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Industrial action to the national grid
Comments
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The alarms go off around here when we have a power cut, it's a pain in the harris as most people are at work so can't switch them off so they go on forever.
If you have a power cut and are in the house how do you switch the alarm off, I would have thought the controls were electric?
Can you tell we haven't got an alarm, haven't got much worth nicking although we do have full contents insurance just in case. It's amazing how many people haven't.
I'd be more worried actually at HAVING a lot of burglar alarms in the area - than them going off. My thoughts would be "Whatever sort of area do I live in to have so many burglar alarms up on nearby houses?:eek:" (unless it was obvious - because one could see clearly that the houses were pretty darn luxurious by anyone's standards...). I have travelled through an area of Britain where even first-time buyer little houses had a rash of burglar alarms up on them - and that would worry the pants off me wondering how many burglars were trying to make their living in MY area:eek: ...
If anyone hasnt got full insurance - whatever area they live in - then more fool them - so good on you for having the sense to do so.
What would be the point of striving to get all the material "goodies" necessary in life - if one darn incident could mean the loss of them all? (ie because of not being in a position to put in the necessary insurance claim to get things back to normal again).0 -
There is no reason for this to happen, other than people are too lazy to maintain their systems!.The alarms go off around here when we have a power cut, it's a pain in the harris as most people are at work so can't switch them off so they go on forever.
If you have a power cut and are in the house how do you switch the alarm off, I would have thought the controls were electric?
In most modern alarms there is a rechargable back up battery, which 'backs up' the entire system during a power failure or an intruder simply removing power to the system (which defeats the point of it). If the outside alarm sounds during a power cut then it means that the control panel has gone off, and is no longer able to send a voltage signal to the outside bell box, which then causes the siren to sound from its own internal battery pack, because the bell box assumes that because the voltage from the control panel has vanished, that the wires between them have been cut and so sounds the siren continuously as an anti-tamper measure.
Because the main alarm panel is 'dead' through loss of power and no back up battery, it cannot be reset by entering a code. The only way of stopping this is to either re-introduce power to the main control panel or get your ladders out, open the bell box and remove the small battery pack from within that unit.
Or better still, tell those guilty of it to pony up £10 - £15 for a new back up battery in the control panel. Which pretty much means that the alarm will continue to operate as normal (and even remain 'armed' if you are out) without any mains power being present for anything between 6 hours and 2 days, and this control panel battery will also continue to supply the voltage needed for the outside box which means the siren won't go off, and there is no fall in the degree of protection which the alarm system is offering to the property.
People fit (or have fitted) Alarm systems thinking that they don't need routine maintenance. They do!. These gel or lead acid back up batteries in the alarm panels last for between 2 and 3 years, before they start to deteriorate and no longer hold a full charge. This happens even if they are not used!.
If the battery isn't fitted or has aged to the point where it simply doesn't keep a healthy charge, then a non stop siren is the best you can expect. This will continue for either the full duration of the power failure or until the built in battery in the bell box goes flat (which can be minutes or several hours).
So if there is a lot of these in your area, and if the outages go ahead, then you may want to consider a set of ear plugs in your emergency power outage plan!.
As a sidenote, I can't imagine this power outage happening or being long in duration. Just think of the loss of revenue to the G'ment from all of those petrol stations not being able to dispense this luvvly tax £'s due to their pumps and tills being off."Dont expect anybody else to support you, maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you have a wealthy spouse, but you never know when each one, might run out" - Mary Schmich0 -
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You have to get your priorities right don't you?
Net and chocolate bliss
Absolutely, not much point in stocking up with a load of flour if you have no working oven to make the bread in.
Got some half price chocolate caramels in Morrisons today
As regards low voltage, we had that for several hours the other day and believe me you won't see much if all your lighting is dimmed. Fortunately we had it through the day and not at night time.
A decent alarm system and approved locks can reduce the your insurance premiums, small or large house.0 -
Owain Moneysaver thanks for the info. We have a combi boiler so was curious about how we could keep it going.
We have a generator and it needs some maintenance but it would depend on a supply of petrol and if there is no electric then the petrol stations will be shut.
I have several very large pans which I have used in an emergency to heat bath water on the gas cooker.
I also keep candles and matches along with glass candle jars so they are a bit safer than an open candle. We have needed them in the last few weeks as there was a problem down the road in underground wiring so the electric often tripped off.
You can make flat breads in a frying pan. They would do in an emergency.0 -
o0 Coincidentallly we lost power on my block yesterday for 6 hours so had a bit of a dry run, dug out my UPS from when I lived in dodgier parts of the world and was able to confirm internet and heater controls both work fine when hooked up to it... between that and the laptop was able to hop online and work out who to call out in my part of the country. With someone from UK Power Networks on the case I passed up cracking into the ample supplies of food I could have prepared on my gas hob and instead opted to pop round the corner for a nice sunday roast at the pub
Power was back on within 6 hours just as it was getting dark.
No worries 0 -
This is just a storm in a tea cup.
Its a simple case of posturing by the Unions and management.
There are several unions within National Grid.
Unite,Prospect and a few others represent mainly administrative and managerial staff.
The actual front line of the industry i.e Engineering staff,are largely represented by the GMB,who as far as i know,are not in dispute.
It is worth remembering that National Grid is simply an energy delivery infrastructure company.
That is to say on a basic level it owns the wires and pipes that distribute electric and gas.
It does not own the electric and gas which flows through that infrastructure and does not set gas or electric prices.
That is between the power and gas companies and OFGEM.
It is highly unlikely that the dispute will amount to any threats to power and gas supplies.Feudal Britain needs land reform. 70% of the land is "owned" by 1 % of the population and at least 50% is unregistered (inherited by landed gentry). Thats why your slave box costs so much..0 -
sense at last!0
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In that case , great. Let's all use it as a training exercise in case it ever really does happen 0
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C_Mababejive wrote: »
It is worth remembering that National Grid is simply an energy delivery infrastructure company.
That is to say on a basic level it owns the wires and pipes that distribute electric and gas.
It does not own the electric and gas which flows through that infrastructure and does not set gas or electric prices.
That is between the power and gas companies and OFGEM.
It is highly unlikely that the dispute will amount to any threats to power and gas supplies.
Not sure how you work out your last sentence - ngc are the electricity grid operators, and without them, you have no electricity supply at all.0
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