Early Risers.

[Coombe Barton]

... Today wrapping up, and a meeting. I’m now packing the caravan. ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2022/07/20/all-region-decrease-zoe-2/

[AndrewC]

38 minutes ago, polybear said:

eight quid for 23.5 hours usage then?  Ouch.

Yep. Daily use for the house and shed is normally under £2. Then again there were 2 units running constantly, plus the fridge, beer fridge, and freezer all putting in overtime claims. Dreading next year when our 3 year fixed rate ends. Sadly not enough suitable roof space for solar panels unless I get the shed rebuilt with a stronger roof. Then I'd have about 75m² of south facing area to play with. 

[Ref44]

Well at least I willhave some extra pennies for the energy price hikes. I received my invitation to apply for my state pension today. Quess I'm getting old, but the online application was quick and easy. Hopefully they will pay on time in November!

[Tony_S]

10 minutes ago, Ref44 said:

Well at least I willhave some extra pennies for the energy price hikes. I received my invitation to apply for my state pension today. Quess I'm getting old, but the online application was quick and easy. Hopefully they will pay on time in November!

Everything went smoothly for mine and my wife’s. For mine(applied online) something that should have happened about a week before my birthday didn’t so I phoned (Newcastle, I think) and a very helpful chap said my application was in a pending queue but he progressed it for immediate action to make sure everything was done on time. Since then everything pension related has worked efficiently. Have you applied for a bus pass yet?

[NGT6 1315]

Cheers all. I managed not to melt away!

 

National maximum today was 40.3°. Our own home weather station recorded a maximum of 37.5 and the coming night is expected to remain above twenty, too. I expect some sub-average sleep. Yippee-kay-yay.

 

Stay safe, everyone… 

[Tony_S]

55 minutes ago, AndrewC said:

 Sadly not enough suitable roof space for solar panels unless I get the shed rebuilt with a stronger roof. Then I'd have about 75m² of south facing area to play with. 

There are solutions available for North facing roofs called something like reverse angle mounts but they aren't exactly elegant. Normal panel fitting doesn't usually need planning approval but no idea about the reverse mount system. For the shed there are also frame systems available. Our roof was so standard it didn't have any extra fitting charges applied. We did specify pigeon guards though. They love love roosting under panels. Aditi's brother has just had them added after a few years of pigeon problems. 

[BoD]

Afternoon all

 

We went to do our usual weekly shop at one of the main supermarkets.  We had most items needed but when we got to the chilled section we found it roped off.   Apparently the chillers hadn’t been able to cope with yesterday’s heat.  They were all empty of stock so I don’t know what had happened to it.   This meant we finished our shop without  things like cheese, cooked meats, yoghurts fruit juice etc.  Means we will probably have to do another shop.   Once a week at a supermarket is more than enough for anyone, darn it.

[tigerburnie]

Had a run over to Perth to see our daughter and kids before they go on holiday, we got a treat with a Spitfire and a Hurricane doing a fly pass over the city, we were high on a hill and got a fine view, noisy old things aren't they.

[polybear]

24 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

There are solutions available for North facing roofs called something like reverse angle mounts but they aren't exactly elegant. Normal panel fitting doesn't usually need planning approval but no idea about the reverse mount system. For the shed there are also frame systems available. Our roof was so standard it didn't have any extra fitting charges applied. We did specify pigeon guards though. They love love roosting under panels. Aditi's brother has just had them added after a few years of pigeon problems. 

 

Presumably for a solar panel installation you need a garage or some other similar space to house the batteries and control gear?

 

11 minutes ago, tigerburnie said:

........we got a treat with a Spitfire and a Hurricane doing a fly pass over the city, we were high on a hill and got a fine view, noisy old things aren't they.

 

Noise?  A Merlin?  Music to the ears.....

[BoD]

19 minutes ago, tigerburnie said:

Had a run over to Perth to see our daughter and kids before they go on holiday, we got a treat with a Spitfire and a Hurricane doing a fly pass over the city, we were high on a hill and got a fine view, noisy old things aren't they.

You must be pretty famous there for them to arrange  a flypast for you.

[Ozexpatriate]

2 hours ago, Ian Abel said:

Weather was hot and humid, too miserable to be outside on our patio. At this rate we won't have many opportunities to fully use it before the snow flies!!

That is the problem with the Minnesota climate. It is either 35C or -10°C with precious few days that are anywhere in between.

 

It's as though the weather gods have a great locking frame with giant signal lever which sets your weather to torrid or frigid and they only show up to throw the lever on the equinoxes.

[simontaylor484]

We had the BBMF Lancaster Bomber overhead a couple of weeks ago for Armed forces day that was brilliant to watch.

 

Meanwhile its getting really muggy here maybe the build up to a thunderstorm.

 

I had a letter this afternoon regarding a credit balence on a credit card that I had paid off when I retired. After 20 minutes on the phone trying to sort it out bearing in mind I had paid it off Oct 2020 the net result was a payment coming to me for the massive life-changing amount of drum roll please 

2 pence thats right 2 whole pence whilst some lucky bu99er has dropped 191 million on the lottery 

Jealous moi ?

[Ozexpatriate]

9 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

This was the area affected by the fire yesterday.

That looks like the area that made the US national news yesterday. It was only shown for perhaps 10 seconds in a highly edited package covering the record heat and there was no description of where it was - other than "the UK".

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. It might not be as hot as the last couple of days but the humidity is making it feel worse. Not much evidence of rain here either.  They were talking about manure heaps spontaneously combusting. The internal temperature of a manure heap can reach 140F/60C depending on what they contain. Apparently the fir tree that fell across the WCML bringing down the overhead also spontaneously combusted. I read somewhere that such trees which contain a lot of resin so when heated exude a flammable vapour which makes controlling fir tree forest fires so difficult. Perhaps the tree in question was giving of vapour and it was just waiting for something to ignite it. 

[Ozexpatriate]

Last night's battle to bring the heat down to about 23°C before turning in was won but for now, it feels like I am losing the war.

 

From yesterday:

23 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Even though it's only 25°C (both inside and outside) at 11:30am but should easily exceed 32°C later.

Today it is already 27°C at the same time of day and feels hotter than that. During my walk I lose about an hour of useful morning time to try to get cooler ambient airflow into the house. By the time I return there is little time to run fans with open windows.

 

A high exceeding 33°C is forecast. I do have an appointment in an air-conditioned office in the early afternoon.

 

Trying to battle the thermal mass in a house designed for air conditioning (but without a functioning forced air fan) is getting old. The HVAC diagnostic visit is scheduled for tomorrow. When repairs (assuming they are needed) will take place is unknown.

 

Temperatures should moderate through the weekend, but Tuesday is now forecast to exceed 38°C. Next week should see the hottest stretch of weather of the year (so far).

 

[Ozexpatriate]

10 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

I read somewhere that such trees which contain a lot of resin so when heated exude a flammable vapour which makes controlling fir tree forest fires so difficult.

Firs and eucalyptus are both very resinous and burn like beacons often explosively when the weather is dry.

 

They are both adapted to long dry spells - hence the resins.

[PhilJ W]

5 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

That looks like the area that made the US national news yesterday. It was only shown for perhaps 10 seconds in a highly edited package covering the record heat and there was no description of where it was - other than "the UK".

It was only about five miles in a WSW direction from me. Last night I could smell the charred wood on the breeze. The houses destroyed in Dagenham, only a few miles further into London, are also familiar to me being on my route to work before I retired. They are rather unusual in being built on a steel frame and panels being bolted on. They were referred to as pre-fabs, which although technically correct they were more substantial than the single storey buildings many of us are familiar with although dating from the same time (mid/late 40's). About 30-40 years ago they had problems with the chimneys which were basically a mild steel box that corroded. This was dealt with by fitting a stainless steel liner. From the news reports some appear to have the steel frames distorted and are likely to be written off. In both cases the grass fires that started off the sequence of events began on what is marshland that is normally well watered.

[Ozexpatriate]

11 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

... a race of giants who came from Tartaria, a region of  central Asia.

In other news, archeologists have discovered Tartaria. 😉

 

CNN: Ancient fortress found by archaeologists may be a lost royal city
 

Just kidding - it's Natounia in Iraqi Kurdistan - once a tribute state of the Parthians. One can only wonder how committed you have to be to pursue archeology in Kurdistan.

 

It's like a story I saw recently on naturalists in Kurdistan looking for Persian Leopards. They get arrested by Iranians as spies - based on the wildlife camera traps they use, and hunters steal the cameras so they don't get caught.

[Ozexpatriate]

44 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

That looks like the area that made the US national news yesterday. It was only shown for perhaps 10 seconds in a highly edited package covering the record heat and there was no description of where it was - other than "the UK".

17 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

It was only about five miles in a WSW direction from me.

This was the package I referred to. On a second viewing it seemed to cover several locations of fire, though there was one stretch of row/terrace houses I saw on multiple news reports.

[Ozexpatriate]

7 hours ago, AndrewC said:

Burned through £8 of electrons to power the air con in the house and shed.

What's the approximate price per kWh in the UK? 

 

I understand that with competing providers and base rates, and off-peak rates etc that's a bit like asking "how long is a piece of string?" but I'm guessing you've done some basic maths.

 

Inclusive of taxes and fees, my total bill for last month represented about $0.155/kWh / £0.129/kWh.

 

Edited July 20, 2022 by Ozexpatriate
Fixed arithmetic

[polybear]

1 hour ago, Ozexpatriate said:

A high exceeding 33°C is forecast. I do have an appointment in an air-conditioned office in the early afternoon.

 

There's very, very little that Bear misses about working, sorry being at The Great Empire - but the aircon buildings is one of them.....

 

28 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

What's the approximate price per kWh in the UK? 

 

£0.28 per kWh

Daily standing charge: £0.45

(These are the average price cap rates)

 

That's the price until the end of September 2022, at which point it'll be shooting up to who knows what?  Hang on - apparently they're expected to increase by 65%, so:

£0.46 per KWh

Bluddy hell.

Now then, can you get frozen salad??

 

edit:  So the standing charge means a yearly leccy bill of £164 even before you use any leccy at all

 

 

Edited July 20, 2022 by polybear

[AndrewC]

2 hours ago, Tony_S said:

There are solutions available for North facing roofs called something like reverse angle mounts but they aren't exactly elegant. Normal panel fitting doesn't usually need planning approval but no idea about the reverse mount system. For the shed there are also frame systems available. Our roof was so standard it didn't have any extra fitting charges applied. We did specify pigeon guards though. They love love roosting under panels. Aditi's brother has just had them added after a few years of pigeon problems. 

Thanks Tony. I'll look into frames for the shed. The math says about 240kg total. As for the house it is east/west and a terrace so the roofing area is quite small. There is about 9m² available on the back extension that faces south. Definitely go with the pigeon guards if we end up down that route. 

 

27 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

What's the approximate price per kWh in the UK? 

 

I understand that with competing providers and base rates, and off-peak rates etc that's a bit like asking "how long is a piece of string?" but I'm guessing you've done some basic maths.

 

Inclusive of taxes and fees, my total bill for last month represented about $0.155/kWh / £0.129/kWh.

I'm paying £0.1541/kWh plus the ripoff daily standing charge which is about £0.22/day. Our electric is about 5% higher as we buy 100% renewable which is to say it partly pays for someone else's solar as well as wind farms. Still a lot less than what many are currently paying. 

[New Haven Neil]

Yes Bear - that one!

 

Not sure he'll buy it, it is awful to ride, very crude.  He may have culture shock.

 

 

 

[polybear]

2 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

Not sure he'll buy it, it is awful to ride, very crude.  He may have culture shock.

 

Your sales technique may need a little work......🤣

[simontaylor484]

Standing charges are a rip off but i suppose it pays to get the electric/gas to your house.

 

There is also a green levy on your  bill  then robbery tax too.