openspaceman

The whole series is being published now and I will even watch Chris Packam's effort. Only 82 MPs attended which is a shame but entirely expected. There's a syndrome about populations living under threats like volcanoes coping by ignoring the inevitable. We are like that now. The thing is it's now too late to avert these problems and it was because long dead politicians and dictators didn't take precautions, because the poor aspire to have their share of what the rich have had and the rich won't retrench because they are enjoying what they already have and want more. We have pickled the planet in our effluent. We knew we couldn't rely on fossil fuels beyond a few more generations, and then came the problem from the surge in use of the atmosphere to dump the consequential CO2, but resisted change for all my 3/4 of a century.

I have one from my daughter that packed up for just the reason discussed above, I recharged it but it had lost a lot of capacity and is not much use other than the usb port now. I think they all have pouch cells rather than cylindrical ones as these have a higher discharge current but shorter life. The silly thing is I advised her to buy a cheap lead acid one as her's was an EV that kept discharging the 12V battery, so it wouldn't start, it only needed to produce 12V and a small current to close the contactor on the main battery. Eventually sorted with a firmware upgrade, hence it just got left in the glove box for 3 years. Her new EV (MG4) just came to a halt in traffic and put itself into park before disconnecting everything, no warning. Had to be manually released and towed off. Turns out it was a temperature sensor in the heater circuit reading high. I remember the days when you had an oil pressure light, a temperature gauge and a charge warning light on before the car was not driveable.

Good post @kram. It's a bit like smart chargers for a car battery won't work if the battery is profoundly flat so you have to kickstart it with another good battery across the terminals. There is a good reason for this and that is the electrolyte in a lithium cobalt battery is flammable, if there is a fault in the circuit the charging current heats a cell up until it ignites the electrolyte. I recover batteries that have been left too long by opening them up and using a usb charger attaching it with small magnets one cell at a time.

Good chance this overpopulated islnd will not find food to import in the next 50 years

It's normally in the track motor, the feed only goes to half the pistons in high speed, so doubling the rpm and halving the torque. The trouble with increasing the pump capacity is that everything downstream has to be capable of taking the extra flow, pipes, spools and motors, else the oil gets too hot. and of course the motor and spools have to be rated for the increased flow. I had this problem to deal with on a machine my predecessor had had built and he had just added an oil cooler which didn't solve anything really. I found the spool valves for tracking the Forst too coarse and sudden compared with the Jensen and Greenmech tracked machines but we had the first two tr6s I think.

I felt the same when they were the Greenmech dealer for our area and was happy to deal with a dealer in Birmingham instead, neither are Greenmech dealers now.

These engines have pressure lubrication, i.e. with an oil pump, don't they? If so and the small rectangular hole is an oil gallery it would explain why oil was being pumped into the head rather than combustion gas pumped out.

More simple steps please. I've plucked them, skinned them but if this is simpler and quicker I'll have a go. I've a brace hanging, first in over five years. I shall check the meat for steel shot with a pin pointer.

Good shout, I was thinking an oak and the bark looks like ilex, I cannot remember the heart though.

I think I still have my FiL's empty coke can launcher which is probably much the same.

If oil is not frothing out of the crankcase nothing.

Over full with oil? Can you take crankcase breather off the carb and block the hole into the carb?

I haven't got a proper hang of these check valves but the main jet venturi is only under higher pressure than the diaphragm chamber when the throttle is shut and the downstream idle outlet is subject to full manifold depression. I still wonder if blocking this would overcome the problem at the expense of idling?? I still have a strimmer with the problem of air getting into the chamber via a leaky check valve to fix, along with a heap of other engines that need attention. Will probably have to wait till spring.

I had assumed it would be easier to pull the whole shrub then cut and feed a chipper. So cut and chip then go over the ground to pull roots is better?

Why did that remind me of "in a broken dream"

I doubt it and I bet they cost a lot. Stirling engines are typically in hermetically sealed units, like freezer compressors, to prevent leakage of working gas. The only DIY thing I would consider would need petrol, diesel, LPG or mains gas. A small water cooled engine and in my case just running to charge a battery an hour or two a day in winter.

Just for my interest; is there a shear that would grab a bunch of gorse, birch or holly coppice, pull the whole bush and root up, then shear the root off? Say up to 3" diameter and generally shear 5"? What size 360 would it need?

Yes it's amazing how much wood even this little house gets through and no backboiler. I expect I get through 30kg of dry wood on a cold day. I would like a small version of this: First AllGen Biomass Installations in Germany and Sweden - Microgen WWW.MICROGEN-ENGINE.COM to supplement my solar power in the winter.

I've not been offered any for five years and became wary of stewing them in the slow cooker with an acidy marinade because of the lead. Do you get any with steel shot? Worry there would be breaking teeth.

Yes it's surprising what a small drop of water in the carb can do.

To an extent yes but a car that is post 1975 manufacture has to pass a visual smoke test. In fact it is likely the burning of wood will be made more expensive. We already see that the cost of a chimney lining is often more expensive than the stove, add to that a mandatory, annual chimney clean and inspection by a HETAS approved chimney sweep (and just like at an MOT he will refuse to sweep a stove-chimney combo that doesn't have certification). Next will be the requirement to fit an electrostatic filter, just like cars having catalytic converters, for a couple of thousand pounds. This will add to the electricity bill like an old incandescent light left on permanently. Apart from the cost I would have one. Then it could be illegal to sell a house with non compliant chimneys or stoves, already the case in Denmark, cheaper to dump the stove and remove the chimney. I expect HETAS requirements have already caused people to get out of selling firewood. The thing is before the internet air pollution in towns only measured SO2, NO2 and CO, then about 5 years later particulates came into the frame and were measured by how much they greyed filter paper, then came the laser particulates counters and PM10 were first mentioned but it was realised the hairs in nostrils trapped the bigger bits so it was PM2.5 that were targeted. Now we have the situation where the advertising standards agency have (rightly) banned advertisements by stove manufacturers saying that modern stoves emit less particulates if burning dry wood, true but they didn't provide proof.

As you wish. Yes oil does get hot and may require oil coolers but the way it gets hot is as I explained. My tractor based grapple loader ran from 1983 to present with no oil cooler because the duty cycle coupled with a well sized reservoir meant the oil never got above blood temperature.

That is true of a compressible fluid like a gas but oil is not very compressible which is why it is good for transmitting power in a hydraulic circuit. It's the friction in the pipes and squeezing through all the gaps in pumps and motors that make it hot.

I don't know if oil is still formed under an ocean, my old boss was sure as much oil was formed as was currently used, he was a successful entrepreneur so must be right. We do know that coal was formed at a specific time in earth's history when tree like plants were growing and had evolved lignin to stiffen up their structures to grow tall but before a microbe to digest lignin had evolved. It was a good thread and I wanted to post more but unfortunately the first shot was fired by someone who has not learned and it was from my side of the political spectrum.

No need to bicker, we have some common ground on this thread