Member postings for Samsaranda

Wow, I am amazed. Dave W

I used Molyslip in a gearbox, I know it’s not colloidal graphite, the moly caused the premature failure of two needle roller bearings and consequently wrecked the gearbox. I don’t put anything in lubricant systems unless it’s specified by the manufacturer, learnt a lesson the hard way, it was many years ago in my youth. Dave W

Martin, I can easily see that coming. One question that needs to be answered is when tariffs are variable, as is being proposed, how does that fit in with the Regulators Price Cap for unit prices for customers, it makes a mockery of a Regulator ensuring that customers annual bills are reasonable and affordable.

Dave W

What in effect they are saying is that between 17.00 and 20.00 the price per unit will rise in order to reap maximum profit for the period when customers return home from work and switch on their heating, use their ovens to cook dinner and plug their EVs in to recharge the batteries. Those with Smart meters will pay a higher price for units used during that period, now the true purpose of Smart meters is becoming apparent, they are not to help users save money, the propaganda used by the energy companies, but to maximise profits for energy suppliers. My energy supplier will have a hard job trying to charge me extra for using units during that time period because I don’t have a Smart meter and will be resisting all attempts to fit one, at the moment they are not compulsory. I suppose we can expect that the meters will also be used to charge a much reduced cost per unit for times when there is low demand, typically the early hours of the morning from midnight to 7.00 am, I think very few people use much electricity during that period, unless they have an Economy 7 tariff, which I am on, it affords me plenty of cheap units to charge my solar batteries using the winter months that I can then use during the day and avoid paying the standard unit rate. Dave W

Many years ago in the 60’s I had an Ariel Leader motorbike, which was a two stroke, I used to run it with colloidal graphite oil in the petrol, the oil was made by Filtrate and I was very pleased with its performance, one bonus was that the mixture ratio was far less than with straight oil which meant that I didn’t leave such a dense smokescreen. Dave W

If the vaccine is the Spikefax vaccine, which the press has reported, then it is the one that my wife and I were given when we had our fourth jab in the early part of this year. The information sheet given to us when we had the vaccine stated that it was at that time not fully tested, I presume we were part of a mass testing phase of its introduction. I can say that we reacted more so to this vaccine than previous Pfizer and AstraZeneca versions, I don’t want to scare anyone into not having the vaccine but my wife and I along with others in our circle of friends had strong reactions to the Spikevax vaccine. Vic I am sure that the vaccine having already been available for some months then stocks will be sufficient to meet demand. Dave W

Nicholas

Many years ago my in-laws discovered a brick built chamber in their garden, filled with crystal clear water, we wondered what it’s purpose had been and came to the conclusion that it was an old septic tank of some sorts, for the property from prior to mains drainage. It’s use had long been discontinued and bacterial action had long since cleansed it hence the crystal clear water which father in-law used for watering the garden, he was an avid gardener. The tank would refill itself from groundwater when water was taken out so father in-law had a ready source of water for his garden. Dave W

PGK,

I wasn’t advocating drinking the water collected from roofs, if the water was stored in enclosed tanks underground I doubt whether mossies would be able to access and breed. I remember a few years ago my youngest daughter moved into a new housing association house that had a cistern underground that collected the rainwater runoff from the roof and it was routed to the toilet cisterns. That was a one-off and I haven’t heard of any other houses that have the same system, probably cost scuppered it becoming the norm. Dave W

We may have to go back to medieval times for a solution to water problems, in the 1500’s when the city of Valletta was planned, it was I think the very earliest example of planning applied to a whole city, those who designed the layout required every building that was erected had to incorporate a cistern in its foundations to collect what little rain fell on the building. In those days Valletta was at risk of prolonged siege from those who wanted to prevail over the inhabitants. The provision of cisterns for storing water and large granary’s meant the city could survive. If we adopted the idea of cisterns to collect rainwater and the gray water from domestic tasks, washing up etc. we could use it for flushing our toilet systems and therefore save at least a third of the potable water which we currently draw from our water mains. Dave W

Duncan

A water grid is so logical and because of the changes in climate that are happening, the South East where I live is getting drier and rainfall seems to diminish year on year, the problem with a water grid is there are no immediate profits that would be available for all the shareholders so only government planning and direction would make it happen, with the current pantomime prevailing in our political system I can’t see that ever happening. Dave W

John,

I have 4kwh of solar panels, after they were installed I decided to fit batteries to store the unused solar, I have ended up with 12kwh of battery storage and it cost me about the same as you are being quoted (5.9k). You need to shop around, deals vary a lot in price. During June this year, it’s the latest stats that I have, I drew 38 kWh from the grid, that was for the whole month, we are big users of electricity but despite this there were many days during June we were self sufficient for electricity all due to the storage capacity of the batteries. I am so chuffed that I have sorted my solar system to what I configure as the best setup for our needs and all before the really huge increases of electricity prices are set to bite. One very underrated advantage of batteries is that if you opt for an economy 7 tariff then during the winter months you can charge the batteries overnight on cheap rate electricity, in our case currently 18p per unit and then use it during the day when the rate is 36p per unit, a very distinct advantage of batteries. Dave W

Ady, I am definitely with you, our energy and water is too precious to let the wide boys destroy, we need to get this sorted as soon as possible, unfortunately it looks like all we can look forward to are more years of the same, the country is rudderless at the moment while a pantomime is being played out, the meeting with energy chiefs yesterday appeared to solve nothing. Dave W

We had a similar cat many years ago, when in the vets and any tablets had to be administered it was out with the thick leather gauntlets and she became a fearsome monster, at home as placid as could be and very loving. Dave W

Nicholas, which area of the UK has free ranging pork chops? 😳. Dave W

For a number years now we have had ceiling fans fitted in two of our bedrooms, they have 3 speed settings and are invaluable during any hot weather, we use them throughout the summer months as we are on the South Coast and it is always the warmest area of the UK. When the fans are working our cats come up on the beds to bask in the cool breeze, they know where to be. With the prospect of our summers getting ever hotter I would encourage those that suffer when it gets hot to seriously consider fitting ceiling fans, I grew up in the Far East so am no stranger to ceiling fans. Dave W

I worked not as a courier but spent 9 months as a milkman many years ago, I had left the Air Force during a recession and engineering jobs were scarce at the time. I don’t think I have worked as hard physically as I did then, start at 4.30 am load your milk float, milk crates are surprisingly heavy, then out doing deliveries and covering about 20 miles a day on your feet, finish if your lucky about 2.30 pm if your unlucky and collecting the monies it was a 5.30 pm finish. No national minimum wage then, but in retrospect I had never been physically fitter than I was then. Great respect for anyone who is delivering. Dave W

Two of our four cats are hunters and prone to bringing mice in thro the cat flap in our lounge door, surprising how fast you can elevate yourself from an armchair when you see a mouse dangling from a cats mouth, the objective is to get to the cat before he lets the mouse go and you can relieve him of it, and if live let it go again somewhere in the garden, if dead make sure it goes in the dustbin. Came into the lounge the other evening to find three cats lined up along the front of the sideboard, all peering intently under the sideboard, instantly I knew that one had brought in a mouse and let it go, there I was full length on the floor reaching under to catch the mouse, success caught him and released him in the garden to fight another day. Dave W

Have been with Sky for a number of years, we get Tv, broadband and mobiles with them, problem free and when they offer new contracts they give you a choice of deals, all clearly explained, and sometimes surprisingly the price like for like comes out cheaper. The only problem we have had is intermittent poor signal for the mobiles when at home, their suggestion was to set the mobiles to use the broadband network when in the house, great solution and we now have no signal issues when at home. I realise that a lot of people recount tales of woe when dealing with Sky, but as a Sky Q customer you get priority service, our experience has only been good. Dave W

Graham, I sympathise, I keep Koi Carp and used to have problems with Herons, we live on the edges of a marsh, my Koi have grown somewhat since those days being mostly between 3 and 4 foot, bit too much of a mouthful for a Heron but they can still injure the fish by stabbing with their beaks. I found the best way of deterring Herons and Seagulls from raiding ponds when the fish were small was an electric fence stretched around the periphery of the pond, there are proprietary items sold specifically for that purpose, The raiders soon learn that the wire they try to step over gives them a nasty sting, after a few weeks they all learn and you can actually switch off the current and it still acts as a deterrent, I have seen seagulls land walk up to the edge of the pond and then back away from the wire and the current isn’t running but they have learnt that they could get stung. Dave W

One of our biggest imports of coal was from Russia, presumably that’s not happening now. As stated makes no sense as we have vast reserves to stop mining our own, before the Green Lobby start gnashing their teeth coal is used in various industries it’s not just burnt in power stations, there are many useful chemical compounds derived from coal that we will still need. Dave W