Not For Sale In Ca.

[Bird]

Does Dallas and New York City get bad choking smog days?

Robert, in addition to what jinman said, which was right, of course, I've had occasion to make a few trips by airplane, quite a few years ago, and you really get to see the brown haze over the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, and the farther away you go, especially if you go north, the clearer the air becomes.

 

[Bird]

Robert, this evening when we went outside, we could smell something that I thought smelled a bit like vanilla extract. My wife said it smelled like someone was baking a cake. Then it started getting even more hazy than usual, and now the TV news is showing and telling about the wildfires in Parker and Wise counties, west of us, but the wind's out of the west at 29 mph, gusting to 43 here, so even though the fires are 50-65 miles from us, we're gettin' the smoke.

 

[California]

... seems that about everything with a engine is not for sale in Ca. ... Do folks living in Ca. even get a Northern Tool catalog?

Robert covered the air pollution problem here. Its real. In addition to that issue there is one category I would like to shop that is unavailable - NT's ventless heaters. We can buy Reznor-type garage heaters and horizontal salamander units but nothing unvented can be installed in living space here. I think this is a safety rule.

I paid 3x as much for a similar concentric-vent room heater that is code-compliant. I can't see how it would cost any more to manufacture this compared to the small unvented heaters that are legal in most states.

 

[California]

Due to the volume of people, cars, and environmental conditions(valleys, lack of air/wind circulation etc), some area's of Calif have the worst smog in the nation. ...A lot of folks have moved to the Sacramento area over the years. It is in a valley, and during the summer, the air does not have anywhere to go. Sac is bad for smog

This chart illustrates that. In summary it says highest 10% for health risks, and for nearly all categories of pollution.

Rankings: Health Risks, Exposures, and Emissions

Robert, from my short few years in the SF Bay area, I was of the opinion that the Sacramento Valley heats up during the day, and the air expands down the valley to the Bay area. At night as the valley cools, the air is drawn back up out of the Bay area. It cools the N. Bay cities, but also draws in all the pollution from SF and surrounding cities. Is this right or wrong?

My understanding is a little different. The ocean off Northern California holds at 54 degrees because the currents come down from Alaska. And all the weather blows in from the west. As the land inland warms in summer, the warm air rises, and this sucks in cool ocean air though the Golden Gate. (and brings SF smog inland). But I've never noticed the breathing effect you mention, with air moving west part of the time. I think the general trend is for weather moving east, both rainclouds and smog, to stack up against the Sierras with only the high-altitude clear dry air going over the summit into the Nevada desert and beyond.

Some of the worst pollution in the nation, even worse than the Sacramento figures in that chart, occur on the western slope of the Sierras where the foothills rise up to meet the clouds of crud that hang over the Valley.

Southern California with its huge population (Los Angeles etc) has approximately the same issues and with a much larger number of people affected.

The C.A.R.B. standards are needed to keep California habitable.

 

[ultrarunner]

Not for Sale in CA is another reason to charge more or discontinue replacement parts all together.

I have a commercial ECHO Brush cutter that is essential to maintain my hillsides to Fire Department Specs and ECHO has discontinued parts because the older models are not CARB compliant.

It's one thing to go forward but since when are so many of these regs really retro-active?

A neighbor bought an older commercial chipper that he lets other neighbors use to maintain the fuel load on their properties... maybe runs the chipper 35 hours a year... you guessed it... it will no longer be able to be used in the State unless he re-powers it.

There has to be some common sense applied... but I'm asking for too much. CA has targeted Diesel Engines for years and as CA goes... so goes the nation.

Don't forget our Sales Tax is now 10.25% where I live and a lot of folks are not replacing equipment...

Not for sale in CA applies to many things from ag herbicides, two stroke motors, outboards engines, wood stoves, paint, etc...

 

[ultrarunner]

Yep, we have the strictest emissions regulations in the US. If it is Ca compliant, it will have a CARB sticker on it; California Air Resource Board.

Due to the volume of people, cars, and environtmental conditions(valleys, lack of air/wind circulation etc), some area's of Calif have the worst smog in the nation.

The problem is these restrictions often encompass the entire state from Mexico to the Oregon and Nevada borders.

My Hospital has a 240 hour ONAN with a Turbo Cummins Emergency Standby Power Plant made in 1995. The unit is as new and well maintained. I've already received notice that it will not meet the new proposed standard and steps should be taken to replace it with a new CARB compliant model. As an incentive, the yearly registration fee will be reduced from $600 if the unit is voluntarily replaced.

The generator averages less than 15 hours run time per year and should last at least 30 years... Ever wonder why the cost of Health Care continues to increase???

Same issue with the gas sterilizers... there are companies that actually pick-up surgical instruments drive outside the limits of the Bay Area Air Quality Mgmt District, sterilize the instruments overnight and bring them the next day...

 

[RobertN]

I think the general trend is for weather moving east, both rainclouds and smog, to stack up against the Sierras with only the high-altitude clear dry air going over the summit into the Nevada desert and beyond.

Some of the worst pollution in the nation, even worse than the Sacramento figures in that chart, occur on the western slope of the Sierras where the foothills rise up to meet the clouds of crud that hang over the Valley.

And guess where I live 1650 ft elevation, east of Sac. That smog layer goes up to about 3000', or about the town of Camino, as you head form Sacramento to Lake Tahoe.

 

[RobertN]

The problem is these restrictions often encompass the entire state from Mexico to the Oregon and Nevada borders.

That's another thread about splitting the state... But that is politics and we don't delve there on this site.

 

[Taylortractornut]

One of my friends is out there right now doing repower installs on a fleet of 621 Cat scrapers. He told me If I got laid off at my job he had another service truck that needed a driver and mechanic. Its a shame to alot of companies are selling old machinery with alot of sentitmental value because of this. Its wreaking havoc on hevy machinery shows to some folks have opted to put on huge hood mounted Catylitic converters on their show pieces. I hadfriend that worked for a company that only let you park in a plant parking facility if it met a certain emissions test. He couldnt pass it and was tired of shuttling. He mounted an alcohol tank under the hood and at test day he would pipe it to the intake for about 45 mintes on his way to work and whilethey were testing his car.

 

[RadarTech]

Robert covered the air pollution problem here. Its real. In addition to that issue there is one category I would like to shop that is unavailable - NT's ventless heaters. We can buy Reznor-type garage heaters and horizontal salamander units but nothing unvented can be installed in living space here. I think this is a safety rule.

I paid 3x as much for a similar concentric-vent room heater that is code-compliant. I can't see how it would cost any more to manufacture this compared to the small unvented heaters that are legal in most states.

It may not be manufacturing cost, but rather profit loss for low volume.
some products I have seen have higher costs just becuse of that..
Sell 50 of product X, price is 50% more than the cost of a very similiar product Y.
Add to that the law of supply and demand-- and BAM they make a killing...


Later,
J