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If you're going to the trouble of making a fan you might be better off hunting down a second hand windcharger. These things are often available cheap on caravan sites which have recently been converted to mains power. There is no gearing (too inefficient) and the generator is in the fan hub...

My favourite, which I think is original, isn't on the list: "When the Irresistible Force meets the Immovable Object it's time for a tea break." Then there's the well known Universal Law of Junk: "The only piece of junk you will ever need is the one you threw out last week." I don't...

For the benefit of Petewood, here is the solution to the Three Black Labels problem. If you don't want to know, CLOSE THIS WINDOW NOW!!! You are Tom and the other two are Dick and Harry (or, if you prefer, you are Tammy and the other two are Dot and Hairy). Think what would happen if you...

AdamW wrote: Although this is good advice it's not as important as avoiding ESD (electrostatic discharge). We've all at some time walked across a synthetic carpet or got out of a car only to get a rude shock when we next touch earthed metal. What's less obvious is that we can be carrying...

What you have there is known as a fused connection unit (FCU for short). The cable which once went from the consumer unit to the old 'socket' should be connected to "Supply". The fan goes to "Load". It sounds to me like your old 'plug' is itself an FCU but with a light in it. If this is...

Do you really mean 6mm wide (which sounds like 1mm cable to me too) or 6mm thick? This is all a bit wooly. Have a close look at that cable for any numbers or letters embossed on the outer sheath. If you're really lucky you'll find something that will help identify it. The cables coming out...

I'm afraid that intermittent faults like this are an absolute pig to track down. Still, you've got to start somewhere. The tamper loop in a typical alarm system is very long since it can go to the end of every cable and back again. I can only suggest that you start by isolating sections of...

How to solve the wine problem: The first prisoner is made to sample half the bottles. Actually, they ALL have to sample half the bottles but not the same half. Let's number those bottles. The first prisoner samples bottles 1 to 500. The second prisoner samples 1 to 250 and 501 to 750...

Adam is right but with one proviso. C must assume that D is neither blind nor stupid - though under the circumstances that's an assumption worth making! I must say that it's a bit hard on A and B, neither of whom stand a chance. Here's a variation in which all get a fair chance. There are...

I belong to that generation who, according to the series Grumpy Old Men, are the grumpiest generation in history - and it's official! I find this a bit odd because, sticky labels aside, I don't really have too much to grump about. Think about it. We are the first generation in history who...

Toilet seats are no big deal. How much effort is involved in putting the thing up or down? If you want a real moan try removing one of those abominable sticky labels that has glue stronger than the actual label. Start at one corner. Easy does it now, not too fast. B****x, the label is...

I believe the correct saying is "Love of money is the root of all evil" but in any case I'm not convinced. Love of money may be the root of a lot of evil but did Hitler invade Poland for money? And what about Napoleon or Sadam or ozzy binloader wazname - or that Serb scumbag whose name I won't...

Sorry but emulsion paint is not really water based. The paint resins aren't dissolved in the water - a better word would be dispersed. That's why it's called emulsion. Emulsions are funny things and I don't pretend to understand them completely though I think it's got something to do with...

Masona wrote this: A good question. I've no doubt that religion does make quite a lot of people feel better and in the not so distant past it was far more important than it is now. I think we can assume that in the very distant past proto humans realized that they weren't going to live...

Plugwash and nstreet are both correct. It is indeed current that kills but only if it goes through either the heart or the brain. A little thought will tell you that it's jolly difficult to accidently shove a lethal electric current through your brain. The first attemps at a functioning...

Crumbs! I seem to have started an argument here. What I had in mind was a single socket and single FCU in parallel at the end of a length of 2.5mm cable. I thought this might be a simple way of getting a single power socket and a 5 amp lighting circuit into a (hypothetical) loft. The answer...

This sounds familiar. Try here for some suggestions. http://www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=23154&highlight=screw The drill chuck idea is no good in your case but the others might work.

Lots: 1) The pilot flame is too small to heat the thermocouple. 2) The thermocouple is duff. 3) Something else - like an overheat stat - needs resetting. 4) The gas valve is faulty. Let's hope it's not the last one! I include the following information just in case you're...

Is this for real or a typing error? Plaster two inches thick!!! Whether it's for real or not, for a fixing that will pull the wall down first expanding bolts (often called rawlbolts) are hard to beat. I'd be inclined to fix some wide battens to the wall first (to spread the load under the...

You can't put a 13 amp fuse in your existing FCU because whatever lies 'downstream' might only be rated at 3 amps. What you can do, in theory at least, is put a second FCU with 3 amp fuse in line with the pump supply. Feed this from the first one with 13 amp cable and you can have a 13 amp...