|
Post by mickthecactus on Jul 22, 2019 15:27:12 GMT
Just found out I'm an introvert. I'm quite pleased. Mick, you have too many friends to be an introvert...now go and hide in your den and think about that! What method did you use to come to this conclusion? A quiz on Facebook or a recognized analysis? I saw somebody on TV and thought that was just like me so looked up a number of definitions on the internet and I fit them all. No great thing.
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on Jul 22, 2019 15:29:13 GMT
My car was hit whilst parked by the refuse truck and has gone to the garage for repair. I have a replacement car for the duration but it is very tiny....
|
|
|
Post by cheerypeabrain on Jul 22, 2019 15:58:26 GMT
My car was hit whilst parked by the refuse truck and has gone to the garage for repair. I have a replacement car for the duration but it is very tiny.... ...and you're so tall..eek
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Jul 22, 2019 17:05:14 GMT
I am fine in both a Smart and a Fiat 500. Surely it isn't smaller than those?
|
|
|
Post by questa on Jul 23, 2019 0:39:55 GMT
Could have been worse...they could have loaned you a garbage truck to get around in for the duration. Plenty of leg room, but Oh...the parallel parking!
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on Jul 23, 2019 6:06:51 GMT
Toyota Aygo. It’s ok but I’ve bashed my head twice so far getting in and out. No boot space of any sort so no gardening work this week as I cannot get any equipment into it.
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Jul 23, 2019 6:14:37 GMT
The boot is the main drawback of all of those cars. I am lucky enough never to have anything to haul around.
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on Jul 23, 2019 8:05:39 GMT
Make that 4 times. Just took grandson to station. He is 6’ and his head was jammed against the roof. The car stinks because people have smoked in it and it has the worst gear change of any automatic I have driven, Still, it gets me from A to B.
|
|
|
Post by questa on Jul 23, 2019 8:36:12 GMT
I read once that the specifications for Rolls-Royce, Bentley and the Armstrong Siddely required they should "have enough head room for a gentleman wearing a top hat to enter, travel and exit his motor while maintaining his dignity"
Armstrong Siddely...."The car with the built in sneer"
|
|
|
Post by cheerypeabrain on Jul 23, 2019 20:02:13 GMT
We get about 3 - 4 weeks of heat in the summer...sometimes a little bit more, sometimes a little bit less...my beloved has ordered an air conditioning unit. Cost a chuffing fortune...*sigh*
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Jul 23, 2019 20:21:06 GMT
I confess that I had an air conditioner for my upstairs room for a number of years. I used it maybe about 5 days a year. And then one day -- about 6 or 7 years ago, it stopped worked (probably due to disuse). When the roof of my building was replaced last year, including new insulation that we never had before, I ordered a new air conditioner. They must have thought I was mad since it did this in November. But anyway it sat there for a number of months and then I finally removed it from the carton to install it. Luckily, I have an old chimney flue that was pierced years ago for the previous apparatus, so I was able to stick the new exit tube in the same hole.
Yes, I know that it is ecological heresy but as a recent elderly person, I figure that it is acceptable for me to have a device to help me not die of heat stroke.
|
|
|
Post by questa on Jul 23, 2019 23:47:41 GMT
Air-con will stop being a luxury and become a necessity in the next few years. They are not cheap to run but there are ways to make it work better...mainly common sense.
Only cool the rooms you are mostly in. Keep doors and windows closed and make sure you have no gaps to let in draughts. Get the most powerful for your requirements. It costs more up front but you will have higher costs as it labours to do the job. Inverter models are becoming more popular...good in theory but my personal jury is still out. Sometimes you can just run the "dry" setting which uses less power but the room is cooler in lower humidity. If it is 40C outside set the thermostat for 22C -24C, not 18C. I have found that it is more efficient.
Take care that older people and kids don't get too cool and don't have the cool air blowing onto them directly.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Jul 24, 2019 1:06:20 GMT
Cheery, I'm not sure about this, but I think the ac can be used as a dehumidifier when necessary. For instance, if you've had days of rain, but the temperature is okay, you can leave the ac running at a degree or two below the ambient temperature long enough to get the dampness out of the house. This will help justify the cost. Also, as Questa pointed out, these hot summers are projected to become the norm.
Kerouac, considering where your upstairs room is, I can well imagine the ac is sometimes necessary. Now that you have a new one plus good new insulation, it should be more cost effective as well.
|
|
|
Post by mich64 on Jul 24, 2019 2:33:50 GMT
We get about 3 - 4 weeks of heat in the summer...sometimes a little bit more, sometimes a little bit less Approximately 3 to 4 weeks here as well Cheery! Our home has no attic, it has a timbered roof, chalet style if that makes sense to you all. Therefore, the summer heat rises to our loft like bedroom. We were here only a couple of years before we decided to save all winter for an air conditioner installation. Although we probably only use it 15 to 20 times throughout the season, it is worth it on those nights! We also have a setting to take the humidity out, very appreciative of that feature when we get a week or so of high humidity. (We do like it when the heat rises to our bedroom in the winter months though!)
|
|
|
Post by bjd on Jul 24, 2019 6:12:49 GMT
When we bought this house (3 years ago) we changed the heating from little electric radiators to a reversible heating/cooling system. We almost never use the air conditioner, although last night we finally put it on for a few hours because inside the house was 27° and that's too hot to sleep.
What was appreciable was the fact that it took a lot of the damp out of the air. In fact there is a dehumidifying mode which is probably more useful than the a/c.
I realize that these heat spells are going to become more common but still try not to use a/c. I can't imagine it being of any use in England. Sometimes you just have to close your windows, use blinds or shutters, buy a fan, open when it cools down and wait it out. Or just buy a dehumidifier.
I spent years living in Toronto, where it gets very hot and humid in summer, then 32 years in Toulouse where it gets very hot in summer. We never had a/c although we occasionally considered it.
Not only does electricity consumption go up a lot when everyone has their a/c on, but I think cities in particular get even hotter. All that hot air blasting outside, people sitting in parked cars with the a/c running. We were in New York City one year in August and it was unbearable to walk on the street because the stores all had their doors open to attract customers but the a/c was blasting hot air out the vents at street level, plus the cars and buses on the street with their a/c on.
Mich, our son who lives on the Ottawa River has a little house with a sloping roof. It gets hot upstairs where the bedrooms are but he has installed a big fan which circulates the air. In winter it brings warm air upstairs.
|
|
|
Post by cheerypeabrain on Jul 24, 2019 9:35:53 GMT
Thanks for the advice, the humidity here is pretty nasty atm...we have a small dehumidifier but it's not very efficient, can manage very small spaces but isnt very good in a large room. We are giving youngest son our ceiling fan as his room gets very hot and he spends a lot of time up there, he has a free standing fan but the ceiling one really cools the whole room imo. Jeff set his heart on an a/c so I wouldn't be able to stop him buying one anyway. It arrives sometime today and he's very excited!
|
|
|
Post by whatagain on Jul 24, 2019 10:26:13 GMT
I think A/c should be forbidden if not coupled with solar panels. Clearly air CO is needed in hot weather when it is. Ery likely to have a lot of sun. Burning gas to create electricity to cool down is a heresy.
|
|
|
Post by bjd on Jul 24, 2019 11:04:18 GMT
Good idea, whatagain. With all the push for electric cars, electric bikes, etc. people tend to forget that the electricity has to be produced somehow. Not to mention recharging those large batteries.
We have solar panels for heating water, so basically don't pay to heat water between May and October. Our son has solar panels on his house, installed by the previous owner. Not only is there a long period when you pay for the system, but you can't actually use the electricity you produce -- it's fed into a local grid and redistributed. He told us that the newer contracts allow you to use your own electricity but the price EDF (Electricité de France) actually buys it from you is a lot lower than before.
That said, I think it's good that EDF tries to encourage people to produce solar power instead of running more nuclear-powered energy plants.
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Jul 24, 2019 11:38:04 GMT
I won't feel too guilty as long as 75% of French electricity is nuclear. But we are supposed to get down to 50% by 2035, with all new sources being solar, wind, tidal or hydro or maybe some new science fiction stuff.
|
|
|
Post by questa on Jul 24, 2019 12:26:44 GMT
South Oz has the highest roof top solar systems in Oz with 63% of power coming from solar and wind farms.
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Jul 24, 2019 12:56:06 GMT
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Jul 25, 2019 5:11:08 GMT
I guess I'll skip going to bed since it's already after midnight & I have to get up at three. *sigh*
|
|
|
Post by cheerypeabrain on Jul 25, 2019 12:05:19 GMT
Ouch...you off out somewhere nice then Bixa?
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Jul 25, 2019 16:41:47 GMT
I'm in the Dallas airport waiting for my connecting flight to scenic Lawton, Oklahoma. Jealous?
|
|
|
Post by cheerypeabrain on Jul 25, 2019 17:53:09 GMT
Coo...how exotic..Bixa ...International Woman of Mystery...
|
|
|
Post by questa on Jul 26, 2019 3:37:46 GMT
Nah...just the quarterly meeting of the Coven.
|
|
|
Post by cheerypeabrain on Jul 26, 2019 19:46:25 GMT
Gosh.... My niece's bf used to call my sisters and I 'the coven' Aside from sounding like 17 saucepans in a cement mixer the a/c came in handy last night. The bedroom was lovely and cool. Slept like a sleeping thing...excellent. (glad I'm deaf in one ear so that I could block out the noise tho)
|
|
|
Post by questa on Jul 27, 2019 1:42:40 GMT
Didn't you read the part in the instruction book that said " *22 - b ...xv...remove saucepans from cement mixer. If noise persists, look for saucepan # 18.
|
|
|
Post by cheerypeabrain on Jul 28, 2019 19:35:26 GMT
Brother in law died early hours of Thursday morning. Not exactly unexpected. He had COPD and was given a terminal diagnosis years agi, the medical team were astonished how long he survived. We had only spoken to him online and by phone for months as he didn't want visitors. I'll miss him.
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Jul 28, 2019 19:51:18 GMT
Difficult times. Condolences. Sometimes it gets better for everybody when it is finished.
|
|