The grumpy thread

[mintwth]

3 minutes ago, Crackers said:

That was professionally* installed in January this year.

Were they a professional arsonist? 

[MikeR]

8 minutes ago, Crackers said:

For the last 2 days I have woken up to no hot water, but had no time to investigate. 

Just got home and thought I'd have a nose around the tank heater (with the electrics isolated, of course). 

Ah, yeah. That'd do it. 

That was professionally* installed in January this year.

seen that before on a friends system , replaced the wire with some beefier stuff and all was fine

house is still there as well

 

[Talbot]

19 minutes ago, Crackers said:

For the last 2 days I have woken up to no hot water, but had no time to investigate. 

Just got home and thought I'd have a nose around the tank heater (with the electrics isolated, of course). 

Ah, yeah. That'd do it. 

That was professionally* installed in January this year.

Looks like a high-resistance connection betwixt live cable and the terminal it was in.  Cable thickness is likely absolutely fine, just the terminal screw wasn't tight.

New immersion now though.. That heat will have traveled into the unit and done unknown damage.

[Crackers]

3 minutes ago, Talbot said:

New immersion now though

My thoughts too, the terminal and surrounding area has been thermally reconfigured to a fairly decent level. 

In this situation I'm glad I'm renting as this will be sorted out without me lifting a finger nor spending a penny. 

[LightBulbFun]

51 minutes ago, Crackers said:

thermally reconfigured

that made me chuckle going to have to use that at some point

sounds like something Rolls Royce would say "it did not catch fire it merely thermally reconfigured itself"

(see also RUD, Rapid unscheduled disassembly...)

[Fumbler]

Shit, that's nasty. Glad it didn't go up in flames. Why people don't check to see if their connections are good and tight anymore is beyond me.

[iainrcz]

Bollocks.

[Talbot]

7 hours ago, Fumbler said:

Shit, that's nasty. Glad it didn't go up in flames. Why people don't check to see if their connections are good and tight anymore is beyond me.

It probably was when installed 10/20 years ago.  50hz mains can (and does) cause connections to loosen/soften over time.  It's impossible to re-check every single connection in a home on a regular basis.

[Crackers]

1 hour ago, Talbot said:

It probably was when installed 10/20 years ago

It was installed in January this year... 

[Fumbler]

1 hour ago, Talbot said:

It probably was when installed 10/20 years ago.  50hz mains can (and does) cause connections to loosen/soften over time.  It's impossible to re-check every single connection in a home on a regular basis.

It's the same with electric shower connections, usually on the neutral side. This is mainly down to people not tightening the connections enough.

[Talbot]

52 minutes ago, Crackers said:

It was installed in January this year... 

Then the sparks who did it could do with a medium-sized slap.  That's clearly been overheating for a reasonable period of time.

[myglaren]

13 hours ago, MikeR said:

I have soldered in a LED strip !!!

There's a bloke over the road with a 14 year old BMW that he imported from Poland.

He replaced lots of bulbs with LEDs and they flash for a few minutes when he starts it and when he shuts it off.

A peculiarity of some LEDS perhaps.

[dave j]

I got given notice to quit my rented garage yesterday so need to find somewhere else to keep my camper and clear out the other stuff i have in there. The joys of renting. Been renting it for 5 and a half years and it's so close to home it's ideal, I suspect the camper will be on the drive this winter as garage's don't come up very often around here 

[wuvvum]

5 hours ago, myglaren said:

There's a bloke over the road with a 14 year old BMW that he imported from Poland.

He replaced lots of bulbs with LEDs and they flash for a few minutes when he starts it and when he shuts it off.

A peculiarity of some LEDS perhaps.

That's the ECU checking for blown bulbs.  It sends out a weak electrical pulse to each bulb to check for continuity - it's not enough to light the filament of an incandescent bulb, but LED bulbs (or the cheapo eBay specials anyway) have much lower resistance so the pulse is enough to make them flicker.

[Agila]

Somebody avoiding a drink drive conviction.

1. Have a crash.

2. Go to a friend's house. (As you do)

3. Drink 2 pints of Vodka. (As you do)

4. Not guilty. Shamelessly celebrate outside the front of the Court.

About as plausible as Shaggy.

https://uk.yahoo.com/news/accountant-claimed-she-downed-two-122621208.html

[Datsuncog]

Sounds like the prosecutors did a rubbish job at presenting the case to the Magistrate. Which can happen.

Still, getting your face splashed all over the news looking smug and 'celebrating' probably isn't a smart idea - the court of public opinion might see things a little differently...

[Tadhg Tiogar]

Two pints of vodka in 15 minutes might* lead to some form of alcohol poisoning surely?

[Agila]

5 minutes ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

Two pints of vodka in 15 minutes might* lead to some form of alcohol poisoning surely?

My only hope is they both start bragging that it was obviously made up and both have perjured themselves. We'll see I guess.

The other thing is next time she won't be so lucky as within 6 months it will definitely happen again. I'm sure the police will be on the look out and she will have a few random* stops

4 children in the car as well.

[warch]

Thieving Amazon delivery drivers. Ordered a new Nintendo Switch for the family. Attempted* delivery twice, both times we were all in, absolutely no chance that we or the dog would have missed a knock on the door. I suppose it’s easy money for them, pretend they couldn’t deliver it then it vanishes from the depot and reappears on eBay. I’m done with Amazon they need to start using reputable delivery firms not agency fly by nights.

[meggersdog]

I've grumped about them before so XLN for small business. I urge anyone do not deal with these twats. 

My contract for phone and broadband had ended so I tried to cancel with this provider in June as the service was rubbish. Finally got email conformation they were no longer my provider in July, the account was settled and to ignore any further bills. Beginning of September I got a bill from XLN. £0.00 phoneline,£0.00 broadband, £0.00 for some guff they made up but £3.50 +vat for paper billing. Well the email said to ignore it so I did.

Today I get an urgent reminder to pay this bill. It is now £29.90 , they want £10.00 because I had cancelled the direct debit plus the £3.50 and another £3.50 for this paper bill plus some other made up charges and then vat on top. Complete and utter twats and robbing bastards. Phoned them up to be told it's probably arrears. Told them the only arrears are for a paper bill for a service they don't provide. Looks like I've gotta go all Ofcom on them again.

[Zelandeth]

1 hour ago, Agila said:

Somebody avoiding a drink drive conviction.

1. Have a crash.

2. Go to a friend's house. (As you do)

3. Drink 2 pints of Vodka. (As you do)

4. Not guilty. Shamelessly celebrate outside the front of the Court.

About as plausible as Shaggy.

https://uk.yahoo.com/news/accountant-claimed-she-downed-two-122621208.html

Jesus wept...how the other half live.

When we had a run in with the bill a few years ago following a family member suffering a nervous breakdown (which we'd been saying was going to happen and had been unsuccessfully trying to get mental health support in place), we were told in no uncertain terms that the "burden of proof" to prove innocence laid with us.  So much for innocent until proven guilty. 

Only victims in this case were an unfortunate fox - the collision with which was what triggered the whole event unfolding and a set of car keys that were never found.  In the middle of the countryside before 6am.

So seeing nonsense like that really pisses me off...like really *really* pisses me off.

[iainrcz]

When did bathroom sealant become a valuable commodity?

Last time I bought a couple of tubes they were about £2. Now? £fuckingmillions.

[Zelandeth]

3 minutes ago, iainrcz said:

When did bathroom sealant become a valuable commodity?

Last time I bought a couple of tubes they were about £2. Now? £fuckingmillions.

Does seem to have gone up...but Toolstation still have you covered for £3.49.

Linky

God only knows how much B&Q etc are charging...

[iainrcz]

1 hour ago, Zelandeth said:

Does seem to have gone up...but Toolstation still have you covered for £3.49.

Linky

God only knows how much B&Q etc are charging...

We have a local one, I'll pop in this week.

It does seem odd, sealant in Wickes - at least £4 a go. Decorators caulk £1 each, 12 for a tenner.

Obviously I bought one, it's good stuff for when your ideas are more grand than your skill level 😆

[Talbot]

3 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

we were told in no uncertain terms that the "burden of proof" to prove innocence laid with us. 

Absolute pure and utter horseshit.  If that sort of phrase came up in court the judge would possibly throw the entire case out.  There is absolutely no way in the world that anyone has to prove their innocence, especially in a motoring case.  Either the CPS can prove a case or they can't.  That sounds like a member of the Fuzz being a cunt.  As some of them have a habit of being.

[jakebullet]

Ma is with virgin mobile for her phone. Idiot sister rings the land line with one of her OMG! You're not dead! Can't get thru to you on mobile! over the top bullshit. Subsequent investigation reveals phone not receiving calls but can phone out fine. Reboot does nothing. Virgin forum full of other people with same issue.

So my logical mind says virgin have fucked up somewhere and will fix it in due course. 

Idiot sister keeps ringing house, with nonsense. You've dropped off the network!!!! You need to contact them now!!! Ma is in panic mode. Which means I'm expected to fix it somehow. I'm supposed to be fucking MacGyver and fix everything, toilets to light aircraft landing on the roof. Because I can't fix it due to nothing being broken here I'm getting the death stares and sighs every 5 seconds.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

Feckin' lime trees and aphids = sticky mess on car daily. 

[Talbot]

16 hours ago, jakebullet said:

Ma is with virgin mobile for her phone. Idiot sister rings the land line with one of her OMG! You're not dead! Can't get thru to you on mobile! over the top bullshit. Subsequent investigation reveals phone not receiving calls but can phone out fine. Reboot does nothing. Virgin forum full of other people with same issue.

So my logical mind says virgin have fucked up somewhere and will fix it in due course. 

Idiot sister keeps ringing house, with nonsense. You've dropped off the network!!!! You need to contact them now!!! Ma is in panic mode. Which means I'm expected to fix it somehow. I'm supposed to be fucking MacGyver and fix everything, toilets to light aircraft landing on the roof. Because I can't fix it due to nothing being broken here I'm getting the death stares and sighs every 5 seconds.

However did anyone survive in pre-mobile days.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

3 minutes ago, Talbot said:

However did anyone survive in pre-mobile days.

They got on the landline, or went to stick 10p in a phone box, or - and this may come as news to some - wrote letters to each other......

[chaseracer]

17 minutes ago, Talbot said:

However did anyone survive in pre-mobile days.

Back in the days of two (or even three deliveries a day), Ma and IS would probably have written frantic postcards to each other.