Muddy42

thanks

OK, will try that again Thanks. Maybe the photos don't show it, but I did do loads of prep and was only welding onto shinny metal. The patch was made of painted old metal. I ground it right bad to shinny metal and I'm pretty sure it wasn't galvanised. OK

I am repairing rusted out holes on a mower deck that is about 2 or 3mm thick. I cut out the damage, ground everything clean and shaped pieces of metal for the repair using masking tape. I did little tack joints to hold the patch in place whilst I did some bending, then welded the rest. The weld seems to be sitting on the surface, with insufficient penetration. I am using a 200amp MIG with flux core, set to about 1/3 power (I tried a bit more amps but blew through). Since I have reversed the polarity on the welder for flux core I was getting some OK results on thicker metal, but this is really poor. Any tips welcomed. Thanks

It was ethanol free in certain parts of england, but since August 2023, Esso say everything has up to 5% ethanol in it unfortunately.

Yes and I did wonder how long it would take Esso to change their processes. I guess you would have to start testing the fuel to find out for sure.

I don't have one, but all I would say is that personally the handles and air controls look to be made of thin metal that might be weak. I like the fact they have vermiculite on all 5 sides as this material is incredibly easy to replace if broken. Other than that they are just the run of the mill steel box with a glass door. Also if you are using an installer, Id follow their recommendation. Then you have more grounds to complain if any part of the system doesn't perform.

Unfortunately not. Esso state on their website that premium their E5 now contains ethanol.

Here is a picture of my current playground (a few weeks ago now). I'm slowly working my way through this massive oak. I havn't measured it but the butt is probably 8ft in diameter and I can see a few stones in it. So far I've been cutting logs at the weekend and splitting and stacking during the week after work as my daily exercise. The logs will be for personal use in my house. I'll be able to speed up when the days get longer. I'll probably mill some of the medium sized bits in the summer. The butt looks quite rotten and probably too big for my 5ft bar and/or the loader. Unfortunately I find selling hardwood makes marginal economic sense after I account for the fuel, machinery and hours involved. Id have to pay someone with a forwarder to help move the butt. Also I expect the country will be awash with hardwood after the recent storms.

I just resort to iphone calculator. Generally I start with 4 litres of unmixed petrol in a 5l aspen can, that is 4,000 ml. 4,000 divided by 45 would be approx 89ml. I have a variety of sizes of plastic measuring jugs. I use the 100ml jug to measure out just below 90ml of oil. Drop that smaller measuring jug into a 2litre mixing jug. Pour in some petrol and slosh it around a bit so everything is dissolved and the smaller jug is clean. Pour back into the aspen can. Repeat with more petrol if you want to. Job done. Denny all knowledge of the smell of fuel.

Yup, if its an old saw the carb could probably do with a good clean out with carb spray and new diaphragms. There are plenty of youtube videos about this. Clean the screen, jets and check the metering arm height.

brown carpet? no mess and hoover-able.

Does it start quicker with a shot of fuel in the spark plug hole? If so Id guess it has a fuel delivery issue. Have you checked the fuel tank vent is clear, replace fuel filter, check fuel lines are intact, or try replacing the air filter. It could benefit from a carb kit and cleaning out the little filter in the carb.

I might be wrong, but don't modern two stroke engines use more advanced materials (in the fuel line/impulse line/carb diaphrams) than older machines? This is why the manuals say you can use pump fuels below a certain ethanol content. I still keep an eye out for fraying or cracks. Its annoying that esso premium fuel now contains 5% ethanol. One day I might start removing the ethanol with coloured water.

I have diesel cars, so I fill the car with diesel, return the hose and then wave a 5l petrol can at the cashier and make a sign for them to reset the counter and then I pay for both. If they see me they generally play ball. You are on CCTV so you can't do a runner.

That's a very good explanation. I found the problem with my eco stove was lack of control - I couldn't give it enough air when starting up but I couldn't close it down enough (without stopping the air wash) when it was thumping along. Hence why I have opened up the air intake and temporarily closed the permanent air holes on the back with a bolt.

you’ve lost me there, no idea.

Agreed. Not hard to remove/reinstall that. Regarding external air, just so people are talking about the same thing, this is where you have pipe cold air from the outside directly to the stove. You need this if you live in a properly air tight house built after about 2008. Personally I think that modern living (breathing, showering, boiling kettles and cooking) creates air born moisture that needs to be expelled somehow - extractor fans, opening windows. You cannot just heat this up in an airtight home and expect the moisture to go away.

It sounds like you are a tinkerer aswell. I use open fires, stoves and an eco angus boiler, the house insurers have photos of them all. If I waited for a HETAS approved installers to do everything, nothing would happen and it would be too expensive. A certified bloke give me a bit of paper every summer saying he has serviced the biomass and cleaned the chimneys and checked the stoves, this is too keep the insurers happy, but honestly I get the chimneys cleaner and the biomass operating better than they do. Having had professionally installed Clearviews and an eco design esse stove, I would 100% rather have the former.

I agree the OP! I also have struggled with an eco design stove am not in a smoke control zone and have also adapted my stove to provide more control over the air flow and to 'open up the exhaust' area of the flue. Its hard to explain, but I have drilled holes in the slider to allow in more air if required. It also had a square vermiculite panel in the roof that acted as a baffle, but with only an inch wide gap for the smoke to escape. I made a new smaller roof panel that allows more smoke to escape. In my opinion Eco design stoves were designed by scientists to work efficiently in a very narrow perfect set of circumstances and probably only in a modern house. If something is slightly out, the draw slightly lower or stronger or there is a downdraft or the flue is too long etc, the stove will play up. What's the point of a stove that sends very clean smoke to the outside world but smokes into my house?

Yes they smell different, but Ive never really noticed any side effects. I use fresh petrol pump E5 in the strimmer and MS261. The thinking is they are newer, get used a lot, and were built after the introduction of ethanol. I start the strimmer up with aspen in January to flush things out a bit. The larger, older saws that get used infrequently just use aspen. I can't ignore Aspen is double the price. Back to storage, always try to store machines in the dry up off damp floors etc.

The closed season for male deer has been removed in Scotland so you can shoot them all year (if you want, lots of people prefer to stick to the normal seasons). The seasons for female deer have not formally changed although a lot of semi-public organisations intend on exterminating deer get a dispensation to start the season early (the welfare justification for this is questionable - orphaned dependant young etc.)

Scotland recently permitted a range of digital scopes, thermal and light intensifying etc. but I think this is for daytime shooting (or up to an hour after sunset). Night time shooting (after this time) requires a special authorisation.

I just think some of the modern stoves are very fussy in terms of their operating conditions - perfectly straight flue liner of the exact length, insulation, cowel, register plate etc. The internal design and baffles may actually reduce draft, to help recirculate and reburn smoke, extracting maximum heat from the wood, maximum efficiency, cooler smoke etc. I get all that but if anything is slightly not right, you can get smoke in the room or other operating difficulties. Whereas Ive had several older that will work anywhere in any old unlined chimney. They light instantly and roar like a train within seconds and I've never had issues like with this eco design one. Yes you use slightly more logs but my firewood is free aside from labour and fuel.

Agreed, in one area I'm still pulling up seedlings 10 years after the bonfires went cold. In the early years we used glphosate to tackle the regrowth but seedlings keep sprouting for years to come.

Agreed. I suspect eco design (with an external independent air supply and perfectly set up flue liner) has been designed for a modern air tight house. Mine certainly isn't air tight and oxygen starvation isn't a problem.