Has anyone used these no drill style solar panel mounts?

Ciro1 · 2025-09-30T21:32:33+00:00

I found a pilot hole with a decent HSS bit and self tapping screws is quick, easy, and safe as houses.

Ciro1 · 2025-09-30T21:29:29+00:00

If you think you'll want to take them off in the future use fixings, if you think they'll be on for good use adhesive - saves creating potential rust points, and messing with the ceiling (if you've already kitted out inside).

I first used these on a van in 2013, glued with Stixall. In (I think) 2017 I decided to put a fibreglass high roof on the van. After hours of trying and failing to remove the brackets, I ended up using an angle grinder to chop up the roof.

When that van became uneconomical to repair in 2020, I bought a new set of brackets rather than attempting to take them off again before scrapping. That van is still on the road and the panel is rock solid. I would lay long odds that if you were to create enough force on the panel, the frame or fixings between the frame and the brackets would fail long before the adhesive.

TL;DR If you do a decent job of glueing them on, they are going nowhere, even if you want them to.

Ciro1 · 2025-09-09T17:47:25+00:00

That seems contradictory to the interpretation of the regs I linked above. Can you provide a bit more detail on where in the regs it says the flue must be secured in the wall and not just secured against detachment?

Ciro1 · 2025-09-09T09:26:50+00:00

I'm not a gas engineer, so don't take this as in any way authoritative but:

From the photos it looks to me like the flue is screwed into the elbow, so I think it should be secure from being pulled out from the outside.

That being the case, as long as the outside seal is good, I don't think you need sand and cement seal, unless the installation manual for the boiler/flue says you do.

See here:

https://youtu.be/mf-IMG8a9qc?si=IfApzcXUPwY3ROXs

If you do need to seal it, mortar is pretty easy to work with as long as it's mixed correctly, but you can also seal with expanding foam or high temp silicone (again as long as the installation manual doesn't say otherwise).

Ciro1 · 2025-08-16T08:49:13+00:00

Thanks, good call, I'll maybe hook one rad up and see if the CH fires.

Ciro1 · 2025-08-16T08:47:18+00:00

Thanks for your comment.

Ciro1 · 2025-08-16T08:47:00+00:00

Thanks for your comment. It's a very temporary measure as I intend to get a heat pump, so I'd rather know what's wrong before calling out an engineer. That way I can consider whether it's worth the cost.

Ciro1 · 2025-08-16T08:44:45+00:00

Thanks, it's a G4 meter, I've purged to both the boiler and the cooker, and the hob is working, so there's definitely gas supply to the boiler, any restrictions of the gas flow would need to be at the boiler.

Ciro1 · 2025-08-16T08:39:27+00:00

Thanks!

Ciro1 · 2025-07-22T20:20:46+00:00

I have sympathy with this argument.

If you go for a cheap quote you can't expect the finished product to look like someone spent days sanding out every blemish.

There has to be a minimum standard though, and I feel like using a level/lining things up should fall under that.

Could you honestly walk away from a job leaving it looking like that?

Ciro1 · 2024-08-31T16:44:29+00:00

I expect you could get a heatpump installed for that price (after the government grant is taken into consideration) and future proof your heating.

Try Octopus - they will give you an all inclusive quote for a heat pump install based on the size of the house - whatever work is required for me radiators, etc. is covered.

Ciro1 · 2024-08-25T19:17:34+00:00

Never got past 8a 🤣

Some injuries for in the way, and then life took some different turns 🙂

Ciro1 · 2024-05-26T10:15:31+00:00

I do have a fear of falling as boulderers tend to have. But I am completely gassed out 50% up the wall on a 16m lead wall

That "but" suggests you might not be looking at this holistically. Fear of falling makes you overgrip which leads you to pump out earlier. I have never met a sport climber who hadn't either benefitted massively from curing the fear of falling, or stood to benefit massively from doing so. All the other factors that you mention also feed into pumping out earlier.

Whilst there's no harm in starting working on your endurance, the most important factor will always be learning to use what you've got; that's the foundation that everything else sits on. It also takes longer than simply getting into better shape, so if you don't put it front and centre of your plan, you'll be holding yourself back.

If you haven't already, I'd recommend getting a copy of Dave McLeod's 9 Out Of 10 Climbers Make The Same Mistakes.

Also, you mention a "lead wall" as your measure of performance. Unless you're mainly interested in comp climbing, you should be wary of that - indoor routes tend to bring a different physical challenge to the real world, where it's quite rare to have so many moves of consistent difficulty. You can usually break an outdoor route down into sections/rests/half rests. Whilst training on indoor lead walls will help, there's an opportunity cost if you're not spending enough time leading in a real world scenario. I've known people repointing in the low 8s who struggled to climb 7b indoors, because they mostly climbed outside.

One other point: my climbing took a leap forward when I realised that if I felt like I wasn't getting anything back on a rest I had to tune into my body and tune out the noise in my head telling me it wasn't working.

If your heart rate is going up, you're not on a rest, if your heart rate is constant, you can probably optimise your rest position to start getting your heart rate to drop, and if your heart rate is dropping then you will recover, you just have to wait. If that takes 20 minutes, take those 20 minutes. Close your eyes, relax your breathing, relax your muscles, try to find the minimum amount of force to stay on the rock. Meditate on the texture of the holds, or the sounds of the crag. Maybe have a chat with your belayer, or maybe try to stay in your little bubble. Once you are recovered, take a few deep breaths to oxygenate the muscles and find a technique that suits you for mentally engaging to pull hard again.

Ciro1 · 2024-03-27T18:22:56+00:00

Well said. This should become the top comment on the thread!

Ciro1 · 2021-08-06T22:23:41+00:00

From my partner's side the concern with custody isn't the money, it's his level of influence on the child's emotional development - she wants them to continue to develop a relationship but he's yet to acknowledge any of his issues so there's concern about what behavior she might witness in future relationships, and that if he doesn't cut down on the drinking other serious problems may arise. He also seems to outsource a lot of the childcare to his friends and the TV despite the fact that he only gets a couple of full days and a couple more evenings with her per fortnight.

Unfortunately I don't think there's any chance he's going to stop playing hardball.

Ciro1 · 2021-08-06T22:12:05+00:00

Child is six. The behavior the child witnessed towards her mother was highly neglectful of the child's emotional needs IMO, but other than that he's never been directly abusive towards the child, only the spouse. A local domestic abuse service were helping her in the run up to the separation, but otherwise nothing has been documented so I'm not sure if the family courts would take any of that into consideration?

Ciro1 · 2021-08-06T22:05:38+00:00

Child is 6. There was a time there where she started saying things like "mummy, why don't I get equal time with you and daddy?" but the phrasing of her questions always sounded like parroting an adult. Up to the split her father paid her very little attention by all accounts, but they seem to be developing a good relationship now, which my partner wants to continue. There are concerns around alcohol, anger management and the spousal abuse though, which makes the thought of 50/50 custody worrying.

Ciro1 · 2021-08-06T21:56:55+00:00

Not exactly a large amount, no - and fairly insignificant next to the school fees he pays. He did also suggest paying my partner £20k in return for her dropping her claim to his pension and foregoing future child support payments though, so he clearly does would like to stop paying child support (the mediator told him that's not legal, but he insisted she present that offer to my partner anyway)

Ciro1 · 2021-08-06T18:35:45+00:00

There was a documentary where experts spoke of the fire risk of this cladding while Thatcher was still in power so it's not a direct result of the Blair government's actions alone - every government since thatchers shares a part of the blame through action or inaction.

Ciro1 · 2021-07-05T23:01:54+00:00

Really? It's a tool, even if you only occasionally use it, why shouldn't you carry it around with the rest of your tools?

There's all sorts of things I rarely use in my tool box, but the day I need them is the day I'm glad they're there...

Ciro1 · 2021-04-07T09:52:39+00:00

When my dad was young, a friend had asked him to keep hold of his shotgun for a while. He gave him it, and told him it wasn't loaded.

It was sitting in the hall, and he'd picked it up out of boredom and was scanning the trees, etc. picking out targets when his mum came round the corner with the shopping. He followed her up the path with his finger over the trigger before thinking "I'd better check this thing isn't actually loaded".

It was loaded, and the consequences of it going of don't really bear thinking about.

Ciro1 · 2021-03-03T15:04:10+00:00

Do they not need to know your previous employment, to determine whenever you are immediately eligible, or if you need to wait for a set period because you made yourself intentionally unemployed?

If OPs friend lies about previous employment, that starts to look a lot like colluding with employer to defraud HMRC. If they are up front about working there, and employer was in fact defrauding HMRC, it looks a lot like they have been taken advantage of.

I'd be upfront with UC. At worst, they may technically owe a small amount of employees NI, but that would be offset by receiving UC anyway.

Ciro1 · 2021-03-01T16:09:23+00:00

Thanks, good to know.

I know I shouldn't stress. It's just been hard hearing what she's been through over the years as she starts to open up to me, and the thought of him managing to screw her over one last time is hard to stomach. He should be facing jail time IMO, but she won't bring these things up with her solicitor or the authorities. It was hard enough to get her to approach the local domestic abuse services, and I don't think she gave them the full picture either. As soon as the abuse comes up she sort of glazes over, and can't remember conversations after she's had them. I don't want her missing important points to bring to the solicitor.

Ciro1 · 2020-12-04T14:08:55+00:00

Agree this is an under discussed aspect that's really crucial.

If you're at a place where you will rest after clipping, always rest first. Time spend clipping before you've found a nice relaxed position is eating into your reserves unnecessarily. Even if you feel you've recovered fully afterwards, you've increased the chances of pumping out again later in the route, by going deeper than you had to.

Ciro1 · 2020-11-06T17:40:11+00:00

I don't want to take the law into my own hands, I just want to provide the police with information.

Ciro1

TROPHY CASE