Coping with storms.

[Peter Truman]

Interesting Wagger re solar hot water systems for about the last 10 years ALL new houses here in Aus have to have solar hot water systems. Also around 40percent of houses old and new now have solar electricity which puts its power back into the grid but the selling rate has dropped from over 10c per kw to around 6 as the power co’s lose income so with time people are/will install batteries and even disconnect from the grid as the co’s increase their service charges to maintain their income, a vicious circle! Then there will be an increase in small personnel gennes for extra back up should the sun not shine for a couple of days.

Re solar hot water The down side as my son found out is that it requires the water to be internally pumped rather than direct mains pressure so as to keep the water circulating tho the solar panels which means when you have a mains power failure you have no hot water! Whereas us with the old gas direct mains pressure systems can’t see but can still get a shower, there aren’t roof header tanks here every thing in the house runs at direct water mains pressure.

[Wagger]

1 hour ago, Peter Truman said:

Interesting Wagger re solar hot water systems for about the last 10 years ALL new houses here in Aus have to have solar hot water systems. Also around 40percent of houses old and new now have solar electricity which puts its power back into the grid but the selling rate has dropped from over 10c per kw to around 6 as the power co’s lose income so with time people are/will install batteries and even disconnect from the grid as the co’s increase their service charges to maintain their income, a vicious circle! Then there will be an increase in small personnel gennes for extra back up should the sun not shine for a couple of days.

Re solar hot water The down side as my son found out is that it requires the water to be internally pumped rather than direct mains pressure so as to keep the water circulating tho the solar panels which means when you have a mains power failure you have no hot water! Whereas us with the old gas direct mains pressure systems can’t see but can still get a shower, there aren’t roof header tanks here every thing in the house runs at direct water mains pressure.

I guess in Aus the sun is always quite high, so your panels are relatively flat. Here, steep roofs work better in the darker seasons. Tall stuff may work without a pump. Bit inefficient however. Our vertical walls are quite toasty on days when the sun shines. Not seen it much this week so far.

I added a radiator for a guy with a convection system in 2006. The hot tank was 6ft tall and thin with a 'Hot' and 'Cool' rail top and bottom. All rads were in parallel. It took two hours to get going so he never turned it off. It worked with no electrics though.

[Pete Lewis]

back in the 70s I helped a friend make  a insulated box with some spare radiators inside  on the roof it was just  gravity circulation to a primary hot tank cylinder 

it could raise it to  hot to handle and cost peanuts so a good return for little cost and it worked 

Pete

[Wagger]

1 minute ago, Pete Lewis said:

back in the 70s I helped a friend make  a insulated box with some spare radiators inside  on the roof it was just  gravity circulation to a primary hot tank cylinder 

it could raise it to  hot to handle and cost peanuts so a good return for little cost and it worked 

Pete

Well done Pete. An old boy I knew painted old rads matt black, put them on trolleys on his patio and heated a small swimming pool. Cost just the paint and hoses.

[PeteH]

11 hours ago, Wagger said:

painted old rads matt black

Back in the 40`s / 50`s. all the old fashioned "cast iron" radiators in our school where painted matt black, allegedly more efficient?. Mind, the school heating was coke fired and we had a full time boilerman!.

Pete

[NonMember]

38 minutes ago, PeteH said:

radiators in our school where painted matt black, allegedly more efficient?

Allegedly. In reality, not, because they're misnamed. If radiators actually "radiated" heat then being black would help, because black objects radiate much better. However, central heating radiators (or even car radiators) don't get anywhere near hot enough for that. They actually dissipate heat by conduction and convection, neither of which care what colour they are. There's a possible (marginal) benefit from using a matt finish because it may, depending on the paint, be microscopically rough and therefore have a larger surface area.

However, for Wagger's application, matt black is definitely the way to go because the energy you're trying to absorb is radiant heat (sunlight), and the physics that makes black surfaces radiate better also means they absorb radiant heat better.

[Wagger]

Feel sorry for any of you with damage or fallen trees. Took me four years after 1987 down here. It turned out to be a life changing event for me.

Yup, I hate the misnaming as it causes misinterpretation. I won't list them all but another is 'Pasture-ised milk' when it should be 'Pasteurised' after the French scientist who is credited with developing the process.

The unknowing in our family believe that 'Organic' milk direct from the farm is Pasteurised because the cows are in the pasture and not in the barn.

Same lot bought a supposed 3000watt inverter. It has 40 amp input wires, so I tested it and it bombs out at 400 watts. Had to show them my 3000VA one with 200 amp cable boiling a 2500 watt kettle. Until that 'They wouldn't believe me'.

Had to show them my Chartered Status certificate too before they would listen to reason about anything electrical or electronic, especially RFI. They read too much BS on the Internet and never fact check anything.

OK rant over.

Question for you, is it worth putting shiny foil behind 'Radiators'?

[Pete Lewis]

shoudnt that be over the Turkey  ????

I have foil behind some but cant say it makes any improvement 

i have a foil pad behind the panel heaters in  the parrot house and  a quick test shows the timber from the outside dosnt feel any different to elsewhere so seems to work 

thats on 1.5" thick timber walling 

edit   just been and measured the cabin walls and its 1deg warmer 7C at the heated zone  than   6C  un heated  zone

this is a 400 w wall mounted electric heater panel ( there are 3 of them on a thermostat  )   

well you got to spend the government  winter handout somewhere Brrrr!!!

Pete

 

[Wagger]

1 minute ago, Pete Lewis said:

shoudnt that be over the Turkey  ????

I have foil behind some but cant say it makes any improvement 

i have a foil pad behind the panel heaters in  the parrot house and  a quick test shows the timber from the outside dosnt feel any different to elsewhere so seems to work 

thats on 1.5" thick timber walling 

edit   just been and measured the cabin walls and its 1deg warmer 7C at the heated zone  than   6C  un heated  zone

this is a 400 w wall mounted electric heater panel ( there are 3 of them on a thermostat  )   

well you got to spend the government  winter handout somewhere Brrrr!!!

Pete

 

That's right Pete. I cranked the wall stat up as soon as that landed in the bank. Smart meter suggests that I have spent a quarter of it in two weeks.

My wife received this as well. I thought that only one received it it you live together. I await the reclaim with 'No interest' hopefully.

[Chris A]

1 hour ago, Wagger said:

it should be 'Pasteurised' after the French scientist who is credited with developing the process.

Yup! Madame Curie*, as the milk has been cured. 

* Yes I know . . . Louis Pasteur, he also found a cure for rabies - he would throw bottles of milk at the infected animals. Boom! Boom!

[Pete Lewis]

my smart meter is a dump series one  since i changed supplier they cant make it work

not so smart really

so its back to on your kness inthe under stair cupboard fit the reading glasses  point torch  push button and e mail the readings each month

smart    .......its a joke 

what a waste of money we all have to pay for the installations and its only 2 yrs old    a complete hike   Grrr

pete

[Wagger]

25 minutes ago, Pete Lewis said:

my smart meter is a dump series one  since i changed supplier they cant make it work

not so smart really

so its back to on your kness inthe under stair cupboard fit the reading glasses  point torch  push button and e mail the readings each month

smart    .......its a joke 

what a waste of money we all have to pay for the installations and its only 2 yrs old    a complete hike   Grrr

pete

I agree with you again Pete. There were two here when we moved in last April. Supplier asked me to read the Gas one. Display blank. No electrical supply to it.

Had to have them swapped. It took 5 weeks.

[Peter Truman]

Wagger, I assume no reading = no recorded use = no fee, so why complain! Boom Boom, no sir we'll estimate your usage.

A few years ago re our Gas Bill here, I noticed we hadn't had a bill for over 6 months incl the high usage winter period, so I contacted our supplier to be advised that I'd changed suppliers, my response was No I hadn't. I asked who was my new supplier, they weren't allowed to tell me.

It appears a neighbor down the street had changed his supplier and had put the wrong address on his paperwork and his new supplier only issued bills via email, and as they didn't have my email address we got no bill, and the neighbor simply ignored the bill because it wasn't his address or meter number!

At the time we didn't have any of that info and because of personnel privacy laws no one would provide us with who the supplier or the neighbor was! Even the Gas Industry Ombudsman wouldn't provide us the info advising that it was up to the new supplier to contact us, but they did everything electronically ie email and didn't have our contact info, so a stalemate! & if they had sent me a letter I wouldn't have opened it and would have passed it onto the addresse, anyway it appears a letter wasn't in their action list!

I could see our gas bill amounting to thousands of dollars, fortunately I personnally knew the State Govt Ombudsman (ex work colleague) who oversees everything so I contacted him we had lunch I told and provided him all the info, he advised the Gas Ombudsman to tell me who the neighbor was and who my new supplier was, it took a further 6 weeks and the State Govt Ombudsman to sort out, including my gas supplier being reverted to my original supplier who advised me to refuse to pay for the gas I'd used on the basis I didn't have an account/contract with the other supplier, that cost me another lunch with my friend!! What would some one do who didn't have my very high level contact. The worlds gone mad! 

I did get follow up invoices from the supplier, their CEO contacted me under instruction from the State Ombudsman and agreed fair compensation for the buggerizing around I wouldn't be charged, I advised that I didn't expect to see a negative credit comment against me which he assured me wouldn't happen.

Another nutty thing I get, nay negotiated a 43% discount on the usage part of my gas bill for paying on time, shows how much their overcharging some users! 

[Wagger]

13 minutes ago, Peter Truman said:

Wagger, I assume no reading = no recorded use = no fee, so why complain! Boom Boom, no sir we'll estimate your usage.

A few years ago re our Gas Bill here, I noticed we hadn't had a bill for over 6 months incl the high usage winter period, so I contacted our supplier to be advised that I'd changed suppliers, my response was No I hadn't. I asked who was my new supplier, they weren't allowed to tell me.

It appears a neighbor down the street had changed his supplier and had put the wrong address on his paperwork and his new supplier only issued bills via email, and as they didn't have my email address we got no bill, and the neighbor simply ignored the bill because it wasn't his address or meter number!

At the time we didn't have any of that info and because of personnel privacy laws no one would provide us with who the supplier or the neighbor was! Even the Gas Industry Ombudsman wouldn't provide us the info advising that it was up to the new supplier to contact us, but they did everything electronically ie email and didn't have our contact info, so a stalemate! & if they had sent me a letter I wouldn't have opened it and would have passed it onto the addresse, anyway it appears a letter wasn't in their action list!

I could see our gas bill amounting to thousands of dollars, fortunately I personnally knew the State Govt Ombudsman (ex work colleague) who oversees everything so I contacted him we had lunch I told and provided him all the info, he advised the Gas Ombudsman to tell me who the neighbor was and who my new supplier was, it took a further 6 weeks and the State Govt Ombudsman to sort out, including my gas supplier being reverted to my original supplier who advised me to refuse to pay for the gas I'd used on the basis I didn't have an account/contract with the other supplier, that cost me another lunch with my friend!! What would some one do who didn't have my very high level contact. The worlds gone mad! 

I did get follow up invoices from the supplier, their CEO contacted me under instruction from the State Ombudsman and agreed fair compensation for the buggerizing around I wouldn't be charged, I advised that I didn't expect to see a negative credit comment against me which he assured me wouldn't happen.

Another nutty thing I get, nay negotiated a 43% discount on the usage part of my gas bill for paying on time, shows how much their overcharging some users! 

I suspected that the meter would be recording with no display and read with a new battery. Old supplier never sent a closing bill. New supplier started when the new meter was installed. I got five weeks free gas but could not risk it going on in case of problems like yours.

It's good to know that it ain't just the UK that has gone crazy. We have a friend who never had gas. The pipe goes past his property. It took two years for them to come out and inspect the 'Non installation'. Fines issued, court summons etc.

At least they were fined for wasting the courts time, but that was 20 years ago.

[PeteH]

!`ve just come out of a dispute over supply of energy. Being one of those who where with "Green Energy" (Failed), we got migrated to EDF. Who sent an estimate of what was owed in their billing, I asked for sight of the G-E bills, the reply was "we cannot access their old records". My reply was "then how can you know what was used"?. The Energy Ombudsman looked at it but was "unable to help". Apparently, It`s all down to "Data protection"!!. The records are "off limits" pending decision about the fate of G-E in bankruptcy. Fortunately I have records going back to 2010. We finally agreed a figure which shaves almost £100 off their estimate using historical average consumption. And the "undercharge" repaid over 1 year!.

Some thing you all may want to take a look at?. During this debacle, one thing I noted was that the recent price hikes, have mostly been to standing charges. in my case a 2.4 times increase in the S-C. Which means in effect, that you can reduce your consumption as much as you like, But the Supplier "take" remains (virtually) the same because the DAILY charge has increased NOT the fuel element.

Interesting? P.S. I pointed this out to our MP, who has said he would look into it, (not holding my breath here). He has a reputation as being able to fence sit on a razor blade.

Pete

[DVD3500]

I am the data protection officer for my dept. and people use it all the time as an excuse.

The fact is, if you sign something that states I can sell your data to someone who will then feed it to a dog I can do it. Totally legally.

The only difference GDPR did was it highlighted rights users mostly didn't know they already had and it formalized the process of how it is handled.

If you were in the EU (not sure what the UK laws are) It is YOUR data and you can get it from your old provider and hand them over to the new supplier. They have to comply and they can't stop you.

It is that simple.

[PeteH]

4 hours ago, DVD3500 said:

It is YOUR data and you can get it from your old provider and hand them over to the new supplier.

That I understand. The issue here is that it has run foul of Laws to do with Bankruptcy. (allegedly). I don't really believe it but the cost of fighting it is not worth the effort, and to be fair It worked in as much as I got a "partial" result without the legal costs.

Pete

[thescrapman]

On 06/12/2021 at 14:20, Wagger said:

I do not really know what the 'Right' answer is Pete. I am not a fan of Nationalisation for all services. My 64 year old bruv lives on a nice landscaped retirement complex. All cables underground. Every time it rains moderately, the sub station floods. He has been off-line four times in the last year. 16 hours each time. It's only 12 miles in from the South Coast.

As for the preventative maintenance, how many drivers under 40 walk round their car and check for flats or even missing wheels? It's becoming the age of the brain dead.

You may find that the complex is served by an IDNO, so the responsibility of the developer of the complex. That is very common now-a-days as it allows them to reduce costs by designing and installing their own infrastructure. There will be a small substation at the entrance marking where the boundary is.

 

[Wagger]

25 minutes ago, thescrapman said:

You may find that the complex is served by an IDNO, so the responsibility of the developer of the complex. That is very common now-a-days as it allows them to reduce costs by designing and installing their own infrastructure. There will be a small substation at the entrance marking where the boundary is.

 

This brother is 84. Mentally as able as I am but much more lay back. I visit him at these time with loads of kit and find him with loads of blankets around him and a battery radio. I'll bring im home with me if anything rally long term occurs. You are probably right about the IDNO. That would explain all.

[PeteH]

9 hours ago, Wagger said:

This brother is 84. Mentally as able as I am but much more lay back. I visit him at these time with loads of kit and find him with loads of blankets around him and a battery radio. I'll bring im home with me if anything rally long term occurs. You are probably right about the IDNO. That would explain all.

It`s not the Cables, The Divies will put the control boxes at or even below ground level. We have that here in a KNOWN flood plain, the control gear for the Pumps is at ground level!. If some had brains they would be dangerous!

Pete

[Pete Lewis]

14 hours ago, thescrapman said:

It's becoming the age of the brain dead

had one of them yesturday outside a school in a main road a lass doing a 5 point turn to face the opposite way and blocked the road  No Lights on (its dark 5pm )

so for 3/4 mile she got lots of friendly flashes ( headlights) at the T lights i shouted "put your lights on "  got a thumbs up and then drove off with no lights  

4 more flashes and bingo  the brains awake at last the lights came on   

is this just stupidity or pre lit dashboards and over bright running lights gets them confused 

Pete

[Colin Lindsay]

In Banbridge, this morning, a car turned the wrong way down a one-way street, ignoring the shouts of pedestrians and parked taxis and drove merrily away at about 20 mph.

I've not yet identified the driver but the front seat passenger was 'Er Indoors' aunt...

 

[PeteH]

You read some of this, and literally shake your head in wonderment. What do they teach in school these days?. Kid`s who don`t know "our" history, have no idea how to cook or change a light bulb?. Think meat comes from Tesco!.

Eyes on the road!. Not the bloody sat nag!. Get the ear buds out and your head up from phone/faceache, FFS. Football is a Game not a Religion. Dr`s and Nurses, Firemen and Women, Paramedic`s and the police are valued members of society, not targets for you to pitch rocks at.

People criticise the Americans, and with some justification. But I have 2 Grand-kids in the US school system, both now in college (uni). They and their fellows are largely more respectful, have a better work ethic than anything I have seen over here. It`s refreshing to be addressed as Sir not Cur. AND they know their countries history, albeit not as far back as the UK goes.

Pete 

[ahebron]

On 09/12/2021 at 00:52, Pete Lewis said:

shoudnt that be over the Turkey  ????

I have foil behind some but cant say it makes any improvement 

i have a foil pad behind the panel heaters in  the parrot house and  a quick test shows the timber from the outside dosnt feel any different to elsewhere so seems to work 

thats on 1.5" thick timber walling 

edit   just been and measured the cabin walls and its 1deg warmer 7C at the heated zone  than   6C  un heated  zone

this is a 400 w wall mounted electric heater panel ( there are 3 of them on a thermostat  )   

well you got to spend the government  winter handout somewhere Brrrr!!!

Pete

 

Whats going on here?
Peter Lewis mentions a Parrot House back in early December and no one remarks!
Surely it deserves at least on dead parrot joke reference.

And for earthquake preparedness we have 3 Honda EU2 inverter generators that I can link together for power and 400 liters of water tanks. Community watertank which holds many thousands of litres is at the school just round the corner

[Peter Truman]

Don’t think the 3 Honda’s would keep the 3 A/Cons going but water ain’t an issue I still have the master key to access all things Melb water system and with the dams 90 percent full and with a system that’s capable of around 5 years drought proof.

hey at the supermarket on Thursday and toilet rolls on short supply again delivery issues this time I assume drivers in isolation due to Covid contacts, and so the disaster continues even we’re not in lock down no one’s going out so still a status quo!