Posts by Steve Barnes
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Hard News: Going solar?, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
Would that work with an instant hot water (all house, rather than shower only) type setup.
Yes, as I described on the previous page.
I would suggest a hybrid system of gas hot water on demand, which is far cheaper as you are not storing hot water at around 55c and solar preheating to your existing cylinder which can and will reach quite high temperatures on sunny days, in this country in summer I have managed to boil water in a roof panel in less than 30 mins. (considering we get over 1Kw per square meter in average sunshine, even in winter, this is not surprising)
With a thermostatically controlled system pump, switching @ 55c feeding a 185 ltr cylinder in sunny weather your water will heat faster than using a 2Kw immersion heating element. Run that through an on demand gas water heater and the thing won’t even fire up unless the water in the cylinder is lower than 60c (in theory at least) so on sunny days you use virtually no gas and on cold cloudy days you will have constant, limitless hot waterA little verbose I suppose, tl, dr?
We use a system similar to this with a separate pump for the hot water (before the gas water heater but after main pump, keeps constant pressure to water heater) we are on tank water, it works well. -
I would not recommend getting a solar hot water system from a Power provider,
You will find is that once the power company knows you are not using electricity for water heating they will up your unit cost. One reason for this is that they use ripple switching on water cylinders to balance the grid, in times of low use they can turn on your tank in times of high demand, they turn it off, you won’t really notice this as your cylinder is a hot water storage system, not a demand one. The other is that they have to make as much profit for their shareholders as they can.
Another reason is the way the system works. The kind of system that a power provider will install is one that keeps your existing tank for storage, so far so good, but they will also tell you to leave the power on the cylinder in case of days of low solar input, cloudy days. This causes problems, especially if you are not a large user of hot water, when the cylinder temperature is higher than the panel temperature you will get loss back up to the roof panels through convection.
I would suggest a hybrid system of gas hot water on demand, which is far cheaper as you are not storing hot water at around 55c and solar preheating to your existing cylinder which can and will reach quite high temperatures on sunny days, in this country in summer I have managed to boil water in a roof panel in less than 30 mins. (considering we get over 1Kw per square meter in average sunshine, even in winter, this is not surprising)
With a thermostatically controlled system pump, switching @ 55c feeding a 185 ltr cylinder in sunny weather your water will heat faster than using a 2Kw immersion heating element. Run that through an on demand gas water heater and the thing won’t even fire up unless the water in the cylinder is lower than 60c (in theory at least) so on sunny days you use virtually no gas and on cold cloudy days you will have constant, limitless hot water.
As for the price you were quoted, jeeze. The import price for these units is less than a couple of hundred bucks.As for PV systems, now that is something I know a lot about should anyone want to know.
-
Hard News: Now win the argument, in reply to Moz,
and men that actually JUST respect women and the differences and similarities in our nature......
Fixed, still not well written but ... my bad..
But I’m a very concrete sort of person
No point in telling you to harden up then I guess.
/coat.
;-) -
Yes, the MRAs are out in force, standing up for the rights of men in much the same way that the police are all over standing up for the cop caught on video repeatedly punching a black woman in the head while she lies on the ground. It's all about what level of provocation and threat she must have offered.
Is it even worth participating in these discussions? There's a level of people just not getting it that's so profound it makes it seem pointless.
I am with you here Ben. It seems there is a gulf between those men that unequivocally call themselves Feminists, a stance that just seems wrong to me, men are just not female in my book and men that actually respect women and the differences and similarities in our nature. We are, I'd like to think, all human , at least on Public address and as such can accept our differences and celebrate them.
There was no need for Cunliffe to be "Embarrassed" to be a man. That is just ridiculous. To stand for your gender and apologise for the miscreants amongst you is what a modern inclusive society is about, surely?. -
Hard News: Hope and Wire, in reply to Lilith __,
soldiers in wartime. Can non-soldiers understand enough to write about the experience of fighting? Should they?
It is not as simple as that though. To some soldiers war is glorious, to others it is hell and to all but a few it is not the fighting that dominates the experience.
As for non-soldiers writing of war can I refer you to Michael Herr's Dispatches
I actually knew a couple of the characters and others who never made it, not even to the book.
On a grand scale war and earthquakes have similarities, neither are personal, on a smaller scale you can point the finger of blame in war for actions taken. In the case of Chch the fingers should be pointed at those that have taken no helpful action or worse, hindrance or profit, not at those that tried to help but achieved little. -
Hard News: Decidedly Undecided, in reply to Chris Waugh,
feel free to improve or correct anything I fluff
Moved, not removed. But bloody hell, still wrong.
-
Hard News: Decidedly Undecided, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
especially if you dispense with all that being ‘responsive and responsible’ and ‘perceptions’ nonsense…
Ah, but… You don’t need the “responsive and Responsible” stuff, you just have to manage the Perception of responsibility and responsiveness being the responsibility of somebody other than yourself to respond to. Simple eh?.
-
And before some smartarse says “Don’t be a Dick” perhaps Dick weren’t a bad guy…
-
Hard News: Decidedly Undecided, in reply to Joe Wylie,
I ’d think that most men here – snip – will already have experienced a similar personal epiphany.
The road to Damascus ain’t what is used to be, we live in a dangerously disparate world now with the haves and have mores treading not so lightly on those that strive to better the fortunes of the dispossessed.
The bickering in the ranks must abate, the must abating can be left to the wankers on the right. -
Hard News: Decidedly Undecided, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
– why only today she is calling for victims of Rolf Harris to come forward, and she will see that they are helped through the complaint process –
And sadly that will win votes... because Rolf Harris was famous.
Cunliffe, on the other hand, will be seen as weak and and trying to woo the women's vote, as some seem to think here.
It takes a real man to apologise, even if that apology is symbolic. It only takes a total creep to say he is acting like a girl.
Meanwhile The Herald sensationalises the beating of a woman on the LA freeway by showing a vile viral video....