Ratman

How olds the machine? Standing them doesnt always do them good, seals, lines and diaphragms etc can suffer, may be drawing air in somewhere as a result, can sometimes cause an increased idle speed

Have a stovax stockton 5 midline fitted with smoke control kit, plenty of heat, no problems lighting it what so ever! Burns mega clean to the point it leaves practically no ash, takes ages for me to get a bed of ash built up at start of cold season. My only criticism on the stove is that when you fully shut it down (close all vents) the stove still draws that little bit too much air (in my opinion) thats the smoke control kit not allowing you to shut it fully down tho, not a fault of stovax’s original stove design. If you could just get the air intake down slightly then you would get more burn time from your logs, which would make YOUR (the human) efficiency better, in the fact that you would use less wood. But for the STOVE to be at its peak efficiency for emissions then it requires that bit extra air intake, otherwise it would produce more smoke. Same principals of an engine, not enough air and too much fuel = plenty of smoke out your pipe. Good amount of air plus good amount of fuel = nice clean pipe with no smoke [emoji108] I find that people not understanding this concept and how the control of emissions through the stove works often ends up with them blaming the brand, in this case Stovax. In short tho, i rate stovax and are a well known long established brand! [emoji106]

Friend of mine been to look at a few, obvious places you can see through wheel arches etc on chassis, look under front bumper upwards towards front member they’re prone for rotting there, inner wings / and front leg attachment areas, under rear bumper upwards towards rear body and rear member, and any fixed areas of body to chassis. Check under back sides of sills too along the whole length, some suffer and some don’t. Shame really that more care isn’t taken at build / factory when knocking them out, a good waxoyle would av prevented a lot of them becoming extinct so early cos engines arent really that bad. You tried the Mazda BT variant? Virtually the same motor but Mazdas dont seem to suffer the rot just as much ?‍♂️

Nice write up Steve [emoji106] spent a lot of time designing and building my fireplace, plus laying out money to have my burner professionally installed to comply with regs etc!!! I have the DEFRA approved smoke control kit fitted to my stove and it is very efficient with its burn, in the fact that it leaves practically no ash behind at all even if you fully shut the stove down. That said it means i use slightly more wood than what i would like. I feel it draws just that little bit too much air and would benefit from being able to be choked down a little further, but then the emissions would come back up, Its a fine balance i suppose. Bowland stoves are only down the road from us here, good company to deal with [emoji106] Its getting a lot like the “diesel scandal” they”ll blame batteries and stored energies next and in the end [emoji30]?

Run down and run up times are to also allow temperatures to come up / come down too. A lot of people assume that it is the water / coolant that does the cooling of an engine..... well it helps yeah and is designed to flow through your engine and cooling system and pipes and radiator etc..... blah blah blah, but one of the major factors / players of engine cooling is also the engines oil believe it or not. Without good quality and clean engine oil the risk of damage to the engine and its components are at a higher risk of failure. Oil that is left longer than its subscribed service life will get a bigger build up of carbon and contaminates as another use of oil is to also clean an engines internals. The dirtier the oil the harder it is to perform and disperse heat etc, so allowing the engine to idle after use for a minute or so (on a turbo’d engine) is to allow for rpm’s / temperatures to come down and as described above by josharb87 will also prevent oil starvation to parts too yes. Even with modern oils there is still a risk, esoecially if they are not changed on a regular basis [emoji106]

Hey Eggs, Look at 814D, lots of variations from mini buses to recovery trucks depends what you want, just as reliable in every way, few more about than 811D so makes them slightly cheaper too, just avoid any that have been used as horse transporters! They carry the usual wee wee corrosion and general neglect that horse owners give ( the major lack of spending on maintenance / upkeep ) worked on a lot of horseboxes and can honestly say i wouldnt want to recommend any for resale, even the ones at 5 or so years old. Good luck tho [emoji106]

So defo a realistic option to look at if considering a long term investment / retirement plan. (Not that i’m anywhere near retiring, but will stay in my current home till the end of my days) [emoji106] thanks for the added and awaited info donnk ?[emoji108]

I’d look at the 026 if you were pushing him towards a stihl, or for a slight weight saving the 024, you’ll comfortably pick up a mint one for £200, if your looking at any other specific brands then others on here will give better advice than i can, i’m a stihl only man.

Nice one JAG63, thats right on my doorstep and i’ve been mulling over doing the basics first before diving in to doing the big certs etc, will have a ride across to discuss whats on offer [emoji106]

£200 would buy you alot of saw if you found a good 2nd hand one [emoji106]

Bloody rules and regs drive you mad! Having a class 1 and working for a massive company that has everything in place makes it a whole lot simpler! JonnyRFT hope all our input hasn’t blown your mind completely!!! And hope you get what you need to operate as you want, legally and safely that is. It is good to get other peoples views / understandings on things, its one of the reasons i signed up to the arbtalk network. Huge respect to all you guys in this industry too, i’m learning allsorts that i would of normally taken for granted about trees and the such like. [emoji106]

Hell fire openspaceman, you need a new pen.... you got any ink left?...... ???[emoji106][emoji106]

I still think the hire and reward scenario will play a part [emoji848] if if it was purely for your own use then it would be irrelevant. As you may be earning from it then you would probably fall under working time directive and that would come in to play if you were using a tacho for defo

You mentioned a 3 mile round trip, is that a permanent thing or are you likely to be venturing further? Could use a tractor and trailer for that distance, no o licence needed, no maintenance schedule etc etc ?‍♂️ just a thought.

Yeah b+e reads right [emoji106] still not sure on o licence though, cos in some cases you will be classed as hire and reward so a grey area? ?‍♂️ others may be able to advise more

Sorry.... and yes on your vehicle purchase you WOULD need to operate on a O licence due to average weights etc, At your average weights that you quote i think you also need a licence upgrade to minimum c+e

I hold a class 1 licence and my understanding is if you have a b+e licence then that only entitles you to drive / pull a trailer with a combined vehicle and trailer weight up to (and including) 3500kgs (3.5 tonne) so tacho exempt. If your average weight is 5 tonne..... i would say your illegal?! Anyone else please elaborate and jump in here. O licence would be irrelevant up to and including 3.5 tonnes.

Its the old circle of life in the end which ever way you look at it, we get subsidies and grants for new things and when it takes off the government shats itself and says..... we’re not getting enough revenue out of this! And they start with a new tax scheme one way or another and so we’ll end up paying for it in the long run anyhow. Its happened with road tax, its happening with diesel cars, it’ll happen with battery and renewable “free” energy sources. I still do love the theory and setup of the tesla wall though, think its proper trick, and being tesla it defo will be well made.

Yeah i think they are permanent 2wd with option to switch to 4wd when needed, cant remember whos system it is off top of my head. X-trail had 2wd, 4wd or i-mode which would engage the other diff when needed, very rarely needed it to be honest, only when we were on a field etc, but not every time, was very rare. End of day 4wd is only any good to ya with the right tyres too. Enjoy your shopping trip, keep us updated [emoji106]

Hey openspaceman, yeah i get where your coming from with the longevity / lifecycle of the battery and replacement cost, had a similar scenario with an nissan nv200 camper van that was running with battery tech, and wouldnt work out for us in the 2nd hand private owner scenario, would of worked out better from buying new through a business etc but thats a different script. Just caught my attention though and the vid Ian posted was a good watch. Will continue to dig a little [emoji106]

[emoji33] did someone cut vespagobs rope???

Motivation would be to save money as i’m planning on staying in my house till the end of my days..... unless i choose to follow the path of my job offer in cape town (but thats another story) i have come to notice you are an argumentative sole aren’t you! Always a pop at someone, i’m recently a new member and i’m already getting bored of you!!! You wouldnt be subsidising me cos what i’m allowed to get through a grant or what ever, you are allowed also, if you choose not to use that route then thats up to you!!! I like the sound of it, it was interesting what Ian posted...... so knob off!!! Thanks again Ian, enjoyed your shared video link [emoji106]

Good watch, shame theres no detail on installation costs, will have to do more digging. Be an ideal scenario to incorporate / install it at same time as me building my new garage, if its viable from a cost point of view obviously, bet its expensive though. Less and less grants now from government and councils regards renewable energy [emoji30]

Kia is...... unrefined in my opinion with their finish, very basic to look at and plasticy inside, but that’ll be for you to decide, mechanically they are good value for money, earlier 2.0crdi are better towers than later 1.7crdi but again will be down to you on deciding by driving them. Honda crv, not had many dealings with them, mate of mine is a car mechanic day in day out, i’m hgv’s, he doesnt rate them, has had some in with problems with diffs and g/boxes but think thats because they had milage against them, turbos on 07 - 09 years ?‍♂️ go drive, its the only way you’ll know. Even better is to find one in a showroom / forecourt somewhere with a towbar and arrange for a good few hours test drive on your own and go drag your caravan around grossed up with what you’d normally carry when you go away. Not sure on crv towing weight capabilities? kia were getting less and less each time a new model came out, cos i once considered one before i got my x-trail so just bare that in mind when your buying too. Of course low towing weight would suggest more instability [emoji15] x-trail was 2.2 tonne towing weight, only disadvantage it has was its kerb weight was only 1650kgs which is light for a suv / 4x4 But thats what gained it its mpg [emoji106] to counteract any instability (which it didnt really have) i used to load our bags of clothing etc in to car instead of van. But i have no kids or owt but if you have kids then their body weight will compensate. Mine towed a dream at 62 - 65mph no bother [emoji51] van was a swift major 4fb at 1450kgs just short of 25 foot long so quite a big outfit when coupled.

Just sold my 14 plate x-trail last year cos i sold my caravan. LOVED it, if it wasnt for the shatty DPF on em i would still have it. 38 - 40 mpg knocking around town. I only live 2.5 miles from work so barely got warm (hence the DPF scenario) was a tekna ex demo so loaded with all the extras. Like simplesimon says, comfy, pleasure to drive etc, bags of room!!! (Still got 2 x lots of genuine nissan oil and filters for it in my garage [emoji51]) only one gripe i had was it had shatty dunlop sp road tyres on it so grip on a field was terrible. Put some uniroyal rainsport 3s on and it transformed her (still got 2x more brand new tyres for it my garage) Really rated it, M9R engine was a peach [emoji106] highly recommend!!! Bought a bmw m140i after that [emoji51][emoji51]