Jump to content
Chapala.com Webboard

Mainecoons

Members
  • Posts

    13,343
  • Joined

  • Days Won

    321

Everything posted by Mainecoons

  1. It depends on the arrangement. If they are arranged in parallel, each panel heats. If in series, the temperature differential decreases with each subsequent panel, hence the heating decreases. Our setup is two banks of 4 in series. So the second bank will be a little less efficient than the first. However, remember we are not talking about a huge temperature gain here, this is not like house hot water. Although the temperature differential on the second bank is not as great, the percentage reduction in temperature differential is not that great either. Our 8 panels will not heat the pool sufficiently during December and January even with the use of a solar pool cover. Air temps are such though that we aren't big on swimming at that time of year anyway. Our friends have 10 panels laid flat on a red coated roof to heat a pool of similar size to ours and this arrangement can keep the pool warm enough even in December/January.
  2. I have a friend doing exactly what several suggested here, working as a consultant to past employers or other contacts. Everyone loves the deal and his work is "done" in the U.S. and he gets paid there, drawing the money out subsequently using an ATM. It is perfectly legal and many locations here have fast enough internet service now to make it work smoothly.
  3. Amen and they cause wax build up. It continues to amaze me that things that are this costly are still so primitive and prone to fail. I've had good experiences with Polo at LCS with repairs and he says he sells my hearing aids so when they finally fail, I'll check his prices first.
  4. Now if they could just shake my delivery loose from customs....
  5. Pretty much our experience too. I suspect this place survives on the overflow from Tango. Nice serene dining area though, very much unlike Tango.
  6. We also have an STI system with microinverters. The original batch of microinverters were glitchy and STI replaced them earlier this year with much more robust units that are performing flawlessly and actually increased our output about 5 percent. We have 18 panels which makes all our power needs for a large house with pool and two fish ponds that have pumped waterfalls, plus the whole house domestic water pressure system. Very satisfied. At the time we bought I felt STI understood the engineering of these systems better than their competitors and their pricing was excellent.
  7. Hi Ezzie, could you tell me what problem you encountered on Mexico 97?  Where, when (day and time) and what did the bandidos attempt?

    We're going that way shortly.

    thanks.

    Dan

  8. At the current exchange rate a car costs no more here than in the U.S. and maybe less. And you won't be hassled by the cops nearly as much. You do have to watch out for the speed camera racket around GDL but otherwise there is much benefit to not bringing a car here.
  9. That is correct. The TIP is good for 6 months. The question being debated here if I understand it correctly is whether if one has to fly out and back during that six month period, getting a new Tourist Visa in the process is whether or not the TIP obtained at the time the first visa was obtained.
  10. The ambiguity in the handling of this creates yet another nice opportunity for mordida and for petty bureaucrats to push people around. And expats are considered a juicy target for both which is why it is better to take the prudent approach and take the car out with you.
  11. My father in law, deceased for some years now, used to winter in Manzanillo with his wife. He came for 6 months per year, rented nice places, ate out a lot, supported local charities and made a nice economic contribution to Mexico. One time when he was here, a financial emergency came up and he had to fly back to Chicago for several days. Upon his return he was arrested for leaving the car here WITH HIS WIFE and it cost him a bunch of mordida to get it handled. He was thrown in jail and physically threatened in the process. They left and never came back. Never spent another nickel in this country. I wonder how many similar stories which all add up to economic loss for Mexico and the many Mexicans who work in the tourist and expat industries you would find. I know of a number of them locally myself and I doubt I hear of more than a small fraction of the cases. And for what? So some petty bureaucratic hack can justify his existence. The numbers of cars brought here by expats is so trivial it doesn't even make a blip on the chocolate radar screen. And of course, why do we have chocolates to begin with? So the car dealers can charge retail and sell cars in Mexico at high prices to the detriment of everyone but the rich. A noble cause, well suited to a government that can't provide even minimal security or basic infrastructure without stealing most of the money allocated thereto. Smile when you hit those potholes! Yeah, its the law and it is stupid and oppressive now just as it was then. What it is more than anything is an excellent example of how government seems to exist for the main purpose of hassling people and taking their money. It's no use to go back to the U.S. because the story is pretty much the same there. BTW I drive a Jalisco plated car. When we went permanente we removed a perfectly good "J" car back to the U.S. and sold it at a loss. It wasn't worth it to go through the deliberately made expensive and convoluted process to import it. That car was a real threat to Mexico, yep. Rant over.
  12. We had good luck with the guy in Riberas behind the green door on the far east end of the commercial strip, north side. He's a few doors east of the big metal yard. He did an office chair for us that Oscar wouldn't do and it turned out well and seems to be holding up very well too. Friend had Oscar do a sofa and it turned out very well too. If you can get Oscar to do your job, great, otherwise you might want to try the guy in Riberas.
  13. Snowy: Adsorption or reverse osmosis processes are not technically filtration. Activated carbon can both filter and adsorb. Reverse osmosis is a membrane separation process that blocks the transport of dissolved salts across the membrane leaving potable water. We don't use RO "filters" for removing solid particulates as they become fouled quickly. This is why full water treatment starts with the separation of solid particulates and then progresses to the removal by adsorption or RO of dissolved pollutants.
  14. He's right, really nice gyms are dirt cheap here in Arlington, TX as well. They are far larger with many times the membership which is how they can deliver so much for a lot less than the gyms Lakeside. They take advantage of economy of scale Even better, we can use our Silver Sneakers benefit that goes with our Medicare supplemental at the local 24 hour fitness. This gym is really something, very large pool, steam room, sauna, whirlpool, every kind of fitness equipment imaginable.
  15. I think the point he's making is whether or not we really know if the bottled water we buy here is really OK. Perhaps the answer is that if it wasn't we'd hear about it? Like we do with restaurants? Or maybe not. It's a fair question. Is anyone really monitoring these water suppliers to confirm that they are actually selling pure water? I can't recall hearing of any actual standards or testing for same. We have our own purification system and hence do not use bottled water. However most of the people we know do.
  16. You have to get any work done through the Toyota dealers.
  17. Can we request they visit specific businesses? If so, how?
  18. This bears repeating. Some just can't seem to grasp that MEXICANS are tired of these offenders too.
  19. Any of you who would like to do some Bluegrass music, please PM me. After a trip north and being sick for a few weeks, I'm going to try and get things going again.
  20. The quality of our water supply in Ajijic has improved noticeably. You can now smell chlorine disinfectant in the incoming tap water. We still treat it with double filtration, double UV and softening but it is really much better when it gets to us than it was 5 years ago. And it is on almost all the time now whereas previously it was off at least half a day. The latter point is important as when there is no pressure in the lines they are open to infiltration from outside of dirty water.
  21. Stan, your best bet on this is probably going to be putting up notices where you are teaching in GDL after you get there. Not a lot of GDL people on this board. Good luck and good picking!
×
×
  • Create New...