OneGuyFromBarlick

There's a problem there - as seen from Pluuggy's graphs - in the winter when demand is high, his panels only contribute (being generous) from about 11.00am to 3.00pm. On a really dark winters day, they sometimes don't generate anything all day. They share the problems all renewables have, they need...

There's a parallel argument to the sizing of energy converters like boilers and radiators. During quite a few miles flogging under-powered diesels to get about the country I worked out that fuel used depended on energy taken out and the thermal efficiency of the engine. It was cheaper to use an 'ov...

Pluggy, Stanley, Great advice, just what's needed - too many folk (like me) don't understand enough about their heating systems and benefit from this type of information. It reminds me of an engineer who was having a go at those companies who try to sell you new-fangled, `ultra-efficient' electric ...

Strictly speaking, a domestic central heating system doesn't have a boiler (since it doesn't boil or if it does, it shouldn't) it has a calorifier.

I wouldn't worry about oversized inefficient radiators (inefficiency in a radiator is arguably non existent since if the don't radiate the heat from the hot water very well, it means the boiler won't consume as much gas to keep the water hot). Over sized radiators is way better than having undersize...

Go geddum, Stanley..... ;) I just love legally cheating the energy companies out of revenue, electric meter reading last wednesday morning : http://www.pluggy.me.uk/meters/12-03-21-08:00.jpg And this morning. http://www.pluggy.me.uk/meters/12-03-29.jpg Nothing in 8 days, thanks to the panels and som...

Nearly fell off the chair when I got my latest energy bill today. Some thing happened that has never happened before, EDF reduced my monthly payments because we're using less than we were budgeted for. Normally they say nowt and let it run up to hundreds of pounds in credit and they do something whe...

We were out in Colne yesterday afternoon, I was wondering why there was an hours gap in my monitoring graphs until I saw my alarm clock flashing which it does when the power has been off. They couldn't process a prescription at the chemist this morning which they were blaming on the power outage.

If anyone needs a great big ariel I have put one on freecycle this afternoon. Assuming its the loft TV antennae in the BB18 area (since aerial is misspelt the same way ;) ) its no good for DAB. I doubt any DAB aerial would do me any good for Emley Moor, being tucked under Weets the way I am. Its ge...

There isn't the pressure to turn off analogue radio, because it doesn't reside in an attractive and hence valuable part of the spectrum unlike analogue TV. The FM band is little over 20Mhz wide, which makes it pretty much useless except for narrow bandwidth audio transmissions. Besides that there is...

Re. Doc's post. Isn't is marvellous that we have Doc working for us for nothing. Non-donors should reflect on this. Doc, have you talked to number two daughter yet? If the non Donors click on the adverts every once in a while, they'll probably earn their keep, especially as we get our name in light...

Beaten to it. The RN taught me to use one in my apprenticeship all those years ago..... We made a toilet float out of sheet copper, by beating it around a spherical steel form with said implement. Much annealing, you could only hit each part of sheet once before it work hardened and had to be anneal...

I am still of the opinion it is a money making spin as the emissions test proves when deciding cost of road tax is a prime example. Eileen I take it you run a large car ?, my two small cars are much cheaper to tax under the emissions based system than under the old engine sized based system. For sm...

If it is not a money spinning solution how come that car tax is supposedly charged on the amount of emissions when one of the lowest emissions car is BMW diesel and it is one of the costliest cars to tax. BMWs are no different on car tax than any other diesel. At the bottom end is the 116D which co...

I don't have much faith in David Attenborough, but generally its because he's one of the more irritating presenters on TV (IMO of course). But even I wouldn't hold him responsible for the decision to film baby polar bears in a zoo rather than in the wild. Hardly classifies as trick photography in my...

Having watched Orbit again last night, anybody else notice that according to the beeb's orbit graphic they show multiple times per episode, theres only about 6 days in a year. The earth rotates less than once as the Earth orbits from 1 one month to the next........

Pluggy, it's interesting to hear about how the malware is extending further to things like Android and Google apps. I wonder how much longer we Linux users will be able to `run naked in the woods''? Its not going to be a problem, with the wide range of desktop distros available and the relatively s...

Got an appointment through for my balance problems today. They are sending me for one of these : http://www.stopdizziness.com/services_vng.asp The wording of the appointment paper was a little worrying, I will need to be attended home from the tests because I may be disorientated, all good fun.......

Picked the phone up yesterday and it was a helpful young man telling me I may be in for a draw from my mis-sold PPI insurance. He got short shrift of course. I wonder how many people are still falling for this one? I also wondered how many 'jobs' like this have been created by the private sector. I...

Same with cats , annoyingly my cousin bred some kind of cat , they mostly had breathing problems and potentially other difficulties live to 12 if lucky, my two wandering in moggies have done quite well with hardly any vet attention needed ( other than a bit of stitching after taking on the unadvisa...

It is a sad fact that the majority of fraud is the fault of the user although the transgression maybe just visiting the wrong website at the wrong time. Secure sites are next door to unbreakable without serious clues. A piece of malware picked up from the net and passing your stuff out to third part...

EDF are still processing the paperwork here. They've a big backlog with the rush to beat the government's FIT reduction.

Moh wrote:Congratulations Pluggy - hope you are managing to sleep - not easy with a new baby.

I've never considered being deaf in one ear a blessing before, but sleeping with my good ear in the pillow means I'm largely oblivious. Mum and granny have her well in hand.....

I get to hold her occasionally.

Stanley wrote:I thought you all deserved a sitrep. Workshop is warming up. I have to finish Len Deighton's trilogy Hook, Line and Sinker and then there are no more excuses! Normal service must be resumed and motion made for the engines!

The downside to the stove Stanley.....

Probably why a mutt lives longer than a pedigree. 12 year old pedigrees are generally on their last legs if they live that long (some 8 year olds are in a bad way), mutts usually go on into their late teens. Lets hear it for the illicit union behind some bins somewhere........