openspaceman
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Everything posted by openspaceman
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What machinery is best to move stuff on a slope
openspaceman replied to Slad's topic in Forestry and Woodland management
There was a system similar to a zipline that used a webbing strap with studs in it, This was reciprocated by pulling it about 6 metres, it then returned by a thick rubber bungee, the tag lines attached to the logs had sliders which had a one way ratchet so the logs moved down about 6 metres at a time with several attached at once. I only saw it at a APF show. Similarly one of the small woods charities used a log flume like those you see on building sites to load skips. It's surprising how big a pole you can pull downhill with tongs , problem is walking back up the hill. -
Oh go on, I'm sitting comfortably. Yes I knew there was a difference but not sure what it was the old Oxford transformers had a further coil to cause a droop as the arc struck. I manage nearly everything with the stick welder, it will do TIG for stainless but while manually turning on the gas and scratch start is doable having to break the arc by withdrawing the gun is no good as the hot weld pool becomes exposed. I like the little TIG I have done because it is similar to the Oxy-Acetylene which I first used. Not a fan of cheap MIG as the wire feed always gives trouble. A friend has used a stick welder to deal with some electrolytically corroded aluminium welds in a thick hull and I was surprised at that. I think he now has an all singing and dancing MIG and TIG inverter with HF start and ramp up and down for TIG but AFAIK bno foot pedal.
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Could it have been that the "fatigue" crack you point out was because the machine had been used with the bolt under tightened and had flexed too much?
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I've always thought it a terrible job, sat at the wheel for hours getting little exercise, not great pay either (although being on gritter standby seems a good number). My guess would be there's a high turnover of new drivers and there are no tests being done for new drivers to replace them as well as above.
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AFAICS only two suppliers offer it atm and most PV systems are limited to exporting 3.6kW after that the DNO gets involved. for the last 10 years I have been paid on "deemed" export of 50% of my generation @3p/kWh now I have the smart meter they can measure what actually goes out but as I say I do not believe their sampling rate is fast enough for this to be accurate, of course that may just be the reporting software in the smart meter and the electricity company may have finer granularity of measurement.
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Yes fatal in the recent weather and very difficult to remove once baked on, particularly straight OSR oil. I have had to take the dremel to fins in the past.
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Only two near septuagenarians here, LED lights, TV does 150W in evenings, this PC the same when I am home and as I said the refrigeration seems to be a lot when it is hot. I'm being quoted £2400 to add the battery but that involves removing a perfectly good inverter for a new battery-inverter package and that is for a 2kWh LiPo battery which I think is inadequate and a 5-8kWh is probably needed. Once that investment is committed and given the PV is next to useless in winter then you see why importing cheap (sometimes negative) electricity at night and then selling it between 1630 and 1830 may help with the finance. With pension fund stagnating and the possibility of rampant inflation increasing... Also our FIT has only 8 years to run. To set against that this house will be ripped apart and trebled in size when we are ash so payback is... The plan was for younger daughter to take the place on but mousey mousey...
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There are so many different systems to choose, puredrive, givenergy, victron, huawei etc, and they all obfuscate what is actually happening in the PV-battery system to some extent. Installation costs are about the same as wholesale hardware costs. Only Givenergy and Huawei seem to have the ability to import and export with "agile" tariffs. Personally I'm only interested in maximising my own use of what I generate but the ROI may dictate being a bit cleverer. One thing is clear that is the latency of the systems are not able to deal well with cloud cover passing on a sunny day.
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Yearly, we generate about 3MWh with the vast bulk of that being in May to October. My direct debit for electricity and gas is £53/month. What with the drive to electric cars and loss of revenue from petrol and oil plus the big difference in VAT something has to give to keep the simple serpents and their masters in the comfort to which they are accustomed so it's either road charging or more expensive electricity on fixed tariffs or both. Also the drive to get people to give up gas boilers in favour of insulation and (very expensive) heat pumps means gas will be getting expensive, I'm paying 1/3 more than last year.
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I'm in one of the warmer sunnier parts of the country in a poorly insulated 2.5 ish bedroom semi and pay 250 quid for electricity and 400 for gas including standing charges plus burn about 4 solid m3 of wood. With the battery added to the solar my electricity bill would have been reduced by £100 but I have just been moved to a far less favourable tariff so I guess electricity prices are moving up. That's also why I'm considering the battery and an agile tariff.
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I thought they were always 39 and 2/5 inches whether smart or shabby 😉 The issue is that they actually reduce the maximum current into the house, no problem for most, and can be switched off remotely if their sim is in reception. I know know a village locally where they fitted longer antenna and still they don't log on. I also worry that they measure reactive loads accurately. I think only the moving disc ones did this properly but not at all sure. Ours has flagged up that the fridge freezer comes on a lot (150W) and I now switch of my PC when I go out (another 150W). I haven't looked at accrued data as ours was only fitted last week. It has made me consider getting a 5kWh battery as we plainly export a lot during the summer but I'd need to find a tariff that would allow me to top up at night in the winter to give a payback.
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First try a different plug I see you tried that. the other thing is to thoroughly pump the purge/primer bulb to make sure you are rid of any vapour locks
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As @ChrisNewport says it's easy to check, just remove the two exhaust nuts remove the screen (check it's not blocked) and pull the exhaust to reveal a view of the piston and rings through the exhaust port. That's a clamshell engine so repair costs often exceed replacement price.
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I've found that with a light seize even if it starts it won't tickover
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Are you drunk?
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that was my first thought too but @Jake Andrews would have been told by the ecologist if it was a cannibalised one.
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I'd like to hear the story, it's ringed so what was it?
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Bay pond? I never worked on that one. We felled lots of chestnut at Nower Wood which would have been ideal for the top structure and alder for the lower structure would be traditional. I was always wanting to go a nail-less route for these types of structures. We built a number of raised paths by laying pine poles 6ft apart and laying reject pebbles and as dug material from the sides to infill. Forty years later the only sign of the construction is the raised path with 3/4" galvanised pipe which we used to peg the poles sticking out of the ground.
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golden oriole I guess, never seen one myself.
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I don't know but if the bog is deep sphagnum I would expect a pointed stick to continue to sink. Also glad to see you using wood and not recycled milk bottles which pose a disposal problem for the future. Good luck BTW Alder Carr is a tautology.
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Generally 2t engines are lower compression pressures so low octane is no problem and no benefit in high octane, same with side valve engines. I think you need to have a vintage four stroke to need high octane or compression ratios higher than 10 or 11 to 1.
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info on green waste removal in summer months?
openspaceman replied to AndyChalmers's topic in Firewood forum
😉 it wasn't very likely to be you as I haven't seen you since you moved to Sussex. -
info on green waste removal in summer months?
openspaceman replied to AndyChalmers's topic in Firewood forum
You would still need environmental permits or exemptions and they are only valid if the site has the correct planning status. I went through due process and got permissions for 500 tonnes of arb waste several years ago and it was not straightforward (air quality reports were required because of aspergillus spores but that was a paper exercise for an environmental consultant) OTOH I see plenty of garden maintenance/arborist yards that have been in use to dump (and burn) arisings with no action being taken and just a mile from me is a permanent caravan site with an adjacent paddock owned by Surrey CC that is used as a dump site and any excess ends up in the adjacent river. A friend has been tipping all his arisings, chips, clippings and logs in a field on his farm for 25 years, the older stuff is completely degraded to a decent compost/leaf litter and doesn't even occupy an acre. -
Yes where it gets forced in it stays and weeps over time (this is one reason creosoted posts were so expensive they absorbed so much) but when used as posts you always see the middle rotting out over time.
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Whereas with the demise of high octane petrol there was the risk of burning out valve seats and pinking (sounds more like pinging but is premature detonation) doing damage quite quickly it looks like this ethanol content may be more problem-some over time. So far it has been alleged that it affects some rubber components and could cause leaks but also will attack aluminium and brass components over time. The more immediate problem is its hygroscopic nature the consequences of which I am unsure, rusting being one mentioned. Not many petrol stations seem to sell super unleaded near me and I suspect they will become fewer over the coming years.
