jonathanA

Must be why no one ever uses it and its covered with Coshh warning notices... It was originally designed for use on nuclear missiles so it really IS rocket science....

WD40 should only be used as a freeing agent or for what it was designed for (dispersing water) It wrecks everything else it comes into contact with. It will quieten the fan down for a while until it wrecks the bearings! I used to love it when I got clocks in for repair that had been sprayed with it 6 months earlier. Brass was corroded and covered with a green jelly! Well i have to say I disagree based on experience with these posts, the fact is we are assuming the fans motor is already goosed (hence the noise) so WD or anything else similar isn't going to make it worse. we are talking about a cheap and cheerful probably chinese dc fan so not going to have most sophisticated engineered bearings and will undoubtedly be a few quid to replace. Personally I'm a big fan of WD40 and used sensibly its wonderful around the house and boat, It doesn't corrode brass or in my experience attack anything plastic, but as always there will be exceptions and no doubt there will be certain types of plastic that do react to WD40(or similar) many years ago I had the cooling fans on one of my DEC minicomputers hard drives replaced- (when these things took up a room and the large at the time 500Mb drive was the size of a washing machine). The very nice dual 110VAC fans were too good to throw away just because one was noisy- I fitted them to a Bench Power supply I was building at the time to cool the mosfets and one squirt of wd 40 (20 yars ago) and they've run sweet as a nut ever since... so I guess the OP will have to make his own decision, but if the fans are definitely cream crackered either put up with it or indeed there is only one sure fix and thats replacement.

IIRC from previous posts stirling are helpful and say send it back to us and we'll take a look it for you for our standard fee of £xxx. Better to whip the case off and get the fan details yourself I expect, if your familiar with the sharp end of a screwdriver WD40 is oil in a volatile base, so might not be too bright to squirt gallons of it into a live box of tricks unless you want a bright flash of flame as the solvent ignites (i'm speaking from experience here, but a carefully applied spray to the fan when the unit is switched off should be ok.

I found these people competitive for spares when i needed some new firebicks and a grate for ours http://stores.ebay.co.uk/The-Solid-Fuel-Advisory-Service?_trksid=p4340.l2563 no doubt there are many other suppliers... ETA- brilliant little stove btw !

a quick 'squirt' of the vacuum cleaner might help if there is a build up of dust too

tricky one... I think I'd have been fairly laid back about it assuming he was pretty sharpish winding and his crew were working the lock efficiently and not faffing... does it really matter in the grand scheme of things I would probably think.. SWMBO on the other hand..... suspect if he had the 'this is what I'm doing attitde' he'd have faced the 'wrath of ruth' - no need for words the malevolent stare that curdles milk at 30 paces would have been enough.... if there was a queue and I'd been waiting my turn I'd have been in end of....

another vote for collidge and Partners. I looked at the £60 breakdown cover and decided that made a lot of sense and offered really good value compared to RCR cover have not had to make a claim though, but the policies seem pretty straightforward which bodes well.

or indeed spare wires from the original wiring loom to allow for 'optional extras'. My boat has all the wiring for oil pressure and water temperature gauges, for instance but the starter panel is the cheaper version without them.

here's a SG chart i use, I'm sure I lifted it off this site, so apologies if someone recognises it as their own work... State of Charge Specific Gravity 100% charged 1.265 75% charged 1.239 50% charged 1.2 25% charged 1.17 Fully discharged 1.11 subtract 0.004 for each 5°C above or add 0.004 for each 5°C below 25°C. Do this for each of the cells of the battery. One tip when using the standard bulb type hydrometers that my old physics teacher Mr Limb taught me, is to flick the thing with your finger to shake off any bubbles and make sure the float isn't sticking to the side... I used the same technique for checking the two banks of washing machine sized 2v cells used by the GPO in my youth every month....

I know we've wandered off the original OP's topic on to this notorious ex-ex-rev, who I've never met and hope never to meet.... however it does reinforce what a good natured lot we are, in any other walk of life this chap would surely have been lamped !!!

in terms of the loose wire, if as higgs suggests there aren't any obvious terminals it could have come off then i would suggest its probably the earth return for the temperature sender in the picture. its common for marine engines to have insulated temperature/oil warning light switches or gauge senders, rather than use the engine block as the 'earth'. they are often two terminal rather than single terminal as in your picture. possible that someone has swapped it out previously. make the bare end safe and try the engine worth putting a voltmeter on it to see if it comes live with the ignition on or when you try the glowplugs. the wire doesn't look big enough for glow plug supply, so I'd bet on it being the earth for the temperature sender (make safe and ignore). You could try tracing it back to see where it goes if you can.

try these guys. http://www.gscontrols.com/ helpful and will make up something for you if needed. They seem quite popular generally. I've used their DC and AC panels and they are fine. They have a separate resettable circuit breaker and a switch. I'm suspicious of combined switch/circuit breakers as 'rocker operated' circuit breakers are not designed to be used as switches and usually have a limited mechanical life. And obviously you dont want to be fumbling about replacing fuses in the dark...

Hmmm - presumably and I might be being a bit controversial here, because you don't know what the consequences are... following the logic of the previous postings about PACE and a 'no comment' interview if you did refuse to disclose any details or buy a licence there'd be no discernible consequences unless an inspector or the rozza's were called and by the time they'd arrive you'd be off down the river although wouldn't be hard to intercept you at the next lock.... I wonder if there is a legal obligation to provide your name and address if requested - There's quite a bit of strange law around public transport and not having the right ticket etc... but one thing thats always an offence is to give false details. I suppose their might be something along those lines so yes you could refuse to buy licences and answer questions but might be obliged to provide a name and address - way beyond my knowledge though.

Get a proper marine ply, from a timber merchant, it won't cost that much more than the poor quality stuff you can pick up at B&Q/DIY Sheds. Exterior grade/WBP and 'hexagrip' will all delaminate surprisingly quickly if exposed to the weather, although sealing the edges and treating it will help. Recycled plastic sheeting might fit the bill eBay link I have no experience of it but it sounds ok, don't know how grippy it is though I've used the recycled plastic 'planking' on jetties and notice BW use it too. Its definitely better than wooden planking for jetties and the like, but I've never seen the sheets used, I suspect it will bend a little more than ply so would need some support if spanning a largish gap. looks interesting though might try to find a source a bit nearer to me and try it.

hi, anyone at/planning to be at the IWA campaign thing at Preston this bank holiday weekend ? Trying to decide whether its worth visiting (not by boat unfortunately) ? scant information on the IWA website....

when we bought our boat (from harral btw), we were happy to pay a £1000 deposit, to secure the boat whilst we had the BSS done (as the current BSS status was uncertain at the time). It was a simple document that gave us a 'get out' if the BSS/survey indicated problems. the brokers agreed to show the boat as sold so no more viewings/offers. Seemed perfectly reasonable to me. The last house I sold I wouldn't take it off the market until the buyers had a survey and I knew that they were serious and also weren't going to come back asking for reductions etc as a result of the survey. There is a slightly different issue that cotswoldman alludes to about whether you want to pay the full purchase price to the broker and what happens if the broker goes bust before paying the seller....

no a capacitor in series would stop DC, but pass RF. I'd think if it was to do with trimming then a coil (inductance) would be more likely in series. (which would pass DC and pass continuity test) I think its more likely its a duff cable as I can't think why it needs any 'trickery' but perhaps there is a reason and someone will be along to enlighten us all. Thanks Tony for reminding us about the lost art of 'trimming' car radios, fond memories of thrusting a screwdriver through the tape opening to twiddle the trimming capacitor at the back of the tape drive.... There's your answer OP - forget the radio and stick with your collection of C90 cassettes...

permits ? - weren't these abandoned years ago ? I can find no mention of these on the CaRT website all it says is : "You can also take to the towpath and see where it leads you. While the majority of our waterways are open to cyclists, please keep an eye out for ‘no cycling’ signs along the way. Not all towpaths are open for cycling, either because of the width or surface, or because cycles would cause a real danger to other users" it goes on to talk about considerate cycling here's the link http://canalrivertrust.org.uk/news-and-views/features/cycling-hints-and-tips

and if you want to see said statue then its lying with a load of waste in the BW yard at Rosegrove... must get a better picture and write an angry letter to the local rag complaining about the waste of public money etc. etc..... quite how it ended up in burnley I don't know....

oh come on janet it not that bad.... (or is it a cunning ploy to keep all them southeren folk down south... having said that here's a picture of some of the clutter I got out of the canal at burnley one sunday last year (on my own) - although Ian was helming so not quite on my own. and yes that is a 8x4 sheet of (stinking) plywood...

I understand the sentiment here and its clearly a matter of personal preference, but I admit to being a little unsure how starting an engine from a starter battery electrically isolated (to all intents and purposes) from the domestic bank running an inverter can jigger said inverter.... Yes i know alternator 'spikes' and all that but again I would argue that any 12v inverter designed to operate in automotive/marine 12v system should be able to cope or its not fit for purpose... maybe one of the cheapy maplin cigarette lighter type jobs - probably worth treating them with kid gloves but then they are as cheap as chips anyway... I'm not saying your right or wrong, just an interesting point, I think I could see the issue if the inverter was running a washing machine or heavy load then you start the engine then i think I'd say you are going to put something under stress briefly until everything settles down, but otherwise I really don't see the point (personally and just my opinion)

I think I'm right in saying that Lake windermere has a police team and a dedicated lake warden. The lake wardens launch has a marine volvo V8 and having been on that I can vouch it doesn't take long to reach any part of the lake....

the other 'key' you might need is the one for water/diesel filling caps or pumpout fittings (if you have a PO bog !). one of these : http://www.midlandchandlers.co.uk/Products/DeckHullFittings/DeckFillersSockets/FillerPumpOutKeys/AS042.aspx saves trying to find a big screwdriver or blunt chisel when your trying to fill up with water/diesel

did the switch not come with a little bit of paper showing the terminals and what they do. it should show which terminals are connected in which position. they are not always easy to interpret ! a picture on here might help. Yes a multimeter on ohms or continuity tster could be used to to test which contacts are connected in which switch position. It might be worth finding someone more experienced to help out as if your not able to sort out the switch are you sure you'd be able to wire it up safely ? Pesonally I prefer to just plug the inverter into the mains socket, then only one thing can be plugged in at a time! how doe that work or am I being thick!!! not very clear what the poster was getting at - he means that instead of a switch, you could have a plug on your wiring to boats 240v system and either plug it into the output of your inverter or conenct to your shoreline socket. a lot of people do this as its fool proof, you can only have either shore power or inverter supplying the boat and its not possible to connect both at the same time. in other words doing exactly what your trying to do with your rotary switch but with physical plugs and sockets.

Most standard automotive senders are 1/8 NPT which is very similar to 1/8 BSP in size, but the threads are different/incompatible if that helps. I wanted to add a gauge to my lister engine, and used a 't piece' to retain the original warning light switch and add the new gauge sender - all 1/8 npt lots of adapters fittings via ebay and google, but I'd start with seeing if the sender fits 'as is' as a starting point.