tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3388623297510187244.post483092085767828984..comments2024-02-23T03:26:11.779+00:00Comments on Growing Things and Making Things: New showerRachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16619866897155085499noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3388623297510187244.post-91896195498343734482015-03-22T20:23:25.042+00:002015-03-22T20:23:25.042+00:00Hi Eliana. Well spotted! I haven't quit no poo...Hi Eliana. Well spotted! I haven't quit no poo, but my husband has - the shampoo is his. He has much thicker hair than mine, which makes it more difficult to get the sebum out with just water, and it's almost impossible to get a natural bristle brush through it. I'm still happy with water only. If I use shampoo occasionally, I hate the way my hair feels afterwards, though it's just like it always used to be. It just feels healthier now, Rachelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16619866897155085499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3388623297510187244.post-11556045921844610452015-03-22T02:18:04.735+00:002015-03-22T02:18:04.735+00:00Hi Rachel, I reach out to you from Uruguay since i...Hi Rachel, I reach out to you from Uruguay since i was on internet looking for experience about No Poo. Looking at your fotos related to this shower i have seen a Pantene bottle so I wonder if you have quitted the experience, and if you do, tell me about the reasons, because i am up to started but I still have second thoughts about it!!<br />tks!<br />ElianaAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16846620867181488024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3388623297510187244.post-73664623836968262132015-01-27T15:34:41.152+00:002015-01-27T15:34:41.152+00:00Mains gas is widespread in the UK, too, just not i...Mains gas is widespread in the UK, too, just not in some rural areas. Most homes have a gas powered hot water heater (generally known as a boiler, though you really don't want it to boil) for central heating, and those often do hot water as well.<br /><br />Good question about the overheating risk. People laugh at me when I talk about this problem, thinking Welsh sunshine and home-made panels are unlikely to produce too much heat, but it's a serious risk! I'm more concerned about excessive heat in the panel loop (yes, there is a heat exchanger) than in the tank, because the tank is huge (350 litres, or 92 of your undersized American gallons). It does have a 'heat leak' radiator connected to it, which theoretically should be open permanently as a safety measure, but our plumber kindly added a valve so we could shut it off and not waste all our precious heat. As he said, the tank itself is a heat sink.<br /><br />The water in the underfloor heating is only pumped round when called for, and is mixed with cold/cooler water (from the return side of the loop) to bring it down to a suitable temperature. There is no danger of burning our feet on the floor unless the controls go wrong.<br /><br />If we do get too much heat in the tank, we open the heat leak radiator valve to let some out there and if necessary, run the hot taps. If this looks likely to be a problem and we want to go away in the summer, there are a couple of options. The simplest is just to cover the panels so they don't get hot. More complicated is to program the pump controller to switch on at night lose heat via the solar panels.<br /><br />I bet you wish you'd never asked, now!Rachelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16619866897155085499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3388623297510187244.post-21946339927790266252015-01-27T05:58:03.301+00:002015-01-27T05:58:03.301+00:00Well, I'm guessing electric showers must exist...Well, I'm guessing electric showers must exist - maybe people who live in cabins up in the mountains might have something like that, but I've never heard of the idea before. Of course, I'm always thrown for a loop when I realize that not all homes have natural gas service. In these parts pretty much every home has a gas powered hot water heater - if you had a fancy in-floor heating system like you've got, then you'd probably have a really big one, or multiple tanks.<br /><br />So, one question about solar water heating in general, how do you make sure it doesn't overheat and cause a dangerous situation? I guess I'm assuming there's a heat exchanger in the system somewhere so the water running through the panels is separate from the water used in the home - does it just stop circulating if the water in the tank gets too hot?<br /><br />EcoCatLadyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15704811319510740473noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3388623297510187244.post-53600548100199868042015-01-26T21:29:20.148+00:002015-01-26T21:29:20.148+00:00Oh, are electric showers not a thing where you are...Oh, are electric showers not a thing where you are, then? Yes, it does heat its own water, or did, until one of the heating elements burned out. As for the home in general, we have an integrated heating and hot water system, which is not very common (that is, this particular kind of system is not common - other integrated systems are). It all centres on a big tank of water called a thermal store. When that's hot, we can draw heat from it for either heating the house or hot water, or both. In theory, we have three ways of getting heat into it: The wood burning stove, which we use in the winter, electric immersion heaters (two), which we try to avoid using because that's an expensive and inefficient way to heat water, and solar panels, which aren't quite finished yet. That means that in winter, we have hot water but it might run out, or at least get less hot, if we haven't burned enough wood that day. In summer, we'll have lovely free hot water just so long as the sun shines (!) and just as soon as I get those solar panels finished.Rachelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16619866897155085499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3388623297510187244.post-62797906059239872562015-01-26T19:43:48.912+00:002015-01-26T19:43:48.912+00:00Hmmm... I'm totally baffled by this post. So y...Hmmm... I'm totally baffled by this post. So your shower heats its own water? I've never heard of such a thing. Anyhow, it sounds like you've got the problem solved, but I'm still confused. So your home doesn't have hot water in general?EcoCatLadyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15704811319510740473noreply@blogger.com