Early Risers.

[tigerburnie]

G'night all

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

The sun didn’t show itself very much, in fact we had a very brief shower after dinner, by brief I mean less than 5 minutes from start to finish!

 

Removing the bathroom radiator didn’t take long, 10 minutes to drain and take it to the cellar. However, one of the valves was leaking, so that had to be sorted before anything else was started. I ended up making a plug that fitted into the end of the valve which once fitted stemmed the water. I then set about removing the paint from the radiator, by the end of the day I’d completed about 60% of it. Hopefully I’ll get the rest done tomorrow and then I can give the whole thing a good rubbing down and clean with a wheel type wire brush fitted to my electric drill. 

 

After tea I completed the Sainsbury’s Grand Prix, once again it was very quiet, but there are still a few people not wearing masks properly. I do wonder if it’s down to not knowing how to wear them or if it’s a case of some people showing a little bit of contempt at the government. 

 

Goodnight all 

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Still 28:5 C. here indoors despite windows and doors being open. Still catching up on Farcebook so Goodnight all.

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[iL Dottore]

Good morning one and all,

 

A very early start this morning, thanks to my old friend Mr Insomnia, who turned up in the wee hours with his new girlfriend Ms Hot and Steamy Weathergirl 

Depending on what weather app I am using, today’s weather will either bring rain or not. Either way it is supposed to get a lot hotter before it gets cooler. 

On the domestic front, our eight year old dishwasher failed last week and yesterday at the technician turned up to see what could be done. To make a long story short, the only thing wrong with the dishwasher is that the dryer component (a fan of some type) had failed. Something which, thank goodness, will be easy enough to replace. Now the reason I cite this mildly interesting bit of domestic trivia is to point out something I learned from the technician and that is: even for a very good quality domestic appliance, an 11 year lifespan is considered extremely good (additionally, I found out that whilst the average dishwasher at 11 years of age has about 5000 hours of use on it, our dishwasher – at eight years of age – already has 6 thousand+ hours of use on it). So my question to my fellow ERs is “how old are your domestic appliances“?

 

Finally, and again on a domestic note, I am thinking of replacing my eight year old “all singing, all dancing“ oven with something a lot simpler (some of the features on the oven I have never used and never will). In other words, an oven that turns on, quickly reaches the desired temperature, stays at the desired temperature, with no hot or cold spots in the oven cavity. Unfortunately, with one or two exceptions, the ovens available on the Swiss market (i.e. 55cm wide Schweizernorm - instead of the 60cm wide Euronorm) are all absolutely loaded with so-called “features“ including, believe it or not, Wi-Fi connectivity over an oven app! Some of which costing over Fr.4000 (£3300). Paradoxically, I can buy an oven for professional kitchen use at a quarter of the price of an “all singing and all dancing” technological kitchen marvel.

 

So, my final questions to my fellow ERs are: how complicated are the features on your domestic appliances and do you use these features?

 

Now off to snooze for an hour or so before taking the Wolfpack out for their morning stroll.

 

Carpe Diem

iD

Edited August 11, 2020 by iL Dottore

[J. S. Bach]

Good night owl from the Piedmont.

[chrisf]

Greetings one and all

 

Some years ago, before he retired, a friend who worked for a builders supplies merchant kindly obtained for me an electric fan.  It lives in my bedroom and perhaps less than a dozen times a year is turned on overnight.  The hum that it makes does not disturb my sleep and the regular wafts of cool air across my face are so, so welcome.  It is likely that the current humidity wave will not last, thank goodness.  As I have said, I don't mind the heat but I do mind dripping sweat everywhere.

 

The process of getting myself on line at the surgery is, as I foresaw, not altogether straighforward.   Yesterday's conversation with one of Checkpoint Charlene's colleagues will not be the last before all is sorted.   Unbeknown to me, I already had a user name.  i hope the system learns to remember it for me, for it comprises 11 letters and five figures.  It is the way of things that the figures are more difficult to remember than the letters.  Either the user name or the password, or both, did not work.  The promised e-mail giving me a new password has so far not arrived.  I'll give it till Wednesday before asking the question.  Independently of the technicalities, the surgery has secretly revised the procedures and timescales for booking appointments.  I only know this because I tried to book the slot for my hormone injection six weeks ahead, as I have always done.   Not this time: "Too early", I was told.  Heaven help somebody if I cannot have my jab on the day that it is due.

 

My laptop does not like me dripping sweat all over it, so best wishes to all

 

Chris 

[polybear]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

 So my question to my fellow ERs is “how old are your domestic appliances“?

 

So, my final questions to my fellow ERs are: how complicated are the features on your domestic appliances and do you use these features?

 

 

 

Bear signing in....

 

My own domestic dishwasher appliance was first tested in anger well over 45 years ago (though initial trials may well have been sporadic, with questionable results).  I have soft paws to prove it.

 

As for the cooker, if it isn't busted why dump it?   Gadgets you don't use on it?  No problem, just continue not to use them.  My own cooker has a digital clock on it with (I think) a timer function too - no idea if it's a simple alarm, or can actually turn things on and off as I've never used it.  As for the microwave, well that might  have some sort of grilly function but it's no good asking me.  The door opens and shuts, the light works, it makes a noise when working and it makes a beeping sound when finished.  And more importantly it cooks my baked beans just fine.

[jamie92208]

Good moaning. It's a tad cooler here, just 22 at the moment but scatterred high cloud.  It could well be warm later.   Off out after breakfast to put up a curtain pole for some friends, then to Angouleme to get some supplies and whilst there I may even do a bit of trainspotting. It would be rude not to. Not a bad day in prospect.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

[NGT6 1315]

G'mawnin awl. Long time no see, I know… 

 

Just in case no-one else mentioned it yet, scorchio is the motto of the day once again. Can't say I slept very well, but at least work shouldn't be too difficult today. Timing meeting in the morning, followed by threeish hours on the tram in the evening, and then two days off. Plus, I might even get a nap in between my working hours today!

 

Thunderstorms were in fact forecast yesterday, which did occur but of course gave Leipzig a wide berth. I did hear about flooded roads in the Meißen area, though, so where they did discharge themselves, they did so with gusto.

 

Well, and now I got to caffeinate…  

 

Later.

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl Inner Temple Hare, 845/ 529

A reasonable night sleep in the end, in 3 pieces,

4 + 1 in bed , down stairs, just getting settled and Ben the I want out Collie appeared at stupid o clock in the morning, He wandered off down the garden, I return to the sofa till he reappeared, then I go shut the back back door again, and settle in for about another hour and a half snooze on the sofa..

He still wanted out for his morning patrol of course, by then the mist was lifting and the sun shining.

 

Disney time, driving into work, scattering rabbits, pigeons, crows, magpies, deer, and more rabbits, that were wandering around the place..

 

Going back to the late 1950's Dad never made it back for my grandfathers funeral he was posted abroad somewhere at the time... Kenya?

 

Our washing washing machine / dishwasher / tumble dryer are all under 3 years old, as the previous ones had died between their 10 to 15 year ages. The cooker which is separate hob / oven I installed maybe 15 years ago, is a basic model as I don't trust all those fancy features, which are just more things to break. The microwave aka "the Dog", is heading for 10 years old I think, however, it's showing signs of the Magnatron  beginning to fail, as it's heating is getting a bit erratic lately.

 

When I / we  choose household appliances, it's always a case of looking for a basic model with as few gadgets as possible..

 

Talking of gadgets the company now wants me to install MIro on the computer by clicking various boxes.., I've never heard of it so, I won't until I've ascertained it's real or another company spam..

 

The house was up another degree last night , after the cloudy day before.

 

I didn't get the major system for 5 hours yesterday as They decided to up grade it into a dual system so it still does the old equipment but now also does the new product. that only slightly extends the calibration. but due to the delay they won't get the system back till Thursday morning now instead of Wednesday.

 

And so

 

Time to get get going on that syste. again..

[roundhouse]

Good morning.

 

A few pints last night finishing off in Spoons with Twickenham brewery redhead and a pizza. Two pints and two pizzas cost just over £9 total. Spoons was busy but plenty of empty tables.

 

Another hot night and even hotter day forecast today. Our bedroom fan  is used most nights even in the winter. I bought it to use in our work site hut in Maidenhead 20 years ago and its still going strong. I bought a back up that sits behind me in the spare room, so that might get taken up to the shed later when the last out of my Hornby Bulleid light pacifics gets a check up and run on the High Line.

 

Stay safe and as cool as you can.

[Barry O]

Ey up!

No rain or thunderandlightning here ...yet.

Coller and fresher so slept well.

 

Oven, hob  etc in use for 4 years. Apart from a timer and a clock the ovens are simple to use.

 

Stay safe and well everyone, hope the driving goues well Dom!

Time to shake Tuesday up to wakefulness..

 

Baz

[Erichill16]

4 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Good morning one and all,

 

A very early start this morning, thanks to my old friend Mr Insomnia, who turned up in the wee hours with his new girlfriend Ms Hot and Steamy Weathergirl 

Depending on what weather app I am using, today’s weather will either bring rain or not. Either way it is supposed to get a lot hotter before it gets cooler. 

On the domestic front, our eight year old dishwasher failed last week and yesterday at the technician turned up to see what could be done. To make a long story short, the only thing wrong with the dishwasher is that the dryer component (a fan of some type) had failed. Something which, thank goodness, will be easy enough to replace. Now the reason I cite this mildly interesting bit of domestic trivia is to point out something I learned from the technician and that is: even for a very good quality domestic appliance, an 11 year lifespan is considered extremely good (additionally, I found out that whilst the average dishwasher at 11 years of age has about 5000 hours of use on it, our dishwasher – at eight years of age – already has 6 thousand+ hours of use on it). So my question to my fellow ERs is “how old are your domestic appliances“?

 

Finally, and again on a domestic note, I am thinking of replacing my eight year old “all singing, all dancing“ oven with something a lot simpler (some of the features on the oven I have never used and never will). In other words, an oven that turns on, quickly reaches the desired temperature, stays at the desired temperature, with no hot or cold spots in the oven cavity. Unfortunately, with one or two exceptions, the ovens available on the Swiss market (i.e. 55cm wide Schweizernorm - instead of the 60cm wide Euronorm) are all absolutely loaded with so-called “features“ including, believe it or not, Wi-Fi connectivity over an oven app! Some of which costing over Fr.4000 (£3300). Paradoxically, I can buy an oven for professional kitchen use at a quarter of the price of an “all singing and all dancing” technological kitchen marvel.

 

So, my final questions to my fellow ERs are: how complicated are the features on your domestic appliances and do you use these features?

 

Now off to snooze for an hour or so before taking the Wolfpack out for their morning stroll.

 

Carpe Diem

iD

The cooker we bought was the ex demo one that was on display in the kitchen shop. When we got it home and fitted into the new kitchen we couldn’t  get the dam  thing to work. All the lights worked etc but no heat. After some time we realised that the cooker was on demo mode and everything worked but the heating element! How many cooker come with this ‘demo mode’ and how many of them actually get used in demo mode?

Robert

[45156]

On 09/08/2020 at 17:00, polybear said:

 

Were you successful with the refund?  Curry's have been known to have short arms and deep pockets whenever you mention the "R" word to them.

No problems at all with it, as I'd already spoken to them about a refund, and they said that with the TV returned to the store, there'd be no problem.  I do think that I'd prefer to do business with other companies, but there's no independents round here any more.

 

Morning All

 

Still on the old laptop, as I am due a visit from a friend's son to help with the setup of the Dell. 

 

Generic greetings are, of course, on offer to fellow ERs.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. There's something wet falling from the sky this morning, I wonder what it is? Seriously we are desperate for rain but no doubt it won't be enough. Oldest kitchen appliances? The cooker is 31+ years old, the washing machine is 37 years old and to top the lot the filter coffee machine is 46 years old though that has been used very rarely as I'm a tea drinker. Off now for a dunk in the bath, be back later.

[Coombe Barton]

South west Cornwall, currently 16 degC, misty, high expected of 19 degC, cloudy.

 

Dishwasher - on third in 35 years, washing machine ditto, fridge replaced last year, which was the third in the same timeframe, cooker, on the second, new one waiting delivery.

 

 

Edited August 11, 2020 by Coombe Barton
typo that I can't blame on autocorrect

[New Haven Neil]

Morning.

 

A bit like the Bear, our dishwasher is 61 years old and counting, and has soft front paws but a sore back left foot and hip.

 

The 'fridge is 16, the hob/oven 17, washing machine about 6, microwave/grilly thing about 14.  Most have lots of functions, but the only one used is the timer on the oven.

 

I think Donk is about 10, in human years.  His behavior is that of  a 5 year old human on high sugar drinks.  We're used to it. 

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

4 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

...“how old are your domestic appliances“?

... how complicated are the features on your domestic appliances and do you use these features?

Morning all, from the coolth of the patio in the shade of the pergola.

 

This is a subject that much exercises me.

Practically everything we now have is branded from Bosch Siemens Hausgerate, (exception below) one or two models up from the 'basic offering' so have just a few useful features like timers for delayed starts on the oven and washing machine. We are on the second of fridge freezers and washing machines, having had 25 years service from the first purchases. I immediately rebuilt the extractor hood to optimise airflow (based on long ago acquired lab fume extractor experience) after inspecting any number to see which might best lend itself to home modification to this end.

 

Dishwashers don't last. Their origins in laboratory glassware washers are very plain for anyone who first experienced the 'small' integrated units that appeared in the 1970s. You were lucky to get a year out of those, and they usually announced their failure by catching fire or flooding the floor - or even both simultaneously. Too much compromise on mechanical design in the  search for maximising volume of the washing space is the bottom line

 

Reigning champion appliance: circa 1950 Electrolux vacuum cleaner. (Slightly older than me.) Features: a button for on and off. Has had a set of replacement motor brushes, 25 years ago. Heavy enough to be good for smashing 100 Dysons to splinters and would still be capable afterwards of sucking up their remains. (Inherited from my wife's grandmother!)

 

Have a good day one and all. (I have to go and put on 'fancy dress' to visit my sadly demented parents in care today. What must it be like for them? Pa recognises me and is fine with it once explained, but Mother is consistently 'not amused'.)

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

A bit late on parade this morning as I slept in a bit. We’ve had some much needed rain overnight, which was accompanied (apparently, unbeknown to me) thunder and lightning. Today’s activities will be a continuation of yesterday’s efforts of removing the paint from the bathroom radiator. I’m doing the work in the cellar, which has a couple of benefits, it’s cooler and the paint stripper doesn’t dry out as quicker either. 

 

Kitchen appliance ages, the cooker AKA ‘The Beast’ (2 ovens, a grill, 5 rings and a hot plate) is over 14 years old. The fridge freezer is a little bit older, probably 16 years or so. The dishwasher is about 10 years old (our 3rd) and the washing machine is less than 5 years old, but if you age it by it’s usage, then it’s probably well over 15 years old! It’s probably used on average, I kid you not, 3 - 4 times a DAY, sometimes even more!

 

Stay safe, stay sane, enjoy whatever you have planned for the day, back later. 

Edited August 11, 2020 by BSW01

[tigerburnie]

Morning, we had the two young grandsons visit yesterday, made for a perfect day apart from the 5 year old thrashing me at tennis, what really hurt was the comment "grandad you're as bad as grandma"....................

I've been doing a lot more on the family tree, having hit nobility there is a heck of a lot written and I was ploughing on back in time past a grandad who came over in 1066 with Bill the bosher, but now have come to a bit of a halt. Cerdic the King of Wessex came over from Saxony and along with Queen Withgar seem to be difficult to follow back any further, so a birth date of circa 460 AD is far back as I can go on this blood line, I shall see if I can find any other offshoots to follow.

[AndrewC]

Good moaning all. 

 

Strange how some appliances seem to last forever and others barely struggle on to the end of their warranties. 

For us, apart from the fridge, washer, dryer, everything is pretty much 2 1/2 years old from when we had the house totally gutted and rebuilt. Cooker is a rather nice Rangemaster but I use the bbq probably about 10:1 over it. The offspring managed to use his John Lewis discount to save us 30%. 

Fridge is a big American style thing, 12 1/2 and probably needs replacing. It has a design flaw that causes ice build up in the fridge side, which then melts and leaks a bit. Cost to rectify means it isn't worth doing. It is on next year's house expenditure list. Washer and dryer are around 11 and have had a few repairs. I've managed to do them all myself. Strange that last time the washer refused to fill I ordered a replacement inlet valve. An hour later it started to work all on its own. 

 

Many of our older items have a second life with the offspring. Dyson, microwave (16 years of good service), slow cooker, toaster, kettle.........

 

In other news. Still waiting for the council to make a decision on next door becoming an HMO. 11 objections noted including 2 of the 4 local councillors. Just spotted the planning lady wandering about, so something is afoot. Update: she left rather miffed as the developer never showed up for his inspection appointment. 

 

Back to work. Yes it still sucks, thanks for asking. Things are drying up now as contracts that should have been signed in March-June for work beginning in Aug-Nov haven't happened. There is concern that some people will be out the door if things don't pick up. 

 

Enjoy the day. 

[Tony_S]

Morning all. 
 It,rained here this morning. Just enough to dampen the dust. Aditi’s car was collected for its service. Nice chat with the driver. I had a nice chat with our postie when she left a parcel for me. 
Aditi is pruning stuff in the front garden and I can hear her chatting with people as they pass by. Otherwise it is really quiet here.  
I am not sure what our oldest appliance is, it was the freezer which was over 4o years old when we replaced it last year. It was starting to struggle but also used a lot of electricity. 0ur Kenwood Chef and Magimix food processor are over 40 years old. The Chef was remotored a couple of years ago. Our washing machine has a few options we don’t use. It is possible to have extra options  installed, like “soft toy” and “footwear” but we haven’t bothered. Our electric oven must be about 15 years old with a  30 year old gas hob. If the oven fails we can’t buy the same brand as they seem to have ceased making them but Miele make an almost identical model. Then there are appliances that look old but aren’t. We have a Cuisinart waffle maker and a Sebo upright vacuum cleaner that look like something from the 1950s. 
Tony

 

[Chris116]

For the third time in six days I find that I am not following this thread! I wonder how that happens? 

 

My mother always said that she didn't need a new dishwasher as the one she married in 1948 still worked very well and was more interesting to be with. 

 

Two aircon units in use every day during this heatwave but the flat is still very hot. Opening windows just let's more hot air in so they have been closed! 

 

Mask wearing on local buses was good but has now become a bad joke with very few covering noses and lots of people now having a drink and packet of crisps while on the bus.