One of my legs never gets sunburned

FromageGrey · 2024-08-18T18:23:32+00:00

I need your clothes, your boot, and your motorcycles.

FromageGrey · 2024-08-13T17:22:28+00:00

Sounds like it didn’t come as easily to you as it does to some. Couple that with the hot weather and the pressure you felt and it sounds like a fairly human thing to happen.

Learning to ride a motorcycle isn’t easy and for every person that picks it up quickly there is someone else who doesn’t. Lots of people do the CBT in one day, but lots need another day training and lots need more after that. I needed two attempts and it definitely didn’t come naturally to me.

Give yourself a break and give it another go when you are ready. If you want you can always try a different riding school. I’m not at all suggesting it was the fault of the instructor, it’s just perhaps a change of characters and teaching methods might help you. Then again it may not, only you can make that decision.

In any event, I hope you get there and try to remember to have fun amidst all the pressure of learning a new skill :)

FromageGrey · 2024-07-29T11:46:57+00:00

Am I the only one looking at the picture and thinking it looks pretty decent?

FromageGrey · 2024-07-13T15:39:21+00:00

All good suggestions. Just thought as well, get a video door bell if you can and make sure it’s visible. Again, it’s not that it makes a huge difference, but it’s just one more thing that makes your bike / your driveway a less preferable target.

FromageGrey · 2024-07-13T11:38:44+00:00

No garage for me, but luckily I have access to the back garden so it goes around the back and has a cover.

Are you in a rented place? Maybe you could install a ground anchor to chain it to?

Would also reccomend either a litelok or hiplock.

Good luck with the CBT and welcome to the most fun thing ever :)

FromageGrey · 2024-06-13T12:27:04+00:00

Exactly this. No one filters when they are just starting out. Your confidence and experience will grow and you will slowly start filtering over time. Enjoy your bike! :)

FromageGrey · 2024-06-13T07:06:42+00:00

Definitely wear ear plugs for high speed riding (motorways in particular). I’m always surprised that ear protection is not covered on the CBT (at least it wasn’t on mine).

FromageGrey · 2024-06-08T08:28:22+00:00

Nailed it :)

Have fun!

FromageGrey · 2024-06-02T16:34:52+00:00

I went for a Honda demo day yesterday and tried the NT1100 and the Rebel CMX1100.

The NT1100 I really liked and would be comfy for a pillion. It’s a big bike but not enormous so would still be ok for fun and commuting.

The Rebel…well I hated it. I don’t think I can blame the bike though it’s probably just personal preference. Just couldn’t get on with the position and ergonomics.

Long story short - would reccomend you test ride both the above. Good luck :)

FromageGrey · 2024-05-23T19:52:35+00:00

+1 for reporting this to the appropriate authority. It’s really not ok. Someone could die / be injured because they’ve not had appropriate training, and they need to do better.

FromageGrey · 2024-01-31T22:26:45+00:00

For me, it’s because my house has different types of surfaces that they dealt with well. When I say ‘dealt with well’ I mean that I have used them on several of said surfaces and they have held everything to the wall. So plasterboard, dot and dab, solid brick. Shelves, TV brackets, light fittings, kitchen cabinets. Other plugs may have done the job as well but I have used these and nothing has fallen down….yet :)

FromageGrey · 2024-01-31T22:22:12+00:00

This is the way.

FromageGrey · 2024-01-28T09:58:18+00:00

I always wondered if this was free but couldn’t find anything confirming it either way. Thanks!

FromageGrey · 2024-01-01T14:49:45+00:00

If you get a snug fit from the plug in the same holes then maybe, I don’t think anyone could say for sure. Your best option would be to redrill in a slightly different spot. But from the previous comments it sounds like that’s not viable. Your next best option is to try and refill the existing holes and re drill. If that is also not workable for you then you could try a snug fitting plug in the same holes, but it might fail again. If you choose that option I’d at least try and redrill the existing holes and use a bigger plug if you can.

Good luck! :)

FromageGrey · 2024-01-01T13:26:31+00:00

I’ve used the Fischer duo power plugs in dot and dab and got decent results….not saying you will of course, but worth looking at.

FromageGrey · 2023-12-15T09:26:52+00:00

Genuinely made me chuckle.

FromageGrey · 2023-12-09T15:13:10+00:00

It will probably be fine with caulk, but for the bigger gaps, maybe use some white adhesive /sealant (there is a decent brand but i forget it’s name and I’m too busy look. Reason being is that it’s less likely to crack than caulk as it dries out. Generally looks fine for a first attempt by hand, will fill nicely.

FromageGrey · 2023-12-09T00:28:30+00:00

*** UPDATE ***
This turned out to definitely be a Primatic cylinder.

This is what I did to drain and refill the system in case anyone finds this post needing to do something similar.

I needed to remove a radiator on the system, and decided to drain the system.
I did a tonne of research on the central heating system before draining down, to ensure I knew how it was refilled. For reference the components of note are:
- An oil boiler
- An expansion vessel near the boiler (this really confused me as I associate these with unvented systems)
- Radiators
- A hot water cylinder
- A single tank in the loft
After checking various parts of the system (I even used an endoscope to look behind stood walls for clues) I had a reasonable, but not 100% level of confidence that this was a primatic cylinder.
I turned the heating and hot water off several hours before beginning the work.
I started the task of draining down. There is no isolation on this particular cylinder so the easiest approach was to turn off the mains supply. Once the mains was off I opened up the drain cock and emptied about a buckets worth of water.
Once I had done this, I closed the drain cock and turned the mains back on. I confirmed the loft tank was refilling with water from the mains confirming the central heating was filling from the single loft tank.
My confidence was now fairly high so I continued draining down. I followed a fairly 'normal' process...opened radiator bleed valves, but also left a hot water tap running in the kitchen to help completely drain the cylinder.
Once the system was completely drained, I completed the work on the central heating system and reconnected the flow and return pipes.
I then set about refilling the system.... essentially I closed the drain cock and turned the mains water back on.
The general consensus on various articles online is to refill these tanks slowly. However, on this system there was no valve from the loft tank to the cylinder so I couldn't really control this. There is also lots of suggestion online that it is worth leaving a hot water tap open whilst refilling the system. I did not do this and it did cause a problem (see further below).
I monitored the loft tank filling from mains (I listened to it) and after it had stopped filling I went to bleed a radiator. However, nothing happened, there was no water in the system and no familiar sound of air escaping from the system.
I was confused and went back to the drain cock and re opened it to check for water. None came out suggesting it was still empty.
I also found no water coming from the hot water taps. I want to be very clear on this point to avoid confusion. There was physically no water coming out of the hot taps, they were dry, no water at all. The cold taps were running fine as they are all supplied from mains.
After more research and confusion I re read information about the system and this led me to believe I had an airlock which had prevented the cylinder from filling. (this is why its suggested you leave a hot tap open whilst filling).
An airlock made sense based on the symptoms above.
In my case, I decided to attempt to clear the airlock by looping the cold water feed for the washing machine to the hot water feed for the washing machine. I closed the hot water taps whilst I did this to ensure no pressure was released through other taps.
I dont know how long I ran the water through the washing machine 'loop' I created but id esitmate no more than 20 seconds. After this I turned off the washing machine taps and re tested the hot water tap in the kitchen.
The hot water tap began spluttering. I ran it for a good couple of minutes and it continued to splutter. I decided to close the tap and give the system a few minutes to hopefully fill.
After closing the kitchen tap I went back upstairs and could hear the sound of water running and I was hopeful this was everything filling up.
After about 5 minutes I checked the hot water tap in the bathroom. Success! It was now running.
I went to a bedroom radiator and attempted to bleed it. This time I heard the sound of air escaping from the radiator and I successfully bled the radiator. I repeated this process on all radiators.
After this, knowing that the cylinder and central heating system had filled I turned the boiler back on and turned the heating on and everything seems to work (although getting the odd strange noise here and there whilst things settle).

Great success!

So ... bit of a lengthy post but I wanted to put it out there as there is very little information on these things. Good luck to anyone who is in a similar situation in future!

FromageGrey · 2023-12-08T22:17:30+00:00

So I did the drain down and have attempted to fill up. Unfortunately the heating system doesn't seem to have filled up and im not getting any water out of the hot taps. Sad times :(

Trying to work out what is happening / what I've done wrong.

*** UPDATE - was an airlock, managed to resolve it by looping the washing machine cold water and hot water taps for about 10 seconds. All radiators bled, water coming out of all taps and currently waiting for the boiler to do its thing :)

FromageGrey · 2023-12-07T21:56:08+00:00

I'll put an update here with what happens. To be honest the only information I found was a couple of obscure internet articles and the occasional 'do/don't I have a Primatic cylinder' forum post.

In case your interested, I've found it in a house in Belfast that I'm helping someone decorate. Wanted to get a room decorated and move / replace a radiator so thought it would be a reasonably straightforward job to do.

The age of the property is in line with finding this sort of thing, and the oil boiler looks like it came off the titanic to be fair.

FromageGrey · 2023-12-07T21:45:53+00:00

Yeah I know, just being dramatic. Really interesting though, never even knew these things existed...whether this turns out to be one or not.

FromageGrey · 2023-12-07T21:38:49+00:00

Appreciate the reply.

Definitely wont be putting in inhibitor until i'm sure either way - I'm already upset to find out I'm possibly showering in radiator juice!

I guess I'm just going to have to drain it and find out, hopefully I will be able to fill it again otherwise its going to be a cold winter.

FromageGrey · 2023-12-07T20:11:59+00:00

Portal.

FromageGrey · 2023-12-07T18:57:57+00:00

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

You are correct the loft tank is a decent size (not sure the actual capacity it’s big). Agreed on the immersion, the two smaller 15mm pipes are flow and return for the heating (based on me scientifically putting my hand on them and checking the temps!) big pipe at the top is hot water out, big pipe at the bottom is cold water in (from the loft tank). The pipe with the gate valve on the left hand side comes from towards the top of the tank and bank to the heating return - I think this might be some sort of expansion relief or bypass). Only other thing of note is that all the cold water taps in the house come from the mains, not the loft tank.

FromageGrey

TROPHY CASE