Non-metallic hot water cylinders

[Andy Champ]

I was thinking of this kind of stuff

's a US dealer, so definitely NOT a shop recommendation)

nice video here

My solution to this (solar thermal store) is to switch from a round to

The reason I suggested foaming in place is that there will be no voids between the inner tank (soft through heat) the foam or the supporting, cold, outer box/tank. The problem appeared to be one of supporting the inner plastic; a constructed box won't give the same support.

Andy

[Bruce]

If the large tank failed, would the house be on the route the 30 tonnes of water took, going down the hill?

[Matty F]

It should miss OK, but the outside toilet is in the way and would get a large flush. The tank is wooden with half inch diameter steel bands around it. Been there for 60 years at least.

[Matty F]

If I can get a square tank, it would be simplest for me to make a close fitting 20mm plywood box around it, with 100x50mm wooden bands around the outside bolted together. Put it all in the existing box and stuff it full of fibreglass insulation. A bit of heat loss doesn't matter since nobody is paying for the solar heating.

[Bruce]

Having spent some of my career investigating structural failures, I feel sure I would have chosen another location for those 30 tonnes of water. Or for the house.

[YAPH]

Ask around local plumbers. (Or on Freecycle.) From time to time I have to remove rectangular-section grp tanks. (Mind you, the last one came out in bits as it had obviously been installed before the loft hatch was contsructed :-))

[Matty F]

Here's an aerial view. I think the water will miss the building.

any case it's on poles and any water would go underneath. There is another toilet that we can use while rebuilding the one that will get washed away.

[YAPH]

ripped open the casing to find it's plastic you've suffered a loss even if they take nothing. Maybe some signs around warning that the installation is plastic scrap and DIY? Assuming scrotes can read/think, of course :-(

[Mary Fisher]

And the occupant?

Mary

>

[Matty F]

The alarm will be attached to the box and the solar panel. The alarm siren is on the roof nearby and the sound carries for a mile. So the scrotes will be deafened and fall off the roof.

[Andy Dingley]

Why?

A decent heatpipe system has a stagnation temperature well over

100=B0C Water loop (i.e. non heatpipe) systems are less, even when they're vacuum insulated. Flat plates less again.

Now I'm happy to accept that your Solartwin system, which I understand to be a water loop in a vacuum tube, won't reach 100=B0C but that doesn't mean that other can't. It's also indicative of one of the efficiency issues with that system and why I'd consider it to be an obsolete design of tube.

[Mary Fisher]

to be a water loop in a vacuum tube,

That's where you need to brush up, Andy :-)

Mary

[~misfit~]

Hi Matty,

Just to go OT a bit, in the town where I live there have been thefts of manhole covers and stormwater drain grilles over the past few months, amounting to around 40 of each. Apparently the covers are $NZ300 (100 quid) each to replace and the stormwater drain grille thingies slightly more.

I have a wee car with 12" wheels and very nearly dropped a wheel into an open manhole in't middle of road just over the brow of a hill a month back.

The council say that they're having major problems with metal of all kinds being stolen and suspect an organised gang of metal thieves, probably stealing to order.

Bloody amazing.

[Matty F]

I suspect the only way to catch them is to have a sting operation where tempting metal objects are on display behind a chainlink fence, and have video cameras to record rego numbers etc. Maybe a tracking device inside a battered copper tank.

Builders nearby have had their supply wire stolen and the wiring chopped out of an unfinished house. I've installed video cameras for them and have caught two vehicles parked outside in the last week with the occupants snooping around. Now that lots of copper downpipes are on the house, I give it less than a week before they are stolen. I'm off to install sensor lights there right now. Isn't it odd that people don't believe the video surveillance warning signs.

[Matty F]

I imagine the occupant would get washed away too. But not to worry, it's the ladies' toilet. I use the other one!

[Doctor Drivel]

"Copper" downpipes? I read thieves lifted disused rail lines - a lot of steel in them. That takes heavy lifting and a big truck. No doubt professionals.

Sites use plastic pipes on new builds, just because thieves don't touch it.

[Mary Fisher]

...

You have separate toilets???

There's posh!

Mary

[Matty F]

The ladies choose to use that toilet because it's a bit closer and has a nice path going to it. What they don't know is that the other toilet has a flap to keep the cave wetas from climbing out, and a cistern so it can be flushed. And I'm soon going to install a handbasin and electric light.

The cave wetas under the lid (actual size on a 17" screen)

'm told they are quite harmless and there's never more than about 30 of them!

[Matty F]

The house has a copper roof too. Few people dare to stop outside here at night. The neighbourhood watch photographs everybody who does, with infrared video cameras. I've just arrived home and seen the recording of the builder next door caught by my new sensor lights. I can even see that he is saying a word beginning with "F"!

[dennis]

I put a house spider out three days ago that was that big. It could stand on the top of a pint glass with its legs on the rim. I am not so sure it was harmless as it was stalking me!