On 7/8/2010 1:50 AM, scott wrote:
>> Every car I've ever seen has hinges which try to force the door fully
>> open or fully closed. Now you can see why fully closed would be a good
>> idea. But if you're parked in a tight space, it's really irritating
>> that you can't let go of the door because you'll either get a door in
>> your face, or the door will spring open and scratch up the car next to
>> you.
>>
>> Such a simple problem, yet nobody has solved it. WHY?!! >_<
>
> Huh? Every car I've had for decades has a soft "stop" half way where the
> door is quite stable. You can then push it a bit harder and it locks all
> the way out. Try it!
>

Yep, mine has a detent about half way, which is usually just a bit too 
much for a cramped parking lot. This makes the task of wrangling a 
squirming toddler into the car ever so enjoyable while you 
simultaneously are trying to keep the door from contacting the car next 
to you, which seems to have been parked by someone who insists on 
parking with their tire touching the line. :)

>> Why are the downstairs taps connected to the mains, but the upstairs
>> ones connected to a tank?
>
> To stop you having mains pressure cold (~1-5 bar) next to tank pressure
> hot (~0.2 bar) in the bath. Imagine what happens when you connect one of
> those old-fashioned shower adapters to the bath taps, turn hot and cold
> to full and then turn *off* the shower head. Fortunately now we have
> taps with back-flow prevention valves and fancy mixer taps to avoid this
> problem. Many houses don't have a cold tank, and some won't have a hot
> tank either (the hot is heated on-demand by the boiler).
>

Hmm, that makes sense... Though a thermostatic valve eliminates that 
need entirely.

-- 
~Mike

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