Here’s a useful tip for car owners.
As you may already know, a blocked windscreen washer filter on your car can be a real pain, especially if the pump filter is inaccessible when the water reservoir is buried under the wheel arch. It recently took me over an hour to sort mine out. I had to jack up the car, remove the inner wheel arch and unbolt the reservoir before I could get at the filter. For many, this would mean booking the car in at the repair garage.
What happens is that bacteria in the water create a jelly-like deposit on the filter, so the motor hums away, but water only trickles out of the windscreen washers.
My garage gave me a tip to prevent this. Just add some Milton (Disinfecting fluid for sterilizing babies’ bottles) to the reservoir from time to time and the bacteria which cause the blockage are killed off. Importantly, there is no risk of damage to your car bodywork. So if you know someone who has a small baby…………………..
The following comes from the latest addition to my collection of “You couldn’t make it up” true stories.
But first, just a word of caution;
If you have reclining chairs or settees in your house similar to the one pictured below, make sure you have the Greater Manchester Fire Service four-page safety manual in your possession, and that you have been on their training course on how to use it. I could not otherwise be held responsible for your health or your safety.
How come ??
Well, an article in today’s newspaper tells how Greater Manchester’s 41 fire stations have been supplied with reclining chairs.
However, Manchester’s squad of highly-trained fire-fighters have still to make use of them. They have been given strict instructions not to even sit on the chairs until they have attended a training course in their use and are in possession of the four-page instruction manual produced by the Service.
This, according to officials, is for Health and Safety reasons.
So – if it’s not safe for highly trained firefighters to sit on these chairs without consulting the manual and attending the training course, what about the rest of us ?
The manufacturer of the chairs comments:- “The chairs are standard recliners that people have in their homes. It would not be our normal practice to issue instructions in their use- it is a matter of common sense.”
Common sense, however, is obviously an alien concept to our UK Health and Safety culture freaks !
You really, really couldn’t make it up, could you ?
Comments (3)
How can big strong firemen get hurt in a comfy chair like that?
Does sound silly doesn’t it. However like any work place their covering their back sides, once they take the coarse if they do get hurt the company is not responsible same thing’s go on where I work we have to sign a training paper for everything: to use a box cutter knife, to lift heavy boxes whatever we do it has a paper to sign stating we have a training safety coarse. Even when we use a ladder. However in your home you are responsible for safety. I like the car tip, I’ll use it.
I don’t think we have Milton in the US. I assume any disinfectant that kills bacteria will do thetrick.