The Good News / Bad News Thread

[rafletcher]

A worn stopcock would be more prone to failing open than restricting flow. And they're not metering / control valves, so the rule of thumb would be 10% open = 90% flow.  I guess there might be some decris reducing the opening so that flow/pressure drops off quickly, but at initial opening of a tap you would still ge full pressure and (instantaneously) full flow.

[perpetual dan]

A worn stopcock would be more prone to failing open than restricting flow. And they're not metering / control valves, so the rule of thumb would be 10% open = 90% flow.  I guess there might be some decris reducing the opening so that flow/pressure drops off quickly, but at initial opening of a tap you would still ge full pressure and (instantaneously) full flow.

That wouldn’t surprise me at all. It’s been fixed before, initially for being stuck open and later for dripping. Access is a vent where pipes have been boxed in during a garage conversation (before our time), which makes working on it cumbersome even by plumbing standards.

[CommuteTooFar]

BN: John Lewis sent an electricity only tradesman to replace my gas hob with an electric one twice.
GN: Third visit this morning.  A gas approved fitter removed the gas hob.  I expect a shiny new induction hob to fill the hole in the kitchen work top tomorrow.

[Mr Larrington]

T'was on a Wednesday morning, the electrician came:
He called me 'Mr. Sanderson', which isn't quite the name;
He couldn't reach the fuse box without standing on the bin,
And his foot went through a window, so I called the glazier in!

[woollypigs]

BN: John Lewis sent an electricity only tradesman to replace my gas hob with an electric one twice.
GN: Third visit this morning.  A gas approved fitter removed the gas hob.  I expect a shiny new induction hob to fill the hole in the kitchen work top tomorrow.

How are you/they gonna fit that, when a gas only tradesperson arrives with the new leccy hob

[Kim]

BN: John Lewis sent an electricity only tradesman to replace my gas hob with an electric one twice.
GN: Third visit this morning.  A gas approved fitter removed the gas hob.  I expect a shiny new induction hob to fill the hole in the kitchen work top tomorrow.

How are you/they gonna fit that, when a gas only tradesperson arrives with the new leccy hob

The phrase "wired by plumbers" springs to mind...

[Cudzoziemiec]

"Wired by a plumber" was the frequent complaint of my late father-in-law, who was an electrician. Particularly about the light switch in our first flat that had been installed in the neutral rather than live side, and the wire for some gadget (think it might have been a radio) that had been wound tightly round the radiator and was visibly charred.

[Kim]

A staple of plumber wiring seems to be choc-block abuse.  Strip your wires, twist them together, stuff them into the same side of a single piece of choc-block.  Repeat for all other connections.  Cram cover onto junction box and run away.  It's the standard way to install boiler controls.

Somebody badly needs to introduce them to Wago connectors.  Which they'll no doubt embrace with all the belated enthusiasm they had for push-fit plastic pipe fittings.

[mrcharly-YHT]

BN: John Lewis sent an electricity only tradesman to replace my gas hob with an electric one twice.
GN: Third visit this morning.  A gas approved fitter removed the gas hob.  I expect a shiny new induction hob to fill the hole in the kitchen work top tomorrow.

That makes no sense.

Disconnecting a gas hob from the gas supply is nearly always a case of 'twist bayonet, done'.

Gas Safe plumber not required.

[ElyDave]

And then capping off to make safe. I would not rely on a bayonet fitting to be a permanent isolation

[De Sisti]

Good news:
New kitchen fully installed. Now to put everything back in cupboards. I didn't realise I had
so much stuff in there.

Front railings erected in May, double-glazed windows* in late July. Now onto levelling out two-thirds of the back patio. I know a man who can do it.

Bad news:
Nothing to add to my other bad news, apart from being given a date for the procedure, so the
prospect of wearing the catheter looms even closer.
   

*I'm looking forwards to the winter months for the wrong reasons. I want to see how long I can
last before putting the heating on, and compare the performance of the new windows with the
ones they replaced.

[Giraffe]

Always worth capping off - same as disconnecting a washing machine and putting a blank cap on the outlet of the supply.

As for an electric hob: a friend had a new electric cooker, I looked at the booklet, wired it to the outlet in 6 mm (on a 30A MCB), job done. Biggest problem was getting it to stand level on a wonky floor.

[Tim Hall]

A staple of plumber wiring seems to be choc-block abuse.  Strip your wires, twist them together, stuff them into the same side of a single piece of choc-block.  Repeat for all other connections.  Cram cover onto junction box and run away.  It's the standard way to install boiler controls.

Somebody badly needs to introduce them to Wago connectors.  Which they'll no doubt embrace with all the belated enthusiasm they had for push-fit plastic pipe fittings.

When did you visit my kitchen?

Sparky installed two above counter isolators for the two under counter 13A sockets to power the washing machine and dishwasher.  A year or so later I get central heating installed.
Plumber visits, measures, confirms boiler will fit.
Plumber and troupe of monkeys arrive. Boiler doesn't fit after all, so one isolator needs to be moved. In addition two 13A sockets are needed for the boiler and associated gadgetery. Plumber "repurposes" the above counter isolators and moves one such that there are now two 13A sockets above the counter and no isolators. Or something

[CommuteTooFar]

John Lewis part 2.

BN: John Lewis told me when I ordered my hob we can fit it provided there is a 30 amp supply nearby.  So I contact one of the local electricians (Gabe Electrical) who did a neat job installing a 40 amp supply terminated in a new cooker switch 50cm from where the new hob will be installed.  Any competent electrician could install the hob and connect it to the other side of this switch.

So Yesterday John Lewis turn up with the hob.  Look at the hole in the work top where it was meant to go.  I showed them the new cooker switch and say connect to that.  John Lewis chap says cant do it we don't have the cable. I ask isn't there one in the hob box.  They knew there was not.  So I am left wondering why doesn't someone intended to install cookers not have a huge roll of cooker cable in the van.   I suspect the person sent was only capable of plugging in a toaster.

GN: I contact Gabe Electrical. James comes this morning wires the hob up in less than half an hour.  The cables neatly hidden behind the kitchen units and the hob looks if it was always part of my fitted kitchen.   First use. I cooked baked beans. More to follow in the next week.

[Kim]

So I am left wondering why doesn't someone intended to install cookers does not have a huge roll of cooker cable in the van.   I suspect the person sent was only cable of plugging in a toaster.

Reminiscent of a friend having the 'installer' refuse to install their new washing machine because the isolator valves required a screwdriver to open.

[PaulF]

JL wouldn’t fit our washing machine because it had to be wired into the socket rather than pugged in

[Basil]

GN.  The church bells began ringing very enthusiastically.  The sort of full on peal they do as a wedding party leaves the church.   Very nice.

BN.  After a pause, they continued with what i assume was 'Bell Practice' for four hours. Practicing changes etc.

GN.  They finally stopped at 5pm.  I like the bells, but that was a bit much.

BN.  New neighbour two doors down is learning to play the sax.  'Somewhere Over the Rainbow'.  Over and over again.  A very new learner, so all the right notes, and yes, in the right order, but with no phrasing. Again, very repetitive.  They have finally got beyond the first 'Weigh a pie' and are now attempting the next bit.
Honk!

Please note that this is not in the Grumble thread.

Yet.

[Marco Stefano]

BN: old up-'n'-over garage doors are suddenly very difficult to open
GN: appears to be nothing wrong with either door
BN: the apertures they operate in are no longer square as the garage is subsiding and one side wall is 1.5cm off its footing, cracks in various places
GN: new garage doors half-paid for not yet fitted due to life getting in the way, and are therefore not scrap
BN: bikes dotted around in various places not in the garage

Shit.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Basil, sounds like they rang a peal, half-peal or quarter-peal, depending on how many bells they had in the tower. You may have mercifully escaped. A full peal on eight bells can take over 20 hours.

[Basil]

Basil, sounds like they rang a peal, half-peal or quarter-peal, depending on how many bells they had in the tower. You may have mercifully escaped. A full peal on eight bells can take over 20 hours.

6 bells here.  I'm not sure they were doing a peel, just practicing changes.  Sometimes they got it right, sometimes they didn't. 
I think that since the pandemic, during which they missed nearly two years,  they have lost a few members,  leaving a novice band that needs the practice.

[Mr Larrington]

Hurrah: Don’t have to drive a van to Dorchester and back tomorrow
Bah: I was going to while away the hours listening to the latest series of “The Infinite Monkey Cage”

[De Sisti]

Good News.
Two Contemporary Natural Solid Oak Lamp Tables which I ordered and paid for from Oak furnitureland
back in January 2022 are finally due to be delivered this Friday.

Bad News.
I'm not sure I really want them now.

Bad News/Good News.
One of my automatic watches (Traser Automatic) suddenly started to gain several
minutes per day, after I left it on its side one night whilst on holiday. I emailed The
Watchguy in Nailsworth and they said they'd sort it out for me.

I took it there and a few minutes later they had it keeping correct time (it had become
magnetised, and possibly suffered some sort of shock, 'perhaps being dropped possibly
from a few cms'; they said).

"How much do I owe you"? I said.
"Nothing, it's still in warranty", replied Christian.
"It's been out of warranty for nearly nine months", I said.
"For today, it is in warranty", was Christian's reply.

What great service (given to a repeat customer).

[Wowbagger]

My Stowa started gaining significantly late last year. I bought a demagnetiser for about £10, plugged it in and passed the watch through its field for a few seconds. Job done.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Demagnetizer-Repair-Professional-Degausser-Father/dp/B09YHLK1H8/ref=asc_df_B09YHLK1H8/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=570371910231&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=13308655399181515266&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1007216&hvtargid=pla-1658532672903&psc=1

[CommuteTooFar]

BN: I did have any plums this year.
GN: I committed Plumtreeicide last year.  This year I had my best ever apple harvest largely free of plum worm holes.

[Giraffe]

I'll do the same soon - fed up of fighting worms, rot, mildew etc. plus branches just breaking off even when not very bountiful.
It's a Victoria and susceptible to all sorts of nasties; I might get a different one as an espalier, so long as it grows quickly - I'm not in the first flush of youth!
Only one benefit to all the dud plums: the wasps like them and I like wasps.