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guydewdney
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« on: February 06, 2008, 08:28:07 PM » |
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Ordering 2 x 30 tube panels, loads of armaflex, AND a 5kw gshp tomorrow morning  wish me luck  Its OK - im building a 7 litre V8 trike to make up for it  lol |
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wookey
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« Reply #1 on: February 06, 2008, 09:28:49 PM » |
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Best of luck!
(not that luck has a great deal to do with it :-)
We expect progress reports.
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Wookey
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Bob
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« Reply #2 on: February 07, 2008, 07:40:40 AM » |
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Best of luck Guy.
Just a 7 litre lump for the trike? Think big man, think BIG!
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It's not what you make, it's what you use that counts!
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guydewdney
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« Reply #3 on: February 13, 2008, 05:50:30 PM » |
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all arrived today Oddly, the theywere packed in polystyrene - god i hate that stuff - goes everywhere. Surely it should be in some recycled cardboard packaging? |
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paul
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« Reply #4 on: February 13, 2008, 06:04:04 PM » |
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put it in your loft (every little helps).
paul
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Ivan
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« Reply #5 on: February 14, 2008, 12:24:25 AM » |
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I hate polystyrene too, but it seems to do the best job. Recycled cardboard is a possibility, but if it results in a greater number of broken tubes, overall it is less environmentally-friendly.
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SteveH
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« Reply #6 on: February 14, 2008, 12:56:14 AM » |
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I'm sure I saw somthing about using "Popcorn" instead of polystyrene... Think it was dyed green to stop people eating it. I supose there might be vermin & mould problems... I'm sure they were making it into shaped pieces by flash heating it in moulds too... this was about 15 to 20 years back... Dutch idea I seem to remember... Feed the used packing to your pigs & chickens...  |
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Preveli, South Crete.
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Ivan
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« Reply #7 on: February 14, 2008, 01:06:27 AM » |
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When I worked in the lab, Sigma Chemicals used to use these all the time (I saw it on Tomorrow's World about a year before). Resol also send some of their stuff out with this kind of packaging. I think it's a great idea - you can feed it to the ducks in the park! I've eaten some too, just to prove the point to startled onlookers. It's pretty tasteless...although it looks like it might be nice in a bowl of milk. They look like small cylinders, slightly wrinkled surfaces, and they don't spring back when you squash them, unlike polystyrene. They're not too good with water. If they get wet they kinda shrink/disintegrate. However, they get 10/10 in my book.
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room101
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« Reply #8 on: February 14, 2008, 10:52:22 AM » |
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wookey
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« Reply #9 on: February 15, 2008, 01:07:59 AM » |
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Made of cellulose as I understand it.
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Wookey
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guydewdney
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« Reply #10 on: February 15, 2008, 08:29:10 AM » |
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I used to work for Mars electronics - we made all the magic boxes that counted your money in vending machines...
anyway - the boxes were protected in basically egg boxes - and one day we had a series of complaints of broken doodads. To re-create the damage, we had to kick in the corner, THEN drop it from a 4 metre height. The spec said max 2 metre height, single drop on the corner.... Basically, some monkey had been playing football with hundreds of pounds of kit!
Cardboard isn't as tasty as wotsits...
The thing I hate about PS is that it ALWAYS breaks up, and covers the yard / kitchen in millions of white balls. There are other plastic / foam protective packaging systems that are less granular.
Anyway - worth a chat isnt it Ivan? China isn't best known for its environmental awareness, and so its customers like you (who deal with the factories) who have to request / demand better practices - its no good us, sitting in surrey, in our 2 x 4 box wingeing - they wont hear us! One less bit of PS = a tiny bit less cr@p in the air in beijing....
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Ivan
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« Reply #11 on: February 15, 2008, 03:16:46 PM » |
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There are also different grades of polystyrene. For example, some we've had (not with the solar panels), will readily break up into millions of tiny balls, whereas the polystyrene packaging provided with the solar tubes are much more resistant to this.
Incidentally, in the next month or two we will be implementing a novel improvement to the solar packaging (still polystyrene - sorry!)
Ivan
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Paulh_Boats
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« Reply #12 on: February 15, 2008, 03:53:58 PM » |
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I hate throwing PS in the bin because I know it will end up as land fill.
So I have a stock pile of the stuff in all shapes and sizes. Any suggestions as to how I can use it for insulation safely?
My hot water tank needs more insulation but I'm a bit concerned about the fire risk when solar temperatures can easily get up to 100C
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Ivan
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« Reply #13 on: February 15, 2008, 04:13:28 PM » |
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I used to think that builder's polystyrene had fire-retardant added. Actually, I have been told that by our builders' merchant. However, having tested it, it burns just as easily as the some packaging polystyrene I had. (actually, but self-extinguish to a greater extent).
A few years ago, I broke up all the polystyrene packaging I ended up with, and dropped it down the cavity in my garage...until it filled up. There are a few companies that recycle it - they chop it up with hotwires, and recycle it as polystyrene chips for more packaging. We recycle much of ours at Navitron, along with bubblewrap - which is a much more recycle-friendly packaging material. Before you all start collecting for us - we have more than enough! We could do with a source of recycled cardboard boxes, though!
Ivan
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David
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« Reply #14 on: February 15, 2008, 09:03:31 PM » |
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I hate polystyrene too, but it seems to do the best job. Recycled cardboard is a possibility, but if it results in a greater number of broken tubes, overall it is less environmentally-friendly.
I don't think Navitron can be accused of being climate criminals for using polystyrene. There is a minimal amount around the tubes in their boxes. If something better was available then that would be great, but there are more important things to look at first. Individuals get six pieces of polystyrene per box of tubes. They are unlikely to get more than two or three boxes of tubes in 20 years. Plastic bags are a far greater problem. |
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