Damn this weather

[onetrack]

Yenn, where are you located? I'm in Perth. W.A., and we have had the hottest Summer I can recall personally since 1962. We have beaten the local record for the most number of days over 40° this Summer, and I think we will end up setting more records yet, before Summer is out - possibly the hottest average Summer temperature on record. All this after a long wet Winter, whereby it rained right up to the start of the wheat harvest in Southern areas, in early Dec.

 

We had 5 days over 40° in Dec, 6 over 40° in January, it's hanging around 39° today, and tomorrow and Saturday are looking like 40° days as well. Then, we usually get several more days over 40° in Feb.

 

http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/dwo/202201/html/IDCJDW6111.202201.shtml

[Jerry_Atrick]

This year has been quite a mild winter by UK standards... There have been a couple of storms, and down south, probably 5 days where the mercury dipped below 0 (celcius) and the coldest was -1.. Previous winter was much colder..

 

Thankfully, though, as in the boondocks, we are on oil heating and at 63p/litre (no tax), it can get bloomin expensive to fill the 1300 litre tank.. When the heating is on, it lasts about 6 weeks on average..

 

[onetrack]

We just forked out $5000 (on 13th October), to install a new 5Kw solar system, which replaced a 1.5Kw solar system which had been in place since June 2011.

When we installed the 1.5Kw solar system, we were lucky enough to score the very last of a 10 yr State subsidised solar power feed-in contract, with the feed-in tariff at 40c a Kw.

The power supply cost from the State power system back then was about 18c Kw, so it was a no-brainer.

 

Someone in the State Govt stuffed up their forecasted power feed-in figures however, and the feed-in subsidy blew out to a cost of about $30M annually for the State Govt, so they canned the subsidy on July 1, 2011 - and even tried to cancel all the contracts a little later on.

But there was such an uproar, and talk of class action over the move to cancel the contracts - and discussion around the inability to cancel a commercial contract without a major underlying reason (and the Govt losing money wasn't enough reason) - that the Govt backed down, and saw the contracts through.

 

Our power bills went to very low figures and often zero, over the 10 yrs from 2011 to 2021 (thanks to the feed-in subsidy) and I originally calculated we would pay off the cost of the 1.5Kw unit ($4000 at the time) over about 4 years. We paid for the solar system in a little less than 3.5 yrs, and the other 6.5 yrs was a pure bonus time.

 

When our contract ended last mid-June, our power bill rocketed, as the feed-in tariff dropped back to around 7c. We got a little "breathing space" on power costs, when the State Govt gave every power user in the State, a $600 credit (in July 2021) as a result of the Govt receiving a major payout from the Bell Group (Bond Corporation) legal settlement (the W.A. State Insurance Commission lost the $150M it poured into Bell Group as a loan in 1990, and the Govt spent 30 years fighting to get it back, by suing the banks).

So the payout was deemed to belong to every West Australian, and as a result we all got a $600 power credit. But it didn't take long to chew up the $600 in power bills, and we were soon back to paying around $125-150 a month for our power. 

 

As a result of having all our planned holidays canned, we ended up with surplus funds in the holiday account, so we spent it on the new solar system instead.

It's working a treat, and even though we're limited to a maximum 5Kw domestic solar system here, we're often generating over 5Kw, up to 5.2Kw some days.

The solar panels are rated at 6.6Kw, but the inverter is only a 5Kw unit - which is the recommended, maximised setup.

 

We have 3 reverse cycle inverter air-conditioning units - one at 3HP and 2 at 1HP each, and they provide all the heating and cooling we need. The best part is the A/C is largely only needed when the sun is shining the brightest, and any power generated is used in the house first, and only surplus solar power is exported.

 

Our last bill (2 mths) from 11th Oct to 25th Nov was only $175, half of which was the cost of a complete new high-tech power meter - and I'm hanging out to see our latest bill, which is due to arrive any day now, for the period from 21st Dec to 25th January.

We have had a full-time solar power generation period in that time, but we were away in Qld for 10 days during Dec, so it will be interesting to see the bill.

We've been hammering the air-conditioning during the last 2 mths, but we've had a massive solar power generation effort too, during that time, with virtually no cloud or rain in that period.

 

Edited February 3, 2022 by onetrack

[old man emu]

If the people of Northern Europe can benefit from the use of solar energy for electricity generation and water heating, how well Australia would do if governments would promote it.

 

But once again, our politicians sold off the power generation infrastructure to their mates, who are only interested in profiting from the money they spent. If the government still owned the power stations, then switching to solar by encouraging the as much installation as possible would allow the closure, or reduction in use, of the coal-fired generators. Then the only costs would be in maintaining transmission lines. Of course, we need the ability to store electricity for use overnight.

 

Of course, this idea, while making sense to the average bill payer, would be the last thing a political party would propose as an idea to put to the public at an election. Good ideas can never override pork barrelling. 

[Old Koreelah]

Damned wind! Currently sitting in our clubhouse with 15kt wind whipping across the apron. Had planned to fly this morning and get plane ready for a trip to Barraba tomorrow, but opening the hangar doors in this breeze is a hazard.

 

Bifold doors are easy to build, but not the safest design, especially if you’re on your own.

[spacesailor]

I never gave the hanger doors a thought !.

Ever.

spacesailor

[Jerry_Atrick]

15kts.. OK.. that is a gentle breeze, ol' chap! 😉

 

[Old Koreelah]

2 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

15kts.. OK.. that is a gentle breeze, ol' chap! 😉

 

 Not if it catches our door full-on while I’m trying to hold it. Having once been thrown a few metres, I’m quite wary of the plurry thing!

[onetrack]

I have a mate who nearly killed himself (at age 70) when repairing the track on bi-fold doors by himself. He was working alone (Mistake No. 1), in a remote area with poor phone connection (Mistake No. 2), and only tied the doors back in the direction the (occasionally gusty) wind was blowing from.

 

He got up to the top of the doors on the ladder (unsecured at the top - Mistake No. 3), and was working away on the track and rollers quite happily - when the wind suddenly reversed direction in an instant, and a sudden gust from that 180° different direction, threw the doors in the opposite direction to which he'd tied them.

This rapidly dislodged his ladder, and he very promptly fell 4 metres onto the concrete floor outside the shed, landing on his left side, badly fracturing his left elbow, and shattering his upper leg bone (the femur).

 

By pure luck more than anything, his phone was still in his pocket, and it still worked. But he could only just get a faint signal by raising the phone above his head.

He tried for ages to raise someone - but being in a remote rural area, there were few people out and about. The nearest town was about 30kms away.

 

It took him 2 hrs to raise the farmer he worked for, and he alerted emergency services, who took another hour to arrive. By that time, my mate was lapsing in and out of consciousness with shock and pain.

He got transported 160kms to the nearest major regional centre hospital, where he was lucky that a good surgeon was immediately available.

My mate ended up with a full length stainless steel 10mm diameter pin in his femur, and another stainless plate and screws in his shattered elbow. He spent around 9 mths in a wheelchair - a whole new experience for a bloke who was always fit and active every day of his former life.

 

That was in March 2017 and he's actually recovered quite well, and doesn't have any major long-term disabilities - but it was a hard and expensive lesson to learn.

What was even sillier was, despite working part-time to full time for periods for the farmer as a repairer, he told the hospital he wasn't in the employment of the farmer, and was only doing the job as an unpaid friend.

He did this out of a misguided sense of loyalty to the farmer - thinking, if he told authorities he was employed by the farmer, the farmer would receive major OH&S fines, and huge insurance premium penalties - so my mate got no financial compensation of any kind.

 

This was extremely foolish of him, and it's a shame I wasn't around to advise him, because if he had gone down the road of a workers compensation claim, Worksafe would more than likely have not imposed any major penalty on the farmer (perhaps a small one), and the farmers OH&S practices would have received scrutiny, and he would have been advised of the statutory OH&S requirements, and the improvements needed to his workplace policies and working procedures - which were quite deficient, as the farmer was quite lackadaisical in that area.

 

And of course, in addition, if my mate had lodged a Workers Compensation claim, he would've received a serious amount of financial compensation for the accident, which would have helped him no end.

 

Edited February 4, 2022 by onetrack

[Old Koreelah]

I’m afraid of height, especially being up tall ladders.

Fear is good at keeping us safe.

[Yenn]

I am just South of Gladstone in Qld. Today we have high winds and it is fairly pleasant. I have been working outside fairl comfortably.

What controls my flying is the wind, when it gets too much for me to safely open the hangar doors I give it away. Doors are 6 * 3m.

 

[onetrack]

I have a friend who lives at Wurdong Heights, Sth of Gladstone. But he's a tractor man, not a flying man.

[Yenn]

Wurdong is just up the road from me. Don't know a tractor man there unless it is Jonothan.

[facthunter]

Looking through my log book went to Gladstone in a DC4 on 4 Aug 1967 to take a  generator for the Aluminium Plant from Brisbane.  Have no idea why it couldn't have gone by truck. Probably the only time a 4 went into there. Return trip was logged as night. 1 Hour and 45 minutes.. Nev

[onetrack]

Yenn - No, my friends name isn't Jonothan, it's Ian Morrow. He and his son operate as A & I Morrow, Earthmoving Contractors, they're right on the Gladstone-Benaraby Rd at Wurdong Hts.

 

Facthunter, if the generator was a particularly important piece of power-producing equipment in an Aluminium plant, it's likely the downtime cost would be horrendous while they waited for road delivery.

 

I can recall a mining engineer associate telling me, that back in the early 1980's, at the gold mining operation at Porgera in PNG, if the main grinding mill broke down, the entire operation stopped, and the downtime cost back then, was a figure in the region of $55,000 a MINUTE!

If the mill stopped turning at Porgera, people just RAN from everywhere, to find the problem, and fix it ASAP!

 

You could well imagine the cost of a power blackout in a large Aluminium plant - I've heard of aluminium setting solid in the pots at Portland, when the power went off for an extended period. They had to jackhammer the solidified aluminium out. A lot of these places have very large standby gensets that might only be used once a year, but when they're needed, they pay for themselves in hours.

 

Edited February 6, 2022 by onetrack

[facthunter]

Coober Pedy would be in (more) trouble without the Mini Hercules aircraft.. The DC4 used to  carry aircraft engines to all sorts of places.

Here's another  from the logbook. Chartered by Qantas. 31 Mar -1 April 1966. a A genset probably weighing about 3 tonnes Sydney to Christchurch total flight time 14hr 25 minutes (return empty) That  was obviously something urgent also.  Flight Nos QF 132/QF133. . Nev 

[Old Koreelah]

15 hours ago, onetrack said:

You could well imagine the cost of a power blackout in a large Aluminium plant - I've heard of aluminium setting solid in the pots at Portland, when the power went off for an extended period. They had to jackhammer the solidified aluminium out…

 

Th potential for damage like this was the subject of one of the Nazi’s more inspired WWII operations; it could have done massive damage to US war production, but failed due to one agent’s lack of committment to the Party.

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

[Yenn]

1967 was early days for Queensland Alumina and their main use of electricity would have been for pumping slurries about. The heavy use of electricity is at the smelters where they make solidified electricity and call it aluminium.

The smelter didn't start until much later, in fact the population of Boyne Island which is where the smelter is was probably 50 people i 1967.

I know the name of Ian morrow, but never met him. I got out of working with earthmoving contractors when i retired in 2001, I have even forgotten the names of those I used to work with.

Back to the weather and today is just right. it hasn't got over 30 deg and there is a nice Southerly breeze. makes it easy to work outside.

 

[facthunter]

I couldn't see much going on in the way of big structures. .I think the runway was grass. Norfolk Is was grass too..  Nev

[nomadpete]

Pretty sure Boyne Is was set up by 1969.

Shortly after, Joh had primised electricity to that and another proposed smelter, at less than the wholesale generation cost. So in 1980-ish, the Qld government (at that time they owned all generators) spent mullions on refurbishing the antiquated Bulimba Power Station  because there was a projected shortfall of generation which would result in blackouts in Brissy.

 

Luckily Joh's deal fell through so we didn't have blackouts and we didn't find ourselves subsidising a mulitnational smelter.

 

But it illustrates how our leaders consistently think that overseas 'investment' is supposed to be good for us. I think not.

 

[Marty_d]

Ah, good old Joh.  The Clive Palmer of the 70's and 80's.

[old man emu]

11 hours ago, nomadpete said:

 

But it illustrates how our leaders consistently think that overseas 'investment' is supposed to be good for us.

And that is how it has been since John Macarthur returned from taking his first wool clip to England. It is what caused the demise of all those industries that flourished during WWll to support the war effort. It is what is resulting in our very geology being dug up and sold off cheaply, only to return as expensive things because overseas investors have value-added.

[Old Koreelah]

By destroying the democratically-elected givernment of Chile, Henry Kissinger gave a clear lesson to all countries within the US sphere of influence what happens when a government tries to wrest it’s economy from the clutches of American Corporations. In 1975 no doubt they were also involved (by more subtle, covert means) in the overthrow of the Australian government that tried to regain control of our resources and economy. 
 

Every Australian government since then has known the rules. Kevin Rudd even got whacked for trying to interfere with mining companies raping our nation.

 

[Yenn]

Nomad. Boyne smelter was probably in the design stages in 1969, but there was nothing on the ground until the mid seventies. The Gladstone power station was started in 1972 I think, but there was no connection to Boyne Island.

That was back in the good old days when we used to get a wet at the beginning of the year. In the days when the Boyne and Calliope rivers used to cut the Bruce highway just about every year. Back before there was a bridge to Boyne Island and we used to go over the causeway to get to the island at low tide.

[onetrack]

The Gladstone Alumina Refinery was operating in 1967, but the Boyne Island smelter construction did not commence until 1979, and the smelter did not become operational until 1982.

 

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