If I blow down the drains with an airline, how likely am I to pop the hose off the bottom? I don't have a flexi-rod to hand at the moment... if there's a significant risk, I'll get one.

Symes wrote:

Mmmmm I prefer my Vogue's cherry bomb in place of silencer with straight through pipes it spits on over-run

Each to their own, and a V8 does sound magnificent doing that sort of thing but I don't see the P38 as a sporting device, more of a wafting chariot :)

Gilbertd wrote:

P38 service schedule says gearbox oil should be changed every 24,000 but I doubt anyone does that (with a filter change ONLY on the first service at 24,000). However, you've got a totally different gearbox on an L320 so no idea. There's one box fitted to certain later models (a GM box I think) that is notoriously unreliable where they always recommend a flush.

24,000 you say? erm. Oops!

StrangeRover wrote:

https://youtu.be/tho4PujSym8
That is impressive! :D

Drove The Duchess home from the Midlands for about 3 hours. After 2 weeks on a narrowboat in this heat I was VERY pleased I'd got the re-gas before we set off. 32C showing as outside temp, 18C inside - and my passenger asked for it to be backed off to 20 because she was shivering.
It was a Halfords special On-The-Driveway £59 job. Let's see how long it lasts. In the meantime, I'm very pleased!

Yep, I'd be interested. Not because I think there's a great conspiracy but because there's a lack of real work experience talking to people about their options. The government seems happy to shout about insulation and banning gas boilers but there's a huge gap between those lofty goals and what is actually going to happen to our housing stock - very little of which was designed with heat pumps in mind.
I'm also very interested in Solar/PV but it's such a hot topic with the spamvertisers that I find it very hard to do any online research without triggering an avalanche of ads which just get in the way.
This actually sounds like a great idea for a new forum, tbh.

Luckily, our insulation doesn't seem to have that effect during the heat. If we keep the curtains closed on the sunny side of the house it stays cool. I measured 23C in the hall (up from our standard 19C thermostat setting) when it was 36C outside - but if you open the windows you just let in warm air and that heat never leaves. I suspect that a very little power would heat/cool the house quickly, just as our gas boiler does now.
But... whatever happens I'll need to accumulate some capital first!

Edit - but if you go up in to the loft space - take a mop and bucket because you'll be melting in seconds! it's above the insulation layer so acts as a massive oven. The temps up there were unreal.

This is a bit weird... my driver's seat started to tip backwards as if the front of the rails were no longer secured. On investigation it seem the mechanism that raises the front/back of the seat squab had let go at the front. I've pushed it back together and restored some function by winding the front down with the motor but it's still not working as before.
There's also a large piece that seems to flap up and down depending on the direction of travel. Sorry for the terrible explanation but has anyone come across this before?

Wow, colour me interested. I've got a really good five year old gas boiler which is ridiculously efficient, heats the house with tiny radiators and does instant hot water. The typical modern system. However, if I ever have to replace it we'll probably be unable to get a new gas boiler and Air Source will need new rads and a hot water cylinder. Pricey.
I'd rather rip the rads/piping out and put in your system - the house is insulated so much that a hairdryer will heat it quite adequately - and maybe do PV/Solar for hot water. Aircon would have been a distinct bonus last week!

That would be nice to know. Mine is still a little grubby and it shows up vs the nice headlining. Which is the long way to say: Sorry, I haven't found it either :(

Gilbertd wrote:

davew wrote:

(The 'high pressure' side originates from the compressor (as gas) which reduces through the Condenser/fan as it cools (to liquid) but if there is a "divide" per se that could be considered the Expansion Valve... and it is then the Liquid/Gas transition in the Evaporator that produces the cooling - if that helps..).

Wrong way round. The compressor sucks in gas and it turns to liquid under pressure and gets hot in the condenser, which is why the condenser has cooling fans. The liquid then goes through the expansion valve where it boils, turns into a vapour and draws heat (to use the correct term) and gets cold. Same as using a lot out of a Calor gas cylinder when the liquid turns to a vapour and the cylinder gets cold, sometimes cold enough for condensation, if not ice, to form on the outside. The vapour passes through the evaporator (not strictly correct terminology as it evaporates at the expansion valve) drawing more heat from the surrounding air giving the the cold. That vapour then goes through the compressor and the cycle starts again. The low pressure side is where the refrigerant is a vapour and the high pressure side is where it is a liquid.

As to why one side will hold a vacuum and the other side won't, I've no idea as it is a closed circuit. If doing a pressure or vacuum test, it shouldn't matter which port you use because of that. The only time you can have problems is if there has been a leak in the past which someone has tried to fix with a leak sealer and it has sealed something that shouldn't be sealed. But if everything is new, that is pretty unlikely. The domestic systems I am installing only have one port which on the low side but as they are reversible to heat as well as cool (the compressor can reverse so the condenser becomes the evaporator and vice versa), when heating that port becomes the high side.

Ohh, is this like an Air Source heat pump that you can run in reverse? That sounds like a very nice thing to have.

They sneakily don't seem to mention the actual amount of refrigerant in that can. I've got one lying around somewhere (with hose) from when I tried to top up my Jeep and then found the Compressor had given up the ghost. I don't really trust the gauge on the hose anyway.

Wouldn't a trailer make sense at this point? I reckon it would be easier to load/unload too...

Pierre3 wrote:

I looked up the data sheet for No-Nonsense Degreaser and it suggests not using it for rubber, plastics or wiring as it will damage these items. It seems to do a good job but you have to be very specific and particular where you spray it. And it says never on aluminium, but the diesel has a plastic inlet manifold and an aluminium rocker cover.

I will look into buying Viro-Sol, but it isn't something that I have ever heard of before. Otherwise, I have little choice, I will have to paint on Gunk Degreaser.

Pierre3.

I honestly think they all say that as there is such a huge range of rubber and plastics available and they can't test against them all. I'd test on a small, sacrificial, area and see if it has any bad effects. Go from there.

BrianH wrote:

Slowly sinking to me sounds more like you've got a small leak - like a pipe come adrift or joint come apart rather than a burst airbag. No answer other than to take a look really though.

Yep, but after six years it's probably worth taking a look at replacing the airbags. They may be OK but if you're jacking it all up and messing with the pipes on a system that is already deflated... you may as well?

Garvin wrote:

It won’t work, it’ll just dilute the product to uselessness (is that a word?) for tough stuff!

What? You mean Homeopathic degreaser is a myth?? How can you have such a closed mind! :D

They look like a good candidate for 3D printing if anyone can draw them up?

Hmm, it's definitely time to get the Duchess re-gassed. She was last done in May18 according to my notes. Can it really be that long? I guess 4 years isn't too bad.

My advice would be to avoid Klarius. The first backboxes lasted just under two years before the stuffing started falling out, and the replacements lasted just about the same. The inner perforated pipe rusts out and then the fibreglass ejects itself.

Chased my wife back home. She was in her 02 Diesel GTDI Golf.
It was fun, she had the edge on acceleration but as soon as the road got bumpy The Duchess was cruising up behind her. We definitely had a lot more body roll :)