Billhook

I see now, but I do not find it very intuitive. I was thinking weight rather than volume.

I must be thick, or perhaps my brain is loose stacked! Surely the vertical columns are the wrong way round and that in the top line "Solid m3" and "Loose m3" need to be reversed??

Agree about the lack of bugs on the car windscreen, even on the 186 mile journey in the sunshine from here to Oxford in late September. However in October there were thousands of midges gathering in the corn store eaves and ridge which had been warmed by the sun on the metal sheeting. Quite a few butterflies, a very late Brimstone, but hardly a moth to be seen. Queen wasps everywhere and I was buzzed by a massive queen hornet yesterday.

It’s Holly Willoughgobooby and she’s forgotten her bra!

Seem to have done very well this year. Every load I bring in from the wood box seems to release one if not two and having been stung on my little finger after picking up a log ( why does that seem to hurt more than most other parts of the hand!) I bought a long handled spider catcher from Amazon as I cannot concentrate on the paperwork with them buzzing around. Thoroughly recommended!

If the skin is quite thick, and they are green for most of the season then turn yellow at the end I suggest D'Arcy Spice Delicious and will keep well into the New Year due to the skin.

Part 2

I would have thought that a very deep borehole would be a less instrusive way of retrieving the heat from below

Good bit of lateral thinking Dave. Perhaps it will counter global warming? The soil has a whole lot more life in it than just a few insects, it is a whole ecosystem when in good condition.

Good man! Must make the most of the current opportunity in the high prices of gas, oil and electricity As My dear old dad used to say "'tis an ill wind that blows nobody any good" It is just the same in farming, wheat should be five times its current price and so should firewood. Values become lost when inflation takes hold.

In the Summer the radiators are off and the heat is just for the hot water, but if it becomes too hot a valve opens and relieves it through the radiator system Bit like ground source heating in cold ground the solar is not much good in Winter in our dull climate, but for us it works well in the Summer

I thought that people living next to a river found it a better source than the ground, cannot remember where I read it though

When I built this house in the 1980s I knew that due to its exposed position that insulation was going to be important so I tripled the fibreglass loft insulation. Unfortunately the one size fits all building regulations said that I would need fully ventilated eaves. The result was that in high Winter winds the air came in and went under the insulation and chilled the plasterboard ceilings which then acted like a chiller radiator. I discovered icynene, a water based breathable foam, unlike the chemical foams I was familiar with on the farm in the potato chitting sheds. Anyway we filled the loft spaces with it and the result was fantastic, no smell and minimum disruption The only unpleasant job for me was to mask up and overall up to remove the horrible old fibreglass, much of which had blackened, and put it all in a farm trailer, which it filled. Icynene Spray Foam Insulation WWW.UKSPRAYFOAM.CO.UK The Icynene Insulation System is a series of soft, flexible spray foam insulation products that delivers up to 50% greater...

Thanks for that Woodworks, we need more of these details from Arbtalkers now that the cost of energy is so high so that we can work out a sensible price for firewood

I am guilty of something similar. In the 1980s I built this house as part of a redundant brick windmill and being in a remote spot, had no electricity. However the gas main ran 100 yards away on the minor road. At first they would not connect me but in about1986 they relented and said the connection would be £70 but I would have to pay for the trench and pipe to the house or for £200 they would take the high pressure pipe to the house. I obviously went for the latter. Gas fridge freezer and cooker which replaced the Bosky that seemed to be state of the art firewood cooker/boiler at the time. (It never did either the cooking or the heating satisfactorily.) The gas was so cheap then that I used to leave the condensing boiler on the whole time and the bills were minimal compared to my parents big old farmhouse heated with oil. Things are a bit different today and thank goodness for wood and the Aarrow Stratford . The gas boiler has not been fired up for ages. With no mains electricity and a Lister Startamatic I was thinking a lot about windpower especially after a few Winters here and I realised why there has been a Mill here since the late 1200s, there is nothing between me and Scandinavia! So I set up a 24 volt system with nickel cadmium batteries, inverter and a small Rutland windcharger plus the Lister also charging when it ran. Sort of did the job but limited to 3000 watts. But the whole system was a pain compared to mains. A few years ago the electric board wanted to renew the 33kva line across the farm and also wanted to change its route. Managed to have a little compensation in the form of and underground 3 phase cable all the way to the Mill. Well I did have to wait 35 years for it! Now I will not be able to afford the electric bills for that either! Wood burning generator anyone??

How many litres/gallons of oil did you use to be equivalent to your 30 cube?

Lets hear it! I have a whole lot more until someone tells me for God's sake we've heard enough!

Found an old 78 record from father’s collection which I dedicated to you on “songs I am listening to” in case you missed it! Sung by tenor John McHugh

I went on an installer's course in Wales about ten years ago which enabled me to buy about 30 solar tubes at a discounted rate The firm was Navitron, The course was ok and the installation pretty obvious. The result was excellent and we still use them for heating just the hot water in the Summer months but even at other times it warms the cold water so that the immersion heater or the gas boiler do not have to work so hard. I have a separate cylinder for the solar and a mixer valve to the other gas/wood/immersion cylinder.so filling a bath on a dull day with tepid water and topping up with very hot water is a big saving on energy. The evacuated tubes are really efficient and if the pump is not working they will boil the water in the manifold on a hot day. I took a tube out and left it in the sun and measured the temperature on the copper prong which slides into the manifold with my infrared gun at 150 degrees celsius,! There is a massive difference between these evacuated tubes and some earlier forms of solar heating which basically relied on black panels/pipework I also put up some solar panels for electricity at about £1000 each but that was the cost of the panels in the early days when we had a 42 pence/unit payment. Now the panels cost less but the tariff has also been reduced and there has not been as much to crow about as the savings that we make with the tubes. A lot of this alternative energy is the capital cost versus the benefit. If you can buy a system for reasonable money and install it yourself there is a big difference when you pay a firm to do it for you. Navitron - The Small Solar Company WWW.SMALLSOLAR.CO.UK Solar Hot Water, Equipment and Systems for Installers and Homeowners. Navitron provides renewable technology...

Just been through my old 78rpm collection from before the war This one is for Difflock and should bring a tear to the eye

Yes I know it is the Daily Mail, but I have never thought of Humphry’s opinions as being unfair JOHN HUMPHRYS: My heat pump has me left in the cold... but I'm hot and bothered about the PM | Daily Mail Online WWW.GOOGLE.COM JOHN HUMPHRYS: I was helping save the planet and saving myself the cost of buying oil. The perfect...

I bought two techno gas cookers years ago from Curry’s for £325 a piece Each one has four hobs and two ovens On Amazon there are equivalent ones for just over £2000 a piece so with I assume special saucepans and other equipment it would mean another £5,000 on the bill Smeg Symphony 90cm Electric Range Cooker with Induction Hob - Stainless Steel : Amazon.co.uk: Large Appliances WWW.AMAZON.CO.UK Buy Smeg Symphony 90cm Electric Range Cooker with Induction Hob - Stainless Steel at Amazon UK –...

Do as I say, not as I do! NONE of the 30 ministers who attend Cabinet have had £10,000 heat pumps installed at their homes | Daily Mail Online WWW.GOOGLE.COM The Telegraph approached each Cabinet minister either directly or via their press aides over the last 48...