openspaceman

I have no idea who decides, it will probably be an AI algoritm, not so much to switch it off but more to delay which households, on which phase, from the substation can start charging or heating. The aim is to spread the instantaneous load such that everyone gets the same time to charge or heat in the off peak period. With wind, as at 19:45 26/12/22, providing half of UK electricity, 16GW worth, followed by nuclear from here and France doing 25% and gas gently providing 2.3GW it may well be that the wind generators will need to be curtailed tonight when the demand drops and this unpredictability is the reason for wanting to shift loads to off peak periods. Plus of course the grid and distribution network has to cope too.

It can definitely be turned off remotely but I have not hear anyone it has happened to yet.

I wonder if that is just a remote reader, like we have on water meters and unlike the cellphone sim based transmitters smart electricity meters use here. I believe from what has been said on another forum that the French have less tolerance of homes drawing more than the amount of electricity the system allots for them and cuts off if it is exceeded at the consumer unit, requiring a visit to reset it. Our system allow for diversity and should allow any house to draw 15kW but not if everyone does so at the same time. With electricity demand for car charging, heat pumps and electric cooking set to increase this is why having smart meters that can stagger these overnight loads will be necessary.

There is no difference unless one chooses to go on one of the tariffs which charge different rates depending on time of use except they could disconnect you in theory. I expect they hold a bit of your money as credit then?

Similarly @Macpherson I avoid a lot of the new tech because it is controlling and invasive. I do have an exception in that my battery is managed from china but that was a mistake on my part not researching things well. I think the techies that develop the smart grid are probably in there for the right reasons (getting the most out of a renewables dominated power supply) but it becomes a bonanza for the politicians if they get to control it.

Glad to hear he is still at it, I missed hearing from him.

The Highways ones were but none available in Surrey or Sussex now. Similarly the local authority ones were available for a small fee to weigh loads and would often be free for a check weigh but all closed near me now. I tended to check weigh at a local metal dealer or tip as a free favour.

Beautiful. I've not seen or hear one since a holiday in N Wales 5 years back

I simply don't know, we got hooked on capitalism as it is the economic system that depends on expanding markets and exploiting all the available economic resources. It out competed all previous economic systems and has concentrated far more wealth on a small number of people that even the most despotic medieval despot couldn't even dream of. The principal of the polluter should pay would work except most of the super rich have such a different philosophy of life and have big dreams that cannot be contained on one planet. It didn't matter a hundred years ago that an open system was unsustainable as the world was big and the population 2 billion, now we have immensely more ability to exploit and pollute and there is no total consensus that we should abate the problem. Even if there were then there would be plenty enough people to conspire against a solution in just the same way there are always fraudsters, litter louts, thieves, war mongers and rabid right wingers to disrupt society now. on that note merry Xmas to you all

It's the effect of capital investment in mass production that often makes something cheaper to replace than repair. This is aided by the fact much production has never paid for the damage caused by the external costs we all pay in the way of pollution and waste.

We are having a misunderstanding. "Weak mixture" is generally understood to mean the petrol to air mix has too little petrol in either 4 stroke or 2 stroke engines and says nothing about the lubrication.

Do you mean you swapped a blue 16A 3pin for one of the usual modern 3 square pin with the plastic bits on the live and neutral legs? Whilst these are arguably safer (the longer earth operates the shutter and then the L &N do not connect until the metal contacts are no longer exposed) they do not carry more than 10Amps before they get too hot. This is because the brass under the plastic is so much thinner and has higher resistance. I keep meaning to fit a 16A socket outside for just this reason, in the meanwhile my extension has one of the older metal legged 13A plugs.

No I don't think so, the difference in the amount of fuel and oil is small. the significant difference, in the cut rather than over speeding, is the flame spreads more slowly so it is still burning as the piston is far down the stroke.To maximise thermodynamic efficiency the burning needs to take place near TDC so the expansion then pushes the piston down and this work extracts some of the heat, If the mixture is still burning during this expansion this means less work is extracted from the fuel and the exhaust becomes much hotter,

I like the idea of an MVHR with a built in air to air heat pump, taking warm moist air from the house and venting it well below freezing, circulating the heat from it back into the house.

I probably should have. I expect they are in short supply now, not to mention the expense.

@roys answered that it is the small tank in the loft that is kept full of cold water by a ballcock. The vent pipe from the stove comes up and over this tank so that if the water boils in the stove it can vent into the F&E tank. Even if you have a pumped system you need this pipe to have a clear line to the F&E tanks because as roys said if you have a power cut and the stove is running flat out you need to dump heat. Part J lays out safe distances between the stove and combustibles in the house as well as distances for flue outlets to prevent combustion products getting into the house. I always recommend a CO alarm, I suspect we will see a few deaths in this cold spell from CO poisoning.

Yes I tend to leave the air control fixed (as it jams up with ash) and control output by the amount of logs in the firebox. Unless the firebox is really hot with a bed of glowing charcoal I need two or three logs to keep it flaming and my logs are below 17%mc.

Thus writes a man that has never had thinnings stacked at roadside waiting for transport. Softwood that has been through a harvester head must be much worse. Now in general I find cordwood, which often is tops from bigger trees, doesn't season in the round but it does lose moisture and the moisture it loses is the cell water down to around 25-30% mc wwb. The remaining moisture is that which is bound to the cell walls and dries much slower.

This is why in UK you must have a vented system with a 28mm vent pipe leading directly up to the F&E tank (okay not strictly true as some systems are allowed with pressurised thermal stores and system controls as well as pressure relief into a tundish). You could use a big battery and inverter to act as a UPS on the pump. Best read a bit of the UK building regulations Part J to set up a safe system even if you are elsewhere.

It is seldom lack of lubrication that causes a seizure on the exhaust side, more usually a problem from the exhaust being too hot, mostly from weak mixture. When it nips up in this way the piston partially melts and some of the aluminium sticks to the bore. If you manage to start it again then the additional friction from this on top of the original mixture problem causes the final seize. The other problem about a weak mixture is it also causes the saw to over rev, all these things combined are just too much for the oil film and the sliding parts.

Me too

Yes but on the heavily trafficked areas where they have had to joggle stones into position they prefer you to keep to that line. It just goes to show that conditions vary and no one rule suits all.

Much the same I think about little used footpaths, rather than step on the vegetation either side people wear a muddy rut in the middle. Eventually coarser vegetation, bramble, gorse briar and nettles intrude from the side and the path becomes unusable. I try to manage a few paths locally so that people out walking can be side by side but it would help is others would stomp on vegetation and carry the obligatory secateurs. The lowland paths are a bit different from hill walks where it is best to keep to one line to avoid erosion.

Nope, over 60 is as subset of over 50 as is over 70. Happy birthday Mick

Isn't that for stacks of roundwood rather than cut and split firewood?