Weather

[Colin]

Hi,

Dark; wet and miserable here so far so everything's normal.

Good luck with your boiler Logan; our old Ideal Isar boiler at 7 years old was so bad it was costing over £300 per year for cover by British Gas; even the BG engineers disliked this kind of boiler; three years ago we decided enough was enough after BG was here three consecutive days whilst it was snowing and freezing so set about finding a replacement boiler; I was a member of a big DIY forum and members on there were recommending Intergas boilers speaking very highly of them.

We had the new Intergas boiler installed by a top Intergas installer it taking a full day he left at 10pm with 3" of snow on his van. Our new Intergas boiler came with a 7 year warranty which could be extended to 10 years with a one off payment; This Intergas boiler is a great deal different to normal combi boilers because it doesn't have the usual components that are prone to failure; just a service each year and so far it's not been a bit of trouble; the boiler is located in my workshop and I don't even notice it running.

I thought this information worth adding for anyone needing to replace their central heating boiler; so far we're happy with our Intergas so it's another option and we saved a fortune over British Gas prices. For what we were paying BG for boiler cover we could have a brand new Intergas boiler installed every five years?

Ours is the HRE24.

https://www.intergasheating.co.uk/

Kind regards, Colin.

 

[marlingardener]

Last night we had strong storms--torrential rain, thunder, lightning--but no damage, thank heavens. Today it is 58 degrees, sunny and with a light breeze, so we lost power for a few hours. Our electric company seems to work on the premise that dire weather is fine, but fine weather is dire.

 

[Logan]

Thank you @Colin
Hubby looked in the manual and the lights on the boiler inducates that it's the fan.
If the man doesn't phone he'll be here between 8 and 10 this morning.
Good morning all light cloud and light wind temp 6 to 9c
Sunrise 8.18
Sunset 16.01

 

[Colin]

Hi,

You're welcome logan; I hope it's a quick fix for you.

Not a bad morning here for late December in fact it's been a decent year which is extremely rare; I've already visited three supermarkets and after a brew we're off to a garden centre; in a few days the Easter eggs and Valentine cards will be on the store shelves.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

[Logan]

Good morning all light cloud and gentle breeze temp 9 to 12c
Sunrise 8.18
Sunset 16.02
Thanks @Colin , didn't get boiler fixed yesterday, the man phoned in sick. Hopefully today.

 

[Silentrunning]

I spent Christmas week back in Florida. It was cold, wet and WINDY most of the time. Now I’m back in N.C. and it’s just cold and wet.

 

[Colin]

Hi,

Fingers crossed for you Logan in getting your boiler fixed today; I wonder if the guy was genuinely sick or just hungover due to Christmas; good job we're not suffering sub zero temperatures.

I've just enjoyed an hour in the workshop pottering around tidying up; it's wonderful to be getting back into my normal routine; I wish I could be excused Christmas each year.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

Temp today nice. but it rained like tons, soil soggy. If I do get out to the garden, best I can do is prune stuff. but that is after food shopping. so maybe on Sunday.

 

[waretrop]

Temp today nice. but it rained like tons, soil soggy

Just 2 hours north of @Esther Knapicius , with the same weather and very soggy... Going to Allentown for the whole day today...

 

[DirtMechanic]

I have not looked at the garden rain gauge but this map says we got 4.75" of rain yesterday. It most certainly flooded around here.

 

[Logan]

Good morning all light cloud and gentle breeze temp 9 to 11c
Sunrise 8.18
Sunset 16.03

Thank you Colin, yes he arrived at 11.30, don't know if he was the same one, but i think that he was.
It was the circuit board on the fan, said that it could have been condensation.We have it in the garage, used to be in the kitchen told that it shouldn't be there.

Yes it's nice to get back to normal.

 

[Logan]

Good morning all light cloud and light wind temp 8 to 9c
Sunrise 8.18
Sunset 16.04
The days are getting longer in the evening.

 

[Colin]

Hi,

Good morning all light cloud and gentle breeze temp 9 to 11c
Sunrise 8.18
Sunset 16.03

Thank you Colin, yes he arrived at 11.30, don't know if he was the same one, but i think that he was.
It was the circuit board on the fan, said that it could have been condensation.We have it in the garage, used to be in the kitchen told that it shouldn't be there.

Yes it's nice to get back to normal.

I dislike anything with a circuit board Logan; our previous washing machine needed a new circuit board; this was £100 plus £35 call out fee; we dumped the washing machine and bought a brand new Beko washing machine for under £200 this having a decent warranty and when this dies it too will be dumped unless an easy fix; I can repair most things but when a circuit board fails then the circuit board which costs extremely little to make at retail it costs half as much as a new washing machine; still this is what the government wants of us in saving the planets resources? It beats me why many washing machines have so many programs when mostly they are left on one program most of their short life?

I worry about modern cars having so many electronics to eventually fail. I've worked on electronics for years but still don't trust them.

I hope your boiler now runs a long time Logan without further problems. Our boiler has always been in the garage/workshop without condensation problems.

Happy New Year everyone.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

[Logan]

I hope your boiler now runs a long time Logan without further problems. Our boiler has always been in the garage/workshop without condensation problems.

Thank you colin, washing machines have to have so many programs because there's so many different types of fabric. I try to get one that hasn't got a lot. As you say i wouldn't use them and a lot more to go wrong. You're very good at mending things, i'm sure that you would fix it.
.

 

[Colin]

Hi,

Thanks Logan; yes I can fix most things; our tumble dryer is the most likely to break down; out of warranty it really turned bad with lots of manufacturing faults; this was my first project when I retired 18 years ago; fed up of the drier banging each time it changed tumble direction I put it on the workshop bench and completely stripped it down;the rear drum bearing housing had broken free from its rivets and the motor fan had broken allowing it to hit it's enclosure; I drilled out the rivet holes and fitted three machine screw washers and nuts; the fan was removed and thrown away; I had spare fans but not the correct bore diameter so it was a lathe job to sleeve a bore plus lots of other faults; we still have the dryer which Bron uses a lot; it's run perfectly since the rebuild apart from destroying its motor capacitor from time to time which is an 8uf. I have lots of these capacitors and when Bron tells me the dryer is not working just making a buzzing noise then another new capacitor is fitted.

Bron kindly bought me a Clarke metal turning lathe for Christmas years ago after I had sold my big industrial Colchester lathe; this small lathe to fill the gap until I bought another lathe. This small lathe had a low power motor and a circuit board; being used to peeling off 1/2" at a time on the big lathe I thought I'd better take a very light cut with this small lathe not wanting to overload it; I dialed in a sixty thou cut (0.060") and after a few passes was greeted with a loud bang and lots of smoke; I'd killed both the motor and circuit board; I've worked on lathes for over 50 years but I should have read the instructions; ten thou (0.010") was it's recommended maximum cut which is little more than scratching the metal. No way was I going to spend a great deal of money just to keep destroying expensive parts so I heavily modified the lathe; I added a countershaft and bought a new industrial heavy duty servo motor; after a lot of interesting machining I now had a small lathe which could take the sixty thou cut; when I eventually sold it the lathe was instantly snapped up at a very good price.

I don't like lightweight things which break as I look at them which many things do these days usually straight after the warranty expires.

I'm a bit stuck because I've been painting in the workshop this morning so can't do much until the paint dries hence I'm passing a bit of time here.

Kind regards, Colin.

The small Clarke lathe.

Here's the modification; the original motor and circuit board I destroyed were removed and dumped; the much bigger heavy duty motor was added together with a countershaft; I bet this lathe is still a pleasure to its new owner; I'm back onto a bigger lathe.