The grumpy thread

[Spiny Norman]

3 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Cable on the new one is a few inches bloody shorter than the old one.  Resulting in me having to completely reconfigure the sodding utility room.  Grrr...

No reason for that beyond bloody penny pinching!

This pisses me off hugely about some electrical stuff nowadays. I recently bought a large lamp which can extend up to about 7 feet if need be, except that when it is, it has to be right next to the socket on the wall as the cable barely reaches. For what, the saving of 50p-worth of flex at the manufacturing stage?

 

[myglaren]

3 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Our tumble drier was one of the several million affected by the recall Whirlpool eventually gave in and issued because they were catching fire when horribly neglected and never cleaned out.  When hearing of the issues, first thing I did was pull the heater block off (apparently they can fill up with fluff then catch fire), and it was clean as a whistle. 

No reason the lint laden exhaust air should ever get in there anyway...my guess is that it happens when the rear drum bearing goes (it's just a block of brass rather than a proper ball or roller bearing) and the drum drops... leaving a gap at the top of the drum above the door.  The exhaust air can then escape into the casing.  The bearing went on ours at about five years old (part cost about £5 and took ten minutes to change), and I regularly clean the machine...so no issues.

However as Whirlpool were willing to supply us with an identical new machine free...we obviously weren't going to say no.  Even though it goes against the grain for me to send a perfectly working piece of equipment to the scrapper... essentially being given a free new drier against our existing nine year old one was a no brainer.

Despite them giving dire "you must not use your old appliance!" warnings once the process was started (which I ignored as I'd checked it and deemed it perfectly safe) it still took them several months to get the new machine to us.  How the heck did they expect a family to manage without a drier for a couple of months?!?  Especially if they've got kids... That's not my grump though...

The grump?  This!

Cable on the new one is a few inches bloody shorter than the old one.  Resulting in me having to completely reconfigure the sodding utility room.  Grrr...

No reason for that beyond bloody penny pinching!

Just move the socket down six inches

[Jazoli]

Can nobody wire a plug these days, just extend the bloody wire, the manufacturer cannot void the warranty if you do this.

Even simpler just use an extension lead.

It's hardly a drama.

[Zelandeth]

Yeah, it's got a long warranty on, and warranty seals on the back cover.  Not about to plug a 3kW appliance into an extension lead, the plug gets warm enough as it is.

Not a major task to shuffle things around a bit - just pissed me off as had I known I'd not have put everything I shifted to get the machine in back in place before discovering the plug wouldn't reach...so I wound up having to repeat a whole load of work.

It's just irritating...I foolishly expected the same model to be the same...including the length of the mains flex.

 

The whole room is being rearranged in the near future anyhow...

 

Wiring a plug is no issue, heck I've rewired half our house to sort the nonsense the contractors the previous owner hired left behind...dangling live wires buried under loft insulation...fun!

[Mrcento]

My microwave decided to spontaneously detonate in a blue flash when i opened the door, and a bang so loud my ears were ringing for 20 minutes.

Electric, it doesn't fuck about. ?

[Zelandeth]

Was it running at the time?

Probably the door switches getting out of sync.

Most microwaves have what's referred to as a crowbar protection circuit, which if there's a fault which leaves either of the door switches in an unexpected state drops a short directly across the mains.  This ensures that the magnetron is deactivated - and results in a heck of a bang.

Bet one of the door switches has stuck.

Ours did this a few years back...one new door switch and a new fuse, it's worked fine ever since.

Don't go poking around in a microwave unless you know what you're doing though...the HT capacitors and the output from the transformer can and will kill you if you touch the wrong thing.

[LightBulbFun]

21 minutes ago, Mrcento said:

My microwave decided to spontaneously detonate in a blue flash when i opened the door, and a bang so loud my ears were ringing for 20 minutes.

Electric, it doesn't fuck about. ?

that will be the interior light bulb blowing up

those small bulbs can go bang spectacularly as there not internally fused, the one in my fridge actually exploded which was fun come removal time

(and blew something else up in the fridge so even with a new bulb the light no longer works)

quite spectacular yes, but pretty easy to fix, or just keep using minus an interior light

I just hope it was not a panasonic inverter one tho! when the bulb blows up on those it takes out the rest of the microwave! 

 

[Mrcento]

Just now, Zelandeth said:

Was it running at the time?

Probably the door switches getting out of sync.

Most microwaves have what's referred to as a crowbar protection circuit, which if there's a fault which leaves either of the door switches in an unexpected state drops a short directly across the mains.  This ensures that the magnetron is deactivated - and results in a heck of a bang.

Bet one of the door switches has stuck.

Ours did this a few years back...one new door switch and a new fuse, it's worked fine ever since.

Don't go poking around in a microwave unless you know what you're doing though...the HT capacitors and the output from the transformer can and will kill you if you touch the wrong thing.

Nah i was just opening the door to put something in, looked like it was from behind the door switch. The light has been out for a while on it and had been iffy for a long time (sometimes not working for a few days and a few slams of the door later, would work again for months) so i'm guessing it was something with the door switch jamming.

It didn't blow the fuse in the plug but tripped the house circuit breaker.

Something has blown inside/been taken out with the bang, i could hear it rattling around. Was going to have a look at the door switches to see but it's (understandably) covered in security screws (not even a bulb changing access hatch), looks like the whole thing needs to come apart even to get to there so just put the thing in the pile ready for the skip, It wasn't an expensive one to begin with so no big deal to just replace it considering the cost v hassle.

[LightBulbFun]

shame your not local, it probably still has a good MOT

[Crackers]

I want to buy a particular car in a certain spec. A few months ago, when I was skint, there were loads of them about. Now I can afford one, they've all vanished off the face of the planet. Good good.

[Mrcento]

Just now, Crackers said:

I want to buy a particular car in a certain spec. A few months ago, when I was skint, there were loads of them about. Now I can afford one, they've all vanished off the face of the planet. Good good.

Welcome to my life ?

I see everything i want at decent money when i have none and no space, and the second it becomes possible, they all vanish within 200 miles, no matter how common or mundane they are.

And of course when one does pop up, they've suddenly increased to near classic status prices for no apparent reason. What was £600-800 on average suddenly can't be found for under £2500.

I've noticed things all come up in bursts. Even rare or specific specs of things. I think people, a lot of the time don't know what the car is worth and wait until someone else posts a similar one for sale and bases their value on that.

There's no other reason i can think of that you can see none of something for months then have 4 or 5 almost identical examples come up within a day of each other.

Potential pro tip=- Put an fake ad up for the exact type of car you want  and see if others get advertised off the back of it. ?

[Spiny Norman]

47 minutes ago, Mrcento said:

My microwave decided to spontaneously detonate in a blue flash when i opened the door, and a bang so loud my ears were ringing for 20 minutes.

Electric, it doesn't fuck about. ?

Just as an FYI, microwaves are potentially lethal if you go poking around inside them. They can hold a massive voltage charge for weeks after they've been switched off.
Changing the light bulb is fine, but they're the one domestic appliance you should take the 'DO NOT TAMPER' sticker on the outside case very seriously. They can kill you.

[bramz7]

2 hours ago, Crackers said:

I want to buy a particular car in a certain spec. A few months ago, when I was skint, there were loads of them about. Now I can afford one, they've all vanished off the face of the planet. Good good.

Easiest way to find a car you want is to buy another one, then they'll appear again 

[BorniteIdentity]

Bloody neighbours last night setting off fireworks as early as October.

Ridiculous. Who does that?

Scared the crap out of the cat who went beserk and knocked over our Christmas tree...

[Lankytim]

I took our old microwave to bits when it died, removed all the copper and added it to my scrap pile. It had been sat behind the garage for weeks mind...

It didn’t explode me, anyway. 

[MikeR]

just nearly lost the front end to some twonk who cant stay on the right side of the road !!

we have this "nice" little junction into our estate that a lot of people cant cope with , its a T junction with a bend in it ,

[Fumbler]

Well it seems sport is more interesting so Father and Brother Fumbler have pulled the plug on going to the Anglia car auction. Oh well... there's always a next time.

[myglaren]

There can't be that many Anglias to auction these days.  Haven't seen one for years.

[SRi05]

8 hours ago, BorniteIdentity said:

Bloody neighbours last night setting off fireworks as early as October.

Ridiculous. Who does that?

Scared the crap out of the cat who went beserk and knocked over our Christmas tree...

 

[Bren]

I had the audacity to message a seller about a car for sale on an auction site - the reply consisted of "read the ad it tells you all you need to know."

I told him I would go and look at another.

[New POD]

7 hours ago, MikeR said:

just nearly lost the front end to some twonk who cant stay on the right side of the road !!

we have this "nice" little junction into our estate that a lot of people cant cope with , its a T junction with a bend in it ,

Erm excuse me, you were going too fast were you not? Always expect the unexpected especially in zzzzz town full of old duffers

 

[Sir Chocolate Teapot]

Over here by law we must put winter tyres on from 15 nov to 15 april.

After a few months of looking i finally found and bought on sunday a second hand set of tyres already on steels for my car, michelin alpin 5 with more than 7mm tread for euro 190, i was very pleased with myself.

And the grump .

 

Today what shows up for sale even more local, aet of 4 steels with good winter tyres for only euro 120 or offers ! Buggger.

I might go buy them also just to annoy myself even more.

 

 

 

[DoctorRetro]

20 hours ago, Spiny Norman said:

Just as an FYI, microwaves are potentially lethal if you go poking around inside them. They can hold a massive voltage charge for weeks after they've been switched off.
Changing the light bulb is fine, but they're the one domestic appliance you should take the 'DO NOT TAMPER' sticker on the outside case very seriously. They can kill you.

My girlfriend's dad used to dismantle microwaves and convert them into spot welders. He was flipping lethal though! Running an electric awning from a car battery in his living room was one of his famous bodges

 

[Wack]

1 hour ago, Sir Chocolate Teapot said:

Over here by law we must put winter tyres on from 15 nov to 15 april.

After a few months of looking i finally found and bought on sunday a second hand set of tyres already on steels for my car, michelin alpin 5 with more than 7mm tread for euro 190, i was very pleased with myself.

And the grump .

 

Today what shows up for sale even more local, aet of 4 steels with good winter tyres for only euro 120 or offers ! Buggger.

I might go buy them also just to annoy myself even more.

 

 

 

Buy them then readvertise when it's snowing £££

[Wack]

Went to b&q for some white emulsion , fuck off 3 for 2 on all paint,  bollocks I'll have to buy 3 now, bought some varnish then spent 30 minutes looking at paint, daren't buy coloured emulsion because whatever it is it'll be wrong so go for valspar perfect white for woodwork

Open the tin and nothing , no eye watering fumes that burn the back of your throat , dip the brush in and fuck me it's thin 

Put one coat on the yellowed door and, yes it's still yellow , what a load of shit 

Go back and buy a litre of nose shredding  birds fall out of the sky if you open a window proper paint .

[Crackers]

Ooh, an attention-grabbing headline indeed in the local news.

Quote

A Surrey borough is most miserable place in the UK according to government study

This sounds interesting, I wonder which area it is?

Oh. Oh dear.

Quote

Surrey Heath residents gave the lowest score for happiness according to data from the Office for National Statistics

That's not gone well.

...but wait, it gets even better!*

Quote

Surrey Heath was not only the least happy area in the UK, but also the most anxious. People in the borough put their anxiety levels the previous day at 3.9 out of 10, which compares to a UK average of 2.9.

 

Yeah, guess which bit of Surrey I live in.

And people ask me why I'm grumpy bastard...

 

article quoted from here

[Pieman]

When did the words "son" and "daughter" get replaced in our language by "little man" and "little princess"?

Piss off with your overly soppy simpering bollocks.

(No I don't have kids, before you ask, and I never will have any.)

[Tadhg Tiogar]

12 hours ago, MikeR said:

just nearly lost the front end to some twonk who cant stay on the right side of the road !!....

Virtually everyone straddles the centreline of London residential streets now because SUV too wide or no spatial awareness.

[gm]

work related grump - I had to watch a christmas menu training video recently, nothing wrong with this, it's useful information, but some bright spark decided to play christmas music in the background and I've had sodding shakin' stevens merry christmas everybody stuck in my head for the last two days  it won't go away 

 

[TataBobu]

17 hours ago, TheDoctor said:

dismantle microwaves and convert them into spot welders

There is a polish guy on youtube showing everyone how it's done, I must confess I'm tempted.