difflock
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Everything posted by difflock
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Winter tyres work. Simples! on my 5th winter on a set of Continentals. BUT They are loosing their "bite" due to being down to 4mm, they need a certain min depth of tread to work. They are also "grippier" in that multiple sipes allow the individual tread blocks to squirm about, thus shedding the snow that get trapped between. Driving on hard packed frozen snow or ice is more like driving on a wet road, BUT if water about on top of the snow or ice, all bets are off.
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^^Wot e said^^ In spades, whatever that means.
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Folks; First I agree our climate is changing. BUT We experienced Ice ages and interglacial periods while mankind was running about in little but a fur lioncloth. AND Any anthroplogical influence is primarily due to excessive population growth. Which produces many other nature-unfriendly by-products apart from Co2, like over-fishing, despoiling natural(and the more beauitful the better!) beaches to build tacky resorts for drunken holiday makers etc etc. marcus PS When I see the Green Party promoting, birth control, eugenitcs and euthanisa, I may perhaps sign up, because, only then, would they seriously be delivering on their promises.
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Our local paper had a front page item this week, focussing on the recent past, current and ongoing outgoing Concils "SPEND" as the blow ALL their reserves, so as to merge with their neighbours (to form the new "super" Councils) with nowt but DEBT. As investigated by the Taxpayers Alliance, also as predicted my myself for the last 3 or 4 years. FFS!!
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Our local paper had a front page item this week, focussing on the recent past, current and ongoing outgoing Concils "SPEND" as the blow ALL their reserves, so as to merge with their neighbours (to form the new "super" Councils) with nowt but DEBT. As investigated by the Taxpayers Alliance, also as predicted my myself for the last 3 or 4 years. FFS!!
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:thumbup::thumbup::blushing::blushing:
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It is plausible, and after all the stop IS instant, at the cost of the blade and aluminium stopper. But, bear in mind a "cut" , even a deep or bad cut is WAY preferable to chopping a finger off. The sausage test was pretty clear, it did get "nicked" before the blade stopped. However the real finger test was not realistic, in that he very very very slowly edged his finger up to the spinning blade, therefore it did NOT even get nicked. But yes, only suitable for dry joinery timber, an for God's sake DONT sneeze! m
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HEXAMINE tablets. Easy to light and high energy. PE4/Semtex will also work, as it burns real good.(seriously!)
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"Banana" boxs as above are how I light the Solarbayer. Handful of dry newspaper, carried out from beside the stove. A banana box on top, fits nice n snug, then once that has started to kindle, another full banana box of kindling on top, which saved any double handling. The corroguated cardboard makes for a very hot flame. Cept, a few particular of these type of cardboard boxs now appear to be treated with fire suppressant/fire retardent treated?? Cos they were def dry, but awefully difficult to kindle.
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I find a few pages of tabloid newspaper, not exceeding 10 or 12, crumpled up and placed in the middle of the grate surrounded by selected random split conifer, after lighting place a knarley splintery lump on top. With a good pulling flue. And one door held ajar by the latch. Woila! No firelighters needed.
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(i) How do you match heat output to heat demand, or how well does the boiler control panel modulate output to match heat demand , or where do es it "dump" excess heat if required? (ii) With the ambient heat inside the house, the boiler is prob easier lit, plus walking away for a few mins is less of a chore. (iii) how much room have you to store fuel beside the boiler, how do you bring it in from outside? (iv) In the house would make a big difference to me, it is a nuisence having to put feet on to go outside on a filthy windy wet night. cheers Marcus
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Is Hugo relaxed, I cannot really decide? PS I took about 10 flash photos and he literally never even twitched. He is casting big-time at the moment so handfuls of dog hair everywhere.
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Oops! A point I intended to emphasise. Look for ease of lighting, some of the perfectly satisfactory once lit log burners, can be a trifle tedious to light. Otoh Froling and Harz have a third door, which(per their claims leastwise) allow one to simply fill the chamber with the logs (but split timber logs obviously) then stuff in a handful or 2 of crumpled up newspaper, light paper, close the door and WALK AWAY. The boilers operating system/software will take care of the rest. Our Solarbayer=Vigas (afaiaa) is a bit tedious to light, in that one has to kindle a hot burning fire before loading the main charge of logs. PS I imagine the mesa mixing system is sommat to do with a vertical riser tube within the accumulator tank that helps/encourages stratification(from recall, having lusted after a Windhager in the past, available in Ireland but sole supplier is based in Cork, 400 miles away, sigh) cheers M)
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Froling, Herz, Windhager, HGD, et al. Mostly Austrian, some German.
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Having spoken too two Americans reasonably recently, about bandsawmills, I found their reception staff to be very easily understood, helpful and clear. Ditto the sales staff, esp at Baker Mills. otoh When I phoned Northern Bank card services about a stolen credit card, from France, in the early days of mobiles (ouch££££) I was routed to a call centre somewhere in the Deep South, since; (i) The dialict was almost indecipherable. (ii) The woman who answered the Ph was as thick as 2 short planks, kept "telling" me I was Austrailian, and was converting from Aussie $ to French francs, cos Northern Bank, had recently been owned by the National Bank of Australia. Despite repeated explanations about NI/ £stg etc etc, etc etc I, only then, understood Basil Fawlty's sense of immense frustration!
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What value should or could I put on each m3 of conifer firewood (NI market prices)for the 12.5 tonnes/37m3 of timber I will need to burn (per RHI EPC figs) to replace the oil. If i sold the firewood; 37m3 @ £100.00 = £3,700.00(wildly optimistic?) Or even 37m3 @ £50.00m3 = £1850.00 And with the Morso running we only burn about 2,500 litres of oil per year. So current oil bill = £1,250.00 (@50p/l) Or to boil it down. RHI pays for installation costs (So ignore the RHI payments) Then simply a straight comparison between our oil bill and the value of the equivalent wood that I could otherwise sell. and have the blissful convience & instant control of oil heating. (& With the existing wood burning installation as a backup if oil prices go crazy again) Signed Gibber, Mutter n Twitch
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Funny enough I have wondered exactly the same, could part of the difference lie in the current back-end-of-the-summer ploughing, as opposed to the earlier/older winter spring cultivations. Slurry instead of FYM bound to be another factor contributing to a lesser no of earthworms. Or did a few years of rotovating and powerharrowing do the earthworms in? As opposed to discing and spike harrowing.
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Someone above mentioned a "plan", yes, as far as I am aware, there is a "plan" by OPEC to flood the market with their cheap to extract oil, so as to make fracking/shale oil/Falklands oil etc uneconomic. Cos If these otherwise marginal oil sources become enomonically viable, OPEC got no barganing clout. That no doubt combined with speculators now dumping "hoarded" oil in panic. And to think in 1974 I was writing doom laden essays about the end-of-oil (for "O" Level English)
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I "understood" regardless of the over-run brakes being 3500kg weight limited, that 50mm ball hitchs were limited to 3500kg also? Being vaguely aware of the possibility of towing up to 4500kg with some of the older Range Rovers, guessing with air brakes though, and being unsure re the hitch.(and prob poss to get >3500kg 50mm ball hitchs) Cheers M
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99p/l in Muff today, incl Vat -
Cept this year I "fell off the wagon" during that brilliant weather we had in September. Off on leave, enjoying life, cutting sticks one day and BAM, off the rails the next. really really bad depression. For ABSOLUTLY no reason. Dr. conculde I am Bi-polar, which hardly surprise me! Pulled out of it there over Xmas, & I joked it were the days getting longer did it for me. BUT I have learned to live with myself during these intermittent bouts, knowing I will always, always, eventually pull through. So now I merely roll with the punchs. In the past I would have tried to "fight" it. cheers marcus
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So what are your business plans/ambitions for the new year?
difflock replied to Steve Bullman's topic in General chat
At 55, and me n the Mrs. now offically being "empty nesters", with both sprogs in recent (and hopefully prolonged) gainful employment in Belfast. Take it easy, and enjoy life a little more than I used too. And hope for grandchildren to spoil over the next 10 years! And get the Baker Mill up n running. And build another shed to house the Baker Mill an start building log cabins (very neblous, that one) An get the Steyr Puch Van back on the road. And sell various other unused Veh And finish the house, and sheds, and landscaping, and garden, And dig a Well, in the garden. And excavate the existing very overgrown Pond at the Risk. And fit a remote to the winch. And start selling fire-wood (OOps, first need to produce firewood.) And and and, mostly keep the wife happy! Cheers Marcus -
Now when nuclear Fusion is harnessed. This stratdgy will make perfect sense. Though I favour GTL diesel for HGV's, in a hybrid installation, where the diesel drives a generator at fixed revolutions and therefore cleanly and efficiently
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I had; (i) Kinda decided on a Cooks bandsawmill, though they are not as keen to export as some other brands. Basically cos they provide engineered/crowned bandwheels on their larger offerings. (ii)When a knowledable engineer I know, and asked an open question of, about what Yankee mills were worth importing, straight up said "Cooks". Hmmm! Anyway I has bought this 2nd hand Baker mill, reasonabally locally, which is still under canvass, until I (a) get a roof over it, and (b) source a 3Ph power supply. The "Forestryforum" website is a good source of info for Yankee built mills, they seem to be a very genuine helpful bunch too. see link http://www.forestryforum.com/board/ cheers marcus
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corrected that for you, cos intuitively it just bloody looks all WRONG, n always did!
