Tuesday 21 February 2012

Chocolate teapot

My rain gauge is a simple device: no batteries, no moving parts, and you can see at a glance how it works.  You'd have to figure it's pretty reliable.  So I was surprised the other day that it had no water in it to tell me how much had fallen during the recent drizzle.  Closer inspection revealed a crack; a leak.  I guess water must have frozen in it and expanded to crack it.  I didn't think of that, I will have to bring it in in Winter.  Leaky rain gauge?  Not very useful.

5 comments:

the fly in the web said...

Bit much having to bring your rain gauge in for the winter....plants are bad enough!

Jonathan said...

My school had a metal one - copper? - half buried in the grass. It wasn't prone to cracking, as far as I can remember, but with all the metal thievery going on at the moment it probably needs to be taken in at night.

Mark In Mayenne said...

Fly, I am definitely a bit worried for my Canna lillies. They don't like it below about 5°C, and even if they've been indoors, it's a bit close.

Yes, J I'd give it a half life of a couple of hours!

Mysterbee said...

Do you think that the conical shape is intended to prevent the ice being able to crack it? Perhaps som light greasing of the interior surfaces?

Mark In Mayenne said...

Hi Mysterbee, I had thought that the conical shape might lessen the problem somewhat, but I didn't think of greasing it. Thank you for the idea, I will wipe it with my greasy engine rag, and see what happens.

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