economy driving style, I’ve returned 6.6L/100km - quite the improvement! That could have been even better, but some bad snowy weather and plenty of headwinds over the past week precluded it. I’m aiming to get that closer to 6.0 as much as possible.

For those of you that would also like to track your fuel economy, but don’t want to bother with all the math, there are two sites that do it all for you. Both GasSavers.org and the German (available in English) SpiritMonitor.de allow you to input your distance and fuel to keep track of your fuel economy, costs, and compare your results with others. GasSavers additionally provides articles on fuel-saving techniques and modifications.

Me, I’m going to wait until I replace the Elantra with something more efficient. The Office of Energy Efficiency’s Fuel Consumption Ratings will be helping me select my next vehicle. Here’s hoping for under 4.0L/100km!

 

want to save gas? slow down!

I finally had to fill up for the first time since ramping up my drive for significantly-improved fuel consumption. When I reset my trip meter, it read 790km - the distance I got out of that tank of fuel. According to my fuel log book, this vehicle has never seen over 630km before. I’ve just managed to increase my fuel economy by more than 30%, and that includes a number of short in-town trips made by my wife who was just driving normally. I managed to go from a rough average of 8.3L/100km down to 6.5L/100km. Wow!

And as much as I like the numbers behind pulse-and-glide, that is not how I got such a drastic change. Yes, I tried it a bit, and I’ve been shifting a lot sooner than I normally would, and I maximize the amount of in-neutral coasting I do, but the builk of that difference simply comes from driving slower. Instead of driving at 100km/h (or even 110 in spots) along the country route I take, I’ve kept it to 95km/hr as a maximum, and typically aim for 90km/hr, allowing myself to go as low as 80 if I have no traffic behind me. I don’t feel that I’m getting to work any later, and I’m all pumped up about having instantly reduced my fuel consumption based purely on driving style.

So, if you want to save fuel - slow down! And if your vehicle doesn’t have a trip computer that tells you your average and/or instant fuel economy, you can always install one.