I find myself reminded ...

[unixronin]

... of why I don't like toaster-ovens.  They make crappy toasters, and crappy ovens.  How is it that we so often fall into this trap of combining two functions into a single device which does neither of them well?

Today's fun entertainment was wondering why it was so frelling hot in here and whether it was just me coming down with something^[1], going to the thermostat and finding it at 86°F, noticing there was no draft into the return register, going down into the basement and finding the air condtioning heat exchanger iced up solid.  I mean there was ice on the outside of the casing.  Chipped off the external ice, turned the A/C off, left the fan running continuously, and in an hour or so it thawed out, while I muttered darkly for the umpteenth time about the appalling workmanship^[2] of the HVAC installation in this place.

---

[1]  I still don't know that I'm not coming down with something.  cymrullewes has been sick, and 86°F shouldn't have been hot enough to make me feel this light-headed.

[2]  No, not that the poor workmanship caused it to freeze up.  It's just, well, there it was right in my face again.  I'd love to know who built this place so that I could make dead certain I never contract with them to do so much as put in a fence or gravel a path.

Comments

[robbat2.livejournal.com]

from having our server-room HVAC freeze up before, have a look and make sure that all of the filters are clean.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

There's only one filter, and it was the first thing I checked. It's only a couple of weeks old.

[suzilem.livejournal.com]

Mine didn't freeze up, just picked the hottest day in four years to have a capacitor and a connector fry. God bless home warranties. :-)

I hope your system starts functioning better.

[appin.livejournal.com]

How is it that we so often fall into this trap of combining two functions into a single device which does neither of them well?

Like the mighty SPORK (http://www.spork.org/)!?!?!?

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Well, that's a different case. That's a combination device that actually performs its intended task fairly well. :)

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

To expand a little on that reply: In the case of a spork, two functions are being combined which are part of the same task, do not interfere significantly with each other, and are even somewhat synergistic. A toaster-oven, on the other hand, suffers from the problem that its thermal gradient is too low to make a decent toaster, but too high to really be usable as an oven. It's a compromise between two not-really-compatible functions, and as a result, performs neither one well.

[olafthunderfoot.livejournal.com]

however, toaster ovens are excellent for baking enamel paint onto small items like bolts and miniatures!

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

If they're small enough that the high thermal gradient isn't a problem.

[olafthunderfoot.livejournal.com]

they are.