What prevented you from working on your bikes today

[RichardL]

It's taken a while to come to this realization. During the "Stay Home" order the line between time off work and time on work is blurred such that going to the garage for fun becomes a question of "shouldn't I be working?"

Richard L.

[Topdad]

Hi Richard , I've a stack of things to do but it's taking ages for me to do them. This work will interfer ! Mostly with the bike it's my inability to get to it properly . Sue as been "dumping" all kinds of stuff in there ,on Sunday I found a light unit and display stand from our daughters ,I know that cos last time I saw it it was on her ceiling , what the feck is it doing by the side of my bike ,oh it was in the main loft in the way so I put it there for you to put in the garage loft and that's the least of it .In said garage loft I find 3 suitcases full of clothes a whole pile of star wars ,lthat will be the g/kids but no its my Son keeping cos they will be worth a fortune in a few yrs time and he hasn't the room , ARRRRh ,going to  bite the bullet and sort it this weekend then I can start on the Laylande at the top of the garden....deep joy!!

[bsa-bill]

pile of star wars

Yes one of those stopped me getting anything a couple of nights ago, I saw it one the telly programme list and could not remember seeing it ( was one of four with Chris Pine)  and indeed it seemed new to me, must have missed those ones (or memory's dumped it) quite enjoy it

[wortluck]

What stopped me working on the bike - the bloody computer crashed and locked me out of my Microsoft account.   Had to find and initiate a system restore which took about four hours.   Knackered again now so having to chill in the sunshine - no beer yet, unfortunately.

N/B - sorted the computer though.

[Kickaha]

No parts, ordered some valves from SRM, took one day to be picked up and delivered to the International mail centre, it has then taken 20 days for them to get to NZ, now I just have to wait and see how long to get from Auckland to the South Island

[berger]

now who else hoovers out their garage I have been very busy hoovering out two garages with a super dooper jcb mega beast thing I acquired from a mates house clearance.  The garages were over run with super spiders webs and years of crud, the reason being so I could treat all the timber with woodworm killer. the joists in one garage were that saggy i had to put two supporting  beams in because the little blighters were so close they were shaking hands. They were riddled with exit holes and entry holes so now the job is done I can get back to putting betsy beezers clutch back on . another job on the list of many is van front suspension and central heating coil in the hot water tank to de scale because I have no hot water unless I turn all radiators off, if must be crudded up with salts because it would rather heat the radiators than  transfer heat to the tank water. mind you it is about 50 years old . I have a plan drain it take out the plug that could be used for electric element and see if I can brush some industrial strength costic soda on to it I also acquired off a mate. one things for sure I am not having a plumber trying to sell me a whole new system, especially after flushing all the rads and boiler and they work perfectly, so mr hot water tank costic it is for you mate

[RDfella]

Way to go, berger. Some tradesmen are good value and do good work, but some really take the mickey. I had a new shed built to replace my old one around six years ago. It’s 180sqm. As I was renovating the house at the time, I asked an electrical firm to quote me on electrical installation. Incoming switchfuse boxes, four tube lights, three double 13A sockets and two 3 phase sockets. Quote was over £10,000. Did the job myself in a day and a half. Materials were around £400. If you have to call in tradesmen for everything that needs attention these days, you’d better have a few quid.
As for woodworm, it’s when they stop holding hands that the structure falls down.

[olev]

Another DIY electrician hey.
I hope you have the place protected by ELCB's.
It won't stop your shed from burning down but should prevent someone from being electrocuted.
That's providing your earthing is up to scratch of course.
cheers

[Black Sheep]

There are tradesmen and tradesmen... I bought a new house and the main earth was to the metal supports for the GRP bath, not the water pipes (which in itself ain't such a good idea). Dearie me.
I too do almost all of my electrical work. My house and shed both have smoke alarms and extinguishers just in case.    

[Swarfcut]

bergs. Hope you've checked the motorised valve that diverts hot boiler water from the primary heating circuit to the indirect cylinder is working, not a motor failure, not jammed or clogged, and that hot water is actually passing into the tank. These valves usually have a manual over ride lever. Lots of info on YouTube, etc.  Some valve motors can be changed without disturbing the pipework.

    To clean the heat exchanger, I reckon it's acid you need to remove limescale. Try some lavvy limescale cleaner. If that works, brick cleaner (hydrochloric acid) should do the job on the large scale. There's probably a horror show in that tank. Dilute it down, it will eat limescale, the tank, and you! Be careful, don't want your drinking career to be shortened...... Next thing is pinhole leak from the bottom of the tank and bigger expense.

 Swarfy.

[berger]

swarfy it is like a good old fashioned solid fuel fire my system, rise and fall hot water system and  the central heating has a circulating pump which of course  when on transfers heat from the coil in the tank to the cylinder water. over the years when just the rise and fall hot water system is on because of the horror I might find in the tank it doesn't transfer enough heat to the cylinder water and the nearest radiator gets hotter than the water. it has been getting more of a problem over the years. it used to heat the water and when the water was hot the excess heat would also heat the nearest radiator. now I have got to the point where to get proper hot water in the tank I have to turn off the rads. if I don't the nearest rad gets hotter than the water. if I don't find a horror story in the tank I will be thinking there is a problem in the rise and fall side of the system, over the years I have cleaned out and pressurised the system with lengths of hose all over the shop and spent 3 days on it. everything on the central heating side was then 1oo% better and stopped the kettleling affect, I have even had occasions before I did this that when bleeding a radiator I have set fire to the gas coming out, must be the old cast iron boiler cracking off hydrogen,[ a chemist will know] but I have always had this slight heat transfer to nearest rad or the next nearest when that is turned off. it is now at the point of red hot rad and luke warm water. investigation pending and I appreciate your input cheers

[RDfella]

Olev - yep, had a few lekky 'pokes' from my machinery over the years (wiring done by professionals). Like using earth to get one phase from three.  To me the scariest part of wiring is the EU change of colour codes. Colours used to be bright - now they're pastel, making mistakes in low-light conditions more likely. Worse is changing black to blue, red to brown, blue to grey and yellow to black. Note black used to be neutral but is now live. Just because someone is 'professional' doesn't mean they're competent. Like the guy who rewired a friend's (prefessional) garage recently and wrecked the two-pillar lift because he'd mixed the phases up. And as for plumbers - I've seen enough rubbish work over the years that I wouldn't let a plumber on my property.

[chaterlea25]

Hi All,
Berger,
it would seem more likely that it's the inside of the heating coil pipe is clogged up?
Black sheep,
The earths to the bath leg was a requirement since the days of cast iron baths, those and the earths to pipework are called bonding wires, they are all connected to a central point on the dist. board  , then a wire to the earth rod, and if in a "neutralised" network also connected to the incoming network  neutral

John

[berger]

hi john I doubt it is central heating piping or coil blockage because I sorted all that over a 3 day extensive work program and it works fine.  its pushing all the heat to a radiator without the central heating pump turned on and not exchanging heat to the water so I think because its got worse over the years it is build up on the outside of the tank copper coil that also feeds the rads. I will hopefully be finding out when we get more sunshine

[Black Sheep]

The earth to the bath support was indeed the main earth. Beautifully ineffective as grp bath was on chipboard floor. No earthing rod in the system. Distribution board caught fire. I did call in a qualified sparky to lend a hand. All rather horrifying. Window frames rotted in 2 years. Harling fell off the wall. Kitchen floor collapsed the week before I put the house on the market.
Was pleased to escape, especially as the present place has much more room for bikes.