Douglas Alpenstock

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is house sitting. Or/including pet sitting.

When people go on an extended voyage somewhere, their insurance people will insist that the property be checked regularly and perhaps daily, otherwise they will not insure losses.

Sometimes they want someone to stay overnight for a couple of days of the week, to make the place look "lived in."

I know people who do this for money on the side. It's not hard work but you have to be completely reliable. But if it's a good fit, it's a sweet gig.

If you have the skills to respond to an emergency situation on the property, your value is enhanced.

If you can manage and assess health of large animals, even better.

The foundation of all of this is credibility and trust, people who know and trust you -- and recommend you to people they know. But they will want evidence of a clean criminal record, and any other assurances that will make them and their insurance providers comfortable. Think about it -- to whom you would give the keys to your house?

But as a side gig, it could be easy money once you have established yourself.

There's a psychology I've observed -- if it's offered free people think there must be a glitch -- something is wrong with it. Or, it's a sneaky obligation -- now I owe you something, and I'm uncomfortable with that. But if it's offered for half the going rate, paid in cash, they are thrilled about the incredible good deal. And they may reciprocate with good deals in the other direction. My 2c.

Well there must be a good lawyer somewhere out there, Tom said plaintiffly.

Phil Stevens wrote:. If I see "California" thistle (Cirsium arvense, also called Canadian, but it's neither...actually native to the Eurasian steppes) I destroy it with prejudice. This stuff is nasty, a perennial with a habit of sending roots up to ten metres long to shoot up new plants in clumps.

Sad to hear it has infested NZ. I have been at war with this stuff for decades. "We are the Borg ...etc." Some have called me out on this; I stand by my observations.

There are other thistles, annuals, that I happily let grow and coexist. Globe thistles and others that play nice. If the bumblebees like them, I will let them be. Costs me nothing.

Sorry, I just have to answer the OP by saying "fermenting on purpose? or by accident?"

This is the harvest season, and there is much stuff bravely maturing in every corner, or dying ungracefully in a fermenty mess in every other corner with attendant fruit flies, and we're just trying to keep up!

It's madness, but we have chosen this. It's generational madness, with the same stories from many, many generations before. Beat that, netflix et al!

Now back to your regularly scheduled thread.

Since this is for drinking water, is there a way to give it a quick boil (and cool) before putting it through the filter? This potentially solves a multitude of ills.

Personally I'm leery of anything that would stay plugged in to the battery pack. If the thermostat fails it might cause damage.

Can you describe your larger system? How are you charging the battery pack? If it's solar with a controller, could it power a small 12V incandescent bulb directly?

Kate Downham wrote:
I looked up 'biofouling' and that seems to make sense.

I asked a robot and it told me to take all the filters fully out of the system, scrub them with something very very abrasive under running water, and then re-prime them.

Sounds like a lot more work than my current scrubbing-with-bottle-brush-and-refilling trick, but I might give it a go and see what it does to the flow rate.

I would look up the manufacturer and get their recommendation directly. The "robot" is just guessing and might cause damage with its notions.

I have been told that baking soda is the miracle 15 minute solution for tenderizing meat.

I haven't tested it yet.

It's important that the repair fills the gap and prevents damage to the stove metal.

The only "goop" I can think of is the stuff used to attach door gaskets on wood stoves. It comes in a caulking tube and goes a long way. Obviously it can take a lot of heat, though whether it can handle fire directly may be another matter.

Maybe you can stuff door seal fibreglass into the gap and seal it in with stove gasket goop?