SteamyTea

When you get a Japanese back pumping half a billion into a gaming company you have to question the way the tech market is going. Reminds me of a short story about warfare by Arthur C Clarke. Superiority - by Arthur C Clarke.txt

Had a quick google and found this: http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/index.cfm?id=909 " This decision follows a thorough and serious investigation and extended contacts with market players. As the market for and imports of solar panels in the EU is very large, it is important for this duty not to disrupt it. Therefore, a phased approach will be followed with the duty set at 11.8% until 6 August 2013. From August on the duty will be set at the level of 47.6% which is the level required to remove the harm caused by the dumping to the European industry. " So almost 50% extra taxation, but has been in operation for nearly 4 years. I also had a look on the WTO database but could not quickly find PV, but would be interesting to see what the default tariff is.

Running 3 1-Wire sensors is just a case of wiring them in parallel and putting the right resistor at the RPi end. So yes, use a bit of CAT for it. If you get the right resistor value (it all depends on the number of sensors and cable resistance), they are pretty robust. DHT22's (which are cheap and do RH and Temp) do need to be on separate RPI IO pins and need their own resistor.

Is that a problem, you are not a vegetarian are you

One of my first jobs as a toolmaking apprentice was to operate the drill and cutter grinding machine. I took great satisfaction in using it. I hate sharpening chisels and usually just go and buy a cheap replacement.

The main problem is that GRP is a laminate of 3 different materials. There is the glass/resin matrix and then the gelcoat. This acts like a bimetallic strip and when heated or cooled it will bow. One way to minimize this is to paint a top coat (really just a 50:50 mix of resin and gelcoat with a bit of wax in it) onto the back of the lamination. Then it needs to be fixed down securely. Shrinkage is on of the main problems with GRP and needs to be thought about when designing. Not really an issue when just sheathing OSB, so not a problem when making a water tight flat roof.

One way around the weather problem is to sheath the OSB before it is put in place. Then all that needs to be done is the joints over laminated and then sealed with the topcoat. I am surprised that this is not done more often. Laying up in a temperature controlled workshop makes the job easy.

I worked in the composite plastics industry for over 25 years, so feel qualified to say a few things. It is not difficult, I can teach you in about 2 hours what to do. After that, it is just practice. There are a few rules to stick to (pun intended). Everything needs to be dry, totally dry. Even damp can adversely affect the chemical structure of polyester resin. Even your chopped strand mat needs to be kept dry, so no keeping it in a damp garage/shed. It will cause you problems. UV light causes the polyester resin to cure faster, as does excessive temperature. So you have to pick a warm, but not hot, a dry, but not a sunny week to do it. Then it is a matter of starting with a small area and working from there, don't be tempted to do more than 10 minutes work at a time. The OSB will absorb a lot of resin, so make sure it is well 'wetted out' before you put any dry matt on it. Then wet out the mat with a brush or roller. Don't be tempted to use a large brush or roller. The mat takes a couple of minutes or so to absorb the resin, don't be tempted to try rollering (consolidating) it too soon, it will just not work. You can tell when it is working right at it goes almost transparent, rather than white, the noise changes as well, it sounds 'soggy'. Don't push too hard with the consolidating roller, that will just pucker it up. Once the area is covered in GRP, you will have to sand it down and put a top coat/flow coat on it. Sanding is a horrible job as it is itchy and makes your arms ache, but it has to be done right. Probably best to leave it a day to fully cure before sanding. Then, when you paint on the top coat/flow coat, you have to make sure that it is adhering properly. You can tell when it isn't right as you will see tiny little pin holes. If that happens you have to let it fully cure, sand again, then reapply. All a pain in the behind, but it is what really makes a good weather tight finish. Choice of materials is a hard one. I had my favourite mat 450gm CSM from Saint-Gobain, polyester lay up resin from Cray Valley and gelcoat (to make a top coat/flow coat) from either Norpol or Llewellyn Ryland. Pigments I usually got from Llewellyn Ryland too. Hardener I was easy about, it is the same stuff generally. Who you buy it off is up to you, but probably easier to find a local GRP place and see if they can get it for you, may work out cheaper. Did I mention that everything must be dry, really dry. If you are in an area that has a boat building industry, you may be able to 'find a couple of lads' that are willing to do the job. I would charge more that £100/m2 so the price don't seem too bad to me.

Insulated curtains. But the kind of places I go to, you don't need them.

I find an inflatable airbed pretty good for sleeping on. Fits in the back of the car too, turned my old Scenic into a camper for 50 quid. That included a shower as well.

We should swap code too so that it can be improved and to save duplication.

Will the price premium on these cleverly designed products negate any benefit over a larger home?

Shall have a read though, thanks

How have you setup the IP, dynamic or static, if static, how did you manage it in Jessie Lite? (I never tried to set up the eth(0) on mine in Jessie Lite after the disaster of trying to setup the wifi as a static)

You should have added another 50mm of insulation and stuffed any remaining space with rockwool, and then only heated to 50°C. How I got my losses down to about a 1 kWh/day. Two things that appeal to me about the Sunamp is that it is compact and easy to fit. I am about due a failure of my DHW cylinder as it is now 30 years old, 3 neighbours (50%) have had them replaced, so only a matter of time for me. A direct replacement in copper is about £400, but an Ecocent clone is probably about the same. Now I know the downsides of the Ecocent, but can mitigate them to a certain extent with some ducting and the mild weather down here. Just the seemingly high cost of the Sunamp that puts me off.

Must be a couple of achers

A lot of it will be down to the time between charging up and discharge, a short gap between them and there are less losses. I put a secondary timer on my E7 DHW so that it only heated up during the last 3 hours of the period, rather than the first few hours. I then generally used the water within an hour of it reaching maximum temperature. This reduced losses significantly, which increased efficiency.

That is near a makes no difference 90% at the 5 kWh limit 87% at 4 kWh It would be easy to get silly with efficiencies, especially if PV and a HP is incorporated in the mix (as Jeremy has).

Thanks, got a trip to Wickford at end of month, will be useful. How do a say 'they dropped her in that hole over there', it is a funeral I am off to.

Are you putting in a few temperature sensors? May make for useful data.

If you set up a PI as a TOR router, is it still possible to log in remotely and be secure? I set one up a while back when I had 'proper internet' and could log in locally easily enough. Just wonder how easy it would be to log into when away from home. I know that this can be done via a VPN, but I am always interested in other secure methods, and it is hard to beat TOR at the moment.

I have known two people that have worked for Klargester. Being polite, they were both slapdash in their attitude to quality.

I think 4 of them now work at the bakers in Helston.

Why knowing what you need is so important. Time for a jug, a clock and a thermometer.

One thing to add (or is it take away) with the SunAmp is the cost of uncontrolled heat losses when compared to a regular water store, be it a simple E7 cylinder or an all singing and all dancing thermal store. My basic cylinder can easily loose 2 kWh/day (have since reduced this with extra insulation). But at 1 kWh/day and E7 at 8p/kWh, that is £30/year.