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Thanks to those of you who responded to my aga query, especially Helicopter and Hugo. It's being removed next Tuesday and i'm getting £750 for it, about £500 more than i expected. Only snag is that i need a readily available and cheap plumber to cap off the gas, and those are precisely the two atrributes that are mutually exclusive in plumbers!
Thanks again, virtual Stellas all round!!
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Glad to help mare, I 'm on a strict diet at the moment so I'll settle for a soda water....:0(
Plumbers are always a problem, I would try British Gas and if they can't help ask them for recommendations or ask your neighbours. I always go by recommendation and never , ever take anyone from the yellow pages.
I must admit I too am surprised at the good price you got - only goes to prove the old saying where theres muck there's brass.
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Morning all; lets hope that this is a simple question with a simple answer.............
supposing you, as an employer, takes over another service and its staff - and it is a bone-fide TUPE situation - and you preserve all the 'new' staff's prior terms and conditions etc etc, and it so happens that they are paid better than 'your' staff.
At what point - when - is it 'safe' to re-organise on economic grounds and bring the 'new' staff into line with current terms and conditions. ( pension arrangements excluded here ) And how ? Can you 'buy' them out ? Cancel contracts and re-issue ?
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Its not simple and you should go and get proper professional advice.
Generally you can do pretty much what you want provided it is;
-driven by sound business reasons
-fair and even to all and doesn't disadvantage a section
You can buy people out at any time, since this is their choice.
You can force a change in packages and/or Ts&Cs but this is extremely difficult, fraught with elephant traps and best avoided.
Negotiate and communicate well with any union.
Wait 6 months if you can, if not make sure your business case is sound.
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Speaking as one who has been in the position of an existing employee, when my firm took over another equal-sized huge firm of better paid employees, everybody ended up unhappy. The 'new' bunch felt they lost out as their future pay rises were kept down until they 'caught up (or down)' with us. The 'old' bunch were very miffed that we were being paid less than the new employees. The 'clever' thing they did to bring us all into line was to deem the 'new' bunch as being more senior than the 'old' employees, hence deserving of their higher level of pay. When you're all between three and ten years out of university, you all came from the top ten universities so all know people on the other side, and you've even trained with some of the 'new' people... you soon spot this trick. Expect a lot of resignations and some very unhappy staff. And no, it wasn't PW and C&L.
I'm assuming that you're not hoping that a load of your staff will pfd off immediately. If you are, then you can pdf it up like the two firms above. (Which has a large part of its business selling 'integration management' to other companies. Yet they cannot do it themselves.)
The only possible way you can do it and keep everybody happy is immediately to give your current staff a payrise to bring them all in line with the new staff. If you cannot afford to do that, are you sure you really wanted to take them over - with consequent inevitable unhappiness and resignations? Your staff will talk. They will all know what the others are paid. You cannot hide it.
Bitter? Me? Yes.
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I'm not as cynical about it as Mapmaker, but his points are valid and it does happen.
A clear piece of advice to any company would be to understand the *TOTAL* cost of spending or not spending - e.g. giving a 2% salary increase mght cost you £250k, but it might avoid recruitment, retraining and disruption expenses of a lot more.
Typically of course, companies need wastage after a merger/acquisition even if they don't realise. The major wastage happens not at the time of the M/A, but more often 6 months later when everybody understand the position, which usually means no redundancy offer and disrupted future.
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supposing you, as an employer, takes over another service and its staff - and it is a bone-fide TUPE situation - and you preserve all the 'new' staff's prior terms and conditions etc etc, and it so happens that they are paid better than 'your' staff.
At what point - when - is it 'safe' to re-organise on economic grounds and bring the 'new' staff into line with current terms and conditions. >>
Aha, been there very recently, took on three employees, one since has left, had the same concerns as you, TUPE etc though as it it happens their previous employment contract had a caveat stating "the company reserves the right to add to, change or amend the following terms and conditions subject to notice in writing" hence after a period of due diligence were were able to negotiate new terms and can even impose conditions if requred.
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MapMaker & myself have been on the receiving end of TUPE & in my case I was a managment position. Now actually I worked well with my new people & knew that it was a case of going forward. But some of my colleagues were pretty anti. Without exception they all left within 6months. Essentially you have a culture diff situation & it all depends on what you want as to how to approach it. The able & good were encouraged to move from their safety zones into the main company. The trouble who wouldn't budge had very uncompromising but excellent managers put into the bought in part. The previous manager (main stumbling block) was repeatedly challenged on her approach & results & eventually left of her own volition rather than manage it. That was a particularly interesting case as she had enormous potential for them & a lot to offer, so they gave her as much as they could, with high expectations. In the end she was too intransigent. Shame, but there are always casualties. Essentially it takes time. Prof advice essential RIGHT NOW, & sorry for shouting but if you don't get the foundation correct you may well be in for a bumpy ride. There's always one whose unbelievably well informed about details of legal rights & has excellent connections. Good luck & I hope you've picked up some talent in your purchase. I'll bet you have, but you might have to look for it!
--
www.bayingbasset.com
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Mark, I'm not just cynical, I'm bitter.
There were more of them (in our department - about 1000 more), they were better paid, and they consequently achieved more senior posts than we did. And we were doing the takeover... allegedly. We ended up adopting their culture - but not their salaries.
I don't necessarily agree you need professional advice... put the salaries up with the money you save. You need instead to do a moral calculation. Your employees spend more of their waking life with you than at home. You are the most important thing in their lives. How would you feel if others were imported on a higher salary? How would you feel if your new employer looked for a way to cut your salary as soon as he could.
All it takes is a manager who says 'casualties are inevitable', maybe describing the casualties as 'interesting', to ensure that you get lots of casualties! Staff are very expensive to hire & train; you don't want to be losing them.
Following this experience I am much fluffier about staff welfare and attitudes. Hard-nosed hire & fire attitudes are great for a football club, but in the real world they translate into lower productivity and lower staff retention.
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When did cavity walls become commonplace?
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L\'escargot.
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My property was built in the early 1880s - it has cavity walls.
Also see this link:
www.est.org.uk/myhome/insulation/cwi/what/
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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www.est.org.uk/myhome/insulation/cwi/what/
saysre cavity walls " In most houses built after the 1920s,"
I must have been unlucky.
My previous house and my present house were both mid 1930s with solid brick walls.
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I had a house in Portsmouth which had cavities, built around 1890. The problem with many of these houses is the cavity ties rust away, and there was quite a local business in installing chemical ties in bulging walls.
In north London solid walls were still not uncommon around 1925.
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pmh (was peter)
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>>The problem with many of these houses is the cavity ties rust away>>
We've not had to have this done yet, but some adjoining houses have had to have the cavity ties replaced because of the salty air - we are right on the Irish Sea coastline.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Rural North Devon. House approx' 100 yrs old and both skins of cavity are built with very hard white brick bedded in rough Lime mortar and then sadly rendered with exceptionally hard, (strong), cement mortar.
VBR............M.
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Very interesting question... I recently assessed trainee chartered surveyors for entry into the profession and learnt from a trainee in Coventry that cavity walls came in there in the middle 1930s, several decades after the north west.
--
Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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My last house in the Coundon area of Coventry was built in 1939 and was relatively expensive (£350) when new. It has solid walls, as do all the houses in that area AFAIK.
I believe cavity walls got more and more common after the war but only became a building requirement in about 1972.
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I'm looking at selling a hardback book (*) on Ebay, and I suspect it will end up going abroad - what is the most cost effective postage option so it gets there reasonably quickly, and provides some sort of traceability so I don't get conned by the 'it didn't arrive' issue ?
(* Object Oriented Application Development Using the Cache Postrelational Database, by Ihringer, Kirsten, Kuhn and Rohrig, if you wanted to know !)
'A long and intiguing read - and that's just the title' - Richard & Judy's Book Club
Go on, get out of the car...
www.mikes-walks.co.uk
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>>Object Oriented Application Development Using the Cache Postrelational Database, by Ihringer, Kirsten, Kuhn and Rohrig
I hope that's the second edition because the first had nothing about SOAP based web services, had little on Caché Studio aned of course was based on Caché version 4 rather than the more relevant V5.0
I don't think it came with a CD-ROM in the earlier version either.
M.
p.s. - its "Caché" not "Cache"
p.p.s. 8-)
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I hope that's the second edition because the first had nothing about SOAP based web services, had little on Caché Studio aned
When I excavate it from the heap of dust under which it resides at home, I'll let you know. I look forward to your bid ;-)
Go on, get out of the car...
www.mikes-walks.co.uk
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There?s a "sign for" system used by the post office which costs £3.50 on top of regular post where they can track it by signature as far as the airport. If you want to be sure it gets there though you might want to courier it.
I get about 30% of the things that get posted to me regardless of method, absolutely nothing got through at Christmas. I?d like to think someone at the Polish P.O. is nicking everything but I subscribe to a lot of UK mags which can?t be very interesting for them.
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Depends what kind of pictures those mags have I guess....
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as it doesn't seem to sell at even £3.50 eBay item # 8392349350 I wouldn't bother... but maybe that's the other edition? The various ones on there at ten times that price are particularly sticky.
Amazon may be a better place to sell - I find obscure text books go there much better - they may well hang around for ages though. Amazon's fees are higher than eBay's, but listing costs are free.
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Best place to sell books is Amazon Marketplace. Girlfriends got rid of all her uni books this way and they stay up a lot longer. They have fixed postage rates too.
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Mike Farrow
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A really morbid question I'm afraid.
Lets say I was walking down the street and had a heart attack, got shot, got mown down, etc etc and died, would Mum and Dad get everything I own including all my money?
I know - possibly the strangest question to date!
Thanks,
Adam
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Those in the know will soon be along, but basically you die "intestate". Basically that means a lot of time, hastle and agro for your survivors.
Make a will.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Are you single and do you live at home. This will effect the outcome. i.e. if you own a house then your mortgage will have to be redeemed and if you are married/partner they have a claim on your estate. Hope you are feeing better now. Regards Peter
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Assuming you're not married and have no kids the answer is broadly yes. No substitute for a will though - its never too early!!!
More stuff about wills and intestacy here www.lawontheweb.co.uk/basics/wills.htm
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Who would get the Focus ?, my guess RF
Go here it tells you in simple terms.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3038966.stm
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Are you making arrangements for a green funeral ?.. Cardboard coffin , woodland interment , hiring 30cwt van instead of hearse.
Save the planet Phil I
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I know - possibly the strangest question to date!
Nothing strange about it, Adam.
FWIW, when I discovered (at about 22) that the answer was "yes", it meant that I put off making a will. Today, over 20 years later, happily married, knowing that my wife will get it all, I've still not got round to it :-(
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"knowing that my wife will get it all, I've still not got round to it :-("
Errr think hard - she might not. Any kids? even if she does she might not get for 6 months. How is she gonna survive in the mean time.
WILL - NOW
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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When you go to a solicitor, (or pay £25 from WH Smith for a standard form) you will get something like this... He will probably recommend that you don't leave any items in your will - as they have to be valued if you do - but instead if you wish to leave your watch to the next door neighbour you include a separate letter to your exectutors with your will expressing your wish that this should happen. All you need is to get two people to witness it. Hey presto, you can lie down & die.
I [name] of [address] HEREBY REVOKE all wills and codicils heretofore made by me and DECLARE this to be my last will - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1. I APPOINT [[my wife] name] of [address] (herein called ?my wife?) to be my Executor of this my Will but if she predeceases me or is unable or unwilling to act then I appoint [[my Mother] name] of address (herein called ?my Mother?) to be my Executor in my wife?s place.
2. I GIVE the following pecuniary legacies:
a) To [name] of [address] Five Thousand Pounds (£5,000).
b) To?
3. My Executor shall hold my estate on trust to retain or sell it and out of it:
a) To pay my debts and executorship expenses
b) To pay any inheritance tax in respect of property passing under this my Will
c) To pay any inheritance tax or additional inheritance tax which becomes payable because of my death in respect of any gift or transfer made by me in my lifetime
d) To pay any inheritance tax payable because of my death in respect of any property in respect of which I hold a beneficial interest as joint tenant
e) To pay the pecuniary legacies given by this my Will
4. If my Wife shall be living on the thirtieth day after the date of my death my Executor shall hold the residue of my estate on trust for my Wife.
Provided that if my Wife shall have died before the thirtieth day after the date of my death and I have issue living on that date then such issue shall take per stirpes and if more than one in equal shares the share of the residue of my estate which my Wife would have taken if she had been living on the thirtieth day after the date of my death.
5. If my wife shall not be living on the thirtieth day after my death and if I shall not have left any issue my Executor shall hold the residue of my estate on trust for my Mother.
6. If my Mother shall not be living on the thirtieth day after my death my Executor shall hold the residue of my estate on trust in equal shares for Battersea Car Homes.
IN WITNESS whereof I have hereunto set my hand this day of Two thousand and six
SIGNED by the above-named Testator
[Your name] as his last will
in the presence of us both who at his
request in his presence and in the presence
of each other have hereunto subscribed our
names as witnesses:
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....my hand this [date] day of [month] Two....
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Thanks for all the very detailed replies everyone!
Even though I'd want Mum and Dad to get everything, (with a few minor changes such as the car going to RF), having read the replies it's probably best to make one.
I realise I'm a little young to be thinking about it but yesterday I came about half a foot away from being killed and it made me think!
Again, thanks very much for all the replies. I'll probably still never get round to it but the intent will be there!
Thanks again,
Adam
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I used to have a poster in my office which said:-
Life's a b*tch
Then you die
And other people get your stuff!
It's true too!
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and just remember
Where theres a will......
Theres usually a relative looking to see what they can get!
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...and a solicitor looking to fund his new Beemer.
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Errr think hard - she might not. Any kids?
No.
even ifshe does she might not get for 6 months. How is she gonna survive in the mean time.
Her job?
WILL - NOW
(sheepishly) OK, RF.
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A company performs market research. In order to do this, it invites an individual to its offices for a 24 hour period. It puts the individual up in a hotel & wines & dines him and pays his travel expenses. On departure, the individual is given a goody bag containing some particularly naff tat.
It is concerned that following that event, the individual in question will have commercially sensitive information. It therefore makes the individual sign a confidentiality agreement.
The confidentiality agreement begins 'in exchange for being allowed into our offices you agree not to discuss what you have learned here after you leave'
Is this sufficient consideration in order to be able to hold the individual to the terms of the confidentiality agreement?
It should be said that the individual is lured to this event by the promise of information which would be extremely useful to him... but owing to the unusual nature of the chosen focus group no commercially useful information ever materialises.
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"Is this sufficient consideration in order to be able to hold the individual to the terms of the confidentiality agreement?"
"but owing to the unusual nature of the chosen focus group no commercially useful information ever materialises."
Not sure I see a problem here then? If there is no commercial information of any use it wont be used, then I dont see the other company will ever have recourse to the confidentiality agreement?
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Ah! There is a huge difference between information freely (fairly) available & commercially useful to the attendant of the event; and information that is commercially sensitive and the organiser of the event would not wish to get into the public domain.
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Is this sufficient consideration in order to be able to hold the individual to the terms of the confidentiality agreement?
Yes, if he / she has signed it and if it does not impose restrictions that would be considered unreasonable in law. As with many things though the integrity of the confidentiality agreement could only ever be proven or otherwise if it were to be, or had been, be tested in court.
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At work we are not supposed to carry our mobiles about so they get put away in a locker. However, when I take phone out, it can sometimes take a couple of hours for any texts to come through that were sent to me.
I have tried switching phone on/off or even sending texts as well to "prompt" any texts to come through.
Is there a way of "triggering" your phone / network to send through any texts that are still in cyber space??
I am on O2 PAYG.
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Why not leave it switched on but in silent mode. Ime sure the battery will last all day and all your txts will b w8ing 4 u when you get it bk.
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Alastair, I do, but the phone doesn't get any reception locked in the metal locker deep within the building!
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I get something similar but not as extreme.
Our building at Uni is a deadzone for phones. Can't get a signal at all (I maintain it's on purpose). Walk outside or to another building and it's fine but in this particular one, you've not got a hope in hell of receiving a call or text.
The other day, I had a lesson, came out at 5:30, walked all the way to the car, drove all the way to McDonalds (I was hungry) then started to drive home. Must have been 5 miles into the motorway journey home when I get a text. Then another. Then another. All sent between 3:00 and 5:30 when I was in a lesson.
Now it usually takes 5-10 minutes to get the "lost messages" but it's never taken this long before.
Leaving it in the car would be impractical for me as I use it quite a bit during the day. it doesn't really bother me because a) I leave Uni next week and b) I managed for 15 years without one but I would be interested to hear an explanation behind it.
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The waiting time (or latency) will vary depending on the architecture of the systems behind dealing with SMSes.
Firstly your phone has to register with a local base station once it is back in a workable reception area.
Then the part of the provider's "back office" system that holds undelivered messages (both text and voicemail) has to be notified that the intended recipient's phone is back online.
I would imagine that the waiting time would depend on the network loading , both locally and possibly nationally ; at busy times when a lot of users are connected to local cells, it will be harder for the SMS delivery system to find the bandwidth to do so; voice calls may well take priority over SMSes too (not sure about that).
Chris Muriel, Manchester
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And you can't get a better explanation than that!
Thanks Chris.
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>>Is there a way of "triggering" your phone...
send yourself a text.
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Bobby, have you tried going into the menu settings and manually doing a network search? First change the setting from automatic to manual and you'll be asked to select a network. select one that you're not on from the list, and it'll say "no network access", then select the one that you're on from the list and it'll say "home network selected" (or words to that effect). This *should* force the network to wake up and realise that you're actually there.
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Generally making a call then stopping it before an answer does the trick. Sometimes Orange to Vodaphone never get there.
VBR......M.D
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"The other day, I had a lesson, came out at 5:30, walked all the way to the car, drove all the way to McDonalds."
Two myths about students busted in one sentence.
Is it just me or have texts become more unreliable. Used them for many years for simple commms in work - of late found that increasingly more are not getting through to theur receoiets. Has the system become overloaded ?
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The walking or the late lessons?
No - don't answer that. If what Chris says is true (and it sounds it) then surely there's not much you can do from the phone?
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The walking or the late lessons?
I think one of them was that you managed to construct a sentence. ;)
Of course, you also confirmed a myth with the mention of McDonalds.
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Thanks for your suggestions guys, I may try sending myself a text (how sad!) or try the idea of manually selecting networks.
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I think it may depend on traffic volume where you live. I am in the middle of nowhehere (if you were going to give the World an enema Grantham is where you'd put the pipe!) and I get sent a bank mini-statement every Tuesday. This comes thru within 1 minute of my switching the phone on; Vodafone and very rural, and thus very big 'cells' I suppose
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I have a glass and metal flatpack to send to someone on the UK mainland from the Gatwick area. It is 105x47x12cm and weighs 17kg.
Post office mail is only £11 or so. Amtrack charge £25 (But an account is needed that I don't have --- unless I can pursuade them to take cash). Getting there safely is an important factor.
Any suggestions?
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I would weigh up the benefits of delivering myself, depending how far it was going. £25.00 would buy you a resonable amount of diesel.
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Parcelforce will collect it, charge by weight and charge insurance by value. I sent a pair of racing motorcycle wheels with tyres, value well over £1000, cost about £25 quid from West Country to Norfolk.
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Parcelforce allow you to arrange collection and pay for deliveries online by debit / credit (as long as you've got Internet Explorer 6.0 or a similarly up to date browser). So go to www.parcelforce.com and you can get a cost and arrange collection if you want.
--
Soupytwist !
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I use Soupytwist's suggestion - usually a ParcelForce driver is in the area and collects well before the indicated time span.
In fact he once came on spec as he saw the car in the drive and thought he would check if anyone was in. That was early morning and the collection wasn't due to take place until later afternoon...:-)
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Thanks for the feedback. The person buying it is several hundred miles away up north and so it is not practical to take it there. Just keep my fingers crossed it arrives OK and I don't have to refund. My local post office said they get three pickups a day and I can take it to there.
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If its any help I ParcelForced a pair of Mission Speakers following an e-bay sale. They were heavy and fragile and packed in their original boxes, they arrived within 48 hrs (despite a 5 working day quote) and in tact.
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>>My local post office said they get three pickups a day and I can take it to there.>>
It's both cheaper to do it online and you don't have to carry it to the Post Office...:-)
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Because our washing machine and adjacent sink are the items furthest away from the hot water cylinder the water has to be run for some time before it comes out hot. I've told 'er indoors that before switching on the washing machine she should run the adjacent hot tap until it comes out hot, otherwise the hot feed to the washing machine will be cold. This will mean the washing maching heater will have to heat all the water from cold resulting in unnecessary use of electricity and an increase in the cycle time. Her reply is that she can't see the logic in it and that in any case nobody else does it. Do I just shut up and leave her to her own devices, or can you give me a more convincing argument to put forward?
--
L\'escargot.
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Not worth going to war on.
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Not worth going to war on.
Agree, and she may be right. The latest machines are all cold fill and energy efficient. I think the reasoning is that it costs more to heat the water from your system than it does for the machine. In any case, do have a water meter? If so, the combined cost of water wasted, plus the cost of heating from your system probably outweighs any savings.
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I live by myself and don't have to argue with anybody about how my house is run. On the odd occasion when I do a wash at over 40C I run the hot tap in the sink and then run the washing machine to get a hot fill, in the manner you have decribed. She can't see the logic in it and to be honest neither can I, on reflection! If you use the machine to heat the water you use electricity and if you use tank hot water to heat the pipes before filling the machine you are still using energy so where's the saving? There might be some slight but unquantifiable difference but unless you want a dose of the traditional matrimonial "Hot tongue and cold shoulder" I suggest that you count to 10 slowly and say "Yes dear" a lot!
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PS. I didn't count to 10 much and rarely said "Yes Dear" and that is why I don't have anybody to argue with any more! LOL!
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This was discussed on here a couple of months ago, I stand by the point I made then, most gas central heating/water heating boilers will heat water much more cost effectively than the washing machine will. The reason for cold fill only machines is moren to do with cost of manufacture and plumbing regs than the efficiency of the machine itself.
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And bear in mind this:
My Domestic hot water is at 60c. ( I know because it has a pipe thermometer on the hot water pipe so I dont cook my shower pump)
Wife does cool wash at 40c. If I ran the hot water to get hot water into the washing machine from the off, the washing machine would cool it down again with extra cold.....
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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My COLD FILL washing machine uses either 0.4 or 0.6 kWh for a complete washing cycle on nearly every program.(1.2 kWh on a 90C wash which is never used)
So it costs about 3-4 pence each time it is used. I suppose you could shave 0.5 pence off that if you really tried.
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The electricity bills for our house (a family, 4 bed house, about 2,500 sq ft) seem high.
I took a meter reading that shows we've used 1,129 units in 30 days. UK average quoted on various websites is 3,500 pa (291/month). We use oil to heat the house and water, so the electricity is used on lighting, PCs x 2, fridge, freezer and washing up machine (all new last Nov, and high efficiency rating), washing machine and not much more. The washing machine runs about 10x/week.
Any thoughts?
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That seems very high, have you tried turning all circuits off and checking that the meter is showing no current draw?
1. Turn off all electricity at consumer unit, meter should completely stop. Then turn on one circuit at a time again with all allpiances, fused spurs, lights turned off, meter should still show no current drawn. If the meter starts turning then investigate what is connected to that circuit for unknown appliances, short circuits or other faults.
2. What about the cooker?
3. Do you have an electric immersion heater as a backup to your oil heated water? Has it been left on?
Will check my figures tonight, but even with dishwasher going once a day and w/machine 6 times a week dont get anywhere near your figures.
StarGazer
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It could be possible the meter is running fast. It used to be an old trick to fix a magnet on the meter box and caused it to run slow, but when removed then the meter would run faster than normal. If someone had done this in your house before you took possession, you are now paying the price. If in doubt have a word with the electricity supplier to have the meter tested.
--
Roger
I read frequently, but only post when I have something useful to say.
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Cooking done on oil-fired Aga, no tumble dryer, lights a mixture of flourescent savers, incandescent and 12v halogen. Washing machine is cold fill only, and no tumble dryer.
I'll try the main box switch check, and report back.
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That seems very high to me as well. Is this a sudden increase or have you always used that much or have you only recently moved in? Not meaning to insult you but are you sure you read it right? Once when I checked ours I was comparing the reading from 2 bills ago rather than the last bill!
Our current bill for the past 3 months was for 820 KW, I think we're pretty much bang on the UK average.
Our washing machine is on about 4 times a week, we also have a tumble dryer which is used probably 3 times a week, its hardly used in the summer though.
What's the energy rating of your fridge and freezer?
If your computers are on 24 hours a day, that will push the bill up quite a bit, as will prolonged use of high powered outside lights, and to a lesser extent dehumidifiers and lots of oven use
Also is the meter a mechanical type or a digital one?
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This is standard and has been for the last six years. We changed out all the white appliances last year, so I thought it was time to get to the bottom of it, as they are all high efficiency rated.
Immersion heater is wired in, but not on.
Outside lights are 10 x 20 watt energy savers.
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Your using 37 kwh per day! Equivalent to leaving 1.5 kilowatt heater on day and night. You can see that easily on the meter and should be able to locate the source.
Ideally to check your own meter calibration you need a suitable known load that you can put on for a time and watch the meter.
IIRC meters used to state so many turns of the disk per kwh and have a black mark to help you count. If it was actually that far out a 1k-watt fire would do to make a first check.
As for meters being tampered with to read slow, the magnet is usually well inside the meter where it is difficult to influence for obvious reasons. Going faster afterwards sounds a bit of a story to me.
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So far I have switched off all at the CBs at the mains distrubution and checked that the meter disc is stationary.
I'll run some futher checks using a known load tomorrow am when all the others are out.
Thansk for your help so far.
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your not running the street lighting for the council are you?see what time the street lights come on and see if meter spins up?
--
\"a little man in a big world/\"
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Get the meter changed
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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If your house isn't detached then your neighbour might be tapping into a ringmain through an ajoining wall.
I'm sure we had a backroomer that discovered this scenario a while back.
HTH
--
Was Charles {P} but someone c o p i e d my name with spaces.
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If your house isn't detached then your neighbour might be tapping into a ringmain through an ajoining wall.
..and running a little pot shop.
Take it up with the electricity board and as TVM says get the meter changed.
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On a similar note, I have a desktop and laptop . My desktop is usually on maybe 8 hours a day although all I am really using it for is email, checking the web, and accessing this site.
I can do all that from my laptop. Does my laptop use significantly less power than desktop? I would have thought yes as it doesn't have a big fan etc, but is it enough of a difference for me to switch my daily use onto the laptop?
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Your Desktop PC is 300 watts approx, monitor about same.
LAptop is drawing about 200 watts in total.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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I know every week I seem to ask a more bizarre question but I've got a good feeling this one tops everything I've ever asked.
We have two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels who are a year (and a few weeks) old. As you'd imagine, they're really playful and are always really lively which we love. Whenever you get home they're all over you.
Anyway, they went for their boosters today and it turns out that Homer's (he's one of them) testicles haven't dropped and have become impacted? or something. (Third hand information).
So, he needs an op to..get rid of them. Now about 6 months ago, the conversation came up about possibly neutering them which both my Dad and I were dead against because it would make them much less playful but because of where his testicles are (Homer's not Dad's) he's likely to get cancer at some point if they're not removed so clearly, the op's going ahead.
I'm just a little concerned that a) He's going to become really distant and just want to lie down all the time but also, Charlie (the other one) will still have his so might start being a bit more dominiant.
Any advice or light that can be shed on the situation would be most gratefully received. Do dogs really become more unplayful after the chop?
As always, many thanks,
Adam
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I didn't, but I'm not a dog!
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NO they dont become less playful after the chop. Have no fears they will be just as loveable.
Charlie however will become top dog as he will have testosternone flying about.
If you have no intention of breeding from them, chop them both.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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I exercise a 2 yo Weimeraner whose had his knackers nicked. If that's a dozy dog, I'd hate to have had him around with them on - he runs 9 miles with me, and 10 mins later he's ready to go round again!
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I exercise a 2 yo Weimeraner whose had his knackers nicked.
I nearly just wet myself when i read that!
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No, having a dog's conkers lopped doesn't make any difference to their character in my experience.
--
Was Charles {P} but someone c o p i e d my name with spaces.
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>>doesn't make any difference to their character in my experience.>>
Nor mine.
A long walk is a long walk, whether you have got two balls to play with or not.....:-)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Only difference is that you need to make sure the testosterone laden one is getting most of the food and that he still realises he is lower than you in the pecking order - he might get a bit above himself when he realises his brother is now of lower order!! .......ummm, he is lower than you Adam, isn't he?
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Well firstly, let me thank you all for your help. It's very much appreciated.
AS - That's good to hear! I won't ask any further!
RF, LY, Chaz and Stuart - I'm glad you've all said that. Makes me feel better about the whole thing. I've suggested RF's idea to Mum and Dad. Mum agrees, Dad's still unsure. Given the circumstances, I'm probably siding with Mum on this one.
Deepwith, I'd thought about that. Homer is built quite a bit heavier than Charlie so that when Charlie tries it on sometimes, (in a good, play fight kind of way) he can usually show him who's boss (or rather just to get him to leave him alone). Are you saying we need to make sure Charlie eats the most food? Why's that though? So that he won't try any fights with Homer?
As to them being lower than me, it's just not true! They get more attention than me! Mind you, when they both look at me, I can't help giving them loads of attention myself. They're cool!
Thanks again for all the help,
Adam
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Hmmmm, remember, they're dogs. Treat them like humans, they'll treat you like a dog.
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I wouldn't worry - its the best thing in the long run. As previously posted we have a very active Sprnger. He was considered for the chop because of, how can I say, absolute hatred of everyone (animal and human -apart from me), but decided to breed from him once, the resulting little Springers were of such delightful temprement that he has been in much demend locally ever since. Next door have a dog that is bonkers, he had the chop and is just as "lively" now.
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I know what you're saying Nsar but it's hard not to let them sit on the sofa with you! Even Dad can't stay mad at them for long.
Again PU, very good to hear. Thanks.
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