This has been a busy month so far. Not that I have been earning anything but have had plenty to keep me occupied in the house and on the croft. Firstly some good news. I have discovered that there will be work for me for a month in November so this will help matters. Mind you I have just received my council tax bill so that will put a big dent in it. Still at least money will be coming in.
The house is still standing but I have just started to investigate what's behind the wooden panelling and found - not a lot !. I realised that the house was completely un-insulated but there also seems to be a lack of timber in the walls. I am reluctant to start pulling the tin sheeting off the external walls as I might cause all sorts of problems. The simplest solution is to build an insulated box inside each room so this will start next week.
Finally managed to get the washing machine "on line". This nearly turned into a disaster. The layout of the house does not allow me to group everything logically so the washing machine is in the kitchen which is in the front hall. The only place with water is the bathroom so I used a hose pipe to provide a supply for the washing machine. The hose pipe has to run through the living room.... All was ok until I turned on the water. I had expected to have problems with the connections but I ended up with a water feature that Charlie Dimmock would have been proud to have built. The problem was a tiny hole in the hose pipe. Thankfully the water went in the opposite direction to my PC etc. !. Anyway the system works well and I can stop relying on my friends machine. Other improvements to the house include a new ring main, so that I can dispense with the dozen or so extension leads to power everything, and a light in the toilet !.
Popped down to Inverness last week and bought some plumbing bits from Travis Perkins. I set up an account with them last year and they have given me some great discounts. Anyway I bought a load of copper pipe, fittings and a pipe bender. After a bit of experimenting I manufactured a copper coil. The coil sits in the top of the fireplace and is connected to a small radiator. The system is filled with water through a vent pipe and naturally circulates as the water heats up. This is only a trial system but the results are very promising. With a good fire (ie most of the time) the radiator becomes too hot to touch. My temperature sensor only goes up to 50c but the water is well above this. The idea is to install a second storage tank to feed a series of radiators and be able to choose between domestic hot water and space heating. Fuel is plentiful at the moment as I am still "recycling" the old kitchen through the fireplace.
