Member postings for Samsaranda

Nick

I remember when I was stationed at Brize Norton, must have been 1975 and we had snow on 1st of May, didn’t last long but it was certainly cold. Dave W

First step is to insulate all surfaces as best you can, then as the garage is attached to the house my preferred option would be to install a radiator off the house system and control its output with a thermostatic valve. It will put up your heating bills but whatever heat source you use will cost money to run and using the house system is far more convenient. When I still lived at home in the early 60’s my Dad installed gas fired central heating in our house and as the garage was attached to the house he had a rad installed there. My passion at that time was canoeing and I built my own canoe one winter and I was so glad that the garage was heated whilst I was busy building. Dave W

Remember in the 50’s my Dad used to grow rhubarb in our garden and in those days there were horses that used to come down our street and Dad would be out there with a bucket and spade collecting the manure for the rhubarb. Dave W

Have had problems with deliveries not only from Evri but other carriers as well and the Royal Mail even. We live in a Close called Montfort Close and the road opposite is called Montfort Road. We are always getting mail and parcels for the same number house as ours in Montfort Road and vice versa they get our mail and parcels. Until recently the lady who lived in the same number in Montfort Road would get very grumpy and nasty if she got our deliveries instead of hers, a few years ago I was waiting for 2 ton of ballast to be delivered and saw the lorry going up Montfort Road, I was just in time to stop him dumping the ballast on her drive; problem now partially solved because the wife’s niece now lives in the house with the corresponding number to ours in the road. There shouldn’t be this issue though because the close and the road have totally different postcodes and those delivering are supposed to read the postcodes of where they are to deliver. Our local Evri delivery man knows exactly where we live because of problems he had with the woman who used to live at the same number in the road, she was to put it mildly very unpleasant to him so it’s etched into his memory. Dave W

I would try Rapid Metals, there prices are pretty keen but as always with online suppliers there is carriage to pay. I tend to buy materials online because I live in a village, no stockholders nearby. Dave W

Ady 1, your not suggesting that we should rely on Darwin’s theory of Evolution are you. 🦕 Dave W

You need to check the prices at internet suppliers and choose the cheapest but also check their carriage charges as they can vary considerably, I recently ordered a piece of cast iron 210 mm dia by 20 mm thick and paid £16 for it, the same piece from a long-standing model engineering supplier would have been more than twice that at £36, both prices are plus VAT and carriage. Do you homework before ordering, there is no easy way to get better prices. Dave W

Mc, You’re not alone in your thoughts, the problem with the availability of international travel is that a deadly virus can become apparent in a far flung country and within hours passengers from there have dispersed worldwide, and authorities are slow to react, our own government is a prime example. We can only hope that the China Covid crisis is not as serious as some have forecast. Dave W

If you reset the pointer to zero how are you going to know whether the gauge is reading the pressure accurately without checking the range on a deadweight tester, I wouldn’t trust the gauge without being able to verify that it is reading accurately. Dave W

Chinese quality is so variable, we have an outside light mounted by the front door, I chose it because it was stainless and I thought that it would not rust, I was wrong on that point. Am in the process of replacing it with another lamp, also made in China, but the main body is plastic with neoprene seals and the only metal, which is stainless is in the form of a decorative grill fitted in front of the plastic body. Two items both produced in China but the first let down by very inferior “stainless “ steel and the second on examination will hopefully prove to be a much better quality, both items cost about the same so price is no gauge of quality when buying Chinese products. Dave W

Nigel

I am sure that I know which E-Card website to which you are referring, the content is ghastly, I wouldn’t want to be associated with its content. I am seriously considering just sending friends and family an e-Mail, as already stated you can include your own photos if need be making it much more relevant. I am sure that the postal disputes this year have made a lot of customers think twice over wether it is worth using Royal Mail, I for one will be seeing where I can cut out using it in future. Dave W

As I understood the planning/Building regs a few years ago, any building, even those deemed as temporary structures, that has a fixed heating system required a planning consent. I realise that wooden built workshops are treated as temporary buildings but their designation changed once a fixed heating system was installed. Dave W

When I was in the Air Force, when overseas, we used to be supplied with duty free tobacco which came in small tins identical to the Old Holborn tins but marked “Duty Free H M Forces “ I wish that I had collected them when they were discarded then, I find that tins like that are invaluable for storage. Dave W

If you need to use two different materials in contact on your brake conversion then use a jointing medium such as Duralac it will protect against reaction between stainless and aluminium, it works on aircraft there could be no better recommendation. Dave W

I think an important characteristic of watercourses and the life that they support is the fact that the bottom of the watercourse will always be warmed by heat from the ground. I have a Koi pond that is six foot deep and it never freezes in winter because of ground heat coming from below, in fact during the coldest periods in winter the fish will lie on the bottom as it’s the warmest layer of the pond. I also have a pond that is only three feet deep, this pond does freeze during cold spells, probably because there is less ground heat transferred because the bottom of the pond is shallower more ground heat has dissipated. In the real world rivers and streams usually have a layer of water at the bottom that remains unfrozen, this helps fish and invertebrates to survive the winter freezes. Dave W

Circlip

I always wanted an aquaplane head for my 54 Ford Popular but never got round to getting one, did fit an auxiliary water pump to feed hot water from the thermo siphon cooling system to heat a heater that I fitted inside, I got the heater from a scrapped land rover and it warmed up inside and made it very habitable. I remember that on cold and frosty mornings it was always better to crank it up with the starting handle than use the battery, a distinct drawback was the 6 volt electrics which made the headlamps dismal. As a first car it had quite an impression on me. Dave W

Yesterday was a bit of a disaster, sitting there in the lounge and all of a sudden power goes off, checked the distribution board and the earth leakage circuit breaker has tripped and won’t reset, check the circuit mcb’s and kitchen and conservatory has tripped. Went round isolating the appliances and eventually found the problem was the washing machine had stopped mid cycle. The appliance is covered with insurance so went online and got authority for repair and then had to arrange with Bosch for repair. Bosch always want the Fdr number and the Enr number from the appliance to arrange for correct spares to effect any repairs, I thought they will be lucky as the numbers are on a plate inside the machine door and machine has failed mid cycle so door firmly locked and unable to open. However fortunately the appliance has had a previous repair which meant the necessary numbers are stored in the Bosch computer files so no problem. I asked the call handler if there was any way to open the machine door in order to retrieve the full load of wet washing that it contained, he gave me instructions to find the emergency release and did warn me to have plenty of towels ready to mop up the deluge of water that would exit the machine, he wasn’t wrong a considerable amount of water exited most of which I managed to miss with the towels, still according to the wife it was all my fault, it always is strange that. Anyway repair is scheduled for Friday all I have to do now is figure out a way of removing the remaining water from the drum, siphoning seems favourite but may be the filter drain would be less messy. Why do domestic disasters always happen during holiday periods. Dave W

The radiator, or what is visible, is the tall thermosiphon version that was fitted to the side valve Ford Popular. Dave W

Looks identical to my E93A Ford Popular of 50’s vintage, identical suspension, and steering box. Mine wasn’t as rusted as that when I owned it. Dave W

Dave

I remember the lines of lorries on the A1 with fires under their fuel tanks during the heavy snow and freeze of must have been the winter of 83. I had to drive up the A1 from Newark to Alnwick in Northumberland, the road was only cleared of snow for one carriageway width in each direction because of the heavy snow, going was treacherous. I was in the Air Force and had to travel to RAF Boulmer to carry out a ten minute inspection on a Sea King Chopper, stayed overnight sleeping in a wooden hut with outside temperature as low as minus 18 degrees. It was bitter cold and we had a Sherpa van for the journey which wasn’t the best performer when driving on snow but we made it without crashing into anything. Dave W