ProDave

Generator changeover switch https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/116460891458?_trksid=p2332490.c101875.m1851&itmprp=cksum%3A116460891458b79176b6849842dea54e82775ba14cf7|enc%3AAQAKAAABcAwqOHi2KCgf4%2F6SZSv1me4ebI%2FvqXEw%2FHB%2F8iWWqhXshqX5uohPx20BUGvMHd%2FNVdDC4KI%2FKTb49Rx8STjwMT6FumfvwgT%2BuVTaR3SZ3p348VRbA%2FTZNiAsQeTGoW59%2BW%2FUJrXmpr5hhWbI9yTw1RGQbyjxPcAqegqth%2FU5%2B%2FpivkqsLe%2FrQerAcD9BuwDR6wUgBHtodmc1uq7p424y098AjO5vgw8wt4m1TJ1TGXD1bx%2BesoaKZrYXrn8ohz0Zq%2BngYf8j2F7c0l%2FPPkplrlhzR6wh4mXIGCmmZTEPe9%2BgJDxTkiRBvaVvqTUncSj63wgzPU0TZoOAofoZPTDACotpFuElzYXKW9egCBQj9G3x4sHn0mRlYn32PuBoG0iAGQmiFYa7xpSC%2FZno%2FyP0Mk%2BklG4%2FB18cHBGP%2B%2B60N8XEu5fU9Z%2BJ51qUc3xqFNp%2BUa7iFTIZhtgCtiJhZFrMMOQUNqfkHU%2FCvH%2Bcd51h3nmn|ampid%3APLP_CLK|clp%3A2332490&itmmeta=01JTZ4RVZYWEQP5S31B8BNMH59

Ours is a Mendip stoves Churchill 5. Chosen because it is a nice compromise between traditional look and modern look. and it takes both primary and secondary air from a direct air duct. Very pleased it burns well, easy to manage and keeps itself clean.

^^^ Oh GOOD. In just 5 years, we are going to stop building ANY more wind farms. We just have to fight off the proposals until then. By which time the amount of renewables generated will flatten out. Planning to get roughly 1/4 of your electricity from "imports" in the long term seems a bad plan for energy security.

I have just submitted my objection to yet more wind farms close to here. My objection is on the basis we have enough already and there is no need for more power here. The planning system is disfunctional in that it only considers individual parts like "a wind farm" That planning application does not even consider HOW the power will get from the hill to the nearest substation. Let alone the high voltage grid additions or upgrades needed to transport the power hundreds of miles because they are building the damned things too far away from where the power is needed.

I know it is after the event, but when they announced they were replacing it, I would have been having the conversation asking them to move it further left as seen in that picture, and offering to remove that fence panel to facilitate that, and replace the fence panel afterwards as appropriate.

I think that door is one if the internal walls dividing the previous garage, so those will come down to make it back to one open space again. It is the door from the garage into the house that must be a fire door. It almost certainly was but we don't have a picture of that one. If not a fire door will need to be put back.

Dumb question but surely these are copper pipes of a standard size, so can they not be joined with standard solder pipe fittings? Or does the pressure go too high when running?

All our planning drawings were done with heights referenced to a temporary bench mark which was a row of nails driven into a fence post on the highest corner of the site. That is still there. Surely a ridge height is only important when it does not want to exceed that of neighbours. Nobody ever checked any of our heights.

Blame Mrs T. It was under her watch we closed down the UKAEA and with that development of our home grown reactors which we used to build a lot quicker than that.

It is the shape of the gravel that is important. You will regret getting round pebbles, whatever size, they don't interlock and will constantly move around when driving on them. Instead you want crushed or otherwise irregular shaped gravel that interlocks together better and so does not move around much as you drive over it.

Insert an extra strong back, or equivalent through the web close to the bath to help ensure the load is spread

As I keep saying. Scotland has enough wind generation for now. It is further south that needs more so time for them to have most of their hills covered in wind farms.

Try SIG, Sheffield Insulation Group, there is probably a branch near you, they were way cheaper than anyone else and I got all my Frametherm from them.

It is not normally that deep. There must be an extended neck for it to be that deep.

As above, a basement under an existing building is NOT in any way a DIY job.

If the level in the STP has got that high then there is something seriously wrong (blocked outlet) and the original VERY low inlet pipe would be completely swamped and blocked long before that. If that original low level pipe has never given trouble, then the new higher one is not in danger.

Looking at gridwatch right now, Wind is supplying 9% of demand and solar 24% Clearly solar will drop to 0% when the sun goes down. Just where do they think we are going to get to 100% carbon neutral without many multiples of the wind farms we already have? And just what will we do when the wind does not blow (not uncommon)? Battery storage won't cover a week of winter anti cyclone. The "plan" is at best based on hope, not a proper plan.

I went to a local information meeting for 2 more wind farm proposals near here. It was a bit of an eye opener. Yesterday was reasonably windy here (enough to need a reef in the sail) so you would expect wind generation to be reasonable. Yet in spite of that, wind was producing about 11% of our electricity while we were at that meeting. Lets think about that. Wind would need to get up to about 80% of our needs to ever stand a chance of net zero. So we would need 8 times as many wind farms as we have already to achieve that. Now go and stand on a Scottish mountain top. count the wind farms you can see. Imagine having 8 times that number of them. That is not going to be pretty. The wind farms we have are overloading the 2 high voltage pylons south from the Highlands already. If we have 8 times as many we will need at least an additional 10 similar high voltage pylon lines just to shift the power down to the south where it is needed. I am getting more and more angry at the sheep thinking we can build a few more wind farms up here because there is plenty of land and it's windy and it will solve all our problems. No it won't, not unless you completely trash the Scottish mountains so there is no unspoiled landscape left. Enough is enough. Build the bloody things down south where the power is needed. Cotswolds, Chilterns, Downs, etc don't have many do they, lets see them on all those hills before we get lumbered with any more. I am sure all those in favour of building them up here would object to them on the "nice" hills down south.

We were looking at 3-5 year old used cars. Not a single one of anything like that was on offer. So lack of used ones suggests not many buy them new.

The A96 desperately needs dualling, like the A9, and Nairn desperately needs a bypass.

We should all be encouraged to do what we can. I have built our new low energy ASHP heated house which has saved us burning the nearly 2000 litres of Kerosene we used each year in the old house. That has probably saved more CO2 emissions than if we had stayed in the old house and changed both cars for EV's. But there comes a point when you have to say, I only have one life on this planet. I am going to live it, and enjoy it, not restrict what I can do and where I can go. And that means having a car big enough to do things and go places. One of the things that gets my goat about the present push for all things to do with net zero, is they try and pretend you can go green without changing what you do. That is utter rubbish. They need to come clean and tell the truth, the only way we might ever reach net zero is by changing what we do and where we go a LOT. Our lives will be very much more restricted. That is hard to stomach as an older person used to being able to do things and go placed.

For us April and early May is best. The leaves on the trees now are filling in and the shading then caps our generation for the rest of the summer. Off to my boast shortly hopefully for another lovely day on the water.

The number of cars thing is an issue. In practical terms it does not matter how many cars you own, it's how many miles you drive. I have my classic MG sports car, so having a third car does not mean we drive more miles than if we had 2, it means when the sun is out and I drive the MG, I am not driving one of the other cars. 1 car between the 2 of us would probably mean more total miles, because if we both wanted to go to different places, the sum of miles travelled to drop one off then come back and then go where you want, and repeat on return. The problem with multiple cars but doing the same mileage is the insurance and tax regime, you would have to insure and tax all 3, so your fixed costs rise. That only works for the classic car as that's (for now) £0 historic vehicle tax and very cheap classic car insurance.

Yes, and for the time being we rural and high mileage drivers can continue doing that. But as the thread title TB recognises the current plan is not going to work. What are people like me supposed to do in 10 years? 20 years? when ICE cars have been banned from sale and the old ones are at old banger stage? We need a plan that stands a chance of actually working before people will get on board and support it.

Which is what I have said before. EV's may be the future, but they are not the present solution. Not for me at least and I am sure not for the majority of us. Perhaps in 10 years? I don't want to be the early adopter buying a sub standard in development product and paying the price for it.