Preparedness for when

pineapple

I think whether or not a water meter could effect your house price depends on the size of your house. If it's family size and the new occupants are going to be 3 or more, it could well be a factor in their decision.
As for combis a new one might indeed be better. Though the current one is a decent make and serviced annually. I had the same problem in the previous house. A plumber once told me that the time taken for the water to heat up depended on the length of run between the tap and the boiler. But I live in the teeniest house possible... :huh:
I need to do a cost v benefit calculation because new boilers are expensive. Maybe I should apply for a meter and hope that they can't fit it! :rotfl:
Interesting article here - includes calculator.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/jan/31/water-meter-installation-affects-you
Edit: Weather here in Pennine Yorkshire pretty good with a forecast of snow Sunday into Monday.

[Deleted User]

CAKE so glad you have a new kittie to play with, love Jeeves as a name enjoy him!!!!! Cheers Lyn xxx.

GreyQueen

Morning all.

Well, food is well-stocked, prescription filled, bug out bag double-checked and all is well.

Re water meters, I inherited one with this flat and it means I pay less than 1/5th of rateable value (under £100 p.a as opposed to £500 p.a.). I have to work about 2.5 weeks to get £400 in the bank so it's well worth it to me.

Pops, have you definately been told, and told recently, that your HA landlord won't allow water meters to be installed? Our council allows this, although in a minority of flats, the water board can't divide the supply and then there is an option for Assessed Charges, as another poster has already noted. All new builds have to have water meters so they're becoming more common. I could quite easily see the situation where the Govt made water metering mandatory.

At my previous home I had a gas combi which was over a decade old and it didn't run much tepid water out of the hot tap before it was scalding hot. So much so, that in the kitchen (boiler was 4 feet from the sink) I used to just catch all the flow into the washing-up bowl as once the water was being heated it would quickly become too hot, even with rubber gloves on.

And don't forget flushing the WC in your list of water uses, it's the biggest one by far.

Re gas stoves, I have an older model Parkinson C0wan which isn't wired into the electrics but has an auto ignition sparked by an AA battery which is in the pan compartment under the oven. The first battery lasted me about 6 years. Mum has a Cann0n gas stove of a similar vintage and hers has to be plugged into the socket for its ignition to work.

Because of the limitations of the availability of sockets, she chooses to light it with one of those sparker wands. Make is Culin.are, I think. They sell for about £4.99 but the one she has now I got in a c.s. for £1 unused sealed in it's packet. They last 2-3 years at hers but, like me, she has the teakettle on the stove, so it gets a lot of use.

Re prepping for a possible outage during the day, I recall a post from an American blogger whose home (an apartment) was due to be on the edge of the superstorm sandy track, and he had reasonable suspicions that he might be facing a prolonged power outage as well as storm damage.

He itemised his preps; going to the communal laundry room to make sure all his clothes etc were washed. Cleaning house esp vacuuming. He was prepping on what was normally his grocery shopping day, so he didn't purchase new fridge-dependant groceries, and had run down what was already in there. He removed his garden furniture from his balcony (prudent, as neighbours' stuff blew away) and stocked up on bottled water, batteries and shelf-stable food.

As it happened, the storm barely clipped his town but he was pleased that he had positioned his household as best as possible, given several days warning.

I'm out for several hours a day so wouldn't be making a flask to standby at home but I do put enough water for a cuppa into the teakettle at bedtime, so that I can have a cuppa (without dipping into the bottled supplies) if the water is off first thing. We had one of our regular water main ruptures in the 'hood last week.

Well, time to prep on. My mission is to enrol in a first aid course as my cert is well-expired.

pineapple

I'll pass on those things you put in your toilet cistern to reduce the water flush. I have a small modern loo with a kidney shaped cistern and dear me, I barely get enough water to flush an 'average output' anyway! :mad:. But a funny story from when I was a sheltered housing warden. I noticed that an overflow was running and found that the tenant had heard that if you put a plastic bottle in your cistern, you could save water. The only problem was - she had wedged the ball c*ck down thus ensuring that the cistern was constantly refilling up to the level of the overflow :rotfl:.

Confuzzled

VJsmum wrote: »

The children's book and film "The Hunger Games" is based on that very premise - a US split into regions, with no /few modern day resources except for the very priveliged few, who just happen to run the country.

the hunger games books are a definite must read, the movie was sooo shallow it barely gave the most important things a cursory airing, but the books really make you think about resourcefulness and the motivation to survive. it also really shows our modern societies 'values' and makes you consider how shallow, impractical and sometimes downright vicious and sickening it can be. can't praise this series highly enough :T

Confuzzled

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

I have a very sensible book that was published in 1975, it is The Survival Handbook by Michael Allaby that covers just that situation and gives practical instruction about everything ...

Have just had a quick look on E*ay and there are currently 4 copies of this listed if anyone is interested, Lyn x.

i just found it on amazon, used for 1p plus £2.80 postage, just so happens i had £3.50 in amazon vouchers via topcashback so i used that and got it for free! thanks for the recommendation :T

oh there are a few more left at that price and a few more for not much more than that too if anyone is interested http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/0330248138/ref=dp_olp_used_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=used

[Deleted User]

Hi CONFUZZLED I hope you find it useful, it is certainly practical, well done for getting it for free, lets hope we never need to use it in anger, but good to know we have it just in case, Cheers Lyn xxx.

High_Lander

herbily wrote: »

Yes, still available - start with "The Weathermonger", I think it's the best of the three - about two children who rescue an American "witch" - Britain has gone back to the middle ages, and anyone who deals with modern technology is accused of witchcraft, so they have to get him somewhere safe. Great story, and a really quick read.:)

Wow - I remember those! Excellent stories, will have to get them for my kids

2tonsils

Had storms most of the night and no internet at all this morning, it came back at 3pm after my second text to the technician lol.

Just had a nasty fall when I slipped on the washed kitchen floor tiles, put my hand out to stop me hitting my head on the coffee table so now have a sore right hand, a very bruised and sore left knee and a wrenched left shoulder. For a minute I thought I had dislocated it but I can move it, albeit with a lot of pain, I think I have torn the muscle......anti inflammatory tablets taken and pain killing cream rubbed in. I have arnica oil on my bruised knee.

Think I may need a few weeks to repair this one........if its any worse overnight I may take myself to the casualty department tomorrow to have it checked out.

Now its stopped raining its gone really cold...but the fire is burning bright and the whole house smells of olive wood and baking bread.....lovely. Blimey....is that the sun I see? There is no warmth in it though.

We have a water meter and for a big house like this its cheap ...I just paid 40 euros for 18 months as they had not sent me a bill. If we use the water storage tank under the house (its full of rain water) it would cost me more than that to use the electric pump to pump it into the house system.

Sounds like most of you will get rain then snow over Sunday and Monday...its looking very cold on the forecasts for you. Stay warm and safe folks.

pineapple

2tonsils you need to lay off the gin! :rotfl: