Admit your ignorance - things you've only just realised/learned

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

presta

Guru
I've only just discovered that the 250W limit for EAPCs is the 30 minute mean power, not the peak power.

That's barking mad, if someone gets run over they're not going to be much interested in what the average power was over the last half hour, are they, and if you use 600W for 12.5 mins, what does it do then, cut out altogether for the next 17.5 mins?
 

Alex321

Guru
Location
South Wales
I've only just discovered that the 250W limit for EAPCs is the 30 minute mean power, not the peak power.

That's barking mad, if someone gets run over they're not going to be much interested in what the average power was over the last half hour, are they, and if you use 600W for 12.5 mins, what does it do then, cut out altogether for the next 17.5 mins?

It is the same sort of idea as human FTP, which is the average power output you can maintain over an hour.

And if you have an FTP of 250W, you aren't going to be able to maintain 600W for a third of that (20 minutes), or even for a tenth of it. And neither will the bike motor.
 

Alex H

Legendary Member
Location
Alnwick
In 2010 we moved to France. As we had a lot of garden I bought a jacket at Decathlon, designed for those who go hunting, to protect me from inclement weather. I've used it ever since, for outdoor tasks, doing stuff in the garage in winter etc. It holds my glasses case, my phone, gloves and other stuff. So 14 years of very regular use.

I was hanging it up yesterday and found that it had a zipped pocket on the inside of the breast. :blush:
 

ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
I had an old digital thermometer in this room which suddenly started playing up. As in saying that the temperature had fallen to -188.8 degrees C!!!

It might just have been a duff battery but I didn't really like the device anyway so I bought a cheap replacement.

This thermometer doesn't have a flat bottom or a stand, but has a magnet in the back plate so I stuck it to the old (disconnected) gas fire instead of placing it where the old thermometer was, on a shelf about 50 cm higher.

It said that the temperature in here was 17.5 C and I like to keep it at 18-19 C so I have had the heating on low all day.

It really felt too damn warm in here though so I started wondering if the thermometer was reading lower because it was nearer the floor. I attached it to a little metal Bluetooth speaker and moved the assembly to the shelf. The indicated temperature rapidly rose to 20.5 C!

I have turned the heating right down and the room is starting to feel more comfortable.

TL;DR: Think about where you place your thermometer!
 
Last edited:

ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
This is something that I actually learned a couple of weeks ago, but it may be of interest to some of you...

The most common type of dehumidifier works a bit like a fridge. It has a compressor which is used to create a cold surface on which moisture in the air condenses. That then drips off into a container to be disposed of. They work well in a warm room. I use an old compressor type in the winter to dry washing in front of a radiator.

The problem with a compressor type device is that it struggles in cold conditions and will frequently ice up. An alternative type overcomes this problem. That type contains a desiccant (water-absorbing substance) which captures water vapour from the air. The desiccant is then heated to get the water back out, and it again drips into a container for disposal. The advantage here is that the device doesn't freeze up so easily and so will work at lower temperatures.

Make sure that you don't try to use a compressor type in very cold conditions!




*** The reason that I bring this up now is because I just bought what was advertised as a desiccant type dehumidifier to control the damp in my cellar. For about 8 months of the year the damp isn't a problem. The cellar has airbricks in the walls to ventilate it so I just have a nice breeze flowing up through the house and keeping the damp at bay. For obvious reasons, having a very draughty house is not a good idea in a cold Yorkshire winter though! My plan is to block the airbricks in winter months and let the dehumidifier do the drying instead of an Arctic gale.

The problem is that I discovered that I have actually been sold the wrong type of dehumidifier. It will freeze up every few minutes just like the old one did! :cursing:

I sent a complaint to the vendor a few minutes ago. I'm half hoping that they refund the money and let me keep the nice new compressor device. I could use that for washing duties upstairs and donate the old one to a pal.
 

albion

Guru
Location
South Tyneside
CD20L by any chance? If you read the data it was all contradictory. The manufacturer site corrects things.
The newer one is the CD20LE.
Surely it self defrosts just like a fridge too?
 

Dogtrousers

Kilometre nibbler
Appears that problem overuse of antibiotics applies to fish too.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3617d8gdw6o.amp

Not antibiotics but I read a worrying story about Non Steroidal Anti Inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)

Some researchers in India (?) were testing plants to see if they contained promising compounds that could be used as medicines. They were amazed to find a plant that naturally contained an NSAID similar to Diclofenac.

Turned out it WAS Diclofenac. It had been so overused in agriculture it had got into the ground water and was turning up in plants.
 
Not antibiotics but I read a worrying story about Non Steroidal Anti Inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)

Some researchers in India (?) were testing plants to see if they contained promising compounds that could be used as medicines. They were amazed to find a plant that naturally contained an NSAID similar to Diclofenac.

Turned out it WAS Diclofenac. It had been so overused in agriculture it had got into the ground water and was turning up in plants.

Yoiks :-(
My first thought was - why are the plants taking this drug? Then I thought: No silly, it's probably farmers with bad backs! Then I thought i should do some Proper Research. So here is what I got using my ninja Google Skilz:

Cattle drug threatens thousands of vultures​


Nature
https://www.nature.com › news





29 Apr 2016 — Diclofenac is toxic to vultures even in small doses, causing kidney failure. That results in uric acid accumulating in the birds' blood and ...

Cattle drug poses deadly new threat to Asia's vultures​


Science | AAAS
https://www.science.org › News › Latest News





8 Sept 2021 — They were suffering kidney failure after ingesting diclofenac, a drug commonly given to cattle to treat pain, fever, and inflammation.

Diclofenac endangers vultures even in protected areas​


Nature
https://www.nature.com › nature india › news





12 Apr 2024 — Diclofenac was banned from veterinary practice in South Asia after Gyps vultures consuming cattle remains died in millions during the 1990s and ...

So after it was banned 20 years ago, the problem has come back. Humans are pretty dumb animals, aren't they??
 

ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
Surely it self defrosts just like a fridge too?
The compressor type do defrost but the old one spent most of its time (and electrical power) doing that rather than working to dehumidify the cellar. Even upstairs next to the radiator it ices up if I set it to full power!

The new device would not get the chance to freeze up a lot of the time... A protection circuit switches it off below 5 degrees C. I bet the cellar doesn't get as warm as that in cold weather!
 

ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
Ha - they just tried offering me a £5 discount and suggested that I sell it to someone else!

I can see this rumbling on... As opposed to the dehumidifier, which will not leave its box!

They are a Chinese import company working through eBay.

I will try again. At some point I will contact eBay if I don't get satisfaction.They would probably refund the PayPal payment and then it would be up to the company to decide if it were worth arranging a courier to pick up the parcel.Thing is, I bet they don't have much warehouse space here. I reckon that the products get moved on to customers very soon after arriving in the UK.

One step at a time.

This will probably end up as an explanation of how I was ignorant of how eBay refunds work, and then realise/learn how to get one!
 

presta

Guru
....that Top Gear didn't start until as late as 1977.
They screened the first ever episode on Saturday to mark Angela Rippon's 80th. I though Michael Rodd and William Woolard went back to the early '70s.
 
Top Bottom