cuthound
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Posts posted by cuthound
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What was unreliable?
The principle - or the engineering of the particular models?
The engineering on these models. They were built by a company called Stirling Denmark, who own the European rights for them. They are an offshoot of Copenhagen University.
They were not fully developed before being put on the market. One problem after another. Piston seals failing, stainless steel flues corroding. Induction motors generating high voltages when abruptlyvshut down which burns out the control electronics. The list went on and on. Solve one problem and then find another.
The company I used to work for installed, operated and maintained them, and sold the electrical and heat outputs at a fixed price. When they didn't work my company paid the difference between the agreed output price and the supermarkets "mains" gas and electricity costs. Hence the reason why they went belly up shortly after the manufacturer failed.
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Internal combustion engines are probably on their way out as it is virtually impossible to ensure proper combustion within the confines of the cylinder head of a reciprocating engine. They will never be as efficient as an engine using constant external combustion, such as the Stirling cycle engine. These are most efficient at constant speed, so rely upon efficient energy storage and transfer, which is one reason why they have not been properly developed for modern usage.
Stirling engines are woefully inefficient, circa 16%.
In my last job, I installed these at two supermarkets. Each Stirling engine generated a maximum of 35kW of electricity whilst heating 250kW of water with its waste heat. The fuel was locally sourced wood chip.
The hot water provided heating and domestic hot water to the store and ran absorption or adsorption fridges for the chilled goods.
Great idea in theory but so unreliable it took my employer down.
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Those kind of reports (eg xx increases risk by y%) are extremely unhelpful without context and often little more use than adding to the researcher's citation list but little to the corpus of useful knowledge.
The missing component is the baseline frequency. If the risk without is 1 in a million, increasing it by 18% is unlikely to make most people think it worth changing life style. If however, it starts as 1 in 10 chance then an 18% increase is significant and worth heeding.
One day proper statistics will be a fundamental requirement for all sicentists. (Someone once did an analysis of the statistics quoted in academic papers and found that a very, very high proportion were invalid, which is not the same as saying that their conclusion was wrong. Just not justified by the cited evidence)
My favourite statistic is:
"90% of statistics are made up on the spur of the moment"
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Thanks guys,
I'll double check the small print in the insurance and investigate thermostatically controlled oil filled radiators.
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I am considering using a thermostatically controlled heater on Delta Queen, to protect against frost.
The boat is a 60 foot trad stern.
Would one 500 watt heater be enough, or would two be better?
I am thinking of using these:
Thanks in advance for the help;
Alan
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I am considering fitting a lockable fuel cap to Delta Queen.
The following have been suggested, and I was wondering if anyone has any experience of any of these, so I can decide which one to fit?
My initial preference is for the Midland Chandlers one, as the lock is in the horizontal plane, rather than the vertical plane of the other two, which I fear may result in water ingress seizing the lock.
Thanks for the advice,
Alan
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Good suggestion, join TODAY!
What is their policy regarding faults apparent or developing at the time of joining? It must happen all the time.
MtB
You have to be a member for 30 days before the financial contribution bit kicks in.
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Craig surveyed my boat. Very professional, very helpful and included a BSS in the price.
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I think the clue lies here. A sensible flow of water is needed to cool an engine.
One of my boats is raw water cooled and I happened to measure the flow from the output the other day. I can fill a pint glass from the raw water outlet in about 20 seconds with the engine speed control set to run at normal cruising speed.
I suggest you try this too and post the result....
MtB
Blimey, you must have been desperate for a drink!
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I have never fallen in the cut in 41 years and neither has Mrs Hound in 26 years. Still plenty of time to do so yet...
I fell in the Thames when learning to canoe in the early 70's one March. Bloody freezing. I was wearing a woollen jumper and when I got out is had stretched way below my knees.
Funniest one I ever say was my youngest son, when aged about 8. He was standing on the bank, with one foot on the shoelace of his other foot. He tried to step onto the boat, but his foot stopped going forward when the free part of the shoelace ran out. He fell between the boat and the bank. Luckily I was on the rear deck and caught him before he went in too far. I lifted him onto the deck and his legs were covered in weed. I laughed and her went mad at me!
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On our last shared ownership boat, which was managed by a commercial company, one of the owners agreed to be the licence contact point, and the boat had a private licence.
My understanding is that only shared ownership boats where the company retains a share (such as the Challenger agreement, where 12 owners had 8% shares and Challenger retained 4% required a hire license & BSS). Boats with 12 owners, who each own one twelfth, with the supplying/managing company not owning any of the boat (such as the Ownerships scheme) could have a private licence & BSS, provided gone owner agreed to be the contact point for BW/CRT.
Edited for phat phingers
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I would recommend that Chop uses the small claims court to recover the cost of the survey. The fee, if I recall correctly it is £35 and the process very easy to follow.
In my case the other party failed to turn up, so I was awarded costs.
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Brilliant
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Just had a navy boat with"Nelson, Portsmouth" on the side go past my end of garden mooring so fast it was leaving a breaking wave high enough to wet the paving at the edge of my mooring!
Four lads on deck, all with drinks in hand and not a yardarm in sight.
Even though Delta Queen is secured by four lines, two of which are springs, she pitched violently as they went past.
Next bridge is in a blind bend. Hope they don't meet anyone coming the other way there.
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Mrs Cuthound & I have voted.
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Bumped again to keep the three near to the top.
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Let's hope she is found soon - safe and well.
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And of course, the K&A changed from "remainder" to "cruising" status. The only example to date if I recall correctly.
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When leaving a lock, instead of going to the lock landing to pick up the crew, we hover in the jaws of the lock. The crew close the gates and get on. Much quicker.
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We "did" the K&A in 2000. Took us about 5 hours going down on our own, with most locks against us. Coming up we breasted up with another boat and flew up in about 3 1/2 hours.
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I have put my CD collection on to the hard drive of my laptop (converted into MP3's). This then connects into the boats radio/CD player via its "aux" input. (You could also use an IPod or similar rather than a laptop). Saves loads of space.
Missing teenager - Hanwell, Brentford, Kew area
in General Boating
Posted
Bump.
Let's hope there is some good news soon.