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Harnser

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Posts posted by Harnser

  1. On 08/04/2023 at 12:42, menthe said:

    On the tv, they did say this applies mainly in big cities.  In Paris, for example, the levels are over 4x recommended levels but still not at levels that could cause disease.  OTOH, they seem careful NOT to point out levels that will really impact life.

    Personally, I am more worried about water kept in plastic bottles for possibly months on end; not just for my health but for the health of the environment   

    Sadly not mainly big cities.

    https://www.letelegramme.fr/bretagne/en-bretagne-les-pesticides-nuisent-toujours-a-la-qualite-des-eaux-22-02-2023-13283890.php

  2. Since arriving here in 2009 we have used bottled water for cooking and drinking.

    We started out using tap water but a few weeks later found that the kettle had a strange deposit in the bottom, brown/green in colour and smelt nasty.

    So it’s been bottled water ever since.

    The bottled water we use comes from a source in the Monts d’Arree and has very few minerals in it.

    I have to say that this thread has encouraged me to investigate under-sink water filters.

  3. On 02/04/2023 at 09:03, Lehaut said:

    Also the "successful tactic" used by the Russians against Finland during WW2 of human waves of soldiers is being repeated in Ukraine, with the same level of success. Vlad seems to have laughed that off too.

    Funny you should mention Finland, today they formally became a full member of NATO.

    That effectively doubles the length of the NATO / Russian border, just what Putin doesn't need.

    Something else Vlad doesn't need is the massed ranks of Finland's Defence Force artillery targetted at Russia.

    700 howitzers + 700 heavy mortars + 100 rocket launcher outfits - the biggest artillery asset in europe.

    I seem to remember that one of his excuses for invading Ukraine was to prevent them joining NATO.

    Putin - what a loser!

     

    • Like 2
  4. 13 minutes ago, menthe said:

    Whatever happens, Harnser, I very much doubt that Trump will be president again in 2024 for any other year.

    There is not the same frenzy and adoration from his crowd and I read that his popularity is receding fast.

    That's before the threatened prosecution - if it goes ahead, watch the approval rating rise.

    Biden's approval rating is only about 42% against 52% disapprove.

  5. The Democrat administration risks being seen as a banana republic dictatorship who are hell bent on using the law to lock up their political opponent.

    The fact that the Dems do not ATM have any realistic alternative to Dozy Joe and Hyena Harris for 2024 means that they have to stoop to spurious prosecution of DT by the Soros-funded New York district attorney Alvin Bragg.

    If they are stupid enough to go ahead with this, they are virtually guaranteeing that Trump will be President again in 2024.

  6. 4 hours ago, Lehaut said:

    Virtually impossible.  Peaceful protestors, by their very nature, are peaceful.  They are not equipped to deal with armed black bloc protestors.  You would have to employ your own "police" force to deal with the black bloc element.  You have seen the fight they put up against the properly protected police.  Ordinary civilians would not stand a chance.

    On another point raised above, you can cover the surface of these reservoirs with solar panels. They help reduce the evaporation.  The solar panels also perform better as the water keeps them cooler.

    https://www.euronews.com/green/2023/03/14/float-ovoltaics-how-floating-solar-panels-in-reservoirs-could-revolutionise-global-power

    "the water keeps them cooler"

    That didn't keep them cooler here:-

    https://abcnews.go.com/International/video/floating-solar-power-farm-catches-fire-japan-65518363

  7. 20 hours ago, DaveLister said:

    I think that if one was to superimpose the cadastre plan over most satellite pics you would find that it was, at best, a guestimate. The only way to ever be truly sure is to employ a geometre.

    20 hours ago, DaveLister said:

     

     

    So where do the geometres get the accurate details of a property from to do their extremely expensive measurements and calculations?

  8. 3 hours ago, Lehaut said:

    Made slightly more complicated if the car is diesel rather than petrol.  Petrol has a spark to ignite the explosion to start the engine.  Diesel, on the other hand, has just the compressive effect of the piston rising up the cylinder with enough force (driven by the electric starter motor) to compress the air and fuel mixture so that it heats up enough to explode.  When the engine and air is cold there is more friction in the moving parts and more energy needed to heat up the air/fuel mixture. (In older diesel engines there was a glow plug to heat up the top of the cylinder to help start the car with pre warmed air).  Once the car is warmer, its easier to restart as there is less friction and the engine block is already warm so the air/fuel mixture explodes easier requiring less energy from the starter.

    In the Alaska case by cajal, ordinary diesel fuel becomes gel like after a time at -10°C, so you would not be able to start the engine at all if your car is outside with untreated fuel!!

    All modern car/small vehicle diesel engines have glow plugs, one per cylinder, they have two functions, to aid starting in cold conditions, and to reduce exhaust emissions after a cold start in cold conditions when the engine computer works out how long to keep them glowing according to how cold it is.

    Bigger diesels in trucks can use inlet manifold air preheaters, a bit like an electric fire element in the inlet manifold to feed hot air to the cylinders as a cold start aid and reduce cold exhaust smoke after the start.

    The older Perkins type where a glow plug ignited fuel sprayed onto the glow plug in the inlet manifold isn't used any more - too much smoke etc.

    Diesel fuel comes in different grades - winter and summer diesel  For example - the UK changes to winter diesel in November and goes back to summer diesel in March. Winter diesel either has more kerosene in it or has an anti-freezing additive in it to stop the filter blocking with the wax flakes when its cold in the diesel.

    Some vehicles have an electrical heater controlled by a thermostat in the fuel filter to stop the filter plugging with the wax flakes.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_diesel_fuel

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_filter_plugging_point

     

     

  9. If you are going to mix your own two-stroke fuel, don't use E5 or E10 essence it has ethanol in it.

    Use SP 98 which has little or no ethanol in it and will remain stable for a long time.

    The best one to use is Total Excellium Sp 98.

     

    From caradisiac car forum

    "Hello, I am 98 excellium exclusively in my cars and my garden equipment.

     - no pure ethanol which attacks the seals and which makes the mixture turn.

    -good conservation over time, no deposit.

    - 2-stroke engine that runs better at high revs (11500rpm) and starts better when cold"

     

  10. You will not be able to get away with that - the tester will look to check that the MIL light comes on when the ignition switch is turned on and goes out almost immediately before starting the engine. It's the car's self check on the correct operation of the MIL.

  11. "I have two questions:

    a) Will the car automatically fail because the engine light is on, even if the emissions are within the numbers allowed for that car, and

    b) In this situation (ie not a major safety fault) can one (legally) drive the car during that 2 months before the contre-visite?"

    As the french CT test is largely based on the same criteria as the UK mot test - ie they both have their roots in EU diktats.

     a) An engine MIL light on is a major fail. 

    b) If the fault is just a major fail and not a dangerous condition you should be able to drive the car in france for the 2 month period of "grace"

    Defect Category
    (a) Smoke opacity levels exceed the manufacturer’s specified limit Major
    (b) Smoke opacity levels exceed default limit Major
    (c) Exhaust emits excessive smoke or vapour of any colour to an extent likely to obscure the vision of other road users Dangerous
    (d) Exhaust on a vehicle fitted with a diesel particulate filter emits visible smoke of any colour Major
    (e) Emissions test unable to be completed Major
    (f) Emissions test not completed because smoke levels are significantly in excess of the specified limit values Major
    (g) Engine MIL inoperative or indicating a malfunction Major

     

    From the UK MOT tester's manual.

    https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-inspection-manual-for-private-passenger-and-light-commercial-vehicles/8-nuisance

     

    • Like 1
  12. 22 hours ago, alittlebitfrench said:

    Cajal is quite correct.

    It refers to Parallism….i.e the alignment of the wheels.

    Our wheels get out of alignment all the time due to pot holes, fecking speed humps..dead hedgehogs.

    No big deal except it will **** your tyres eventually.

    There's a lot more to it than that.

    Most cars 20 years ago used to run very slight toe in settings of 1/6 of inch or so. 

    Toe in gives a little more steering stability - the car will have more of a tendency to hold the line you are steering, but will show slightly less eagerness to turn-in to a bend.

    No toe in or slight toe out will make the steering fidgety ie slight steering corrections will be constantly needed but the turn - in to a bend will be slightly more enthusiastic.

    Now I notice that our two newish cars are set up to be parallel ie no toe in or out. 

    This is done to reduce the tiny amount of drag that toe-in will cause, to enhance the official mpg and CO2 figures.

    Toe in/out is just one of the many settings of suspension geometry, there are many others that can affect handling and steering.

    https://low-offset.com/workshop/car-suspension-geometry-explained/

     

     

     

    • Thanks 1
  13. 5 hours ago, alittlebitfrench said:

    This has nothing to do with Brits, CDS’s or Brexit. LOL
     

    This is more to do with towns/cities across France (Baritiz is a good example) that are full of ‘French’ second homes and all the problems it causes. Not contributing and pushing house prices in the area etc. This issue has been on the TV quite a lot recetly. No one is mentioning Brits. 
     

    I think it is quite fair for owners of second homes to contrbute more. 
     

    Same problem in the UK in Cornwall and other such places.

    "This has nothing to do with Brits, CDS’s or Brexit. LOL"

    As this is a brit forum - oh yes it is to do with brits!

  14. "I dont see how this applies to 2nd home owners unless they are renting their place(s) out?"

    "Does this really mean all second home owners now have to create an impots account and submit a declaration?"

    All maison secondaire property owners of any nationality will be required to pay taxe d'habitiation, which has been abolished for resident property owners.

    It will also be used to track down the Carte de Sejour fraudsters who declared that they were resident to obtain a CDS when living in their maison secondaire, who did this to avoid the 90/180 day rule after brexit.

     But will there be any attempt to retrospectively claw back taxe d'hab from those who have avoided paying it in the past?

  15. Yes - That's about par for the course - Chronopost are the importing "agent" so they administer the import and charge you for the privilege. And they don't usually allow you to pay online - you pay your postie either cash or cheque.

    If you want to avoid this try to buy from UK businesses that ship using "delivery duty paid"  - DDP for short or the EU "import one stop shop" system -  IOSS.

    With DDP or IOSS you pay the UK supplier delivery, vat and import tax if applicable and it's delivered to you without any further charges - if the deliverer tries to charge you, complain to the supplier to get your money back.

  16. Difficult to answer accurately as you haven't told us how long the car is idle for, the car model and hence the likely capacity of the car battery.

    The best thing to do would be to unplug it when the car isn't being used. 

    Was there any technical information supplied with the tracking gadget which may indicate how much electrical drain it creates? - look for a figure in ma or Ma ( milliamps) or possibly watts or  even milliwatts.

    I'm a bit puzzled by:-

    "there is however, another connection along a cable that is more easily attached and unattached"

    So you have 2 obd ports?

  17. I can't say that I'm enthusiastic about eating from reusable plastic utensils that have been eaten off, sneezed on, mauled about by sweaty hands and then put through a dishwasher.

    Was it hot enough? Did somebody remember to add the detergent? etc etc. 

    Plastic will get scratched, how many journeys will these reuseables be doing?

    The big plus point with Mac D's was that it was CLEAN.

    Not that we are in the habit of eating/drinking at maccy doos, the last time was probably 5 years ago for a coffee and a sticky bun.

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