The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.

[andrewc]

Living in a bungalow, water pressure and flow rates from cold and hot tanks were always a problem.

Then last year, as part of bathroom renovation, we had a mains pressure hot tank of considerable capacity installed, and all cold taps put on the mains. Now have a powerful shower and and a fast filling bath.

Same in a 4th floor flat.  Cold water is mains fed, on a pipe that serves all the flats below. It's not a problem for washing or flushing, but the morning shower can be unpredictable.   Hot water is from a tank that's at floor level & trickles out with as much enthusiasm as Boris trying to be honest...

[graculus]

If I had my choice in such matters, the toilet(s) would be fed from a tank in the loft, irrespective of other plumbing arrangements.  Quieter, fewer dribbly ball valve problems, and means you can still flush if the supply is interrupted.  Bonus points for arranging to fill it with rainwater when available.

This is what my Dad did in the previous house he was in. It was built just after WW1 and had an underground cistern to store rainwater. This was originally extracted by a hand powered pump for use in the laundry (OK small outbuilding next to the coal house) as the soft rainwater was preferable to Wolverhampton's hard stuff for washing. He installed a sump pump to take water up to a second cold water tank in the loft which then fed both WCs.
Now in a bungalow he has recreated the system, this time with several water butts and a small pump to feed the toilet. Not bad going for a 90 year old.

[Kim]

Loud bang woke me up at about 5:46 this morning.  This is probably related to the fragments of roof tile outside the back door...   

[T42]

At least you weren't standing outside the back door at bang time.  Often a PITA to replace, though: "oh, that's the old style, they haven't made those for 40 years".  Our barn roof is about 200 m² of those, and susceptible to high winds.

[Cudzoziemiec]

If I had my choice in such matters, the toilet(s) would be fed from a tank in the loft, irrespective of other plumbing arrangements.  Quieter, fewer dribbly ball valve problems, and means you can still flush if the supply is interrupted.  Bonus points for arranging to fill it with rainwater when available.

Greywater is the way to go here. Rainwater too. Mix the two together and you get grainwater. (No you don't, that's whisky.)

[Kim]

At least you weren't standing outside the back door at bang time.  Often a PITA to replace, though: "oh, that's the old style, they haven't made those for 40 years".  Our barn roof is about 200 m² of those, and susceptible to high winds.

This is a new style, related to the shoddy upgrade of next door to swanky en-suite BloodyStudent accomodation.  It's not entirely obvious where it came from, but there appears to be a gap on our side of the roof where it looks like a tile wasn't stuck in properly with some some no-more-nails like substance.  Which is confusing, as the tile has a several of nail holes and no trace of adhesive.

(The rest of our roof is much older, with a completely different style of tile.)

We've contacted our agency and sent photos, on the basis that it's our roof that's going to leak.  They can bicker over who pays with nextdoor's landlord if they want.

[T42]

Back when we rented, such incidents were more a curiosity than anything else. Now that we have our own place they're dire.

[Zipperhead]

It wasn't just the cold, it was the rebound to several moments of super-heated water (made all the worse by the fact you've just been soaked in cold water) the moment the cold tap closed. I assume all the owners of combo boilers must be familiar with the shower dance.

We have a combi boiler and a shower - if someone does something to use cold water (turn tap on in kitchen, turn washing machine on etc.) the flow rate in the shower reduces without changing temperature. When the pressure is restored then the flow rate in the shower goes back to normal, all without changing temperature.

[Feanor]

Dear manufacturers of Duvets and associated covers:

Plz to be indicating the orientation of the product.
As it is, for most almost-square products, we have the almost-but-not-quite-unlike aspect ratios which we have to figure out by trial-and-error.
Just when we are going to bed.

kthxby.

[Mrs Pingu]

Is it not square?

The other night, for the first time ever, I decided to put the duvet in the cover with the sewn lines going horizontally rather than vertically.
Surprisingly I didn't feel the need to rehash it all in the middle of the night, despite my control freakish tendencies.

I suppose if you have a Queen or King size YMMV.

[Clare]

I just worked out where the label needs to be for the duvet to fit in the cover.

[Kim]

I just worked out where the label needs to be for the duvet to fit in the cover.

This.

(King-sized duvet, so almost but not quite square.)


While we're on the subject, I accidentally bought a set of tea towels that turned out to be almost but not quite square.  To the point where it's surprisingly difficult to find the long edge when you come to hang them up.  Crowley excelled himself with that one.

[ElyDave]

Just bin the duvet and sleep under a sheet, it's summer don't you know

[rafletcher]

Is it not square?

The other night, for the first time ever, I decided to put the duvet in the cover with the sewn lines going horizontally rather than vertically.
Surprisingly I didn't feel the need to rehash it all in the middle of the night, despite my control freakish tendencies.

I suppose if you have a Queen or King size YMMV.

Our duvets are stitched in squares. And as a result are square. Orientation isn’t a problem (especially as our duvet covers seem to vary in size, despite being notionally the same).

[CAMRAMan]

Fleabay seller: if the payment is on hold because your PayPal account is not used often, please don't assume that my turning up and scanning the QR collection code is magically going to fix things. Surely the obvious thing to do is to call them to explain. I really don't want to drive 2 hours to run into problems that you can easily fix beforehand. (This has the potential to turn into a rant...)

[hellymedic]

Standard King Size duvets are 230 cm wide by 220cm long (so maddeningly not quite square).

John Lewis duvet labels are on the short edge so I think foot end.

All the duvet covers I use have openings at the foot end.

[fd3]

Quasi science that's being touted as definite proof.  It's everywhere!

[Mrs Pingu]

Having just read the sizes of duvets (eg single 130cm wide vs super king 260cm wide) the scandi thing of having 2 single duvets on a double bed makes sense.
Better choice of covers (cf super king)
Less expensive
You can have silly kids stuff like dinosaurs & Postman Pat if you want. YMMV.

[T42]

Having just read the sizes of duvets (eg single 130cm wide vs super king 260cm wide) the scandi thing of having 2 single duvets on a double bed makes sense.

It's what we do. It also allows for one person liking a heavier duvet than the other.  Some years back, MrsT bought a summer/winter duvet set with a thin duvet intended to be added to the heavy one in winter. I use the thin one all winter and she uses the other one most of the year.  In the end, though, I prefer blankets.

[ElyDave]

Having just read the sizes of duvets (eg single 130cm wide vs super king 260cm wide) the scandi thing of having 2 single duvets on a double bed makes sense.

It's what we do. It also allows for one person liking a heavier duvet than the other.  Some years back, MrsT bought a summer/winter duvet set with a thin duvet intended to be added to the heavy one in winter. I use the thin one all winter and she uses the other one most of the year.  In the end, though, I prefer blankets.

Pretty much what we do as well, except this tiem of year, she has the thin duvet and I have a sheet, twin single duvets might be a better idea, but then that involves the shopping trip of doom to find duvet covers/soft furnishings.  My second least favourite shopping experience after cars

[ian]

It wasn't just the cold, it was the rebound to several moments of super-heated water (made all the worse by the fact you've just been soaked in cold water) the moment the cold tap closed. I assume all the owners of combo boilers must be familiar with the shower dance.

We have a combi boiler and a shower - if someone does something to use cold water (turn tap on in kitchen, turn washing machine on etc.) the flow rate in the shower reduces without changing temperature. When the pressure is restored then the flow rate in the shower goes back to normal, all without changing temperature.

You have travelled back from the future. Welcome! Enjoy your anthropological safari in the past. Marvel at our antediluvian society. Keep your eye on the battery levels in your time machine, you wouldn't want to be stuck here.

[Mr Larrington]

It wasn't just the cold, it was the rebound to several moments of super-heated water (made all the worse by the fact you've just been soaked in cold water) the moment the cold tap closed. I assume all the owners of combo boilers must be familiar with the shower dance.

We have a combi boiler and a shower - if someone does something to use cold water (turn tap on in kitchen, turn washing machine on etc.) the flow rate in the shower reduces without changing temperature. When the pressure is restored then the flow rate in the shower goes back to normal, all without changing temperature.

You have travelled each from the future. Welcome! Enjoy your anthropological safari in the past. Marvel at our antediluvian society. Keep your eye on the battery levels in your time machine, you wouldn't want to be stuck here.

Omnes: This the the 21st century.  We haz electricity!  [Jibbles light switch]  See?  U may recharge ur time machine without let or hindrance!
Them: Onoz!  We haz forgotten the USB-ZZ9 cable and consequently cannot plug it in.  Doomed!
Kim: Let me see that wiring diagram...

[Kim]

Great scott!  The bastards have encrypted the electrons on a quantum level!  How is anyone supposed to circumvent that kind of DRM?

[ian]

Actually, for the standard models of the Ronco Time-o-Matic, they'll need a USB-x23b-a cable to charge it. ZZ9s only work on the early models, the ones they had to recall from customers before they manufactured them.

[Mr Larrington]

Great scott!  The bastards have encrypted the electrons on a quantum level!  How is anyone supposed to circumvent that kind of DRM?

Collapse the waveform?  I head that Prof. Jimmy Alka-Seltzer talking about it on the wireless the other day*.  You can buy an ACME Waveform Collapser 9000 for only £34.99 from all good electrical parts wholesalers, most crap ones and larger branches of Nobby & Dick's Auto Salvage.

* broadcast in February but only just listened to because Coronalurgi has thwarted my usual practice of mainlining The Infinite Monkey Cage while traversing the lonely highways of Leftpondia.