Early Risers.

[Andrew P]

Sunshine in the Souf, 

Time for a Walk,

Then fill my mouf,

its the weekend

that's the great thing about being retired,

every day has a Y in it.

[Andrew P]

Forgot to say,

Have a good day,

Stay safe

Stay well,

And ring your Bell.

[jonny777]

11 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

Evening.

 

A question for those interested, or knowledgeable about garden birds.  There's an awful lot of them here, and they're full of it currently, but there is a call I haven't knowingly heard before, and I can't see which bird is making it as there are so many.  I can only describe it as sounding like a 2 year old child going down a slide - WHEEeeeee' !!  Quite loud and repeated every 10 seconds or so.  A lovely sound, I would like to know what bird it is.  Any ideas?  I'm a townie and no nothing of such things, but Mrs NHN is a farm gurl, but she doesn't know what it is.

 

 

 

Yes, definitely a Greenfinch. They sound as if they have jumped off their branch, and love the idea. 

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Just before I went to bed last night I noticed it was a bit chilly, the boiler had shut down. Thanks to Arthur Itis I now cannot easily access the loft where the boiler resides. So first thing this morning I called the local plumber who soon got the boiler going again. It was only a drop in pressure that caused the problem, down to 0.3 bar. Used the last of the home made ginger marmalade for breakfast this morning. Only problem is getting some more as I purchased it from a stall in Gravesend covered market. I used to take the Tilbury-Gravesend ferry to do some shopping in Gravesend but I haven't done so for a couple of years, I hope the stall is still there when I go back later this year, they do great pickles as well.

Edited March 20, 2021 by PhilJ W

[jonny777]

2 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Just before I went to bed last night I noticed it was a bit chilly, the boiler had shut down. Thanks to Arthur Itis I now cannot easily access the loft where the boiler resides. So first thing this morning I called the local plumber who soon got the boiler going again. It was only a drop in pressure that caused the problem, down to 0.3 bar. Used the last of the home made ginger marmalade for breakfast this morning. Only problem is getting some more as I purchased it from a stall in Gravesend covered market. I used to take the Tilbury-Gravesend ferry to do some shopping in Gravesend but I haven't done so for a couple of years, I hope the stall is still there when I go back later this year, they do great pickles as well.

 

Now, I'm not a plumber - or any authority on anything for that matter - but my instincts tell me that if your boiler pressure drops to 0.3 bar, then you might consider you have a leak somewhere in the system? 

[Erichill16]

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

 

Today’s activities may involve killing things or bursting eardrums - all depending if I pick up the PS4 controller or the guitar...

 

Enjoy the weekend

 

iD

Can’t you kill some classics with your guitar and fulfil both desires. The bands I listen to often kill classics, well according to SWMBO they do.

[polybear]

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Probably, probably. MRJ is very much a “curate’s egg” - much of the content is interesting and inspiring, but some of it.... well “fussing over minutiae” would be a polite way of putting it...

 

Bear "discovered" the cost of said periodical is twenty two quid for four copies yesterday, after getting a cheque request along with the latest edition.  Buggerit.

 

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Now that the EMA has stated that the AZ vaccine IS safe to use, it becomes more apparent (at least in my eyes)  that these “concerns” parroted by certain politicians had more to do with protectionism of their own pharma industries than anything else (or am I being a little bit cynical here.)

 

Bear refilled the car this morning, for the first time in AGES.  Discovered that fuel is now 127p/litre now - it was 111p ish last time I looked.  Buggerit.

I also noted the headline on the front of The Daily Star being sold on the forecourt:

"WANTED - For global scaremongering, vaccine nationalism, terrifying people into an early grave and generally being a gang of pathetic big sulky babies"

- The headline is directed at the EC President Ursula Von Der Leyen, Mr Macron and Mrs Merkel.

Sounds just about right....

 

And then Bear notes this article:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56466291

Are all MP's total F.Wits?

 

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Does this mean Bear will be signing up for the BEAR-L study, even at only 250g/kg/day?

 

 

If Bear is reading that as 250g of LDC per Kg of Bear's weight per day, plus the necessary choccy biccy warm-up doses (even if they are plain chocolate ) then perhaps terms could be discussed.....what with MRJ, Fuel and a kitchen floor to pay for sadly means that essentials such as LDC are under some strain

[PhilJ W]

5 minutes ago, jonny777 said:

 

Now, I'm not a plumber - or any authority on anything for that matter - but my instincts tell me that if your boiler pressure drops to 0.3 bar, then you might consider you have a leak somewhere in the system? 

No leaks, just at the end of the main and a lot of dirty neighbours having a bath or shower at the same time. The mains pressure does fluctuate quite a bit and the water company are replacing a main just around the corner and not before time.

[Dave Hunt]

After we had our new combi boiler put in we encountered a similar problem to Phil's and the only way I could keep the heating on line was to top up the water and restore the pressure almost every day. The plumber who had installed the boiler carried out a long and detailed investigation and eventually found a joint in one of the rooms that was weeping as it hadn't been soldered when the system was fitted 25 years earlier! Because the original system wasn't pressurised to the same extent and the dodgy joint was in a channel below the ground floor it hadn't been discovered in all that time but once the new system was commissioned it became apparent. The channel in which the pipe ran was by then more like a small canal and it took months before it dried out.

 

Dave

 

PS - Having read Philj W's later post above, I should point out that our heating system is a sealed circuit and therefore independent of mains pressure, the only connection with the mains being to top up the system when the internal pressure drops - in our case if it gets below 0.5 bar the boiler shuts down. From Phil's original  post I had imagined his is the same type.

 

Dave

Edited March 20, 2021 by Dave Hunt
Adding PS

[Gwiwer]

10 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

words in books?? That has to be really boring as you can not really read the book.

One only has to type it all into a program such as Word for an accurate count   

 

3 hours ago, chrisf said:

My forgettery let me down again yesterday

There is a role known as Queen's Remembrancer.  Perhaps you could employ one similar?  Though in truth it is a legal post and not one whose task it is to remember.  

 

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

the difference between “unlawful” and “illegal”.

Incorrectly used as synonyms.  "Illegal" is an act which breaks the Law of the Land.  "Unlawful" is an act which contravenes rules applying in a particular context.   Committing murder is illegal and therefore also unlawful.  Handling the ball in play during a soccer game is unlawful because it breaks the rules applying to the game but is not illegal.  

 

Greenfinch

Quite an explosion has occurred in their population these past two years, it seems.  Despite the well-documented reduction in smaller bird species this is one which has bucked the trend.  We hadn't seen them here before but currently they are everywhere.  

 

every day has a Y in it

Every day also seems to have a "why not?" in it. Must be a lockdown "thing".   

 

Good morning all.  Off for a muggercoffy before logging on to the Zoomage for the rest of the daylight.  Stay well.  

[Tony_S]

When we had the old boiler replaced with a super duper modern type we opted to keep the “open system” with a header tank and cold water storage in the loft. Having found the bathroom plumbing bodge last week I am glad I didn’t go for anything to pressurise our heating pipes. MiL had a pressure leak in her central heating system. It was in the pipes that ran through her bedroom floor. She lives in a penthouse flat, so the downstairs neighbours kitchen ceiling was damaged. They were very understanding fortunately. 

Edited March 20, 2021 by Tony_S

[Sir TophamHatt]

Sad that the only birds we get in our garden are black birds or pigeons, who particularly enjoy partaking in  on our fence.

 

But the bird boxes are up properly now so hopefully all will be well soon.

 

The latest decision is whether I spend £70 on a scarifier or not.  Don't have anywhere to store it really but I bet it'd do my lawn the world of good...

[jonny777]

35 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

After we had our new combi boiler put in we encountered a similar problem to Phil's and the only way I could keep the heating on line was to top up the water and restore the pressure almost every day. The plumber who had installed the boiler carried out a long and detailed investigation and eventually found a joint in one of the rooms that was weeping as it hadn't been soldered when the system was fitted 25 years earlier! Because the original system wasn't pressurised to the same extent and the dodgy joint was in a channel below the ground floor it hadn't been discovered in all that time but once the new system was commissioned it became apparent. The channel in which the pipe ran was by then more like a small canal and it took months before it dried out.

 

Dave

 

PS - Having read Philj W's later post above, I should point out that our heating system is a sealed circuit and therefore independent of mains pressure, the only connection with the mains being to top up the system when the internal pressure drops - in our case if it gets below 0.5 bar the boiler shuts down. From Phil's original  post I had imagined his is the same type.

 

Dave

 

Yes Dave, that is what I thought as well because our system is similar. I have two small taps on the water pipes at the base of the boiler which I can open if the pressure on the meter falls below a certain level (I tend to use 1 bar as it is an easy line to see). Obviously Phil JW's is a completely different set up. 

[jonny777]

25 minutes ago, Sir TophamHatt said:

Sad that the only birds we get in our garden are black birds or pigeons, who particularly enjoy partaking in  on our fence.

 

But the bird boxes are up properly now so hopefully all will be well soon.

 

The latest decision is whether I spend £70 on a scarifier or not.  Don't have anywhere to store it really but I bet it'd do my lawn the world of good...

 

Personally, I wouldn't bother - but then I am a member of Plantlife

 

https://www.plantlife.org.uk/uk/about-us/news/no-mow-may-how-to-get-ten-times-more-bees-on-your-lockdown-lawn

[PhilJ W]

There's no evidence of any leaks or air in the system. The plumber put 1.3 bar into the system so it should be OK. 

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

As usual for a Saturday, I'm late for parade, but we had a bit of lie in this morning. 

 

Now that I'm up and about, my first task is to mop the cellar floor, as apparently I keep leaving dusty footprints when ever I'm been in there and go back upstairs. Ho hum. 

 

After that, I plan to spend the rest of the day in the workshop. Lots of little things to do and I also want to find my missing servo tester. 

 

Stay safe, stay sane, enjoy whatever you have planned for the day, back later. 

 

Brian 

[Tony_S]

Some plants in our garden attract lots of bees. The geraniums and cotoneaster are visited in the summer by large numbers of bees. I have suggested we shouldn’t be too enthusiastic about removing early flowering dandelions as they are liked by bees. As we were not able to go anywhere last summer I quite enjoyed sitting on the patio watching the bees. 

[TheQ]

The bow bulb does reduce drag as does the Kucheman carrot., However they work in completely different ways. 

The bow bulb  creates a bow wave, if designed properly, it would exactly be opposite to the bow wave created by the bow itself, think opposing sine waves. Thus cancelling the resistance to the bow wave.

It doesn't work on small boats , they bounce around too much, it's best at a fixed speed, so if designed for a supertanker, it's optimised for their cruising speed.

 

Kutcheman carrots effectively split the trailing half of the wing, into sections, so stopping air sliding along the wing, rather that directly over it. This has the effect of making the air less turbulent so reducing drag.

[Coombe Barton]

When my boiler drops pressure it phones me to top it up.

Which is one of the benefits of having the smart thermostat my son (plumber/gas engineer) receommended

[New Haven Neil]

A'noon.

 

Q just beat me to describing bulbous bow functioning, as he says it is a wake, and therefore energy reduction device.  All bar one ship I sailed on had them, the 'one' being a bit old for it!  Nice looking though.

 

The wheee birdie doesn't sound like the Greenfinches I have looked at on You Toob as recommended by Tony, they are much cleared and louder, although we do have Greenfinch here - and just about everything else.  Mrs H has decided it is a Starling, which may account for the much louder call.  There are two doing it now, as soon as I went out with my phone they stopped....pah!  I know birds have regional 'accents' but this really doesn't sound much like the demo Greenfinches.   The Ravens here (loads of them in the village) almost sound like ducks quacking, but the ones down the road don't sound the same at all, more of a Crow 'caw'.  Interesting.

 

English is also the language of the sea, unfortunately for the Americans we had a vessel named the 'Worcestershire'.  This was beyond their ability to pronounce!   Its sister, the Warwickshire, (nearly as bad for them to pronounce) was the ship I sailed on without a bulbous bow, she was a great old girl from when ships looked like ships.

 

 

 

[Winslow Boy]

2 hours ago, Sir TophamHatt said:

Sad that the only birds we get in our garden are black birds or pigeons, who particularly enjoy partaking in  on our fence.

 

But the bird boxes are up properly now so hopefully all will be well soon.

 

The latest decision is whether I spend £70 on a scarifier or not.  Don't have anywhere to store it really but I bet it'd do my lawn the world of good...

Difficult to give you definite 'yes or no' on this proposal as I don't have enough detail but just to say that scarification is usually only done twice a year. So without knowing the area that requires scarification it might be worth will considering hiring one instead.

 

I did have one in my youth, you get these things when your young, and apart from a brief period it has sat in the side cupboard unused. They are good at collecting leaves, as is a lawnmower though.

[Tony_S]

At the corner where our garden joins next door and the house at the bottom of the garden there is a hawthorn tree. It grows in the bottom of the garden neighbours garden. It was pruned recently to get access for fence replacement but is regrowing already. The tree owner said she would like to chop it down (but not the horrible leylandii). The next door neighbours claim the leaves and berries are messy and would like it gone. . Aditi said she likes it, he blossom is nice and  it is full of small birds most of the year. They don’t nest in it, just hang about and tweet. 

 

Edited March 20, 2021 by Tony_S

[TheQ]

A case of buggerit here too, ordered a 22mm spanner and socket to fit the big bolts used to fit the axle on to the trailer. 22mm as said to fit  for a nut for this size bolt on't net.. not these ones.. They're 24mm..

That being said, the axle is now in place with sealant between it and chassis, the weight of axle squeezing sealant , all loosely held from moving by the bolts. New skt and spanner should arrive tomorrow.

 

And of deliveries. Inspected label of metal work that arrived.. funny the label date is that of when I texted  to complain where is it , not the date I ordered it..

 

My combi system loses its pressure over about  2 years , like Jonny777  there are two taps on't bottom of boiler, with which I put the level 3/4 way  up the green.

 

Shelving section assembled and installed, now working out what's needed for the next section..

 

Ben is giving me the stare... When muggacoffee is gone , we will to for the long walk..

 

Guess who forgot to press send before going for a stroll..

Nice out there, lots of daffs and primroses out there now.

[Coombe Barton]

The wall, having shouted, has gone quiet because I've been giving it some TLC. Just put on the last of the plaster (I hope, having scraped, ground, flattened and sanded it into submission before applying the final bit of filling plaster. After that has dried, a final bit of sanding before the painting starts.

[The Stationmaster]

Afternoon all,

 

We are forecast to see occasional sunshine ths afternoon - it's running late (and no doubt might also have been cancelled?).  On a brighter note dinner last night was hot dogs and this has had two fortunate consequences today - firstly some leftover cold sausages for various of the household to enjoy (it looks as if they have).  And secondly some leftover bread rolls which means that I have today had a couple pf bacon rolls for my lunch.

 

I'd certainly be more than interested to know where the pressure has gone if our boiler dropped back to 0.3 bar when running and in fact we were asking exactly that question several years back when it did exactlty that.  we ended up with checking the underfloor pipes - fortunately they are in conduits under the floor and these are accessible in some rooms - and everything was dry and there were no leaks upstairs because all the ceilings were dry.  several visits by British Gas produced no more than getting the pressure back up only for it to drop again until one rather bright British Gas fitter did a far more through investigation of the boiler itself than his mates had and he obviously knew just where to look to find a pinhole in the water part of the boiler where it was leaking away to the overflow drain.  One part replaced and all fine and dandy.  If, as others have already said,  it is a closed system then the pressure loss is somewhere in the system or boiler itself and is not related to mains water pressure and uyou might not notice any loss of water if it is running away via the overflow.

 

I'm surprised Dave (Hunt) didn't consifder this method when having to deal with recalcitrant roots in the garden. - but then it was a GWR innovation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJfoFMICMqQ

 

Enjoy the rest of the day folks and stay safe