The Advice Thread

[lemonjelly]

Thank you all! Appreciated.

 

[Wolf Hunting]

Anyone have experience of rainwater harvesting?
We have a decent sized roof, and have 2 water butts that take 220 litres of water each (1 each side of the house) in the back garden.
This year I have been taking water from our ponds to water plants, but don't want to continue doing that. Have noticed that the amount of water taken from ponds is growing each year.
So I want to get a bigger water storage solution. I think/hope something that holds either 1000 or 2000 litres is probably going to be sufficient.
Main problem appears to be prices. Most seem over a grand based on a cursory google.
Anyone have experience of purchasing something like this?

Mr Lemon, My neighbour is a bit green, and has a large tank in his garden, into which flows all the rainwater off his roof, both sides.
I think he uses this water for flushing toilets and as its filtered also used for washing machines and watering his garden.
It's a fairly big tank, but he takes this stuff seriously.
Do you want me to get details of it all?

 

[lemonjelly]

Thanks WH. That probably is above what I'm hoping to do - I'm more looking to harvest & store more for the garden, & the IBCs mentioned above look the best bet.

 

[Tyrannosaurus Dan]

We had a parcel delivery by DPD about 2 weeks ago and the large box it came in has been sitting by our recycling bag ever since.

I went to cut up the box earlier as I was putting the recycling out and a small package fell out that we didn’t know was in there (I’m not even sure how it got in there). It’s not addressed to us and I haven’t opened it but it was sent from EE and the box looks very phone shaped.

The address is only a couple of streets away and I could deliver it to them. However, as it’s been randomly sitting in a cardboard box in my house for nearly 2 weeks then I presume they have had a replacement sent to them already and I don’t really want to hand them an extra, free phone.

On the other hand, I’m not usually one for taking things that don’t belong to me so I’m not really sure what to do with it

 

[Del Woppio]

It's incredibly unlikely the other person is out of pocket, they'll have proved no delivery and got a replacement or a refund.

EE are, like them all, piss taking profiteering cunts. Take it to your nearest dodgy high street, tell them exactly what's happened, take the cash, chuck a few quid at a charity and call the rest a rebate and treat yourself to a few curries. If it had ended up in landfill, there's no winner. You've done a great thing for the environment, done some good for charity, and, in a world of absolute shit, had yourself a little win.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

And committed a crime in doing so.

 

[Del Woppio]

Maybe in a specific and limited way

 

[sycophantia]

Everyone has to take the option that is correct for them, personally I'd be taking the package to where it belongs. I dont care whether individuals are out of pocket or 'making' on it.

 

[SSB]

Everyone has to take the option that is correct for them, personally I'd be taking the package to where it belongs. I dont care whether individuals are out of pocket or 'making' on it.

But what if it was addressed to a Mr J Shi?

 

[leedswolf]

But what if it was addressed to a Mr J Shi?

I definitely wouldn't open it...

 

[Dennisons Wrong Foot]

I finally downloaded a vpn but am either a complete idiot, screwed, or both.

TV (samsung) does not directly support a vpn. Router is too old. Firestick is too old. I managed to set up a mobile hot spot on a pc and connected the TV to it. Set server to a foreign country and - nothing. Available channels are exactly as before - either via Samsung TV Plus or local terrestrial ones.

Everywhere says just connect vpn to TV and away you go. I've done that and am still here.

I will not replace the TV and dont want to get a new router unless I know it will help. Or maybe I am missing the most obvious thing under the sun (wouldn't be the first time).

 

[Tredman]

I finally downloaded a vpn but am either a complete idiot, screwed, or both.

TV (samsung) does not directly support a vpn. Router is too old. Firestick is too old. I managed to set up a mobile hot spot on a pc and connected the TV to it. Set server to a foreign country and - nothing. Available channels are exactly as before - either via Samsung TV Plus or local terrestrial ones.

Everywhere says just connect vpn to TV and away you go. I've done that and am still here.

I will not replace the TV and dont want to get a new router unless I know it will help. Or maybe I am missing the most obvious thing under the sun (wouldn't be the first time).

How are you trying to access different channels? You would generally need an app or similar.

 

[BillyDee]

I believe you need to create new accounts as if you were in the different country?

 

[Dennisons Wrong Foot]

So I definitely am stupid.
I have installed bbc iplayer on my pc and can use it. But don't seem able to install it on the tv because it's not in the tv app store. If I go to the internet on the tv I can find it but not download it because I am outside the UK - even when the VPN is using a UK server.
It's all too complicated. I give up.

 

[Tredman]

So I definitely am stupid.
I have installed bbc iplayer on my pc and can use it. But don't seem able to install it on the tv because it's not in the tv app store. If I go to the internet on the tv I can find it but not download it because I am outside the UK - even when the VPN is using a UK server.
It's all too complicated. I give up.

What's your TV? If it's Android based it's easy to solve, if not you're best of getting a new stick or similar.

 

[Dennisons Wrong Foot]

Samsung tvs run on Tizen, not Android. Very reluctant to replace firestick or router unless it solves all problems in a way me and wife both understand.
As it stands I can watch most wolves games on peacock, most Texans games on local TV, and occasional nba games on local TV or prime. I think I will just forget about it until next season.

 

[EpsomWolf]

So you no longer have a thermostat and each radiator is its own thermostat?

The one that was with mine was in addition to a thermostat but having a thermostat in each room would make more sense.

Back to the smart heating system for a moment as I had the hub, receiver etc wired in at the weekend so am playing around with it a bit at the moment and your particular question has come to the fore.

Needed a sparky to wire in the receiver to the boiler PCB, then went the whole hog and put smart TRV’s on all of the rads (which fortunately already had normal TrV’s so was just 2 minute job to switch each one), apart from two towel rails which didn’t have TRV’s on in the first place so just left those unchanged.

So the system is working brilliantly, finally able to have the colder parts of the house precisely controlled and toasty, and if say the log burner gets put on the valves in the room(s) warmed by the burner shut themselves off and the boiler continues to fire allowing hot water into the unaffected rooms that still need it, with the system operating far more efficiently. The thing is, the upstairs bathroom/downstairs loo towel rails are still wanging out far too much unnecessary heat, as they will only shut off if main thermostat reached it’s temperature and told the boiler to stop firing, but those two rooms get way too hot before the thermostat reaches that point.

So the question is, if I went the last bit and did (got someone to do) the last bit of plumbing work and had smart TRV’s on the towel rails, would that render the thermostat itself redundant? You can do all of your settings etc through the app, each room would effectively have its own thermostat, so what, if any, would be the point in still having a separate main thermostat?

 

[PuntsWolf]

You’ll still need a “master switch” which is controlling the boiler on and off (thermostat) whereas the TRVs are just controlling the radiators. Otherwise you’d have the boiler on all the time putting hot water through the pipes but then looping back to the boiler if all the rads are shut off.

 

[EpsomWolf]

You’ll still need a “master switch” which is controlling the boiler on and off (thermostat) whereas the TRVs are just controlling the radiators. Otherwise you’d have the boiler on all the time putting hot water through the pipes but then looping back to the boiler if all the rads are shut off.

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, I think this is what has been happening. With the smart valves being able to override the thermostat and pull heat on demand I’ve been getting in a pickle as to what the main thermostat does, where best to place it and what temperature to set it to and so on. It looks like currently the boiler has still been firing with the rads at temperature and valves closed, effectively doing as you suggest, due to the thermostat being at the wrong temperature/in the wrong place or maybe even working against the smart TRV in the same room!

I did wonder if smart TRV’s throughout would be overkill but the transformation in performance and efficiency of the heating overall is remarkable despite the initial set up being frustrating and hard work. Can see the concept is really going to work brilliantly once fully understood and fine tuned but I’m beginning to think it might’ve been better to just let my heating guy put the valves on and set the system up properly from the start himself!