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[PaulF]

Perhaps drifting the thread back on topic I just installed a “chimney sheep” a custom lambs wool plug to reduce the drought up the chimney which made a massive improvement.

To be honest, a drought up the chimney is probably better than the alternative.

I’d have got away with it if it weren’t for those pesky kids

[grams]

Utter bollocks - modern washing machines don't last 16 years!  Most fail shortly after the warranty expires.  They are built to a price and most are now unrepairable anyway if the bearings fail (sealed drum).

A quick google suggests 2-4 million are sold each year, and there are 28 million households in the UK, which gives a lifetime of 7-14 years.

[campagman]

Perhaps drifting the thread back on topic I just installed a “chimney sheep” a custom lambs wool plug to reduce the drought up the chimney which made a massive improvement.

I was pondering one of them as well.

I’d definitely recommend it.  Our problem, albeit a first world one, is balancing the temperature in the rest of the house. As a consequence the hall where the thermostat lives and host to the only non-TRV radiator is a lot warmer which means that the thermostat cuts in sooner making other rooms cooler…

This is similar to mine. The inlet valve on the non-TRV rad should only be open a half a turn so that rad warms up slowly. Worth a check.

[iandusud]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59161949

Utter bollocks - modern washing machines don't last 16 years!  Most fail shortly after the warranty expires.  They are built to a price and most are now unrepairable anyway if the bearings fail (sealed drum).

A few years ago I needed to buy a new washing machine and opted to buy a budget model. It came with a 2 year warranty and at just of 2 years it stopped working. I stripped it down to find that the motor brushes were worn out. I managed to bodge them to get the machine going again and went to the major retailer to order a new set of brushes. They took order and said they would call me when they were in. A week later I got a call to say that the brushes weren't available separately but they could supply a new motor at over £100 for a machine which cost less than £200 new. I took another look at the motor, noted the make and model, and did a bit of internet searching to discover that it was a very common motor used on many washing machines from all the major manufacturers, and a bit more searching led me to finding new brushes which cost me £2 inc postage. The moral of all this is that these machines are not marketed with the intention of them being repaired. The notion, regardless of the difference in cost between replacing a pair of brushes at £2 as opposed to replacing a machine at £200, that we should replace rather than repair is totally abhorrent to me. No wonder the planet is going down the tubes.

[Mrs Pingu]

That should all be stopping now with the right to repair laws.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57665593

[Kim]

Not that it changes the problem of what it costs to pay someone who knows what they're doing to come out and tell you that it'll be a £100 motor, and then come back and fit it.

[Feanor]

Yes, I suspect they will get around the Right to Repair stuffs by making spares available, but at prices which make it uneconomic.

[Tim Hall]

Some years ago we bought a washing machine designed for easy repair. Simple to swap out parts, possibly UK built maybe EU, I can't recall. They had two models, one with a 5 year guarantee, one with a 10 year guarantee. All this goodness came at a priced premium.  The company got into financial trouble, starting i think, with no money left in the guarantee pot, then folded completely.

I probably replaced the motor brushes once, then the next repair was uneconomic.

[grams]

AIUI these days even cheapo models are brushless because the electronics to drive them have got so cheap.

[iandusud]

Not that it changes the problem of what it costs to pay someone who knows what they're doing to come out and tell you that it'll be a £100 motor, and then come back and fit it.

Exactly. Even if they make spares available it will mean, as you say, that replacement a motor is available at £100 when all that is required is a pair of brushes, making repair not economically viable.

[ian]

Spoke to someone the other week about our contrary dishwasher (this alone took two weeks) – he was a bit noncommital about a fix and then if he could get a replacement part, so we'd be punting a couple of hundred quid on a maybe. It actually started working again (till yesterday). It probably is just a glitchy power chip but getting it replaced is non-straightforward and it would certainly be less hassle just to buy a new one (it is eight years old).

[mrcharly-YHT]

A shout out here to Blackwell and Denton of York.

I phoned them about the non-functioning washing machine, asking how much to call out.

He gave me a price, then detailed instructions on what to check before calling out, including the power off-sequence required to reset the status in the machine.

Kids followed the instructions and machine working again.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Not that it changes the problem of what it costs to pay someone who knows what they're doing to come out and tell you that it'll be a £100 motor, and then come back and fit it.

Exactly. Even if they make spares available it will mean, as you say, that replacement a motor is available at £100 when all that is required is a pair of brushes, making repair not economically viable.

So in fact they're already quite likely compliant with the law. It will change very little. And:

Only parts for "simple and safe" repairs will be available directly to consumers, including "door hinges on your washing machine or replacement baskets and trays for your fridge-freezers", he said.

"Other parts that involve more difficult repairs will only be available to professional repairers, such as the motor or heating element in your washing machine," he said.

So it would seem that motor parts might actually become less available.

[Kim]

Not that it changes the problem of what it costs to pay someone who knows what they're doing to come out and tell you that it'll be a £100 motor, and then come back and fit it.

Exactly. Even if they make spares available it will mean, as you say, that replacement a motor is available at £100 when all that is required is a pair of brushes, making repair not economically viable.

So in fact they're already quite likely compliant with the law. It will change very little. And:

Only parts for "simple and safe" repairs will be available directly to consumers, including "door hinges on your washing machine or replacement baskets and trays for your fridge-freezers", he said.

"Other parts that involve more difficult repairs will only be available to professional repairers, such as the motor or heating element in your washing machine," he said.

So it would seem that motor parts might actually become less available.

And you can forget anything involving a lithium-ion battery.  Hazardous materials, innit.

[robgul]

May be a stupid question - we have a fixed deal with British Gas until 31 January 2022 - as it's approaching renewal I got a message today offering an "exclusive deal" to fix to 30 April 2023.  After a bit of spreadsheet work and looking at comparisons (the two main ones offered no deals) the BG deal looked good so I clicked the button to go with it.

Now, I assume - or am I wrong? - that the new deal kicks in at at the end of January 2022 . . . .   all the info from BG is confusing and unclear e.g. "you may not see the new tariff in your account for 9 days" . . .    I can't believe that it's not consecutive?

[Mrs Pingu]

If the new deal is less good than your current deal (I assume, given the current market) I could well believe it.

[robgul]

If the new deal is less good than your current deal (I assume, given the current market) I could well believe it.

That's what worries me - I do have 14 days to decline - I'll try and phone them tomorrow - and then if it isn't consecutive get onto the Ombudsman

[Mrs Pingu]

If the new deal is less good than your current deal (I assume, given the current market) I could well believe it.

That's what worries me - I do have 14 days to decline - I'll try and phone them tomorrow - and then if it isn't consecutive get onto the Ombudsman

Does this apply?
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2021/10/martin-lewis--don-t-get-pressured-by-your-energy-firm-into-signi/

Some more explanation here
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2021/10/energy-bill-hikes-hit-millions-as-price-cap-rises-by-p139-yr---b/
I believe felstedrider also said the same a few pages or threads back

[robgul]

If the new deal is less good than your current deal (I assume, given the current market) I could well believe it.

That's what worries me - I do have 14 days to decline - I'll try and phone them tomorrow - and then if it isn't consecutive get onto the Ombudsman

Does this apply?
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2021/10/martin-lewis--don-t-get-pressured-by-your-energy-firm-into-signi/

Some more explanation here
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2021/10/energy-bill-hikes-hit-millions-as-price-cap-rises-by-p139-yr---b/
I believe felstedrider also said the same a few pages or threads back

Hmm - not sure what all that means in our circumstances with our consumption in a fairly large house.  I think we are somewhat out of the top end of the cap.

The "exclusive deal" (fixed to April 23) is, obviously, more than we are paying now but considerably (about 45%) less than the "let us give you a quote" price which is a fix to December 2023 and has all sorts of cobblers about green stuff.

It really is a jungle - I shall phone them tomorrow and a) find out whether the exclusive April 2023 is consecutive or kicks in now, and  b) see what else they might offer . . . when we moved from AVRO (the late) amidst stacks of fraudulent charging issues from them the BG person offered a deal that wasn't a published one, at considerbly better rates.

The slight upside is that having now been in the house and seen a full year of consumption I have some good data to use for comparisions.  This house only uses gas for CH & HW - cooking is electric - whereas the previous house we cooked with a gas hob and electric oven . . . and the CH/HW boiler wasn't as efficient as here.

Not surprisingly looking at 3 of the comparison sites this evening, putting in our current tariff and accurate consumption figures, none of them would offer any deal at all.

[Mrs Pingu]

The price cap is nothing to do with your consumption, the cap is on the unit price.
https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/check-if-energy-price-cap-affects-you

[robgul]

The price cap is nothing to do with your consumption, the cap is on the unit price.
https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/check-if-energy-price-cap-affects-you

Sorry - I was confusing myself - it seems that we are paying rather less than the cap on the current fix to 31 Jan 22 and it looks like the exclusive deal to 30 Apr 23 is below the likely cap - both by some margin.

[neilrj]

Whenever I've changed supplier in the transfer window (50 day) I've always been transferred before the end of contract.

[Pickled Onion]

The price cap is nothing to do with your consumption, the cap is on the unit price.
https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/check-if-energy-price-cap-affects-you

Sorry - I was confusing myself - it seems that we are paying rather less than the cap on the current fix to 31 Jan 22 and it looks like the exclusive deal to 30 Apr 23 is below the likely cap - both by some margin.

What is the kWh price and standing charge you're being offered?

[Wowbagger]

I've taken the temperature of the water in the tank, purely solar-heated.

A couple of days ago it was 29°C. This morning, after a much cloudier afternoon, 23°C. It's quite annoying, actually, as when the panel was fitted in 2005, I called the guy back because in the height of summer, our chimneys cast a shadow of the PV panel which drives the pump, and we were missing out on several hours' hot water a day. He shifted it to the bottom RH corner of the hot water panel and now, from mid-November onwards, next door's chimney casts a shadow over it in the mid-afternoon - the point at which the pane gets the best of the sun. I suspect that reduces the temperature of the water in the tank by a few degrees when it happens, but usually there are so few days in a year in which it makes any difference that it's not worth sorting out. The call out charge would mean that it would take a few centuries to pay for itself.

[MattH]

Only parts for "simple and safe" repairs will be available directly to consumers, including "door hinges on your washing machine or replacement baskets and trays for your fridge-freezers", he said.

Have you seen the price for replacement plastic drawers for upright freezers? £60 each last time I looked. All three of ours are past their best, if I wasn't happy with the duct tape fix it's getting on for cheaper to replace the freezer than buy drawers that should be single figures of pounds each.