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

[ian]

Coffee bot decided the flip the breaker on the circuit board this morning, meaning no coffee, and much flipping of breakers to restore the power. Seems the power will only come back on if the bloody thing is unplugged. No idea. No coffee either.

But really, today is an honorary Monday, and nothing should come between me and coffee. More so as I have my weekly meeting with the mothership's galactic commander. Are you OK, ian? No, boss, I am not. She now knows a lot about my coffee machine woes, less so anything she might have been planning to talk to me about.

Made coffee by hand now. I may be OK by lunchtime.

[rafletcher]

If the coffee bot contains a heating element (which I assume it does) it'll likely be that that's failed, and causing the trips.

[ian]

It has two – one to heat the water, another to warm the butt of the thermos flask. I suspect the butt warmer has gone, it's had a decade-plus of being dripped on and other terrible abuse. Not to mention the time I forgot to put the filter in and the water just came out of the top and flooded the machine and surrounding kitchen. That was a good morning.

[Kim]

Or the one that heats the water has scaled up, overheated, split open and provided the angry pixies with a path to earth through Surrey's finest calcium carbonate solution.

[grams]

It has two – one to heat the water, another to warm the butt of the thermos flask. I suspect the butt warmer has gone, it's had a decade-plus of being dripped on and other terrible abuse. Not to mention the time I forgot to put the filter in and the water just came out of the top and flooded the machine and surrounding kitchen. That was a good morning.

Unless it's a particularly posh one it's all done by the one element in the hot plate, which is also the water pump, via the magic of steam expansion and a non-return valve stopping it going back into the tank.

[Mr Larrington]

Well, ian is hardly likely to have a plebeian Coffeebot   The very idea…

[Feanor]

It has two – one to heat the water, another to warm the butt of the thermos flask. I suspect the butt warmer has gone, it's had a decade-plus of being dripped on and other terrible abuse. Not to mention the time I forgot to put the filter in and the water just came out of the top and flooded the machine and surrounding kitchen. That was a good morning.

Unless it's a particularly posh one it's all done by the one element in the hot plate, which is also the water pump, via the magic of steam expansion and a non-return valve stopping it going back into the tank.

Every day is a school day!
I don't have a filter type coffee machine, and have never had cause to open one up.

Sure enough, there's a nice drawing of one here:
https://www.quora.com/How-does-a-coffee-machine-work

[ian]

Well, ian is hardly likely to have a plebeian Coffeebot   The very idea…

It's not one of those fancy six million quid espresso machines, but it is a coffee robot that is fed beans at the top and issues a thermos flask of hot coffee at the bottom, all in time for 9am each morning ready to fuel my brain. £200 apparently. I think that's probably the same price as a large latte in Costa these days.

[Mrs Pingu]

Urgh.
I dunno what I've got but my throat feels like I've swallowed an armband and my back and shoulders really hurt.
Go away.

[ian]

It has two – one to heat the water, another to warm the butt of the thermos flask. I suspect the butt warmer has gone, it's had a decade-plus of being dripped on and other terrible abuse. Not to mention the time I forgot to put the filter in and the water just came out of the top and flooded the machine and surrounding kitchen. That was a good morning.

Unless it's a particularly posh one it's all done by the one element in the hot plate, which is also the water pump, via the magic of steam expansion and a non-return valve stopping it going back into the tank.

Indeed, that seems to be the case, the element does double duty of warming the flask while heating the water (and then turns off leaving the thermos to keep everything warm (thus avoiding that nasty burned coffee taste that turns you into a twice-divorced and on-the-take police officer).

I would, of course, fix it using my screwdriver skills but my wife has hidden all the tools and I have no clue (yeah, but who made the electricity come back on, me, that's who). These coffeebots (a Cuisinart Grind & Brew Plus) seem to last precisely ten years, I remember splurging (at the time) my first ever UK bonus (or £130 of it) on the first one in 2002 which died (I forget how) in 2012, hence this one. Ten years probably isn't bad for a modern appliance and I'm terrible at exciting stuff like descaling. If it ain't broke, I don't fix it, given my attempt to fix anything generally just further the brokenness. That said, I've reached a detente with the dishwasher which stopped behaving for a while, but I've now found tends to work if press the buttons in a certain order and close my eyes before pressing the start button. One of the lessons of pikey parentage is that I absolutely won't replace anything until it's dead (or a bloke down the pub offers me a one-careless-owner replacement for £5).

So, new coffeebot ordered. I will commit to descaling this one at least a decade whether it needs it or not.

Let's not ask why my wife's office is on the same circuit as the kitchen and not the upstairs. At least the shower pump didn't go off.

[T42]

The new one will probably tell you when to descale it.

[ian]

I think not. They reassuringly seem to have changed none of its features in the last two decades. Grind on/off, coffee strength mild/medium/strong, number of cups 4-12 (you can further hack the strength by varying the amount of water, thus introducing your own new 'dangerous' strength setting), then programme or manual.

I was dreading finding they'd updated it to need a wifi connection and an app.

[TheLurker]

Meanwhile the plastic filter cone and insulated coffee jug that that we bought decades ago continue to keep me in hot coffee for most of the morning, every morning and neither show any signs of breaking down.  Luddism FTW. 

[ian]

It serves double-duty, because the grinder is my alarm clock. When I hear it start I know it's the dread moment that I have to get up and Thought Lead, so up and into the shower, and by the time I arrive in the kitchen, there's a flask of 8 cups of freshly ground and brewed coffee waiting to fuel my ascent into wakefulness.

It's proven a lot easier to program than my wife, who has yet to make me even a single cup of coffee.

[De Sisti]

Next door neighbours and their guests using the path up to my front door as a shared path
to get to their front door. They park their two cars right-up in front of their house, leaving
no room to conveniently walk up to their front door.

Things will change when I have my porch rebuilt next year. I will ask the builder (whom
I know quite well) to erect some railings, to ensure there is a distinct boundary between
the two properties.

Neighbours will then have the option of only parking one car on their driveway (usually
parking their other car on the pavement, blocking pedestrian access), or squeezing past
their two cars on their driveway.

Things get even worse when her boyfriend or daughter come to visit her
(two cars on driveway and one parked on the pavement).

The lady and her grown-up son (30) are quite nice. I suppose when it comes to parking,
people can get very......(what's the word I'm looking for?)

Finally got round to having some railings put up to stop neighbour & partner/neighbour son/son's
girlfriend/neighbour's guests using my path as a communal walkway to their front door.


They'll look better once the tips are coloured with some Hammerite Smooth Gold paint.

[The Family Cyclist]

The people who manage our industrial estate where I work clearly aren't doing no mow may, the still relatively short grass which was however looking nice with daisies and dandelions is now a scalped greeny brown mess

The guy strimming was in trainers, shorts and no eye or ear protection.

[rafletcher]

The people who manage our industrial estate where I work clearly aren't doing no mow may, the still relatively short grass which was however looking nice with daisies and dandelions is now a scalped greeny brown mess

The guy strimming was in trainers, shorts and no eye or ear protection.

Similar for our across-the-road neighbour, scalps his lawn twice a week.

And on another note, whilst out on my rides this weekend, I can across 2 people in different locations strimming down the hedge parsley on the verges -  outside their property lines, in a location invisible from their homes. Why?

[rafletcher]

I work in an open plan office, with my back to the walkway. Why is it people feel obliged to rap their knuckles on the top of my drawer unit as they pass 

[De Sisti]

Next door neighbours and their guests using the path up to my front door as a shared path
to get to their front door. They park their two cars right-up in front of their house, leaving
no room to conveniently walk up to their front door.

Things will change when I have my porch rebuilt next year. I will ask the builder (whom
I know quite well) to erect some railings, to ensure there is a distinct boundary between
the two properties.

Neighbours will then have the option of only parking one car on their driveway (usually
parking their other car on the pavement, blocking pedestrian access), or squeezing past
their two cars on their driveway.

Things get even worse when her boyfriend or daughter come to visit her
(two cars on driveway and one parked on the pavement).

The lady and her grown-up son (30) are quite nice. I suppose when it comes to parking,
people can get very......(what's the word I'm looking for?)

Finally got round to having some railings put up to stop neighbour & partner/neighbour son/son's
girlfriend/neighbour's guests using my path as a communal walkway to their front door.


They'll look better once the tips are coloured with some Hammerite Smooth Gold paint.

Painting of railings complete. I am dead chuffed. Several neighbours have complemented me
on how well the look (even the ones next door who were taking liberties using my path as a communal walkway )

[diapsaon0]

Well done.  They can now be fined for parking a car on the pavement.

[De Sisti]

Well done.  They can now be fined for parking a car on the pavement.

Lots of pavement-parking on my road taking place. Never a parking official to be seen.

[Mrs Pingu]

Had to put the heating on again today.

[robgul]

Had to put the heating on again today.

I turned our heating system to off on Sunday (having had it set at a conservative 18 for about 3 weeks for the slightest background when timing allowed) - caught my wife with the gas fire running last night.  Looks warmer for the coming days.

[rafletcher]

Had to put the heating on again today.

I turned our heating system to off on Sunday (having had it set at a conservative 18 for about 3 weeks for the slightest background when timing allowed) - caught my wife with the gas fire running last night.  Looks warmer for the coming days.

Mine just presses the +1hr override button.

[Mr Larrington]

Had to put the heating on again today.

Had the fan on in the bedroom last night