The really boring and totally pointless snippets thread V

[1DC]

12/15, good for me. Went to chiropractor to get my shoulder looked at, I have to go back in the morning but will probably end up at my GP for her opinion and action..A grey day on the Humber, Northerly breeze and about 2C in the wind chill, Mrs 1DC refused to go out for a bacon sandwich opining that she was too cold..
Apparently middle class shoplifting is becoming an epidemic in the UK, now that the middle class are doing it the police might start to do something about it!

[bob2s]

10/15.-- 23 c at 3 am was followed at 4 am by a heavy drop of rain for half an hour giving a relative humidity of 99%, it has all the makings of another
hot humid day to look forward to. Not Climate Change, just another typical January summer day.

[Hydromet]

Good morning all (well, not really), 10/15. Blue sky with quite a few clouds, currently 26C, forecast max 30C.
Started new medication yesterday foir osteoporosis.About 12 hours later, slight pain in right shoulder, which over the next 3 hours got worse, and went through my shoulder, across between shoulder blades and down right side of my chest. Had a couple of panadol and pain went intermittently to my lower back. Couldn't get comfortable, and had trouble getting dressed. I checked the list of side effects, but as they cover their backsides, pretty well everything is a possible side effect.
Left a message with GP's surgery to see what she wants me to do.

[Karearea]

^ Hope you get a prompt answer, Hydromet.

[Hydromet]

^ Hope you get a prompt answer, Hydromet.

Thanks, I expect she'll call about lunchtime. About to get up and see if I feel any better.

[OFSO]

Arrived in Spain to pouring rain and cold wind. Both cats howling. House bitter cold after four weeks. R had lit woodstove but not managed to get central heating on. Which eventually I did. No electricity in 1/3 house (this mornings job, find fault).

[talmacapt]

BOAC.

In my house the mains supply, from a 120m deep well, enters the house boundary below the expected ground freezing depth and rises in the cellar.

There is a heating element in it, with, I presume, a frost stat of some description, to prevent freezing in the upper few metres.

The floor is on block footings about a metre above the ground, forming the cellar within the insulated boundary of the building.

The floor is supported on a metal panels resting on breeze block footings on which there is a thick layer of styrox with a cement based layer on top, there is a reflective layer on this with underfloor heating pipework embedded within another layer of cement like material.

On top of this are floor tiles.

All pipework including waste is within the heated area.

The main waste again exits below ground level and runs to the septic tank some feet below the level of the house.

The septic tank is below ground level and well insulated.

The overflow is again below ground level and runs out to a ditch.

It has not frozen in 23 years.

All guttering/downpipes are metal and freeze typically around beginning of Jan till about mid March.

The walls of the house are two layers of about 44mm thick by 6" wood boards with a filled gap of about 6" between (total width about 10").

Glazing is an outer pane of glass, a 6" gap and an inner double glazed pane.

We have heat reflective blinds, which we can lower over the windows, which help retain heat on cold days.

Was interesting to see the construction techniques here, UK has much to learn about heat retention.

The roof insulation is about 15" thick.

Snow, on the roof, acts as a very good insulator.

[Boac]

Thanks, both. As you both will recall the 'standard' UK water system runs in the roof space, which is where the protection is needed, so your two systems are quite different to the UK. There is no issue with anything 'under', it is how to protect the roof space piping I am investigating. Following an increase in ceiling insulation, of course the roof space is now colder! I am aware of 'warming tape' and already use it on some external pipes.

Anyone on here with any clever systems?

[talmacapt]

Apropos your comment, is it only the UK that has gravity fed water systems?

May be you can investigate replacing with a pressurised water system.

A friend of mine in Headcorn had such in his new build, so maybe they do do it in UK.

[Boac]

That would be a major task! There are also mains cold pipes and the c htg pipes in the attic which 'drop' to the rads with underfloor returns, and also need protection. (1950's build)

[Wodrick]

Good Morning All,

Fresh, 11°c from the low of 8°c Thinly Scattered, 16°c says the soothsayer.

Its Friday once more.

Awaiting a delivery of 2cu/m of wood 150€ stacked. Should last a while.

[Ex-Ascot]

Morning folks. Cloudy, warm, rain forecast. We have been waiting for the solar power chap all morning. He thinks that we are not pulling the power that we should be. House keeper found a snake in the library it is curled up beneath the thatch under a beam. Difficult to identify but we can see the head and it is not a black mamba. Left it to its own devices.

[talmacapt]

Snowing since 0400 this morning, sort of stopped an hour ago.

15cm suitably cleared such that the snow plough man can move it out of the way.

Was -8 when it started and -5 when it finished so not heavy, as in weight, snow.

Sky now clear so temperature is starting to fall, forecast to be -19 tomorrow morning.

Will light the log gobbler next.

[OFSO]

Electrical fault found or rather located. In my self-built intruder alarm system, PIR lights and siren. Worked happily for fifteen years,although rarely used as sun and shadows used to trigger it. Disconnected and earth leakage breaker stays in. Will dismantle the alarm 'sometime'.
Removed blanking air intake plate from central heating. It now fires up first time. Carbon monoxide alarm remains silent.
Two problems fixed before ten am on first day back.

[talmacapt]

You can tell me I have a dirty mind but I have just noticed, on fr24.com, that there is a place in Newfoundland called Dildo.

Has anyone ever been there?

Fox3 perhaps.

I went to Hell once.

[1DC]

My,relatively,new build has a pressurised water system my heating is powered by a gas boiler utilising underfloor heating, apart from that all I know is the telephone number of my plumber and electrician. I have outside security cameras and inside burglar alarms, both on maintenance agreements. If anything goes wrong if Mrs 1DC can't remember what we did last time we ring one of those numbers!
It has been another grey and miserable day on the Humber with occasional drizzle, the wind is still in the North but it is slightly warmer, a typical crap East coast January day. Time to talk about a holiday.
I went back to the chiropractor this morning and she has decided that I am in the early stages of frozen shoulder, she pressed and squeezed used some fancy machines on me and booked me in for a few biweekly visits over the next few weeks when hopefully it will be fixed and I will be relieved of a few quid.
Got caught up in the school run this afternoon, what a pain in the bum that is a ten minute journey took forty minutes. One strategically placed camera and the council/police could be issuing a few hundred fines a day until the stupid parking and traffic blocking is stopped.Even if they parked a police car in the vicinity would help, although God daughter is a school teacher and can't recall ever seeing a policeman outside school at opening or closing times in twenty years!

[llondel]

Electrical fault found or rather located. In my self-built intruder alarm system, PIR lights and siren. Worked happily for fifteen years,although rarely used as sun and shadows used to trigger it. Disconnected and earth leakage breaker stays in. Will dismantle the alarm 'sometime'.
Removed blanking air intake plate from central heating. It now fires up first time. Carbon monoxide alarm remains silent.
Two problems fixed before ten am on first day back.

We had an obscure one once that tripped the earth leakage breaker. Did you know that if you fire a kiln up to 1000C, you get a leakage path between the elements and the grounded outer metal? Not sure how it did it, must have been ionised gas molecules venting. I put an ammeter in circuit with the ground wire (probably violating all sorts of regs but it was a controlled experiment) and sure enough, as the internal temperature went up, the leakage current increased. There was none until it got really hot, then it ramped up as the temperature pushed even higher.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Boac - your best bet is to enclose the water system components in the attic within the insulated envelope.
Use of foam board and construction tape is probably the easiest and cheapest way to do this.
You should use any insulation currently below the water components and reposition it above them.
You may need to get a plumber to reroute a pipe or two to make this easier.
I would suggest switching to PEX piping from copper, as this will (in my experience) be able to cope with a touch of frost without splitting.

Talma - I have also been to Hell, and Newfoundland, but not any of the naughty places there. Dildo is in fact surrounded by them; Come By Chance, Heart's Desire, South Dildo (that's a little smaller than Dildo).
Canadian humour is completely lacking in sexual innuedo, so nobody sniggers if it's mentioned.

[Boac]

Thanks, Fox - I did not put the insulation under any pipes, but over, so apart from boxing it all in I cannot see how to improve things.

How tolerant is PEX to sub-zero? Only problem is my pumped shower was installed a few years back with plastic piping which mice ate through - it is now coppered!

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Boxing it in should work fine, and will be a lot cheaper than a pressurised system. All year round systems here are pressurised.
Whilst you are doing it, I would suggest are very careful inspection of the cold water tank (if it's still metal), as by doing so I just saved my sister's last house in the UK from a big disaster. It was rusting from inside to out.
The lowest my basement reached when I had the air leaks was -2C for about 3 days max at a time. Parts of the pipes did freeze, but there was no splitting or damage to the joints.
I installed the system myself, and took the time to do all the connections carefully.
I have not heard of mice going for PEX before, and I have had mice in the basement.
My suggestion is a concerted campaign against the mice.