Need some inspiration , I know theres some good ideas out there to try.
So far we've had (paint em black an point them south):
1. Pre water heater into a combi bolier (dodgy)
2. Pre water heater for standard loft water tank into HW system (not dodgy)
3. Cold frame/raised bed under floor heater for earlier cropping
Old radiators
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Cheezy
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Old radiators
It's not easy being Cheezy
So you know how great Salsify is as a veg, what about Cavero Nero,great leaves all through the winter , then in Spring sprouting broccolli like flowers! Takes up half as much room as broccolli
So you know how great Salsify is as a veg, what about Cavero Nero,great leaves all through the winter , then in Spring sprouting broccolli like flowers! Takes up half as much room as broccolli
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albert onglebod
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Stonehead
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You really shouldn't encourage me! 
Built a large compost bin. Fill it about two-thirds full with a good mix of material, then lay a radiator flat on top of it. Connect this with pipes to another couple of radiators laid flat under the floor of your chook house (or green house, insulating beneath and to the sides of the radiators) and also to a header tank. Cover the radiator in the compost heap with more material. Cover with black plastic and let the temperature rise to 60-65C and, voila, manure powered central heating for chooks...
Stonehead
Built a large compost bin. Fill it about two-thirds full with a good mix of material, then lay a radiator flat on top of it. Connect this with pipes to another couple of radiators laid flat under the floor of your chook house (or green house, insulating beneath and to the sides of the radiators) and also to a header tank. Cover the radiator in the compost heap with more material. Cover with black plastic and let the temperature rise to 60-65C and, voila, manure powered central heating for chooks...
Stonehead
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Stonehead
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This one will take a bit more work...
Get a couple of dozen radiators of various sizes and fill them with varying amounts of water. Arrange them on a circular platform and then use a system of pivots and springs to arrange an equal number of hammers so they can hit the radiators. Take a large steel can (one from a home brewing kit would be ideal) and punch a pattern of holes in it. Solder tacks through the holes so the points are sticking out. Create a spring-loaded arm to "read" the tack points and trigger the hammers.
And there you have it - a giant percussion music box made from salvage and scrap.
Ah, but what about a power supply? Take the compost heap mentioned earlier, close off all air supply and encourage anaerobic composting to create methane. Use the methane to fuel a steam engine (or stationary engine) and use that to power the music box. The added bonus of the steam engine is that you not only get the whoosh of steam, but also the possibility of various steam whistles to accompany the cacophany of clanging.
Stonehead
PS It would also make a rather effective bird scarer but would require some further additions to make it mobile...
Get a couple of dozen radiators of various sizes and fill them with varying amounts of water. Arrange them on a circular platform and then use a system of pivots and springs to arrange an equal number of hammers so they can hit the radiators. Take a large steel can (one from a home brewing kit would be ideal) and punch a pattern of holes in it. Solder tacks through the holes so the points are sticking out. Create a spring-loaded arm to "read" the tack points and trigger the hammers.
And there you have it - a giant percussion music box made from salvage and scrap.
Ah, but what about a power supply? Take the compost heap mentioned earlier, close off all air supply and encourage anaerobic composting to create methane. Use the methane to fuel a steam engine (or stationary engine) and use that to power the music box. The added bonus of the steam engine is that you not only get the whoosh of steam, but also the possibility of various steam whistles to accompany the cacophany of clanging.
Stonehead
PS It would also make a rather effective bird scarer but would require some further additions to make it mobile...
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Cheezy
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- Location: Darlington UK
Stoney,
like the first...and seeing as my compost heap is near the green house may well do this. Second one, well you've obviously been on the treackle beer or something!.
Any more ideas, come on theres gotta be more, think outside the box, though not so far as you reach Stoney's croft in Scotland
like the first...and seeing as my compost heap is near the green house may well do this. Second one, well you've obviously been on the treackle beer or something!.
Any more ideas, come on theres gotta be more, think outside the box, though not so far as you reach Stoney's croft in Scotland
It's not easy being Cheezy
So you know how great Salsify is as a veg, what about Cavero Nero,great leaves all through the winter , then in Spring sprouting broccolli like flowers! Takes up half as much room as broccolli
So you know how great Salsify is as a veg, what about Cavero Nero,great leaves all through the winter , then in Spring sprouting broccolli like flowers! Takes up half as much room as broccolli
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Stonehead
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I have seen a fence built from old radiators. Old scaffolding pipes had been sunk into concrete and the old radiators were then welded to them. The old thing was painted in very bright colours.
I'm also thinking of some sort of food drier. I have plans for a solar one, but it's not much use when you have weeks of cloud so I haven't made it. However, if you could use a radiator in the base so that hot air circulates up and over the trays of food, then it may work. You'd need another green energy source (wind, bio-gas, etc) but it might be a possibility. I'll have to think about this a bit more. Watch this space!
Stonehead
I'm also thinking of some sort of food drier. I have plans for a solar one, but it's not much use when you have weeks of cloud so I haven't made it. However, if you could use a radiator in the base so that hot air circulates up and over the trays of food, then it may work. You'd need another green energy source (wind, bio-gas, etc) but it might be a possibility. I'll have to think about this a bit more. Watch this space!
Stonehead
