JA2340

... after looking at it for 20 years you'll probably want to trade it in and get a new one. Don't you DARE tell the missus that! We've been together 19 years this April ... just one to go?

You mentioned before that there were "only two of us" - are you not planning any kids then? That'd throw the calcs out by a factor of, oh - say 20%. so your usage would include 3 meals a day while they are not at school, add the 3 for the missus and the number of used skyrockets. I'm not even going to try to guestimate the number of uses that would get to! (Leaving that to BM.)

Problem is in the installer, not the concept. In Japan, you'd need to be certain that he blokes doing the install do a damned good job - of course, you could always go to the LED style like we have! And it DOES actually rain here - we get 600+mm a year on average, and some places get a shirtload more than that.

I didn't mention anythng about the chips....and they are served in batter, the fact that the batter is cooked makes no difference.....get over yourself So ... what was this, then?

again

Chips in batter?? Kidding, right? ... and not served but cooked in batter. As I said, times have changed, batter is boring (and full of carcinogen creating trans fats) so ... move on.

deVito

Yep, still needs a hole in roof, and a short "run" to the area to be lit. Plus, they tend to degrade in sunlight, so have to be replaced regularly. Problem with the sunpipe thingy is the hole and the losses involved. Each 45deg bend gives a loss of around 10%+, each metre of straight length gives losses of 5% or so. And the hole still needs flashing and sealing. The work one has been a "running leak" since installed, due to ineffective sealing around the roof cutout, and fixing it is a right PITA, it now has a flashing that goes from ridge to gutter (around 4 metres) to stop water from ge

Arnie

The "hole in he roof" thing was also a bit of a problem for us, as we needed light in a room that's directly under the attic. That'd mean a super bendy pipe, OR a bloody great pipe through the middle of the attic, not our preferred option! So, the LED solution is the way to go! The light is not natural sunlight, but then, neither is the sunpipe one - it has been filtered, reflected and through a diffuser, so there's not a lot of difference. Work has a couple of the sunpipe thingys, and the light they let in is quite "white" as opposed to natural sunlight. The LED light is also quite white.

And likely to be knighted??

Actually no pipes involved! There's a solar panel outside mounted on roof. That's connected to the LED bit with a cable. Supposed to be North facing (in the Southern hemisphere) but ours is on a West facing slope, so we angled it a bit towards North to get more sun. It starts working just before sun hits it, and continues until well after sunset (about an hour or so). Seems to rely on light rather than actual sun on it. Will be interesting to see how if functions on a cloudy day! It has been up since Saturday morning, so no cloudy days so far.

Turns thing on ... We just installed a solar "non-solartube" light from Kimproducts. They are LED "lights" driven by a solar panel. I'll check with David about the link, and post it here if OK. (Edit) KimProducts are at http://www.kimprod.com.au/index.html - have an online purchase cart & post to Aus addresses. Do not doubt at all that the stuff will be available in Japow.

And wrapped in last week's newspaper! Seriously ... move on! this is NOT 1800!

Far more talent than I have in the hot dog eating department, that's for sure! I'm unable to finish a single one without feeling like I've eaten something rancid/poisonous.

Point being the conversation was about fish 'n' chips. Nothing about batter in original posts - besides, not liking the "cretinsrus" bit - be nice?

Huh? Jynxxx. They are made o f wood/sawdust/other fibrous material. The original pellet machines were designed for stock feed, but someone decided to play silly buggers with wood/sawdust etc and burn it. I want one that will produce log size (about 30-50mm diameter) from the waste from my olive processing. but the only ones available commercially are much smaller - about 6-20mm diameter and need a specialised burning environment, like in the automated feed heaters.

That's not batter Point??Batter is boring!

The pellets are a bit like supersize all-bran. and can be manufactured with one of these ... (Edit) They need a specialised system to burn, though, with an auger to feed the pellets into the burn chamber. (see http://www.thefireplacechannel.com/articles/article/3679599/53508.htm)

Egg wash, then roll in a mix of breadcrumbs and dukka, shallow fry = Y U M M M M M O!

twice

OI!!!

bestiality

But equally, a significant train wreck! Sorta "build your own tunnel"