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SteamyTea

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Everything posted by SteamyTea

  1. SteamyTea
    I would have thought that the main structural engineer would have raised concerns about failure in a fire. This must surely be taught very early on in any mechanical engineering course (I learnt about Young's Modulus in my first year).
  2. SteamyTea
    And these days it is probably cheaper to use 1 decent and safe SSR than two or three mechanical relays.
  3. SteamyTea
    30 years ago we used to add a melamine powder to the polyol to reduce the burning risk, not sure if that is still done these days. It used to play havoc with the machinery as it was an abrasive.
  4. SteamyTea
    Yes you are right, I failed to mention that side of it as I was in a rush. Purely out of academic interest, do solid state relays have this problem?
  5. SteamyTea
    On one of the sunbeds we used to supply, the contactors had a habit of sticking on. These were large commercial sunbeds, 7 to 9 kW ones. We redesigned the power circuit to include 2 contactors in series to activate the that side of things. This reduced the probability of the timer being unable to turn the lights off as the chance of two contactors sticking on was greatly reduced. I have seen this done with relays in quite a few control systems, but probably less now with solid state relays.
  6. SteamyTea
    Isn't the biggest risk the wiring to the ASHP (or any other inductive load i.e. a motor). If the circuit breaker is faulty, or the wiring damaged, that could cause a fire. When I was in Australia they were experiencing some huge forest fires (could see the smoke 2 hours before we landed). Visiting a work mate at his house one day, he asked me if I could help 'water his roof'. Apparently most house fires (near a forest fire) are caused by leaf debris in the gutters being set alight by wind carried embers.
  7. SteamyTea
    As most things can be burnt at a high enough temperature, what temperature does aluminium burn at? and if it was next to a bit of PUR/PIR (insert insulation of choice) would that also burn at that temperature. When we sent samples of furniture foam to Hemel (the old BSI testing place), we could sent 3 identical samples, two would fail and one pass. We never observed a test, so don't really know what the procedure was, but it was always frustrating as we never really knew if our foams were safe and compliant (was all new legislation after the Woolworths' fire). Car seats did not have to be fire resistant at all back in the mid 80's, not sure if that has changed.
  8. SteamyTea
    Eventhough I started this thread, I have kept out of the conversation (mainly for other reasons). It seems to me that my initial gut feeling that the cladding system failed was right, that can be easily corrected in the future and I would think that anyone using EWI will use incombustible materials from now on. On a more general note, is it sensible to house people in these types of buildings. If we relaxed out preoccupation with planning and allowed out town and cities to expand outwards a bit, even building on Green Belts, SSSIs, Heritage areas and AONBs, we could easily house people and improve living standards (maybe a bit of garden. Like Jeremy, I feel angry that this has happened and feel that no hiding behind regulations is acceptable.
  9. SteamyTea
    If it was the insulation/cladding, then it really needs to be incombustible rather than just slow burning in my opinion. I wonder how many tower blocks have this system installed in the UK.
  10. SteamyTea
    Is this a choice of material issue if it was the external wall insulation that caused the fire to spread?
  11. SteamyTea
    I was at an interesting talk a few years back about swedes. The reason we get flavourless ones now is because they have been breed to last a long time at lower temperatures. Some vegetable packaging is made with nitrogen inside it to preserve stuff, prepacked salad is one. Keeps for a week but only lasts a day or two once opened. My local shop is a 24/7 supermarket, so can just pop in whenever I need something, I let them do the storage.
  12. SteamyTea
    Not watched it (not got telly) but how does it compare on cost? If you have that many people working on a project, organisation is everything. Are there lessons to be learned from it? (Flippant comment, aren't all kids 'disabled' at first, just like old people, drunks, Cornish )
  13. SteamyTea
    I think it was wind, solar and nuclear, so low carbon really. Still impressive. The price of wind power went negative in the early hours of the day, which is an interesting concept and would make storage seem cheaper i.e. you get paid to charge them.
  14. SteamyTea
    I seem to remember that the permissible voltage drop was 1% for PV, not the normal 5%. More to do with metering that anything else. Inverters sense the impedance of the incoming supply and if it goes outside some set limit (no idea what), it shuts down for safety reasons. That is nothing to do with generation or metering, purely a safety issue. I have no idea how it is sensed of where it happens, other than inside the inverter. All black magic to me.
  15. SteamyTea
    Or the gagging
  16. SteamyTea
    Not ever going near a muck spreader again! http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/4588410.Pervert_got_sex_kicks_in_slurry/
  17. SteamyTea
    Or does not work
  18. SteamyTea
    I think everyone in Maidenhead needs to vote for Lord Buckethead! I still wonder how much anger there is against Cameron from traditional Tory voters for getting us into the terrible mess. Will it be enough to seriously damage May and her girlfriend Rudd. I hope so. I need to text my Irish mate who lives in Scotland and ask him to vote Tory. Whoever he votes for fails to get in. And email my local Green candidate to ask for his solution to air pollution down here (We have one road that has a serious problem). If he gives the answer I don't want to hear, he does not get my vote. I am well and truly a disenfranchised voter now.
  19. SteamyTea
    The cycling is a tricky one. 50 years ago we were still recovering from WW2 and no one expected cycling to become the middle class leisure activity it has become. More specific to MK is this: http://tritalk.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?p=564097&sid=3d2e21849109dedcb5e3e6e2fc4e573a
  20. SteamyTea
    I went for a walk, and included Chapel Street, plus at the bottom of Market Jew Street (not sure what it is called). Chapel Street has 71 businesses, 7 of which are closed, so about 10%. It has 5 Estate Agents in it. Causeway Head has 62 businesses, 7 of which are closed, so 11%. It has 2 Estate Agents and 3 Charity Shops. Market Jew Street has 125 business, 15 of which are closed, so 12%, it has no Estate Agents but 4 Charity Shops. I have no idea if those figures are good or bad for an area, and it is just a straw poll. It is interesting that Charity Shops come in for some stick down here by local traders (reduced rates, cheaper goods, adding nothing to the local economy, relying on volunteers etc), but with a total of 7 (3%), I don't think it is a problem. Now Estate Agents, at 7 as well, definitely don't add any value to the shopping experience I think Kirsty Milksop said something about this on the radio a while back. I had to get a lodger in when I bought my first house. I have probably mentioned a work mate who complains that he cannot buy a house in the village he grew up in. What he is actually saying is that he cannot afford to buy the ex council house his parents own (a 3 bed semi in what is now a 'posh village, even though I think it is nothing special). Interesting that in 10 years his cash savings have not increased (and have now probably decreased as he overpaid for a second hand car, same as his Dad had as a company car, sums him up, no imagination).
  21. SteamyTea
    That could be considered the same as an undergraduate degree, so somewhere between £20k to 40k. Not sure if it should be added to or take away from the price though
  22. SteamyTea
    I have had a look, and if you take 2 times joint income (male + female) and multiply by 4, then you get this. Not far off what the UK mean house price is. Odd. Though there is an economic argument that says if everything is sold, then it was too cheap.
  23. SteamyTea
    The governments and local authorities did a good job with Milton Keynes. It took 50 years to get to where it is today, billions in investment, and really benefits from being on the M1. It does show what can be achieved though. I recently went to Wickford in Essex, as I drove though Basildon, where I lived in the 60's, it seemed a lot wealthier than where I am in Cornwall. I am going into Penzance today, I may count the number of closed shops in the two main streets (they are regenerating Chapel Street, so not a good gauge). I personally think that developing new towns and cities is a better way to go that trying to save old depressed places with all connected infrastructure problems and prejudices.
  24. SteamyTea
    Purely as an academic exercise, has anyone tried to work out house prices based on current income distribution. If one makes some basic assumptions that young people generally buy smaller and cheaper places, families have larger places and retired people have smaller, but more expensive places in "nicer areas", and assuming that a standard income multiplier of 4 times earnings is 'sustainable' (at current interest rates), then a more realistic price for property should be calculable. I suspect it will be below 50% of what we currently pay.
  25. SteamyTea
    @JSHarrisbuilt one of his plane I think, but as I pointed out, it was a hobby, and, like me, he likes building things (I am still building my "£100" boat, on Mark 2 now). @recoveringacademichad a spreadsheet about his costs, what struck me was the amount of money he had spent before he even started the real building work.
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