mayview

Is it safe or stupid to place power points in water -proof cabinets (IP65) mounted to the external wall of a house? This I'm thinking would be taken off as a spur from a line with adequate cable sizing. The run is approx 4 meters and the expected use would be for small powered item. (Fish tank filter pump). Behind the line is a safety cut-off on that circuit specifically and it would be grounded back to the service unit.

Local electrician said unsafe but I don't understand why?

While on this topic, has anyone tried the magnetic/electronic products that claim to help with the issue? For example, this one even claims to help cleaning the existing build-up:

http://www.maxxi.co.th/index.php/water/decalcifier/maxxi-decalcifier

Best of all, it can save hours of cleaning time! this innovative solution will begin to save you money from day one, descaling your existing system and giving longer life to domestic appliances, not forgetting the savings on fuel bills, soaps, shampoo's and detergents.

I purchased one of these type devices from the UK about 6 years ago for the same problem.

The effect is not observable. I found that initially I was wiping down surfaces immediately and therefore didn't see a build up. I concluded that it worked . Subsequently went back to a normal style of maintenance and the issue really hadn't changed. No bona-fide group has demonstrated this has worked and there are university engineering departments who have studied it. I have since de-commissioned the unit.

My next attempt was to use ion exchange resins. This reduced calcium and magnesium but the salt use was very high and the recharging became a bothersome chore. Now I have installed a whole of house RO system. No pre-treatment of water supply (450 mg/l calcium) and the filters are still working well after 12 months. occasionally I will run the deionised water through the system to soak and this seems to preserve the RO filters from precipitated calcium damage. I ozonize the tank every 2 days and the water is safe to drink, no bacterial contamination, clean as anything with no taste, easy sudsing and no scale build up anywhere. The pipes have descaled since using this system.

Personally, I'd be pretty happy if they started putting seat belts in minivans...

A lot of people wouldn't wear them, but it would be nice to have the option.

I am seeing seat-belts in the rear cabin of mini-vans and occasionally I see people buckle up. I think the winds of change are gently happening and we need to be patient and buckle up ourselves. Others do notice and some follow the lead.

Well I may be the odd man out on this one but if you are not a vegetarian would you not be hypocritical about eating dog meat. Why not include cats if you are thinking of them as pets. Pigs are smart animals and people eat them.

I am against the treatment that is inflicted on many of these animals, There are many that are not in the meat trade but have private owners that are abused. For what my opinion is worth the people who abuse animals should never own one and be punished if they abuse them.

Yes it is hypocritical to separate dog meat from other farmed/wild produce. The issue is as you say, the inhumane way that these animals are collected, transported and killed.

Separating dogs on their appeal is an emotional response and this is a second issue. Cruelty in the process ( this would include all animals used as a meat source) must be looked at and prevented first of all.

There have been some very good posts on this issue of dog attacks and retaliation. I'm certainly not knowledgeable on dog behaviour or training and I've learned a lot reading this and similar threads. It's horrible to consider the slaying of the dog and it's also bad to know that nothing prevented the occurrence of the aggression by the dog.

I rescued a dog a couple of years a go and gave her depot contraceptives against the advice of the local vet. Unfortunately she became pregnant and delivered a litter of 7. One died very soon after birth and one died by ingesting field applied insecticides as did 2 others not of the litter. Two in my care I treated and they recovered within an hour after being really knocked down by the poisons. This was truly an accidental poisoning where the dogs ran through a recently sprayed field and then were poisoned by licking off the wet poison. I intubated them, washed them quickly and gave them some IV atropine and they recovered within minutes.

So I do care for them, I am very careful to make sure the dogs are not aggressive but still one dog will slowly approach two members of one human family and menace them very deliberately. These people treat the dogs very kindly and the original bitch warms extremely well to them and they likewise. All the dogs bar one male are sterilised and all vaccinated against the 5 recommended diseases including rabies.

Contraceptives for dogs are dangerous associated with a very marked increase in the incidence of pyometra which has a high fatality. Common the world over when contraceptives are used in dogs and post heat being another natural high risk period. Pyometra can be treated but generally requires sterilisation to stop the progress of the disease and prevent recurrence.

So that's my knowledge but as you can see I have no idea how to train my dogs and one thing that comes through as a responsibility of mine as a dog owner to prevent these horrendous outcomes is my learning or having the dogs trained and I have no idea how to do that in a rural setting. My dogs are never tethered and run freely on the expanses of open fields around. I don't want to tether them but would like to train them to respond to voice commands.

Very funny responses. Offends no-one. More please

Have a couple of outdoor ponds with pumps running for several hours a day (effect and water clarity).

The pumps are 230V double insulated but they do shock from previous experience. They are on RCD's lines. Is it a reasonable strategy to connect the copper plate I have on the base of the pond to inhibit algae, to the earth as a safety mechanism thinking that any short trickle would be at least 10 mA and close the RCD?

I have tried to locate low voltage pumps but just can't find them or having found one, not able to match it to a power supply.

Yes, leave the existing RCD in place, it can do no harm and (as others have noted) protects you from shock from dodgy joins in the cable.

Do verify that your existing breaker and cable are man enough for your new heaters if they are are of higher power than the existing ones.

5 sq mm cable.

25 amp Type C CB's.

4.2 KW heaters.

Hoping this is OK?

As said the second RCB will provide protection for any contact prior to the installed unit (the lines) as well as back-up for installed unit.

Great to have a confirmation reply on this aspect. Grateful

Having an additional high quality RCB switch in line with an appropriate leakage setting is a very good idea.

Thankyou. It stays!

The previous line RCB has a 15mA sensitivity I don't know the h/w heater spec for this.

I have 2 Stiebel Eltron h/w shower heaters that I wish to substitute for older units.

The two independent power sources both have RCB switches in the line supply. Both units are earthedr back to the Supply unit and tested.

The two new h/w heaters have these safety devices incorporated.

Should I remove the standalone RCB switches from the lines? Is there any risk of having additional RCB's on the same line?

My solution I know is over-kill but seems to be holding up.

I have a translucent blue PVC water tank (hopefully to be replaced by a larger fibre-glass or opaque material tank) and have connected this to a swimming pool filter through Zeolite. I circulate it for 4 hours after heavy rain and about 30 minutes per day between rainfalls. The zeolite should remain effective for 10 years. (My town water supply is particularly hard and unpotable).

The zeolite effectively clarifies the water and removes any re-growing algae and 95% of the microbe contamination.

For showers and other uses I use this then finally passing through a 30 micron spun poly filter cartridge. For drinking water I pass it through a ceramic filter, charcoal and finally a de-ionizer resin (Commercial 3 container filter system). This should remove bugs, heavy metals (eg lead etc) and any off taste and it seems to but not analysed by a lab. Finally I boil this water for a few minutes and then bottle and refrigerate it.