Member postings for Samsaranda

Went on a visit to Port Talbot Steelworks in Wales in the early 60’s, it was mind blowing when we were in the area where they were discharging the steel, molten metal and sparks flying everywhere and the noise was horrendous. Certainly glad that I didn’t have to work there, great respect for those that did. Dave W

Don, glad my input was of use. Dave W

I used to work for a seal-less pump manufacturer we manufactured our own magnetic drives, they used stainless steels of varying specifications to meet the product conditions, some of which were highly abrasive or corrosive, the magnetic drive operated through the stainless steels with no problems, my choice for this application would be the appropriate stainless steel. Dave W

I have just insulated a small storage shed that I built about three years ago, should have insulated it when I built it but that’s another story, the shed has no windows and is about 8 feet by 6 feet one wall is concrete block work and will be without insulation, the rest of the shed is wood framed covered in shiplap with insulation between the uprights. The reason for insulating it is that I store my beekeeping equipment in there, amongst other things, and contains sheets of beeswax which doesn’t tolerate being warmed when the sun shines. With only shiplap covering it gets very hot in there when the sun shines so I am using 50 mm Kingspan, bought 2 8x4 sheets this week and was surprised how much it has gone up recently, it cost £48.50 a sheet and a builder friend of mine advised me to buy it sooner rather than later because there is a further 20% price increase apparently in the pipeline. I probably need another sheet to finish the project and insulate the roof as well, which is probably next weeks job to do. My workshop, which is considerably bigger but the same construction was insulated when built with Celotex, 100 mm in the walls and roof, minimal heating with a small oil filled radiator and a humidifier used at nights on off peak electricity keeps the workshop comfortable and relatively low humidity. I would advise anyone contemplating building a workshop or upgrading a current one to go for as much insulation as possible, Celotex/Kingspan is my product of choice, and buy it sooner rather than later as prices are moving ever upwards. I have to a certain extent mitigated the increasing electricity charges because I have 4Kw of solar generation with 12 KWh of battery storage, doesn’t cover all my electricity needs but as they say every little helps, and of course the sun doesn’t shine very often in the winter so the solar generated in summer offsets power used in winter in the workshop. Dave W

A few years ago I was picking up new, unused end mills and slot drills, some were top quality carbide, from eBay, they were advertised as items from individual sellers who were not selling professionally. My Best Buy was a top quality 16 mm carbide end mill, totally unused, I think I paid no more than a fiver for it. I wondered how so many new milling cutters were available on line and came to the conclusion that people working in engineering must have been putting them in their pockets and taking them home and then advertising on eBay. I managed to build up quite a store of end mills and slot drills but nowadays the supply has dried up and very few are advertised and usually the price is the same as retail. Dave W

Hi Pete, welcome to the forum, plenty of help and advice here if and when you need it. Dave W

He is amazing! Dave W

Peter, thanks for your input and yes it does make sense but our gp surgery unfortunately use the number withheld option and I don’t rate my chances at very good in trying to influence them otherwise.

Duncan, yes a good way to go but unfortunately a bit too late as my number is out there being exploited already so I am trying to find a way of blocking the numbers with 0843 codes and not having any success. Dave W

So far in my research I have found that you can block all numbers that are not in your directory of numbers, if it’s not on your list it can be blocked, problem with that is we frequently get phonecalls from our doctors surgery, wife has a number of medical problems, and the surgery calls are always number withheld which means they would be blocked. It would be a solution if you could block calls that are prefixed with specific codes eg 0843. Still researching if that’s possible. Dave W

I keep getting annoying telephone calls on my mobile number, the calls all start with 0843 but the rest of the number changes each time the caller rings, the latest number that rung this morning was 0843 878 1165, the number rings about four rings then stops, if I am quick enough to answer before it cuts off there is no one there. It is extremely annoying because some days it rings three or four times, sometimes it goes a week between ringing. When it rings now I add the number to my blocked callers but when the number is different each time it rings that doesn’t stop future calls using a different number, the common factor with all these numbers is they all start with 0843, nothing else is the same on subsequent calls. The problem has been going on for about six months, that’s an awful lot of different numbers all starting with 0843 so it must be a machine that is dialling out somewhere, how does one sort out a problem like this and does anyone else have the same problem? Unfortunately nowadays invariably when one orders an item from an internet supplier they need your mobile number and it’s so easy for unscrupulous traders to sell on lists of mobile numbers which is probably where scammers get their numbers from. I live in hope that whoever or whatever is the source of these 0843 calls will eventually run out of numbers related to the 0843 code but there are probably many thousands to go yet. Dave W

I think that dialogue with NT should be the way forward and Howard has already emailed them with the details of the problem, perhaps after the Easter break a phone call would help provide the resolution. Dave W

Hi Leon

Love the amount of space in your workshop, welcome to the forum. Dave W

I am glad that five years ago we took the decision to install an inset woodburner in our lounge, our house is 50 odd years old and was built with an open fireplace in the lounge. The woodburner is rated at 5kw output which is more than enough to heat our lounge, we leave the door open all the time and the heat percolates throughout the house so in winter when the woodburner is in use we use very little gas for heating. Our cats have sussed out that the bedroom above the lounge, where the chimney runs, gets very warm when the fire is in use and they compete for the space next to the chimney. It seems a retrograde step burning wood instead of the convenience of gas but it makes sense financially as the price of gas is only going to go in one direction. Dave W

Duncan I have a severe high frequency hearing loss and used the “women have high pitched voices” with my wife, the scars have just about healed ! Dave W

Insulate the workshop, it’s amazing what a difference it makes, I have a small dehumidifier working at night on economy seven tariff and a small oil filled radiator on a very low setting, solves the problem. Dave W

Just received an email from Reeves and they say that one of their casting suppliers is quoting a 20% increase in prices from their foundry. The world seems to have gone mad with everything rocketing in price, I shoot clay pigeons on the weekends and there has been an upward trend in the price of cartridges for some time now and recently the price is taking off. The blame is put on the war, Covid etc but there is blatant profiteering going on, the bubble must burst some time. Dave W

The announcement of 8 reactors is just a pr exercise to appease the voters so that our masters can be seen to be doing something, by the time the public expect results those who made the promises will be long gone from office. We have to get away from short term decisions that are made to curry favour with the public and have proper long term binding planning decisions that mean something and are followed through with positive outcomes. I won’t hold my breath waiting. Dave W

Different tariffs at peak times of the day are the stated intentions of Utility companies, this can only be achieved by using Smart meters, so far I have refused to have one fitted despite constant emails and phonecalls from my energy supplier, I am sure that at some time in the future a statute will appear requiring us all to succumb or be cut off from energy suppliers. Electricity is only going to get more expensive as somehow the extra infrastructure that will be needed will have to be paid for, we are already paying for the rollout of the smart meters and at the last estimate each one fitted cost in excess of £100, financed by us the customers. I have solar panels on my roof and battery storage so I can mitigate some of the costs of electricity by using appliances when the sun shines, not looking forward to the grid being able to rob from my batteries when the grid runs short, and yes this issue has already been debated and approved as a way to go when we are all connected via smart meters. I am not intending to purchase an EV because at 75 years of age now my driving days will probably be over when there are no more internal combustion engined vehicles left on our roads. My view of the future is not rosy, hopefully I am wrong, but the past track record of our country is not good when adapting to change. Dave W

The announcement of 8 new nuclear power stations to be approved by the end of the decade seems like too little too late. The quickest that a nuclear power station could be brought into service after it has received approval is in the region of 12 to 15 years, so we aren’t going to see them contributing to our energy needs for many years yet, we need a much increased energy output by the end of this decade in order to keep up with the projected demand from home heating, electric vehicles etc. Renewables will obviously be able to contribute to the energy mix required but only if the sun shines and the wind blows, not all that reliable as recent statistics show, I think our country will still be operating on a knife edge as regards being able to meet requirements, and I can’t see our electricity price becoming any cheaper in relative terms. Dave W

Dave,

, I think the need for major maintenance of the gas distribution infrastructure has been with us for many years and has been tackled for quite a few years now, it must have been about five years ago that all the gas mains in our local area were sleeved because the cast iron pipes had deteriorated badly. So it would appear that there has been ongoing replacement of “large lumps of the gas infrastructure “. Dave W