BTS "How Does A Carburetor Work?" - Behind the Scenes Commentary | Smarter Every Day

I’d love to know what you think of this format. The idea is that after making certain videos I’ll do a livestream exclusively for Patreon Supporters. I’ll make sure to keep some of the discussion Patrons only, but after several days I’ll make an abbreviated cut of the stream live on the second channel. Thoughts? P.S. Thank you to those who support on Patreon!

The carburetor topic was secondary, this video was really about a son and father doing things together. I think this is your most beautiful video yet. Thank you Destin!

The carburetor video was the first time I knew more than Destin - an amazing feeling - probably won’t ever happen again!

I love how adorable Destin's dad is, but also how obviously proud he is of his dad too. Makes me miss my dad, cherish your parents while you can.

I really enjoyed the format here of analyzing a video!! Thanks for mentioning the Glass Head Engine and the Shout out, the gift that keeps on giving!!☺

Also we demand more Dad on Smarter Every Day!

Back in the 60's, a metal fuel line would 'vapour lock' when the line was too close to the exhaust manifold. The fuel in the line would heat up and vapourize in the line so that when it got to the fuel pump (old school systems) there was nothing for the pump to pump. It was designed to pump liquid not vapour. So, the vapour locked up the fuel pump. The fix was to wrap a few layers of tin foil around the line to insulate it enough to stop vapourization.

Imagine how emotional these videos are going to be when the unfortunate day of his dad's passing. I like how even tho he is a grown man with kids he is still a kid with his dad. The thing I love the most about this video is the relationship between them. The love the friendship the respect.

Vapor lock occurs when fuel overheats and vaporizes in a fuel line, carburetor or fuel injector, disrupting the correct air-fuel ratio. And since air can be compressed and liquid can't, the gas bubble acts as a super stopper. I think..... Edit, super stopper was supposed to read spring or stopper.

I watched this carberator video like 5 times. I liked it when things "clicked" in your understanding.

If you want to see scary examples of an engine "running away" look up when an old diesel will do it, because diesel fuel doesnt combust via a spark like gas, if the engine finds an unregulated source of fuel it will continue to Rev untill rapid unplanned dissassembly.

I have a classic mini with a carburetor. I live in Scotland while my farther is in England. While i was restoring the car, i couldnt get the fuel supply so i phones my father and he gave me a very similar strip down examination, only it was purely from memory as i was over 500 miles away. He had me strip it down, and reasemble it and i learned how it worked. This video brought back great memories, but also gave me a greater apreciation of the beauty inside the carb whilst operational. Thank you for this video!

Love how your dad broke down the vibrations in the bowl. Smart indeed! My favourite part too.

My oldest son just graduated from a MST Magnet High School. During his time there they would have Science/Engineering Fair (students from his school have actually won the ISEF). He worked on a Rasberry Pi controlled irrigation system that measure soil moisture content, then opened sprinkler valves when needed. It also had a RGB LCD readout and app interface he built. He wrote a lot of python for it and some Java. It worked great and he actually got an environmental conservation award from NASA for it. It conserved water by only delivering exactly what was need. He mostly learned he didn't want to be an engineer or computer programmer :), but he learned a lot about the process. He is now going into pre-med focused on neuroscience.

As a kid in the 70’s, as a birthday present, my parents got me a book with a title like “365 The Way Things Work,” with the intent of learning something new every day. I managed to be patient for a few days. Then we had a few rainy days and I read ahead several months worth. The next year, they got me “Another 365 The Way Things Work” (or similar). Those books were way better than most toys.

Destin, this series was a lot of fun to watch--both for the technological topics being explored and for the awesome father-son interactions. That said, selecting a carburetor from a Briggs and Stratton engine is both a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing because it's such a simple device--it's kind of the My Little Pony of carburetors: the way its major functions work is pretty easy to see (such as the atomization of fuel in the venturi.) However, it's also a curse because, being so simple, other functions are not as easy to see or understand (such as the tricks used to achieve a reasonably-decent fuel/air mixture at idle.) I'd recommend a follow-on to these videos using a passenger car carburetor-either a two or four-barrel carb with progressive secondaries and an automatic choke. With such a unit, you'd be able to see how the dedicated low-RPM idle circuit works, how the main jet(s) meter fuel for a wide variety of load and RPM scenarios, how accelerator pumps make it possible mash on the gas pedal without having the engine bog down, and the way mechanical linkages ensure that the choke (and secondary barrels) do the right things in most circumstances. Your Dad has a bunch more knowledge related to these more complex carbs; he slipped and commented on "metering rods" which are something often seen on larger vehicle carburetors, but I could tell he was working hard to keep the conversation at the My Little Pony level so his son could learn from the ground up. Thanks for sharing such a wonderful experience!

I love the way you honored your dad in this video. Humility is important. Love is important. Respect is important. And so, you teach important things and you also taught us some things about carburetors. Thank you.

I love how proud you are of your father. So heartwarming

I can easily talk for hours about mundane things like this.

I thought it was one of your best video's. Demystified the whole black magic area of carburation. I have been a car guy for 25 years and have never owned or worked on a car with a carb and like you understood the concept but did not understand it in the way someone who has years of experience with them. Your dad seems like a really knowledgeable & nice guy by the way.