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.

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5 comments:

  1. the fly in the web21 February 2012 at 07:06

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

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  2. Jonathan23 February 2012 at 14:00

    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.

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  3. Mark In Mayenne23 February 2012 at 14:13

    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!

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  4. Mysterbee4 March 2012 at 16:57

    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?

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  5. Mark In Mayenne5 March 2012 at 10:12

    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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