If you watched dragons den tonight

[John Rumm]

I got the impression that mostly because he was concerned that on the more powerful machines a kid could suck an eye out or cause some other injury if messing about.

The DC14 has a spring loaded valve at the top of the collection cylinder

- that cuts in if you block airflow completely or knock the machine over. The tools also have extra "holes" though - like the crevice tool has a square hole in the side near the pointy end, and the end of the hose has some annular holes near the end such that if you put your hand over it, there is still and air path.

[John Rumm]

Which episode was that? I say Ep 8 (with chap with cordless tool kit), but did not see anything about bricks there...

[Man at B&Q]

,

On Grand Designs ISTR there was a house built by pouring concrete into polystyrene "bricks". A bit lighter than the concrete sort which could be useful in transporting to a disaster zone.

MBQ

[Adam Aglionby]

Beco Blocks

[Adam Aglionby]

Your thinking of Bob Symes, who still has a Youtube channel

[Chris J Dixon]

On the safety angle, what about the ultra-stretchy hose? Whilst I don't exactly have rippling muscles, if I find it hard to fight the pull of the hose when vacuuming stairs, then there must be many who really have significant difficulty.

Chris

[John Rumm]

I have a vague recollection of their being a legal case where someone was using the hose at full stretch while up a step ladder... he got pulled off and tried to sue. Can't remember what the result was. But yes the point stands - the hose will stretch to a significant length, but has quite a bit of pull when at full stretch.

[geoff]

In message , Alan writes

Its meant to be for emergency construction

I have no idea regarding its longevity

[geoff]

Yes, it has steel stays to give it rigidity

[geoff]

In message , Jerry writes

Yeah right - easy to transport into disaster zones, are they ?

Take up little space in transit do they ?

[geoff]

This Monday just gone

[dennis]

You wouldn't need to transport the finished blocks, just moulds, beads and a steam generator.

But if you had concrete you could just cast walls in situ using wooden formwork or an inflatable form.

[ARWadsworth]

Yes Ep 8

If you can use the BBC iPlayer then 41min 40 seconds in.

Cheers

[Man at B&Q]

[e-mail]...

Google "concrete tents". Relief agencies are not convinced. Main reasons are they are too permanent and don't encourage people to rebuild and water is not always readily available in a disater zone.

MBQ

[tim....]

And thus repeated this coming sunday at 7:00 (pm)

tim

[Dave Liquorice]

Several houses have used them.

Lighter but still bulky. I've not see the Den item but I get the impression these blocks are plastic and fold down to a much smaller volume.

As has been mentioned you don't really want "temporary" accomodation to be so well constructed that it becomes "permenant".

[John Rumm]

Ah! found it - it was such a short section I must have skipped over it without noticing when fast forwarding through.

[Chris J Dixon]

The odd thing is that, because almost all of the pull is due to the suction, rather than any springiness in the hose, the pull is practically independent of extension.

Chris

[Dave Liquorice]

Some is due to the suction but a significant amount is due to the hose particulary if you don't let the free end rotate as you pull it out.

[Chris J Dixon]

Well, I just tried standing it on the tiled kitchen floor, and easily stretched the hose to 3 metres before the body began to follow.

When working on the stairs with the small swivel-head tool, even if the hose is only slightly extended, as soon as you make contact with the carpet, the suction causes to hose to contract, creating a significant additional pull.

Chris