The world is going mad I swear it is. As I brushed my teeth this morning I noticed a little "V" symbol on the toothpaste tube. This apparently means it is suitable for vegetarians. Really?
I am not a toothpaste scientist, but I thought toothpaste was basically very finely ground chalk, flavoured with mint in a paste. Of course it's suitable for vegetarians, it's mint flavoured rock. But would it matter if it was made from whalemeat? We don;t eat the damn stuff, we rub it on our teeth then spit it out. It's hardly a foodstuff is it? Can you imagine the situation where you might say - mmmmm, I'm really hungry, I think I'll have an Aquafresh sandwich? Okay, perhaps on an Arctic Expedition when all other supplies have been exhausted you might resort to the toothpaste as asource of nutrients. But then would you really worry about the vegetarian alternative in that situation?
It got me thinking though. Is there toothapste out there that is NOT suitable for vegetarians? I thought they were all mint flavored, but it opens up some intriuging possibilties. Steak and Onion flavour toothpaste perhaps. My next trip to the supermarket will be a lot more interesting.
Monday, 9 June 2008
Monday, 28 April 2008
Hydrogen is looking good!
A rough estimate over the past week has shown my fuel consumption decrese from 57 miles per gallon to 68 miles per gallon using the Hydrogen booster I fited in the AX. That's a 44% improvement, or almost half price fuel. Okay, so I runon free used veg oil, mixed with a little diesel, up top 50% in winter, but almost nil now that it has warmed up to reasonable temperature. My running costs are now down to about 3 pence per mile, and falling. On the now rare occasions I use my Zafira it costs me 14 pence per mile. I expect my costs to stabilsie at about 2.5 pence per mile once my experimentation period is over.
I already save around £60 a month on fuel costs compare with havig to drive the Zafira, I can potentially save up to £120 - effectively free motoring - less the cost of insurance and road tax.
The future is ...........well it ain't orange that's for sure.
Just to add to my green green credentials you may like to know I am typing using power supplied by free sloar energy too. Using a solar panel that cost just £25 of ebay. Brilliant! I am an energy saving, money saving GOD!
Now that I have saved all this energy, what i really really want to do is blow it all! Anyone any ideas? How can I increase my carbon footprint at maximum FUN rating?
I already save around £60 a month on fuel costs compare with havig to drive the Zafira, I can potentially save up to £120 - effectively free motoring - less the cost of insurance and road tax.
The future is ...........well it ain't orange that's for sure.
Just to add to my green green credentials you may like to know I am typing using power supplied by free sloar energy too. Using a solar panel that cost just £25 of ebay. Brilliant! I am an energy saving, money saving GOD!
Now that I have saved all this energy, what i really really want to do is blow it all! Anyone any ideas? How can I increase my carbon footprint at maximum FUN rating?
Tuesday, 22 April 2008
Hydrogen Injection Conversion
I guess most of you know by now, either because I told you, or because you smelt the chip shop like emissions from the Citroen, that I have been running it since November on Vegetable Oil. Asides from a period of bad running caused by a faulty filter the system works just fine, thanks to my earlier testing on the Frog. I’ve been running 50/50%, then 75/25% through the winter, so running costs have been about 4 pence per mile (against 15 pence per mile in the petrol Zafira) Now that the spring temperatures are finally approaching double figures I should be able to go over to almost 100% Waste Veg Oil and run for almost nothing. So my Yorkshire credentials are secure, and I am officially tighter than a ducks backside.
However, not content with that, or the added bonus of carbon neutral GREEN motoring, I am now taking a bit of a step into the unknown and the darker side of electronics and chemistry. I have fitted a device which should boost my economy by a claim of up to 50% by running the car on WATER. Yes you read that right, and YES, I laughed too at first. Then I read up a few bits on websites and thought, who dares, wins! This time next year I could be a millionaire, Rodney. I was dubious about it but the science at least seems sound. Water is H20,which is basically 2 atoms of Hydrogen bound to one of Oxygen. If you can separate the Hydrogen from the Oxygen you have fuel. Hydrogen will burn in a petrol or diesel engine with little modification.
Hydrogen cars are set to take off (not literally, they’ll still stay on the road) in the very near future, but the problems are getting the infrastructure in place, refueling and storing the Hydrogen in high pressure tanks, and being held to ransom by the same people who sell us petrol being just a few of the problems.
The gadget I have fitted claims to produce “Browns Gas” which is HHO, in other words separating one of the Hydrogen atoms from the water, which can then burn in the engine, the waste product being H2O, as the emissions bind back with free Oxygen to produce water again. It all sounds quite charming. It’s not a true Hydrogen car, but a step closer, the “Browns Gas” supplementing the diesel (or Veg Oil in my case) thereby reducing the use of the base fuel.
I fitted the gadget today and I’ve only had chance for a short test drive, but I swear it is already more responsive to the throttle and smoother running. I track my fuel consumption with each tankfull against the odometer, so I should be able to give some comparison figures next time I fill up. I’ll keep you all posted on how I do, as with the cost of fuel set to soar again soon (and the threat of strikes at the refinery’s) I am sure you’d all like to get more MPG and cheaper fuel sources. As the AX only cost me £125 I have nothing to loose if this doesn’t work, and other than a hole in the air filter casing everything is entirely reversible if it fails.
Watch this space for updates.
The AX has avergaed 47 mpg since January. A 50% improvemt should see me gettign 70 MPG.
Official figures, running on diesel quote up to 70 MPG on a run, so I could get as many as 105 MPG. And that's running on Waste Veg Oil and water, both of which I can get for free.
However, not content with that, or the added bonus of carbon neutral GREEN motoring, I am now taking a bit of a step into the unknown and the darker side of electronics and chemistry. I have fitted a device which should boost my economy by a claim of up to 50% by running the car on WATER. Yes you read that right, and YES, I laughed too at first. Then I read up a few bits on websites and thought, who dares, wins! This time next year I could be a millionaire, Rodney. I was dubious about it but the science at least seems sound. Water is H20,which is basically 2 atoms of Hydrogen bound to one of Oxygen. If you can separate the Hydrogen from the Oxygen you have fuel. Hydrogen will burn in a petrol or diesel engine with little modification.
Hydrogen cars are set to take off (not literally, they’ll still stay on the road) in the very near future, but the problems are getting the infrastructure in place, refueling and storing the Hydrogen in high pressure tanks, and being held to ransom by the same people who sell us petrol being just a few of the problems.
The gadget I have fitted claims to produce “Browns Gas” which is HHO, in other words separating one of the Hydrogen atoms from the water, which can then burn in the engine, the waste product being H2O, as the emissions bind back with free Oxygen to produce water again. It all sounds quite charming. It’s not a true Hydrogen car, but a step closer, the “Browns Gas” supplementing the diesel (or Veg Oil in my case) thereby reducing the use of the base fuel.
I fitted the gadget today and I’ve only had chance for a short test drive, but I swear it is already more responsive to the throttle and smoother running. I track my fuel consumption with each tankfull against the odometer, so I should be able to give some comparison figures next time I fill up. I’ll keep you all posted on how I do, as with the cost of fuel set to soar again soon (and the threat of strikes at the refinery’s) I am sure you’d all like to get more MPG and cheaper fuel sources. As the AX only cost me £125 I have nothing to loose if this doesn’t work, and other than a hole in the air filter casing everything is entirely reversible if it fails.
Watch this space for updates.
The AX has avergaed 47 mpg since January. A 50% improvemt should see me gettign 70 MPG.
Official figures, running on diesel quote up to 70 MPG on a run, so I could get as many as 105 MPG. And that's running on Waste Veg Oil and water, both of which I can get for free.
Tuesday, 1 April 2008
Little holes are the worse
Little holes are the worse surely? I'm talking punctures here. in cycle tyres specifically. Now any puncture is bad, but at least if it's a big blow out you know you need a new tube and probably a new tyre too. No it's those little holes that are the problem. Big holes, tyres that exploded Worth a bang, (and with 50+ PSI in a mountain bike tyre they do go bang believe me!) are not a problem. You know that you have a long walk (Punctures never. ever happen at home) and a bill for a new tyre and tube.
Well actually they are not so much a problem, and to be honest I quite enjoyed fixing the puncture - it brought back memories of my youth, although in those days the Cycle was my primary transport, and essential to earn a living as a paperboy. Now the cycle is strictly for leisure, and fixing the puncture was also a leisurely activity, using the levers to tweak the tyre from the rim, pulling out the tube, swigging from the beer can, inflating the tube and dunking it in the bowl of water, swigging more beer, roughing up the tube, smearing the glue........ it was great.
Is there anything more satisfying than that sense of achievement when despite all probability mankind fixes something that was broken?
I'm almost looking forward to the next little hole appearing, just so that i can teach Thomas (5 years) how to fix it. A valuable life skill that is much underrated in my humble opinion.
Well actually they are not so much a problem, and to be honest I quite enjoyed fixing the puncture - it brought back memories of my youth, although in those days the Cycle was my primary transport, and essential to earn a living as a paperboy. Now the cycle is strictly for leisure, and fixing the puncture was also a leisurely activity, using the levers to tweak the tyre from the rim, pulling out the tube, swigging from the beer can, inflating the tube and dunking it in the bowl of water, swigging more beer, roughing up the tube, smearing the glue........ it was great.
Is there anything more satisfying than that sense of achievement when despite all probability mankind fixes something that was broken?
I'm almost looking forward to the next little hole appearing, just so that i can teach Thomas (5 years) how to fix it. A valuable life skill that is much underrated in my humble opinion.
Friday, 28 March 2008
Plastic bags
So our wonderful Government want to ban plastic bags, or at least tax them to reduce their use. They say this is for environmental reasons, because marine life, notably Dolphns are being killed by plastic bags. I find this difficult to comprehend.
You see, I buy stuff from the supermarket. If it's less than a handful I don;t bother with a bag - I'm usually in the car, so it's no hardship to carry a couple of items to the car and put them on the seat, in the boot, or just eat them as I walk to the car. If on the other hand I am doing a major shop, then I tend to use carriers to keep associated items totgether, even though it then all goes back in the trolley then into the car boot. It makes loading and unloading easier. Now I wold happily reuse these cariers, but they are so cheap and flimsy that a single use is all you can reasonably expect. So far as I can tell they are already biodegradeable, they begin to decompose as soon as something is inserted into them.
Having emptied the ripped and strecthed bag I then effectively recycle it as a bin liner and it is filled with the non recyclable waste and put in the wheelie bin.
Now, I always assummed that the men came round with a dustcart emptied the bins into the back of it, and took it to a big hole in the ground where it was buried. Or possibly set alight. Not so. It seems these people take the bags of rubbish and feed them to Dolphins. How else could these poor creatures get them ingested into their stomachs? You don;t often see Dolphins foraging around the tip; Gypsies yes, but not Dolphins.
Another thought that occurs is that perhaps its Dolhons that tip my wheelie bin over at night and rummage through it - I'd always assummed it was foxes. Or perhaps the foxes are in league with the Dolphins? What have the Dolphons got over them I wonder?
Anyhow, aren't Dolphns supposed to be intelligent? Fancy a nice fish Mr Dolphin? No thansk I'll just eat some more plastic bags. Perhaps the Dolphins are so short sighted they can;t tell the difference between a Jelly fish and a plastic bag? Could be, they always appear to be squinting don't they?
So what is the answer? Glasses for Dolphins. So come on Tesco, never mind Bio degradeable carrier backs, introduce a scheme whereby you sponsor a pair of Dolphin Spectacles for every customer who brings their own bags.
You see, I buy stuff from the supermarket. If it's less than a handful I don;t bother with a bag - I'm usually in the car, so it's no hardship to carry a couple of items to the car and put them on the seat, in the boot, or just eat them as I walk to the car. If on the other hand I am doing a major shop, then I tend to use carriers to keep associated items totgether, even though it then all goes back in the trolley then into the car boot. It makes loading and unloading easier. Now I wold happily reuse these cariers, but they are so cheap and flimsy that a single use is all you can reasonably expect. So far as I can tell they are already biodegradeable, they begin to decompose as soon as something is inserted into them.
Having emptied the ripped and strecthed bag I then effectively recycle it as a bin liner and it is filled with the non recyclable waste and put in the wheelie bin.
Now, I always assummed that the men came round with a dustcart emptied the bins into the back of it, and took it to a big hole in the ground where it was buried. Or possibly set alight. Not so. It seems these people take the bags of rubbish and feed them to Dolphins. How else could these poor creatures get them ingested into their stomachs? You don;t often see Dolphins foraging around the tip; Gypsies yes, but not Dolphins.
Another thought that occurs is that perhaps its Dolhons that tip my wheelie bin over at night and rummage through it - I'd always assummed it was foxes. Or perhaps the foxes are in league with the Dolphins? What have the Dolphons got over them I wonder?
Anyhow, aren't Dolphns supposed to be intelligent? Fancy a nice fish Mr Dolphin? No thansk I'll just eat some more plastic bags. Perhaps the Dolphins are so short sighted they can;t tell the difference between a Jelly fish and a plastic bag? Could be, they always appear to be squinting don't they?
So what is the answer? Glasses for Dolphins. So come on Tesco, never mind Bio degradeable carrier backs, introduce a scheme whereby you sponsor a pair of Dolphin Spectacles for every customer who brings their own bags.
Thursday, 6 March 2008
Mice will take over the world
I have already written about the Educated rodents and their efforts to eat my caravan. This week I found they had attacked my car too.
The Citroen had been running well since the Brakes broke episode. Okay it let me down a couple of times on cold mornings when the veg Oil heater knocked the stuffing out of the battery before it started, but it was nothign a jump start couldn't cure - and long term the cure was a new 63 amp battery to replace the 40 amp hour that comes as standard.
I decided to treat the car to an oil and filter change, and a new fuel filter at the same time. Oil change completed in an inpressive seven minutes. Now for the fuel filter - to get at it you need to remove the air filter box - not a problem, 1 x 10mm bolt, pull it out of the location pin socket and hey presto sorted. Okay, I leaked diesel all down my arm and all over the engine, but next time I'll know about the bleed screw on the bottom. And the process to bleed the system so the engine starts again when yo have the new filter on.
So what has this got to do with mice I hear you ask?
Well, after this unparralled mechanical attention the Citroen became extraordinarily difficult to start. The battery was going flat again, and the car was just coughing and refusing to run smoothly. Had I upset it?
Realising that a full servive probably involved replacing the air filter as well i removed the filter box and swapped the filter for a new one. Well swapped suggests an exchange of items like for like, which is strecthing the truth a little. The air filter that went in had rubber ends, a steel core and a paper filter element around the core. The one that came out had ..... fragments of paper, most of which had blocked the outlet preventing the engine from breathing. I an only guess at mice, although how theygot into the air filter box to eat the filter is beyond me. Given their enginuity in getting into my caravan I wouldn't put anything past the little bastards. They probably had rope ladders, and training bythe Mouse equivalent of the SAS.
Any way witha new filter the car is starting and running fine again. i just don;t know if I shoud install a rodent alarm and protection system
The Citroen had been running well since the Brakes broke episode. Okay it let me down a couple of times on cold mornings when the veg Oil heater knocked the stuffing out of the battery before it started, but it was nothign a jump start couldn't cure - and long term the cure was a new 63 amp battery to replace the 40 amp hour that comes as standard.
I decided to treat the car to an oil and filter change, and a new fuel filter at the same time. Oil change completed in an inpressive seven minutes. Now for the fuel filter - to get at it you need to remove the air filter box - not a problem, 1 x 10mm bolt, pull it out of the location pin socket and hey presto sorted. Okay, I leaked diesel all down my arm and all over the engine, but next time I'll know about the bleed screw on the bottom. And the process to bleed the system so the engine starts again when yo have the new filter on.
So what has this got to do with mice I hear you ask?
Well, after this unparralled mechanical attention the Citroen became extraordinarily difficult to start. The battery was going flat again, and the car was just coughing and refusing to run smoothly. Had I upset it?
Realising that a full servive probably involved replacing the air filter as well i removed the filter box and swapped the filter for a new one. Well swapped suggests an exchange of items like for like, which is strecthing the truth a little. The air filter that went in had rubber ends, a steel core and a paper filter element around the core. The one that came out had ..... fragments of paper, most of which had blocked the outlet preventing the engine from breathing. I an only guess at mice, although how theygot into the air filter box to eat the filter is beyond me. Given their enginuity in getting into my caravan I wouldn't put anything past the little bastards. They probably had rope ladders, and training bythe Mouse equivalent of the SAS.
Any way witha new filter the car is starting and running fine again. i just don;t know if I shoud install a rodent alarm and protection system
Monday, 28 January 2008
Brakes Broke
I think I have spoken of my Veg Oil powered Citroen Ax Ebay special before, bought in November 2007 for the princely sum of £125, and intended for use as my commuter car/parts chaser/runabout/banger rally car.
Well it converted well to Veg oil and is running cleanly and cheaply on both SVO (new oil) and recycled waste oil acquired from 2 cafes I frequent.
It has however soiled it's copybook. It joins a BMW 320 and a Triumph FWD as one of only three cars in probabkly fifty I have owned in the last 22 years that have disgraced themselves by having to be recovered on a breakdown truck. Most breakdowns of my various bangers have been rectified at the roadside, although a Yugo I owned twice had to be towed home, once with an exploded coil (never seen before or since) and once with a sheered flywheel location pin.
Any I digress. The Citroen, yet to acquire a nickname, had been running well. For a £125 bargain buy, needing just a CV boot and a headlamp adjuster to pass MOT after a few years standing it was performing exceptionally. Hitting roadside debris holed the radiator last month and cost me £65 for a new one, but saved a few pounds in weight, as the old one was all steel, the new one is plastic and alloy.
It let me down badly however on Sunday morning. I was already late finishing my night shift, and as I left work the handbrake resisted a little as I released it and set off, just a minor niggle i thought. About a mile and a half down the road I stopped at red traffic lights and applied the handbrake. As the lights changed to green I released the handbrake let up the clutch and rose about 9 inches on the back haunches as the car refused to budge. The nearside rear wheel had locked up solid. Suspecting a sticking brake piston I tried to reverse with similar comic effect - the car appeared to be doing press ups as it rose again on the suspension. With much clutch slipping and high revs I coaxed it, wheel locked around the corner into a car park.
A call was placed to "international rescue" otherwise known as my sister Reb, who lived less than a half mile away, and who I knew would have some tools to hand. She duly arrive in her Ford Ranger with a siezed trolley jack and a selection of useful sockets and spanners, plus a much needed large hammer. Ffteen minutes saw the trolley jack working and the car raised off the ground and wheel removed. The brake dru however resisted all attempts to free it off.
despondent, dejected and knackered after a 12 hour nightshift I gave up and called out a friendly recovery agent, who we just happen to put a lot of business through at work. I didn't expect a freebie recovery, but got one anyway, as they were running my way on a Police Recovery, so they were passing anyway - thanks Robin at Bells Truck Services.
The AX arrived home and was shunted into a corner until I finished nights.
monday afternnon I started again trying to remove the drum. I tried coaxing it gently, then using heat, cooling it, whacking it with a ruddy great hammer - nothing worked. The only solution in the end was to take a grinder to it, and cut the brake drum in half as far as I could, then split it with a cold chisel. This did the trick and revealed the extent of the problem - the friction material from one shoe had parted, then worked it's way 180 degrees around the drum until it had become very firmly affixed with the shoe in that side, locking the drum very tightly. I've seem this happen before, but never to this degree where the drum is locked cmpletely. I think it was compunded by the overall wear on the shoes, making the handbrake adjuster go overcentre as well, locking the mechanism on that side. But no warning was given, the brakes worked just fine one minute, then jammed the next.
A new brake drum came in at £42 quid. Normally I would change both sides, but given the banger status of the Citroen (by virtue of age rather than condition) and it's low mileage I measured up the opposite drum and found it had hardly any wear at all. At the risk of a minor brale imbalance I have replaced just the one drum I damaged in removal, but fitted new shoes to both sides, giving them a genorous coat of copperslip grease to ensure smooth working.
Job done, the handbrake is now much better, the spring resistance can be felt through the lever, and the brakes are fine.
Bearign caps are £3 each, although they come for a Saxo rather than the AX, with a different size hub nut. I have reused the old hub nut against advice, as the straking point is different once refiited due to wear on the bearings, so it should be fine. The alternative is to find onother nut the same size fitted to something else, and as I can't see a failure being likely why bother?
The next major project for the Citroen is to see if Hydrogen Injection is feasibly as a fuel booster, using tap water to onert the H2O into oxygen and hydrogen on the fly, and running it in through the air intake to reduce the amount of Veg Oil burnt. An intersting hobby project for this bargain banger. I'll post my findings here, so watch this space.
Well it converted well to Veg oil and is running cleanly and cheaply on both SVO (new oil) and recycled waste oil acquired from 2 cafes I frequent.
It has however soiled it's copybook. It joins a BMW 320 and a Triumph FWD as one of only three cars in probabkly fifty I have owned in the last 22 years that have disgraced themselves by having to be recovered on a breakdown truck. Most breakdowns of my various bangers have been rectified at the roadside, although a Yugo I owned twice had to be towed home, once with an exploded coil (never seen before or since) and once with a sheered flywheel location pin.
Any I digress. The Citroen, yet to acquire a nickname, had been running well. For a £125 bargain buy, needing just a CV boot and a headlamp adjuster to pass MOT after a few years standing it was performing exceptionally. Hitting roadside debris holed the radiator last month and cost me £65 for a new one, but saved a few pounds in weight, as the old one was all steel, the new one is plastic and alloy.
It let me down badly however on Sunday morning. I was already late finishing my night shift, and as I left work the handbrake resisted a little as I released it and set off, just a minor niggle i thought. About a mile and a half down the road I stopped at red traffic lights and applied the handbrake. As the lights changed to green I released the handbrake let up the clutch and rose about 9 inches on the back haunches as the car refused to budge. The nearside rear wheel had locked up solid. Suspecting a sticking brake piston I tried to reverse with similar comic effect - the car appeared to be doing press ups as it rose again on the suspension. With much clutch slipping and high revs I coaxed it, wheel locked around the corner into a car park.
A call was placed to "international rescue" otherwise known as my sister Reb, who lived less than a half mile away, and who I knew would have some tools to hand. She duly arrive in her Ford Ranger with a siezed trolley jack and a selection of useful sockets and spanners, plus a much needed large hammer. Ffteen minutes saw the trolley jack working and the car raised off the ground and wheel removed. The brake dru however resisted all attempts to free it off.
despondent, dejected and knackered after a 12 hour nightshift I gave up and called out a friendly recovery agent, who we just happen to put a lot of business through at work. I didn't expect a freebie recovery, but got one anyway, as they were running my way on a Police Recovery, so they were passing anyway - thanks Robin at Bells Truck Services.
The AX arrived home and was shunted into a corner until I finished nights.
monday afternnon I started again trying to remove the drum. I tried coaxing it gently, then using heat, cooling it, whacking it with a ruddy great hammer - nothing worked. The only solution in the end was to take a grinder to it, and cut the brake drum in half as far as I could, then split it with a cold chisel. This did the trick and revealed the extent of the problem - the friction material from one shoe had parted, then worked it's way 180 degrees around the drum until it had become very firmly affixed with the shoe in that side, locking the drum very tightly. I've seem this happen before, but never to this degree where the drum is locked cmpletely. I think it was compunded by the overall wear on the shoes, making the handbrake adjuster go overcentre as well, locking the mechanism on that side. But no warning was given, the brakes worked just fine one minute, then jammed the next.
A new brake drum came in at £42 quid. Normally I would change both sides, but given the banger status of the Citroen (by virtue of age rather than condition) and it's low mileage I measured up the opposite drum and found it had hardly any wear at all. At the risk of a minor brale imbalance I have replaced just the one drum I damaged in removal, but fitted new shoes to both sides, giving them a genorous coat of copperslip grease to ensure smooth working.
Job done, the handbrake is now much better, the spring resistance can be felt through the lever, and the brakes are fine.
Bearign caps are £3 each, although they come for a Saxo rather than the AX, with a different size hub nut. I have reused the old hub nut against advice, as the straking point is different once refiited due to wear on the bearings, so it should be fine. The alternative is to find onother nut the same size fitted to something else, and as I can't see a failure being likely why bother?
The next major project for the Citroen is to see if Hydrogen Injection is feasibly as a fuel booster, using tap water to onert the H2O into oxygen and hydrogen on the fly, and running it in through the air intake to reduce the amount of Veg Oil burnt. An intersting hobby project for this bargain banger. I'll post my findings here, so watch this space.
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