The grumpy thread

25,106 · October 4

50 minutes ago, adw1977 said:

Pre-teenage children cannot judge speed as well as adults. It doesn't matter how much they concentrate, their perception just isn't the same.

Wouldn't surprise me, they are clumsy idiots at the best of times! Doesn't hurt to get them used to it. I can still picture my grandad making me look left right then left again before crossing the fairly busy road outside their house a couple of decades later 😂

I've started making Charlie check and decide himself if I'm with him and I'll backup check. Doesn't help with bushes and hedges that overgrown the pavements so much you don't have any visibility of anything regardless of how old you are.

Same with one way streets. Having seen it in Marlow myself I always glance both ways out of habit!

October 4

Being drunk at the Arc de Triumphe (sp?)a few years ago very nearly made a couple of us into statistics, we were carefully looking the wrong way....🤦

10,369 · October 4

Just moved into a council flat, it’s pretty half decent I must admit

but fucking hell, it’s got a combi boiler and I’ve never used one before

people actually like them? It seems a right turd, 2 minutes for lukewarm water and firing up constantly when running a tap

not impressed at all

19,185 · October 4

9 minutes ago, maxxo said:

Just moved into a council flat, it’s pretty half decent I must admit

but fucking hell, it’s got a combi boiler and I’ve never used one before

people actually like them? It seems a right turd, 2 minutes for lukewarm water and firing up constantly when running a tap

not impressed at all

There's an eco setting on ours. If you turn it off it keeps a small amount of water ready, and burner warmish so that the wait for warm water is related to the length of pipe containing cold water after the boiler. In the case of our kitchen the pipe seems to go up to the second floor, twice around the upstairs of the house via the bathroom, before coming across from the middle of the ceiling above, down the to the floor, behind the units and up to the tap. Takes ages. Lucky we are not on a water meter.

10,093 · October 4

Sounds faulty. They are usually pretty good, especially the newer ones. The delay for hot water is a bit of a peev though.

Ours is only a few steps from the bathroom but the pipes go up into the attic then across to the far end of the bathroom and on down into the kitchen. Takes a while.

On the other hand, the downstairs toilet is just below the boiler and hot water takes only seconds. Hardly ever used of course.

9,179 · October 4

Combi boilers should be alright, slight delay for hot water coming out of the tap but shouldn't take two minutes!

If either the gas or electric goes off, you instantly have no hot water but the advantage of not having a hot water tank is not paying to heat a load of water that mostly just sits there gradually getting cold.

Definitely worth looking at the settings. A previous resident might have set them to maximum penny pinching mode!

18,557 · October 4

11 hours ago, Metal Guru said:

I’m sure the manufacturers could easily engineer something with a proximity detector that activates a pre-recorded loud speaker announcement along the lines of “oi! Moron on the phone, get out of the f@cking way!”

12,576 · October 4

2 hours ago, adw1977 said:

Combi boilers should be alright, slight delay for hot water coming out of the tap but shouldn't take two minutes!

If either the gas or electric goes off, you instantly have no hot water but the advantage of not having a hot water tank is not paying to heat a load of water that mostly just sits there gradually getting cold.

Definitely worth looking at the settings. A previous resident might have set them to maximum penny pinching mode!

You can set the water and heating temperature on our one.
Another reason for luke warm water could you have high water pressure ( high flow to be accurate) and the boiler can’t keep up. Ours is 12l/ min , if it’s a lot higher than that, it could be your problem.

The pre-heater is supposed to reduce the time you wait for hot water but it doesn’t often seem like it. Some energy “experts” were saying turn it off to reduce gas useage but I checked ours and it used just over a kWH a day ( 7p maybe). I really can’t be bothered waiting even longer for hot water to save that much. If you are on metered water, I doubt if there’s any saving.

16,774 · October 4

9 hours ago, maxxo said:

Just moved into a council flat, it’s pretty half decent I must admit

but fucking hell, it’s got a combi boiler and I’ve never used one before

people actually like them? It seems a right turd, 2 minutes for lukewarm water and firing up constantly when running a tap

not impressed at all

Unless the boiler is 300 yards away the water should be hot in seconds, someone will have turned the wick down to mingebag, turn it back up so you can blanche your hands.

17,054 · October 4

10 hours ago, maxxo said:

Just moved into a council flat, it’s pretty half decent I must admit

but fucking hell, it’s got a combi boiler and I’ve never used one before

people actually like them? It seems a right turd, 2 minutes for lukewarm water and firing up constantly when running a tap

not impressed at all

Had one for six years. We set ours at 60C. It comes on in moments and at most takes about 20 seconds to get hot water. Wouldn't go back to an immersion heater.

Incidentally, congratulations on the flat!

10,369 · October 4

sort of figured it out now, turned the water right up to maximum and it's about acceptable now

trying out the central heating as we speak, it's a bit underwhelming, boiler is set to max and the thermostat in the hall is on full but not really much heat coming out

radiators are warm but not boiling hot and boiler is running quite a bit of the time

quite a decent sized flat so i'm wondering if it's undersized

October 4

5 minutes ago, maxxo said:

sort of figured it out now, turned the water right up to maximum and it's about acceptable now

trying out the central heating as we speak, it's a bit underwhelming, boiler is set to max and the thermostat in the hall is on full but not really much heat coming out

radiators are warm but not boiling hot and boiler is running quite a bit of the time

quite a decent sized flat so i'm wondering if it's undersized

Check the little pressure gauge on the boiler, it might need topping up with water via the filling loop

10,369 · October 4

4 minutes ago, 24vdiamond said:

Check the little pressure gauge on the boiler, it might need topping up with water via the filling loop

just checked, about 2 nothces under 2 so seems alright

i'm used to the ancient back boiler at my parents house, never gone wrong and apart from a service every now and then just works and gets the water and rads stinking hot

12,132 · October 4

Are the radiators equally hot at bottom and top when its running? If not they may need bleeding.

If you ever have to bleed, then the Pressure gauge will need resetting by opening the loop.

My water is good when heating is running, but takes ages to get warm first thing in the morning.

16,774 · October 4

34 minutes ago, maxxo said:

sort of figured it out now, turned the water right up to maximum and it's about acceptable now

trying out the central heating as we speak, it's a bit underwhelming, boiler is set to max and the thermostat in the hall is on full but not really much heat coming out

radiators are warm but not boiling hot and boiler is running quite a bit of the time

quite a decent sized flat so i'm wondering if it's undersized

Probably worth bleeding & balancing the radiators before agitating with the LL or letting agent for a power flush; people fiddle with radiators despite not knowing how they work and this stops them working. There may also be a separate temp setting for the heating and if that's been turned down to mingebag also the same disappointment arises. It's still fairly warm at the moment so unless the boiler is grossly undersize the radiators should be approaching too hot to hold your hand on at full bore.

10,369 · October 4

radiators are all equally and fully hot, i can't hold my hand on it but it's got a magnaclean filter on it so shouldn't be that sludged up?

it's on at the minute and it's not that warm

it's still got pretty much the entire old ducted warm air system in place and there is a lukewarm draught through all the vents which considering the heater is long gone is impressive, sadly they're that painted over i can't close any of them

16,774 · October 4

Then you need to work on heat retention;

- any drafty windows, check if the catches need adjustment, maybe new seals are needed.

- draw the curtains if present.

- that duct system is probably a source of heat loss; can it be blocked up?

- any fire places or drafts around the external door/s?

What sort of building is it, age etc? Older buildings may be a bit of dead loss thermally and despite govt funding for insulation being available some arsehole LLs do nothing.

10,093 · October 5

Are the radiators fitted with thermostatic valves and are they fully open?

If so then the shield valves at the other end may be turned down.

They are supposed to be set so there is an 11℃ difference between the inlet and outlet but they may be incorrectly set.

11,482 · October 5

22 hours ago, myglaren said:

Sounds faulty. They are usually pretty good, especially the newer ones. The delay for hot water is a bit of a peev though.

Ours is only a few steps from the bathroom but the pipes go up into the attic then across to the far end of the bathroom and on down into the kitchen. Takes a while.

On the other hand, the downstairs toilet is just below the boiler and hot water takes only seconds. Hardly ever used of course.

Our Combi is top notch, old & serviced + gets a few parts over the years 👍

BUT.....

When it went in, about Dec 12th, it was fitted after our back boiler was condemned (by the same plumbing outfit) and they expressed *concern we had our heating/water resolved pronto!!

We have a cement kitchen floor so any installation NOT there was 'expedient' 🙄.

It was mounted on the ONLY external wall, in a ground floor terrace = FRONT bedroom/flue into street!!

Did a super swift job, no creaking boards/carpet relaid and done in two days (heating/water done in same day = no cold period!).

We still stand in the bathroom and count slowly to 30..... waiting for the hot to arrive.

Ah well 😉

🚙💨

19,502 · October 5

12 hours ago, maxxo said:

quite a decent sized flat so i'm wondering if it's undersized

People often fit the cheapest they can find, especially in rental properties. The one in my cottage in Moray was nearly brand new but could barely generate enough heat to wash dishes, let alone heat an Edwardian house...

We have a 3 bed house and you get a good heat out the radiators despite the boiler's warranty expiring in 2008. Takes about a min to get hot water to the upstairs bathroom, more like 15 secs downstairs.

When we moved in some radiators wouldn't get hot and a plumber came out and found the shield valves had been closed. He didn't know why anybody would do that, but given every multi-bulb light fitting in the house had all but one bulb unscrewed I suspect a previous tenant was just miserly...

12,576 · October 5

45 minutes ago, captain_70s said:

People often fit the cheapest they can find, especially in rental properties. The one in my cottage in Moray was nearly brand new but could barely generate enough heat to wash dishes, let alone heat an Edwardian house...

We have a 3 bed house and you get a good heat out the radiators despite the boiler's warranty expiring in 2008. Takes about a min to get hot water to the upstairs bathroom, more like 15 secs downstairs.

When we moved in some radiators wouldn't get hot and a plumber came out and found the shield valves had been closed. He didn't know why anybody would do that, but given every multi-bulb light fitting in the house had all but one bulb unscrewed I suspect a previous tenant was just miserly...

Mine is rated at 31kW in a 3 bed house. You only need that much for instant hot water, I think heating only uses about half of that.

20,699 · October 5

Can honestly say this is rubbish

10,093 · October 5

^ But what is it? ^

6,964 · October 5

On the subject of boilers, I've lived in a house with a combi boiler for about a year now. I had immersion heaters and oil heating and others before this.

I would never go back to them now. The combi boiler is just so much better. Cheaper to run, more user-friendly and effective

20,699 · October 5

1 hour ago, myglaren said:

^ But what is it? ^

Hydro.co vehicle foam wash.

Ball ache to find the dilution ratio (fuck all on bottles and really hard to find on website) . Does foam. Doesn't really make much odds with dirt and finish was "meh"

I'll go back to fairy liquid

10,093 · October 5

I usually get some foamy stuff from B&M. Put it on the shelf and let it mature for a year or two.

12,576 · October 6

12 hours ago, UltraWomble said:

Hydro.co vehicle foam wash.

Ball ache to find the dilution ratio (fuck all on bottles and really hard to find on website) . Does foam. Doesn't really make much odds with dirt and finish was "meh"

I'll go back to fairy liquid

Fairy liquid contains salt. Not a good idea for car cleaning.

9,115 · October 6

2 hours ago, Metal Guru said:

Fairy liquid contains salt. Not a good idea for car cleaning.

No it doesn’t, it’s an old trope, fairy liquid is fine if you want to strip old wax and polish off, a proper car shampoo is better though.

from google, other search engines are available

“Washing up liquid does contain a 'salt' but this is the active ingredient and should not be confused with road salt. There is nothing in a washing-up liquid that will exacerbate corrosion – there's no sodium chloride salt to worry about. The issue regarding corrosion is the 'chloride' bit of the salt.“

34,193 · October 6

The degreaser in washing up liquid is really very useful when cleaning a filthy car; it doesn’t seem to streak as much for me either.

I only run old snotters so care little. I find fairy very effective

29,916 · October 6

Magnum washing up liquid is about 60p a 500ml bottle. But you'll need quite a bit each time to get a decent lather and enough strength to shift dirt so a bottle won't last as long.

So let's compare 5l of Fairy which is £18.99 from ebay or a bit more if you're buying individual 500ml bottles from the supermarket.

5l of Simoniz or Turtle Wax car shampoo is £14.99 free post from ebay. One of those lasts me about 7 months at about 2-3 washes per week for a wrong 'un like me.

So 1) It's nothing more than inverted snobbery saying you just use dish washing liquid to clean your car and 2) it's not actually cheaper...

I love you guys but come on, don't make folk think you've also got plain water in the cooling system, remoulds and 2nd hand engine oil strained through a football sock 😂

If you really do care that little then washing the car is gonna be last on the agenda!

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