Get a grip woman!

Suffolk_lass

How could I forget?! The oil came this morning - at 06.35, without the day's notice they promised. I had just taken pup out for his first thing ablutions and was still in my nightie! I had to get DH up as I had no idea about the lock on the tank. Turns out it is the same as the workshop. Apparently he did tell me (me, not listen!? ).

Needless to say, the towels are in on 95 degrees and the bedding will follow on 60. Then I think I will stick with cold water washes for our clothes. We only ever wash them on cold when away.

I am going to explore having some solar panels on the part of the roof that is not thatched.

themadvix

With the quiz, is there someone who isn't attending you could test the questions on? Someone you know who has decent general knowledge (and likes quizzes!) - it could even be over the phone. My Dad used to do this with me when he wrote and we put on quizzes for various organisations. I'd expect to get 50-70% right on most rounds (with the exception of sport usually!) - if I didn't, it was a sign that it was getting too difficult - most people's general knowledge isn't as good as those of us with good general knowledge think and usually you just one or two trickier questions per round to differentiate between the teams! I also found sometimes it needed a wider generational spread (my Dad's love of 'classic' films/older music for instance wasn't always stuff that a millennial would be familiar with, so I'd make him put in something from the last 20 years - now, I think even I'd be out of touch with some of the younger ones' knowledge).

Hooray to the oil delivery!

Suffolk_lass

I did check a large number of questions and weeded out lots of harder ones. I also asked things like, "what is the most expensive dress ever sold at auction?" I think a lot of people said it was the Princess Diana John Travolta dress but it was the Marilyn Monroe white pleated one from The Seven Year Itch (£5.2m having originally been bought by Debbie Reynolds for $200).

Yes oil. 30ppl less than my order I cancelled. 30p more than @trix-a-belle paid (probably) 

trix-a-belle

Any oil is better than none, well done on no penalties for the cancelled order & making a decent saving.

I got mine at 64ppl back at the end of Feb, oil club back giving prices again here at about 93/94ppl. I filled up my car on the same day I ordered the oil & am eeking that out as far as I can while its silly season around here, the last 2 years have really taught me to consolidate journeys and be anti social I probably use the car once or twice a week currently, I definitely don't miss my 300 miles a week habit when I had to go into the office every day.
I tend to unlock my tank when I order so I don't forget, not like an opportunist can steal much oil from a nearly empty tank. Despite me dipping my tank as well as having a watchman monitor I am still clueless on how big my tank definitely is (didn't think to ask & wasn't in the F&F form details or file of info when I moved in).

I'm glad you've added some reinforcement to pup to stop him slip sliding out of a collar.

Suffolk_lass

trix-a-belle said:

Any oil is better than none, well done on no penalties for the cancelled order & making a decent saving.

I got mine at 64ppl back at the end of Feb, oil club back giving prices again here at about 93/94ppl. I filled up my car on the same day I ordered the oil & am eeking that out as far as I can while its silly season around here, the last 2 years have really taught me to consolidate journeys and be anti social I probably use the car once or twice a week currently, I definitely don't miss my 300 miles a week habit when I had to go into the office every day.
I tend to unlock my tank when I order so I don't forget, not like an opportunist can steal much oil from a nearly empty tank. Despite me dipping my tank as well as having a watchman monitor I am still clueless on how big my tank definitely is (didn't think to ask & wasn't in the F&F form details or file of info when I moved in).

I'm glad you've added some reinforcement to pup to stop him slip sliding out of a collar.

If you want to measure it @trix-a-belle it's possible to determine from that. Our is quite a small one (but I figure it's enough if we are using less than 1000 litres a year) at 1200l. Also handy to know if it is plastic or steel and whether bunded (double skinned) or not. You could ask your boiler service man - they have to (health) check them if they recommission a turned off boiler so are well positioned for insight. Our old one was enormous and 2500l!

Suffolk_lass

Right. Time to explore solar a bit more:

Batteries
I've been looking at the difference a (Tesla battery) "Powerwall" might make - the difference in SEG is 10-12p per KWH via Octopus but they also pay 10p for un-stored. This is against capped consumer rates of iro 34pp KWH. The capital outlay to buy one (and an inverter, the device that can convert 12v to AC) may well be the difference between whether it is worth doing or not.

The differential in paying/being paid is huge and so alludes to needing your battery - it being the critical factor in storing and being able to use your own electricity, rather than buying it at commercial rates.

In terms of battery as part of your set up I think there are two aspects. You can store and use your own solar generated electricity at a later point if you have the batteries. Or, you can charge it up overnight on Economy 7 and then use that first during peak times to smooth the costs.

I have not attempted the maths yet in terms of capital outlay but the MSE article seems to list the price cap for the summer (and suggests a major increase approaching in October. It also says if you are home in the day (TMV!) they will pay for themselves more quickly. There is also chat about feeding in your stored battery charge at times of the day when the supplier is struggling to meet demand, so on some variable tariffs, this is a bit like matched betting with energy - you can buy it cheap and sell it for more. Hmm, more maths to check that out! 

trix-a-belle

Thanks, I thought i'd cracked it from measuring and comparing to ones for sale online, its a slimline plastic bunded which don't seem to be available over a certain size so limits things (but my now impression is that it is bigger than this figure hence the confusion). I ordered on the basis of what I thought I knew last time expecting them to not quite be able to fit the whole lot in but they did with a little bit of space spare.
I'll ask next time the boiler is done, a friend of my dad does it, he's lovely but not sure he'd know where to start

Next door only has an 800 or max 1000L (they bought after the house was complete so weren't able to request a size upgrade like they did on mine) which doesn't cover 12 months, & the pub only has 1000L which as you can imagine is highly problematic for them.

Karmacat

Wow!  It doesn't all coalesce inside my head at the moment, but I can tell you're on the ball with it, and logicking your way to a decision.  I think you're ahead of the curve here, I think there's going to be a real rush towards renewable energy of all sorts.

Suffolk_lass

DH has sold an exhaust system that was on one of his motorbikes. He bought three things - one for about a hundred, that is now on the bike, a heatshield for that system for £50  and then his mate who fitted it had to add a missing heatshield, missing gaskets and labour (another £120) - so £270 for what is on the bike. The thing he sold is the one that was removed from the same bike - sold for £170. He also bought a working speedometer and has fitted that (£40) himself. It was a used one and versus the factory price of £350 for a new one.

The other thing he bought for £26 in error, (wrong model) but is going to sell that too and hopes to offset the other £140 spent. He seems to think it was very much a bargain as it was not accurately described and may be worth a lot more than he paid. 

He is unsure about what to do re mileage as the speedo is no longer reflecting the mileage of the bike. It is an electronic device so not a screwdriver adjustment. He has taken pictures of the before and after mileage so we know what the disparity adjustment should be and I think he is hoping the MOT guy can help. Bizarrely it doesn't seem to be something that has to be reported to DVLA (he says). I may need to check that...

themadvix

Not sure about the legality of the mileage, although I think the rule is that as long as you aren't deceiving anyone (i.e. when you sell it), it's OK. We reset the Mini's mileage when we rebuilt the car, but Mr MV has a record of what it was. It was a manual job - we passed it around the family when our fingers got cramp!