[Richard]

Dave Rice wrote:

The HDMI extenders are being dealt with by my business partner, but I suspect they’ll be these

Indeed an interesting project, but I do wonder if those HDMI extenders will do the job, since they are said to have only have a range of up to 41 metres. In an old building with many twists and turns the cable run can be two or three times the point to point distance. So that is not a lot of cable run length to travel or are the signs very local to the installation? – Without giving any state secrets away of course!

BL, would any government department take on something like this with their own resources? I guess it would always call in a contractor to do such work.

[Richard]

So called high efficiency boilers are supposed to run with higher efficiency when operated at high load levels. If you cannot cool the return water down far enough before it hits the boiler then the condensing part will not do anything much. I was told that contrary to older practice over sizing modern boilers is not regarded as sound practice. This reference, at least in part suggests that over sizing the radiators while avoiding over sizing the boiler will give a better performance. The radiators will likely run slightly cooler to the touch and ensure the greatest temperature differential between the hot water being produced and the return water being taken in; https://www.aecb.net/forum/index.php?topic=1664.0

Your account of Marseilles really highlights the importance of draught proofing and insulation. Many modern light weight houses are quick to heat up as there is little substance to absorb the heat, but should have good levels of insulation – you hope. Other places with more solid walls may take a little longer but cycle the system less frequently.

Short cycling is to be avoided as discussed in this link http://www.home-heating-systems-and-solutions.com/boiler-short-cycling.html though I am not saying this is the definitive word on the subject.

As indicated earlier, we run warmer (with the hall thermostat set to anywhere between 21C and 23C) than many other houses. We have 24 hour occupancy and all three have medical issues. The new boiler has no trouble maintaining the temperatures we desire though we might have a larger floor area than some houses at over 2,000 square feet. When last checked the boiler was achieving a fraction under 90% efficiency.

Richard

[Richard]

Going even further off topic.

You can overdo the zoning as the company I worked for found out to their cost. OK it was in the Middle East and in a location that was very hot and very humid. they decided that not air-conditioning some spaces was a good idea as they did not need to be cooled. That was a bad idea. The air-conditioning also de-humidified the spaces; those hot humid areas without cooling and dehumidifying leaked damp into the internal walls which considerably shortened the building’s life. I have known similar in UK buildings though you do have to be a bit extreme with the abuse. Leaving spaces totally unheated can cause damp and mould issues. As an aside which illustrates the humidity level, the rats from the Ministry of Health compound next door to our site used to come over to have a drink from the condensation on my office windows. Watching them was not an entirely cute experience.

Dave, your combined energy bill gas and electricity is very good. I would probably be too embarrassed to reveal ours, but with three people always here and all three having significant health issues, both our electricity and gas bills are chunkier before combination than your overall bill. Being mid terrace will reduce your heat loss; though in addition to other aspects, our electricity bill will be affected by the use of an air-source heat pump for the conservatory.

It certainly pays to shop around, when my previous electricity supplier appeared to want to buy a swimming pool for the chairman at my expense, I shopped around and got a dual fuel deal for less than the ‘would have been the new electricity bill alone’ from the old supplier.

SWMBO requires a certain, consistent level of heating through the house so differential heating and over aggressive time control would only wear out the override function. Complex timers can be a nightmare. We can set every day to be different and the water and heating can run on different programmes. Good luck with setting that lot, it was hard enough to set everyday to be more or less the same. Beware, instruction books are not usually user friendly! I would rather not want to keep resetting that every five minutes.

[Richard]

I am not sure that it is relevant in this case, but sometimes you have to run SFC several times and even do so in safe mode when fewer drivers have been loaded. It was a while back when I last did that, so I cannot now remember why it was needed. It can be that SFC does a partial job then hits a problem but that when it reruns it can access the reloaded/corrected version and bypass the obstruction.

I would try it in safe mode and see if you can make more progress.

[It has been a trying afternoon one PC has downloaded the software removal tool a dozen times and keeps wanting to repeat and another one refused to complete its back up. CHKDSK has now allowed some progress on that issue, that is progress not yet completion. Arghhhh]

Richard

[Richard]

I checked out our recent boiler. Bear in mind all houses are different and this one is about 25 years old and does have more insulation than it was built with but we have a Worcester Bosch Greenstar 24Ri with a rated output of 24kW. It is a five bed house with two main bathrooms and a cloakroom and the boiler is far from stretched to keep us warm. You may need a higher peek output for a combi-boiler due to it having to meet the instantaneous demand for water, we have the hot water storage tank to buffer the system. I am sorry that I do not have any planning guidance to point out the differences. We have 17 radiators suggesting that Steve’s suggestion of 1.5kW per rad is about the right point, (17*1.5kW is 25.5 kW); three radiators are towel rails. not all radiators are the same size and some may have been installed to produce a more even heat distribution in several rooms.

It is worth checking the existing insulation as this has a good payback if it needs to be improved, a day’s DIY can reap wonders.

[Richard]

Stevie, while I understand your concern the regulations are in part a sop to the environmental lobby (mainly the ‘mental’ part) and partially to the lax way that some installations were killing people. The new equipment does need very careful positioning, but I do not think a working boiler should ever simply be junked to ‘save money’. From the studies that I did it should only ever be replaced when it is clearly end of life. The payback has to be reduced by the cost of servicing, both human and the money servicing. A possible saving of say £300pa less servicing costs, less the costs of servicing the financial outlay will rarely come out to a positive result. Positioning the boiler on an outside wall with a suitable location with respect to drainage and winds together with the plumbing is always something of a trade off. The requirement for flues to be sealed against leaks, yet be accessible for maintaining was directly the result of poisoning cases. Old flues can be lined (and old ones usually should be whatever is being done), but that does cause an issue with the need for visual inspections. Wood burning stoves have started to be a threat if not correctly installed.

[Richard]

Ed, I think we agree the back of an envelope is not the way to do business. I do not know quite what Munich council covers, but most such bodies have a range of interactions that have grown up and while they should be defined many are rarely if ever properly documented. Producing the pre-contract/project launch definitions and scope of works is almost always an iterative process. As this is the foundation a successful project, every shortcoming here will cripple the possible achievement. Were you ever surprised at how many ‘working practices’ came out of the woodwork during those early development stages? Many grew up to solve issues that never should have existed in the first place and should be solved by better business systems and methods.

[Richard]

First rule of contracting the supply of something, make sure it will integrate with what you have or need.

If you break the golden rule prepare for some heavy work to put things right.

Second rule; never rely on the word of a USA company Granny Shifter (salesperson to those who don’t know) that company X will supply an interface to adapt their product to your needs -they generally won’t.

There are other ‘rules’ about training and integration costs that should not be ignored.

[Richard]

Congratulations on your new place I hope you will be happy and settled there.

I assume that you are having a combi boiler, I have no personal experience of them but my father did and found it was a mixed blessing. The flow rate is quite important as it can affect how long a bath, wash hand basin, etc takes to fill. With a combi you are limited as to what sorts of shower you can have. I have a hot water tank with the option of using the immersion heaters if the boiler is out of service for any reason. It is also easier with multiple users as there is less pressure drop when more than one tap is used.

If the boilers are all Worcester Bosch, do check to see what level the installers are, a Gold level dealer can give you an extended guarantee on the boiler.

I was used to seeing radiators quoted in BTU (yes I am not up to date; the units have probably changed to KW or some such) and being matched to the room floor area/cubic capacity. There are tables that the installer should be able to show you.

I assume all of the radiators will be thermostatically valved, I think it would be classed as a crap install otherwise. Will you want a remote control option for them?

BG are usually between 2 and 3 times other quotes and often use a local contractor to do the work anyway so cut out the middle man. (The chap I used a few times worked privately but have BG branded dust sheets…)

An over size boiler will never reach good efficiency levels as the return water will be too warm to generate good condensation, at the last inspection mine was running about 89%.

Do check they fully understand and allowed for a good condensate drain.

Many younger users want to be able to either have or have the option of adding remote control. Would this be of value to you or of interest to you and do any of the quotes allow for it/include it as quoted? Would their offering be what you would be interested in having? It was not of any interest to me since the house is occupied 24 hour per day, but for those who work it might offer attractions that are not relevant to me.

[Richard]

Bob, sad as it may sound, I think that dealing with such cases in those ways may still have benefits for the victim who does not have to face a court where some hot shot will say that their client was a pillar of the community and the 9,10,11, etc. year old little hussy went round being everyone’s gift. Perhaps some social workers have a point when aiming to shield them from that? Too often at the sharp end we have replaced one bad with an equally bad or worse.

Correction to what I wrote above, it was Huntley not Hinkley.

I was very unable to be sad that some of the lot involved in the child abuse ring were striped of citizenship recently, even though they tried to play the race card.

 

[Richard]

Ed P wrote:

As you say, such a check is only of value in the case of KNOWN perverts. It is my understanding that the vast majority of the worst cases of abuse are carried out by close relations such as uncles and step-fathers where such checks are rarely of any value. Your comment amplified why I think much of this is just bureaucracy and ‘well-meaning’ law makers gone mad.

The recent sequence of new systems was triggered by a string of events when processes were not followed correctly, e.g. the Soham murders. Should it really have needed a neon warning sign over Hinkley’s head? Social workers persuaded people not to report, the police did not follow up, etc.

Already the new system is reporting false positives and false negatives for much the same reason, people not doing their jobs. You are right, add in the close connection abuse, an often hidden dimension to an already muddy pool. I thought that the recent (hopefully fictional) drama ‘Unforgotten’  captured how such events can develop and then corrode lives. Until we can fix human nature and repair human failures, shocking events will continue. Sadly, all the new processes in the world will not stop such things until events take a turn when it is already too late. I often feel that too often the wrong ones are caught and shamed while worse cases shuffle on. It has to be understood that it is an all classes all races and all religions issue and that hiding even apparently small issues can and will have devastating effects.

[Richard]

The Duke wrote:

I forgot about it being able to join your home router for update, aka the tesla does this, otherwise it uses 3g. I forget about this as my car lives a 100m up the hill from my house. The Joy’s of living on the side of a mini mountain.

To many walls and a metal cage, it could see the home networks but could not connect, the main router is one end of the house the garage is at the other. Second point is upstairs and slightly closer but no cigar.

Better luck next time I guess. Still the attempt got me moving for a few moments and did show that it knows about WiFi networks even if it could not connect. Maybe I can set something temporary to cover the garage one day.

[Richard]

The Duke wrote:

Newer cars have wifi to create a wifi hotspot so you can all connect to its g4. It would be good if you could connect a USB hdd to it. Last summer I cobbled together my own trave wifi hub with a hdd conected full of films, for our trip to Spain. It would be nice if the car was capable of it. Also our wifi hub, using a hootoo passport, also meant the kids gold play multiply Minecraft. I think it was earlier in this thread people was moving about transport, public transport and road works. My YouTube feed just surfaces the video, time-lapse, below of the Dutch building a tunnel under a motorway in a weekend. Linky

Impressive, we cannot lay a drain pipe in a week.

Since my interest had been pushed to action I looked up the WiFi car thing. Apparently it allow for updating the Satnav maps with congestion data, it relies on connection to a data source such as a router or a phone. Maybe I should try it one day most like with the home router(s).

[Richard]

Isn’t the Zafira the one with the non optional GM barbecue? I’m not sure whether I would be comfortable in that.

How and for what does one use the in-car Wifi? I have it in the new car but cannot work out how, or why it would be used. Is it for playing back music, I know it has a USB port and an AUX device socket for that purpose but as I do not have any music on any devices they are likely to remain idle.

It also has a Satnav which does know where the car is, but I have not yet used it to navigate: perhaps one day.  I have sorted out the trip and MPG functions, aren’t handbooks lovely?.

I know that an old Nokia phone can be recognised by the Bluetooth. I am not sure I want to mess about with the Bluetooth headset I normally use and have to sort things out each time I get in and out of the car.

Perhaps it is time for a new handset, or maybe a new me, perhaps more likely a new me.

[Richard]

Apart from having to sign in again, which is hardly a problem, no issues for me.

[Richard]

The Duke wrote:

I’m fully scanned, and upto date, I’ve damaged 4 disks, from L2 upwards, L2 is about 5th of the size it should be, the other 3 are just misshapen. As its more than 2 disks, they won’t touch it

I have had two ops on my back, one lumbar and one thoracic. In each case a number of vertebra were involved, My spinal column looked like and probably still looks like a mouldy banana where it was (is) being crushed, the rest looks more like a polo mint. The lumbar spine was a success and I can now walk once more, stand up and not need crutches, before that my left leg was withering. The Cervical spine business was less successful. The first vertebra under the skull is not straight but tipped over, the next 4 are ‘not right’ two are so tightly jammed together they look like one big one and the rest are again pressing on the spine and in very close contact with each other. The surgeon delayed treatment once as he did not want to operate on such a complex situation but in the end went ahead, after spending twice the allotted time to achieve half the result he wanted he gave up but did manage to wedge some of the vertebra apart with clips. Unfortunately the nerves serving my left arm and neck are almost always being pressed so neck movement is restricted and pain is constant. I am told that the damage is too severe and extensive to operate again but I should have an injection on Saturday to see if that will relieve the situation. The last surgeon to operate said my problems had been left too long and should have been treated 7 or 8 years earlier. It all started in 2002 and all I got then was tablets and a bit of physiotherapy that did nothing because it was aimed at the wrong areas. It was not until 2012 that the GP sent me for an MRI – when the results came back the GP called me in and warned me of a whole long list of possible symptoms that might occur before I had an operation. If I felt any of them I was told I had about 8 hours to get to and through A&E to a theatre for an operation or the result would be life limiting there and then.

Bottom line, it must be a local ruling that if more than one pair is damaged they will not do anything. I would try for a second opinion, though it might depend on the severity of your symptoms.I was using the use of limbs so that might have tipped the balance.

I agree that for the most part pain killers do nothing, I have tried diclofenac, VIOXX (the withdrawn Merck killer pill), now I take Naproxen, but have also tried Tramadol, Gabapentin and a few others. I saw no point in most of them and Tramadol did not even have any ‘high’ effect it just stopped up my stomach – so it was pointless.

PS Edits plus: I agree the comment about Noel Fitxpatrick, he does things to things with bones like matchsticks and achieves things with many cases that must make other humans jealous. I wish I could run about like some of the dogs, cats and other animals he treats with previous spinal problems

[Richard]

One point that I think may be new is that there is a current simmering row about ground rents and leaseholds on what at first appears to be a normal property sale.

Some ground leases have stupid renewal arrangements that can allow the ground rents to double at quite short intervals producing a deadly geometric progression from ‘high’ to ‘absurd’. It is a hot topic at the moment but one that does not appear to come up when it needs to when buying a property, solicitors have been less than dynamic in noticing the effects of this arrangement. Sadly when places were built the developer might have held the lease, but then sells it on on new terms to a new lease owner who introduces the new terms; action is promised to stop this abuse but some flats and houses are becoming unsaleable when potential buyers spot the issue.

[Richard]

With the recent tax changes and the promise/threat of more to come I would recommend that plan as the tax you will pay on a new home purchase will be reduced back to the base level and not be ‘enhanced’ so with the possibility of a better mortgage rate, (for the moment) it could turn into a double win. Some other good advice, yes take your time, yes find a suitable area, yes do not buy the best house on a crap street, but if you are so inclined the worst house on the best street can be a reasonable idea – but only if you can live with the level of work that might be needed. Though I align with Ed’s comments I would not take overly long for the heck of it. Usually you get a feel for a location or house quite soon so do take account of those feelings and be ready to act. Do get your ducks in a line so you can be ready to move and do make sure that any solicitor you use is up to the task – not all of them are. One we used delighted in the tale of his handling the 294th sale on a new estate. He found defects in the deeds that the other 293 cases had not picked up.

However, you have a brain and experience so I sense that we are all preaching to the converted and that you know enough to take all careful steps you need, good luck and a successful and happy move forward.

[As I went to press sub,it my office chair leaned over and almost collapsed as the seat pressed the height release – someone is sending me a message. I will now shut up!]

[Richard]

Oh yes, estate agents. We were looking for a place large enough for a family of four the last time we moved. The number of one bedroom places about which we were sent details was absurd. Place miles from transport, no problem they were ten a penny and so on. I realise that they can only report what is on their books but if they have nothing suitable say so for heaven’s sake.

Here is a hint, look at the customer’s brief and ONLY send details within their ‘desire band’. If the customer says up to about £ 200,000 that does not mean a £20,000 garage nor does it mean a £2,000,000 mansion.

[Richard]

The argument about weekend work has always been that it is the quiet time so affects fewer people. It cannot just be the Cross Rail effect as rail service out from beyond the suburbs to more distant parts is shut most weekends. My daughter needs to get to Cambridge to work at the hospital there so always falls back on her parter to get there there by car each time she has a Sunday and sometimes for her Saturdays duties as well.

A couple of weekends ago the village was cut in half by work on the level crossing over the entire weekend.

You do have to wonder who the railways are run for; the benefit of the staff or for the benefit of customers.

[Author]

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