Smart meter

[keith with the teef]

So, recently we had to move to EDF who then insisted on smart meters. Once I found them to be universal I gave them the nod to fit ’em.

I struggled with the idea though as we only use power as we need it.

The misses said to me the other week “the back of the oven is burning out”.

I was looking at the LED display to the new smart system and it kept hitting amber. I thought wtf. I went around the house and tracked it down. The misses had left the oven on.

My lad was hoovering his car out with the OLD garage vac and the meter kept hitting amber.

Then the misses came in and started to vac wit the modern one.

The difference in energy usage was stark. 4p vs 64p.

Yep, smart metering is the way to go!

[JayCeeDee]

You are not wrong.👍👍 I stayed away from them initially because the first gen were not really fit for purpose. They couldn’t maintain contact with the networks, ( wifi with the display and mobile with the new metering modules ) and they became redundant when you switched – they were tailored too tightly to the initial supply company.

That all changed with gen 2. I’ve got my display sitting on my desk below my monitor – it has been there for about three years now. It has provided information in abundance for examples just like you have quoted above.

Since having solar panels installed it is nearly as useful as the app that comes with them, it now shows an extra icon of a pylon with arrows pointing at it, showing when they are generating more than I’m using.

[keith with the teef]

JayCeeDee wrote:

Since having solar panels installed it is nearly as useful as the app that comes with them, it now shows an extra icon of a pylon with arrows pointing at it, showing when they are generating more than I’m using.

An old skool friend who now lives in OZ is trying to go off grid.

Batteries R expensive.

He has been looking for submarine batteries. I suggested a bank of truck batteries and he’s looking into it.

The killer is his misses has x2 Kilns.

I think he walks round with his pipe in all day.

 

[Ed P]

Lead-Acid batteries are simple, and individually cheaper than Li-ion batteries, but they demand a LOT of attention. They are also MUCH larger in size and weight for the same capacity, and possibly more costly to install giving all the strapping etc. If your mate is an ex-submariner then these should not be issues (except possibly size).

Li-ion batteries are getting cheaper, and one option to look out for are repurposed batteries ex (say) crashed EVs or early hybrids. Repurposing EV batteries to power homes and buildings is a growing area of business but it has its own set of HSE, fire and environmental issues. As you can guess, it is a very new and specialized area of work with not too many players. So the big problem is to find a player in Australia. I even found it hard to find one in the UK!  Background Link

Off-topic, but if you read the link, the main reason given for replacing a hybrid/EV battery is the number of recharge cycles, so if you are in the market for a second hand car in this range then you should be willing to pay a bit extra for low mileage vehicles.

 

[Ed P]

Just a thought, the Kilns are a huge part of the battery load. Swapping them to bottled gas would bring his battery needs down to normal domestic levels. As I understand from my daughter-in-law, there are some pluses in having a kiln that can give a reducing atmosphere. Not my area of expertise but I believe some glazes benefit. Maybe Les can give some more convincing arguments of gas vs electric kilns.

[Les.]

Gas versus electric kilns? Let us start with the one main con. Gas kilns can explode and kill people. I know of one fatal incident, and I know of a few which could easily have been fatal. Electrocution is very possible, but I have never hear of one involving a kiln. However, the victim of the fatal incident was a very competent electrical engineer. He was near the door of the kiln when it exploded, the door flew off (or open) and he was struck. No idea if he caused it.

Having dealt with that, gas EVERY time if you know what you are doing.

Hundreds of percent of excess air can be used to VERY SLOWLY raise the temperature of large solid item which are extremely likely to crack or otherwise be ruined. (Mind you that is environmentally bad, filling the local air with acetone and related compounds.

Normal operation with just a few % excess air is desirable for most processes and is easily obtained.

Slightly reducing atmospheres (insufficient air) will turn bone china a delicate shade of blue. It will also bring it to optimum fired condition at a lower temperature.

Strongly reducing atmospheres will bring red building bricks  to a slate blue — traditional “engineering bricks”

I should point out that it is 43 years since I left the ceramics industry, though I had a 12month spell with a kiln construction company sorting out their problem kilns, but so much changed after I left. During the ten years before I left, a big thing was “Lead release”. The US had found a case of lead poisoning caused by a crap, studio pottery produced ewer. Grossly under-fired after glazing due to incompetence. The stringent rules created as a result meant a new approach to decoration firing. Electric kilns were found to need water injection into the cooling section to control the lead release. This could be got around by introducing gas burners, with the products of combustion providing the water vapour.

I assume all tableware is now produced using lead free glazes, but I really don’t know. I do know a lead free glaze can never give the brilliance achieved with lead glazes, just as leadless solders used in electronics are useless.

I had better stop, as I could write all day about all aspects of ceramic firing, and life is too short right now.

Les.

[keith with the teef]

Nice one Les. I had no idea.

But then who does. In a monkey see monkey do world.

[Author]

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