Eureka for the Balfour Declaration

It was the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration of 1917 yesterday, amid further calls for a 2 state solution. If you look at the map of the territorial limits of a Jewish homeland from the Balfour Declaration onwards, there already is a 2 state solution. In fact, the original territorial extent of a Jewish homeland has shrunk by over 70% from the original boundaries.

What's at stake now is the dot of grey at the upper end of the state of Israel - a plot of land which is a strategic weak point for Israel and which could be used to cut the country into two in the event of another war. Israel is not exactly surrounded by friendly nations. An intractable problem for both sides in the argument. The Palestinians call it occupied territory; the Israelis call it disputed territory, with a certain justification in international law. If there was to be a democratic vote in the territory it would undoubtedly be Palestinian, which is probably why the Israelis are moving in with illegal settlements to change the demographic before even countenancing a vote within the territory. The fact remains that it is a strategic weak point for Israel in the event of further hostilities - with any of its non-democratic neighbours. The irony of a vote would be the use of a democratic process to turn the territory in to a non-democratic one under the Palestinian Authority.

Eureka! I've finally mastered the balancing of the under-floor heating system. The secret is the use of an infra-red temperature gun. OK, it takes a while to do but, rather than using guesswork, measuring the temperature of the return pipes is scientific and accurate. 

I switched off the bathroom loop completely (and, as suspected, I had mistaken the bathroom valve for the bedroom loop - it's taken me 4 years to realise this), as there's a towel rail there anyway (plumbed into the domestic hot water circuit, which is always circulating) and is sandwiched between the living room and No.2 Son's bedroom. That alone will produce a saving in energy. There's no need for the bathroom to be permanently heated when it's only used for under half an hour a day anyway.

Then opening the bedroom loop fully and allowing the room to settle, I then opened successive valves, ensuring the return water from each loop was the same, making small adjustments at each iteration. No.2 Son's bedroom is now warm (I feel sorry for No.1 Son, who had to put up with a cool bedroom for several winters). Return temperatures are at around 26 to 27 degrees and all floor temperatures are at around 24, except the kitchen, which is 27 and still needs some slight adjustment for its thermal efficiency.

The normal method of balancing is performed by empirical use of the loop length, but I'm buggered if I know the length of each loop - some, close to the manifold, are small, while others that are further away are huge.

An added complication is that while the house is mostly floored with oak, which is an insulator, the kitchen is floored with limestone, which is itself a heat sink and quite efficient at heat transfer.

Using an accurate measurement of water's return temperature solves all the problems at one swoop. Given the foregoing, you'd think the makers would include a temperature gauge on each return outlet, or even facilitate some form of automatic balancing with sensors.