The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.

[Kim]

Those loud cars with a sound system held hostage in the boot. BBBBBMMMM MmmmMMMMM BBbbbbBBB bzzz rattle rattle BBBBBBBMMMMM echoing down the valley. Firstly, whatever the music is, it's always shit. Secondly, it sounds like the car is in the process of falling to bits like the sad lad clown car it so evidently is.

Postman Piers used to have a kevved-up Nova so equipped (with an MP3 player based on a 200MHz socket 7 motherboard and a sturdy hard drive, which was the height of cool in those days).  In his defence, his cochleas are solid bone, so bzzz thump rattle is as close as he gets to non-cybernetically-enhanced music.  Annoyingly for the rest of us, he never got round to finishing the project and installing tweeters.   

To his credit, he got someone with fully functional ears to tell him what volume level was acceptable to those outside the car, and he was careful to only exceed this on motorways.

As you might expect, he wasn't down with the kids in terms of what was hot or not on the music scene, and barakta's CD collection wasn't exactly extensive.  Which is how we came to end up kevving our way down Whitstable High Street to the muffled sounds of PJ & Duncan...

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

Oh bloody hell.   Why do I never remember to take the butter dish out of the fridge when I go to bed at night?
It would have been easier if I'd tried to spread a block of marble on my toast.

Leave the butter in the fridge. Cut small amounts off for the butter dish as required.

[ElyDave]

And here someone has decided to turn the aircon off. Twat.

Today I have a breeze 

[essexian]

So, last week I had the summer bike almost completely rebuilt. Indeed the only things left of the bike as purchased were the frame, fork, handle bars, rear hanger, bottle cage and one used, repaired innertube (okay, that's not been on the bike for seven years but you get the idea).  I used the bike over weekend doing around 80km and lovely it was: really light and the new 34:32 smallest gear got me up the biggest hills around here up on Cannock Chase.

Pleased I was....apart from the strange rattle from the bottle cage. Upon checking (I've even brought new bottles....the old ones had turned green inside).... I have discovered that the cage has got a crack in it; so I will need to replace that!

Moving on...this evening off to the garage I went to get the bike out for an evening ride....only to discover the repaired innertube had gone down and would not pump back up..... And of course, I still haven't brought any new tubes 

So, what is going to go wrong next.... I have just ordered a new rear hanger and have a spare set of handle bars so I bet its the frame next

It would have been cheaper and less of a pain to buy a new bike.

[Guy]

Trying to get hold of anybody in the Accommodation Stores is like trying to contact the dead. Some people claim to have done it but you just *know* they're lying!

[Cudzoziemiec]

Bloody dentishtsh and their anaeshticsh.

[T42]

Local DIY supermarket has castors with brakes and castors without.  New mobile bench I'm building needs two of each.

Naturally, the castors with brakes are different heights from those without.

[Quisling]

My central heating system has started losing pressure over the last few days and now needs topping up nearly every day.  There is undoubtedly a leak.But not anywhere visible inside or out.

Since Christmas I've refitted a bathroom and a kitchen and moved radiators AND REPLASTERED.  You can guess where the leak will turn out to be already.  It's going to be in a carefully constructed box hiding pipes or above a new ceiling or under the new bathroom floor.

I think I'm just going to have to keep topping up the system until the leak becomes obvious.

[matthew]

I had something similar and found that the pressure relief valve by the cylinder was passing. Unfortunately the plumber had installed the tun dish off the vertical so it missed the lower cup and drenched the floor.

[andytheflyer]

I think I'm just going to have to keep topping up the system until the leak becomes obvious.

........ and, as ever, the wettest patch on your ceiling below will not be where the leak is.  It will be a couple of joists over, and a metre uphill, and simply gravitated to the wettest patch.  So you'll remove the wettest bit of ceiling and then have to go off on a wild goose chase until the real source becomes apparent.

DAMHIKT.  I've just capitulated after 5 pinhole leaks in the copper pipes in our hall ceiling over the past 10 years, and hence 5 repairs and re-skims.   I've now got a totally destroyed hall ceiling but at least the new, shiny white plastic 15mm pipes look smart.  And can I get a plasterer to commit to a date to come and make good?  Can't even get them to return my calls.......

[Kim]

It could be that the expansion vessel has suffered a visit from the p*nct*r* fairy (or just needs a bit more air), causing water to escape from the pressure relief valve when hot, rather than a leak (or fault in the relief valve).

[runsoncake]

Oiks that derail threads and then continue off topic chat when other users are clearly back on topic. Obviously not something that happens in this parish, but all too prevalent in the wider web world.

[Feanor]

I had something similar and found that the pressure relief valve by the cylinder was passing. Unfortunately the plumber had installed the tun dish off the vertical so it missed the lower cup and drenched the floor.

Yes, pressure loss through the PRV is quite common, and the standard test for this is to tape a poly bag over the end of the exterior vent pipe for a couple of days and see if it fills with water.

Usual reason for the PRV lifting is loss of expansion volume as Kim mentions.
Monitor the pressure rise as the system heats up, after topping up to 1 bar from cold.
If it's getting up to 3 bar or more, then that's the problem.
However, even after fixing this it may continue to leak.

Cheap boiler PRVs often never re-seal properly after lifting, particularly if the water is dirty.
Some plumbers will use the PRV as a means of de-pressurising the system.
I never do this, because as I say, the damn thing will drip for ever more.
I bleed it down elsewhere.

[Mr Larrington]

Lt. Col. Larrington (retd.) CH turned out to be gaining air - and losing water - through the magnetic gunge filter in a difficult-to-reach part of the loft.  If anyone ever needs to know how to change one, I'm the chap to tell you to GAMI.

[Tim Hall]

It could be that the expansion vessel has suffered a visit from the p*nct*r* fairy (or just needs a bit more air), causing water to escape from the pressure relief valve when hot, rather than a leak (or fault in the relief valve).

I was plagued by a suspected banjaxed pressure relief valve and/or expansion vessel.  Replaced the PRV to no avail, pressure in expansion vessel was fine.  Much head scratching and a spot of fault finding pin pointed the culprit as being a crud filled flexi hose connecting the expansion vessel to the rest of the system.  So much crud was present that the expansion vessel was effectively isolated, so no expansion could happen.   

[Si S]

The spark seems to have solved the problem of the lights not working in my office by removing them all.

[Adam]

Why do the train companies impose limits on buying train tickets?  You have to wait 3 minutes to click on the pay button since last buying a ticket, and you're limited to no more than 4 purchases a day.  It just means I have to log onto another train company website to finish getting all the tickets I need.  Annoying.

[Bledlow]

Bloody Mark Carney. Why does he go & talk up the pound when I'm due to be paid - in yen? Bah!

[CAMRAMan]

Ms CamraWoman: No, the kitten should not have dumped in the washing basket. However, I did warn you the other day that he was shaping up to do so and advised you to turn the basket over, just in case. You didn't, he did!

[essexian]

Okay… just about to make myself very unpopular no doubt but frankly: “Dogs, in a domestic setting….why?!

To explain…. IMHO there are three types of dogs in domestic settings. Those who are well controlled and do as their owners bid and cause no problems: just like the three Labradors which live in the end house and which their owner takes for a walk each morning…well they walk, he does in his mobility scooter. They are no trouble at all.

Then there are the “status dogs”. You know the type: “Hard dogs for Hard Men….” Apart from the fact that while the dog could rip your face off, the bloke owning it is likely to be out of their face on dope, out of work and out of brain cells. Sadly, this being the home of the Staffie,  just about every second dog around here is one of them. Why do they upset me so? Well last evening I had to chase one of the little f8cks off of my land where it was chasing one of my cats. No doubt if it had caught the cat it would have killed it. So, out with a hammer I went , (actually I went armed only with an angry look upon my face) only for the dog to run back to its thick necked owner…..actually no, back to the 8 year old who was out at 10pm walking it on her own.  Like WTF. 

Finally, there are the “yappers” like Digger from two doors down. Digger is another dog who has chased my cats and resulted in a verbal fight between me and its owners and them not talking to me since….its been lovely. The subject of todays rant however, it the useless lump of fur which lives in the houses behind ours. It owners seem not to care for it so its thrown into the garden at any time, night or day, rain or shine to yap away until it can yap no more. Not the dogs fault, I can hear you say….well yes I will concede that but after being woken up at 4am this morning due to its  yapping, it’s hard to want to do anything other than a major operation to remove it’s voice box.

So, dogs in a domestic setting. Unless you can care, control and keep your mutt quiet, don’t have them!

Regards Ian….staff member to 5 domestic cats and feeder of five strays, all of whom have been trained to poo in Diggers owners’ front garden while he is watching but is behind their gates so can’t chase them. 

[TheLurker]

On wednesday an unexpected gift arrived, a Sopwith F1*, aka Camel, kit and there was great joy at Maison Lurker, well there was in my part of it, MrsLurker wasn't _quite_ so joyful; strange that.  This morning I thought I'd make a start on it hoping to have it built before the good flying weather ends and I fish out my building board and it is... warped.  Bugger.  Unlikely to be able to sort out a replacement for a week or two. Double bugger. 


*For those that may be interested look up the Vintage Model Company.  I recommend them to anyone else, like me, fully embarked on his or her second childhood.

[andytheflyer]

This morning I thought I'd make a start on it hoping to have it built before the good flying weather ends and I fish out my building board and it is... warped.  Bugger.  Unlikely to be able to sort out a replacement for a week or two. Double bugger. 

You have my sympathy. I'd lend you one of mine but at 4ft by 2ft I can hardly lift them (old worktop plus a couple of layers of cork tiles) let alone send one to you!

But thanks for that link - didn't know of them.  Are you going to do  build diary?

[CAMRAMan]

Ms CamraWoman: No, the kitten should not have dumped in the washing basket. However, I did warn you the other day that he was shaping up to do so and advised you to turn the basket over, just in case. You didn't, he did!

...and repeat...

[TheLurker]

You have my sympathy. I'd lend you one of mine but at 4ft by 2ft I can hardly lift them (old worktop plus a couple of layers of cork tiles) let alone send one to you!

But thanks for that link - didn't know of them.  Are you going to do  build diary?

Thanks for the thought, but for the small fry that I build 4'x2' is probably a wee bit on the big side.

Diary? Yeah, same as I did for VMC Osprey.  Here

[andytheflyer]

Diary? Yeah, same as I did for VMC Osprey.  Here

Excellent, a lovely, simple model, flies well too!  Takes me back!  I'm just starting my 6 yo grandson off on the Guillows kits - he lives in Canada so the encouragement is a bit remote, but at least he's learning new skills.