Stove Glass Crazing

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Follow Up

On Stove Glass Crazing

 

I have been in touch with McElligotts in Castleisland County Kerry, the dealers I bought my stove from. John McCarthy, the man with the knowledge, says that thermal shock has caused the crazing of the glass and that is not a too common occurrence in the Blacksmith Anvil. The glass should be replace and they will arrange to have a replacement pane shipped.

Most of the crazing effect is on the side of the door that opens out. Thermal shock makes sense, as when the door is opened the first blast of cold air hits there first and it is probably cold that causes the crazing rather than heat!!

Top marks again to McElligotts and John McCarthy - the man who can.

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Great News Germany Nuke-free by 2022

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It's an ill wind

that blows nobody good!

Hand up or you're dead - by deadly radiation poisoning!

The old saying, "It's and ill wind that blows nobody good", is coming true of the Japanese nuclear accident at Fukushima.

Today the news wires are full of the story that Germany is to re-instate a 2002 plan to be nuclear free, and has set the timescale to 2022. It will begin immediately by closing the older and dodgier nuke plants.

What can I say - good on you Germany for leading the way. I only hope the rest of Europe won't act the complete fools, and that they will quickly follow the German lead.

Vielen Dank Deutschland!!!!

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Stove Down Draught Problems

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Stove 

Down Draught 

Problems

A recent comment came in about Down Draught problems with a stove.

Barry has left a new comment on your post "Dealing with Down-Draught":

Congratulations on an excellent and informative blog, we recently had a Stovax Riva 55 installed and it performed well initially but once the wind picks up we suffer from downdraught so we're considering installing a chimney cowl, initially I was thinking a rotating cowl such as the Rotorvent but perhaps a fixed cowl would be better like the MAD anti-downdraught cowl as I've heard the rotating cowls have a tendency to clog up, could you advise on the better option?
Thanks,
Barry

REPLY

Thanks for you email Barry. As I have said many times on this blog, I do not give direct advice. I give my opinion, based on the foundation of; "To The Best of My Knowledge" and "Go Check it Yourself"

I did several posts on "Pressure Zones" and "Down Draught Problems" and the difference between them and "To the Best of My Knowledge" ways of curing or dealing with the various problems. You might take the time to search or dig a bit deepen in my Blog, and hopefully you will find some pointers.

Regards,
Tony McGinley

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Blacksmith Stove Glass Crazing

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Stove Glass Crazing

My New Blacksmith Anvil stove has developed a lot of crazing in the door glass. I believe this is not uncommon but I would not have expected it to happen after just one season of use.

Most of the crazing is on the side opening out

Close up of the crazing

I will be contacting the manufacturer about this problem. As it stands it would seem to be only a visual problem, the glass does not appear to have any real structural distress. The crazing is very fine and appears superficial. It does not seem to extend deeper into the glass.

That said, I am not that happy with the look of my new stove with just one one season on the clock. I will let you know what the dealer or manufacturer has to say.

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Renewable Energy Biz Camp in Kilkenny

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The Making of Jobs

in Renewable Energy

Kilkenny Biz Camp Friday 27th May

I had a letter a couple of days ago from Kieth Bohanna, who runs an Internet consultancy business, announcing a “Renewable-Energy Biz Camp” in Kilkenny.


Hi Tony

Firstly I like your blogging - that is some amount of work and I hope you continue to enjoy it! I have a personal food blog and your output puts me to shame.

I am helping to run the above event in Kilkenny - it is a free one day gathering to explore the business opportunities in the renewable energy sector in Ireland. It is being run by two not-for-profits (Carlow Kilkenny Energy Agency and the Kilkenny Leader Partnership) and one of the great things about it is that there will be around 20 speakers on the day (3 concurrent streams at any one time) and the speakers self-nominate themselves!

So once they are on topic, and provided they are not doing a sales pitch, anyone who wants to share a passion, information, opinion or experience can do so. If you could do a blog post that would be great. And if you want to attend and/or speak even better :-)

More here: www.energycamp.ie  Any questions just ask and thanks for taking the time to read this,

rgds, Keith

Comment:

Evidently the idea behind Biz Camps is a promotional tool to stimulate business and jobs. Several such camps have been held around Ireland. This is the first one dealing with Sustainable Energy matters.

The “Renewable Energy Biz Camp” will be held in the "Hotel Kilkenny" that would be In Kilkenny on Friday 27th May 2011. Subtitled: “Job Creation & Opportunities in Green Energy”.  The event is free of charge to those attending and also to speakers at the forums.

As far as I can determine, the core goal of the event is to create jobs and business opportunities, and is thus oriented towards business people - not so much for Joe Public. It is for interested parties to “explore the business opportunities in this sector and participate in a panel discussion” - “The EnergyCamp is an opportunity for individuals / companies wishing to branch into the energy and learn form experienced entrepreneurs”. Apart from the main two sponsors, I presume it will be funded by business stalls etc.

My only worry is about the ethical side of Sustainable Energy Business generally. By that I mean  business ethics, which would include such basics as, honesty, truthfulness, excellence of service, safety and training, real value for money, technical service capability and spare parts availability, honest running cost comparisons etc. etc.

I have written many a time on this blog about the price gouging, the cowboy attitudes, the poor technical standards etc. etc. of many in the Irish Renewable Energy Sector. I am hopeful, with the recent events of the property bubble collapse and the subsequent Bank crisis, that there will emerge a greater appreciation for the absolute need for honesty, truthfulness, fairness, trustworthiness, and openness in Irish business.


My reply to Kieth's letter:

Hi Keith  -

I would be happy to give your event a plug - I will see what material I can get from your website and if I need something more I will come back to you.

The business side of renewable energy in Ireland has been nothing short of a minefield - with all sorts of cowboys and opportunists gouging the public.

I hope the historical mistakes of unleashing the hounds on an unsuspecting public is outlined and that the ethical side of things is robustly addressed at your conference

I am just back from a Baha’i Convention in Bray - so it will be tomorrow or Wednesday before I get a look and start a post.

Regards,

Tony

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Sustainability and the Cost of Medicine

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Drillers or Gougers?

It's good old rip-off Ireland time again.  This time it is about MEDICINE.

Some 88% of Irish people say that they trust their doctors - but should they trust the Medical Profession generally? It would seem not!

A recent survey published by Avantis Health, who, it should be said,  have a vested interest because they promote overseas medicine,  indicates that up to 70% savings over Irish prices can be made by Irish people if they get the hell out of Ireland and have their Dental or Medical procedures elsewhere.


I personally can verify that it is no problem to save 50% on dental procedures - and that includes travel, accommodation etc.

The survey also showed that, even in Rip-Off Ireland, by carefully shopping around people can get 30% better prices.

So haggle with your dentist or physician, and shop around for medicines, the Internet has specialist chemists, several in the UK, and I can vouch the prices are much cheaper and the products a well known brands.. Do please make every effort to get the 70% savings - the more Irish people that go abroad for medical procedures, the greater incentive for Irish Medicine to get real, and to clean up it's act.

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