"Isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it."

greenbee

I work base on the annoyance factor @rtandon27 I did pretty much nothing from when I moved in until spring other than move in, rearrange everything, and work out what was most annoying (and try to get the heating sorted). Initially getting the place clean was the biggest challenge (and I had help from some MSEers too - one of whom hoovered up several spaniels-worth of dog hair, and another two of whom helped de-spider the garage and get all the unwanted curtains and blinds catalogued and packed up). 

Plumbing and electrics are the worst bits - so disruptive and messy. I'm going to talk to the heating engineer who is coming to fix the cold water pressure reducing valve about changing some radiators and pipework, and then the electricians who did the solar about some additional work. While the work done by the previous lot was OK, they both drove me nuts - so I'm going to see whether these are better options. Flooring, plastering, and decorating I have fantastic people for. I'll need to find a more experienced carpenter at some point too. I want to have the house finished enough that I can enjoy it, have friends to stay or just relax with the moggies and not be thinking about things that annoy me.

Having said that, the garden is (mostly) fun. Not essential. 

I'm also very lucky that my mum's cleaner and gardener/handyman both agreed to come and work for me even though I'm out of their usual area. I don't think I'd have coped without them, so have to be VERY nice to them. Unlike the DPD driver who once again ignored my safe place request (I do wonder whether they actually get them) and interrupted my meeting. I appear not to have left the door open long enough for him to get his photo (it would honestly be quicker to sign) as the parcel has been taken away to the local amazon collection point. Which I think I might use for future DPD deliveries as I'm getting fed up with them - I prefer Amazon's 'dump it in the porch and run' approach. 

WBB parcel due for collection shortly - hopefully they'll spot it on the porch. Not much, but stuff out and cash in. 

Better have a shower and get myself presentable for work. After freezing the beans and the pulses I cooked this morning (I have chickpeas in the SC now to make the most of the solar). 

Battery seems to recharge by around midday, at which point my export rate picks up dramatically. 

greenbee

Today's fun has been realising (when the plumber came to replace a cold water pressure reducing valve) that the main stopcock is now where the TA6 form says it is (which I know I knew but have done nothing about as it will involve taking the kitchen and possibly the utility room apart to find the rising main), and that we can't find the water meter (so a call to the water company is in order). While looking for the water meter two neighbours went past and told me that my vendors were far too sensible to have hidden the stopcock. I beg to differ... 

I'm currently waiting for 1pm to turn on the WM and top up my battery from the grid as Octopus are offering me 'free' electricity. Although I'm not sure how I'll be able to use it as I don't think I can import and export at the same time, and I'm currently generating quite a lot of energy. I'd like a big cloud to come over for an hour please! However, the weather apps suggest that it won't be obliging (which is presumably why the electricity is so cheap then). 

badmemory

The solar here is barely running the basics today as it is wet & dull.  I don't think I have ever paid this much attention to the weather!

greenbee

I'm looking forward to slowly replacing my appliances with smart ones when they reach end of life. Ones that will also know what the electricity is costing and adapt their behaviour accordingly!

We got the whole house hoovered, a load of laundry done, the DW run, and as I had a shower I ran the extractor in the bathroom (as well as opening the window), put the towel rail on for the hour, and used my hair dryer. I expect to have saved about 50p, but it all adds up!

themadvix

Lol, sounds like my ridiculous efforts to use ‘all the electrics’ to be over the generation and battery power! I too, am fresh from a middle of the day electric shower and have hoovered, baked and used the WM!

greenbee

Next time I plan to discharge the battery earlier in the day. I'm now eating salad as it's raining and overcast and there's no generation... and I was in a meeting while I was doing the peak rate discharge so I'm slightly lower on battery than I normally would be at this time of day! Hopefully it'll last through to the morning. I think I imported about 2.5 kWh if that (I temporarily set a 1p rate for 1-2pm and turned on 'import from grid' so at least the battery wasn't trying to power the house, but there was far too much solar generation heading out to give me much opportunity to charge. So MUCH more planning needs to go into the next session - stuff prepped to go into the oven, anything that needs to use the dryer washed earlier in the day on the solar, battery 50% discharged (if the weather forecast suggests that there will be sun afterwards to top it up if it doesn't pull from the grid). All devices on charge and any batteries. But I'm really not generally a high consumer of electricity - particularly at this time of year!

The porch and cart shed have now all been treated with oil, so won't need maintenance for a few years. They look much better. Apparently the wood was incredibly dry and soaked up far more than originally expected. The decorator isn't back now until December, so I'm going to have to do at least the new wood on the shed and summerhouse myself. Or persuade my gardener to do it! It needs to be done by the end of September. But tomorrow he's scything the long grass that will need doing to avoid the tree surgeons trampling it and making it impossible to mow. And I need to get up early to do some pruning or grass cutting and fill the garden waste bins as I really object to them going out with space in them - and it's raining now, so I can't do much about it at the moment (I did put them out, as I certainly don't want to miss a collection).

Lots of space in the ordinary bin, so will get rid of more broken loft boards and bits of underlay/carpet on Monday. And I need to keep working on filling the third freezer (should have added more ice today during free electricity time) as that should make it more efficient. 

greenbee

Did better on Sunday's free hour of electricity, and am busy planning for tomorrow's (when it looks like it'll be wind-driven power not solar, so more valuable for me as I won't be trying to exceed my solar generation!).

Bin went out today with lots of stuff from the garage in it, and I also sold a kitchen wall cabinet (taken out of the garage to make room for the battery) on FB marketplace. I think I need to relist some of the other stuff and see whether it gets anymore interest. 

Carpenters still haven't finished the sheds and summerhouse and I'm getting very bored of them turning up, doing an hour's work, and disappearing. I just want it finished so that I can get the painting done (gardener has agreed to do it), and have them all weather-proof for autumn. 

Car is booked in for it's MOT. And I've sent off an enquiry about some scything tuition. I really MUST do my tax return over the bank holiday and pay the electricians bill (overdue, but they took weeks to generate it) so I can work out how much money I actually have left in the house-fixing fund. 

badmemory

Can you not force charge during the free period?  

A word of advice do not change your meter.  I had to change mine as I needed a smart one.  The meter may be smart but the fitter wasn't.  It is now going berserk.  The solar filled the battery after the co did a fiddle but the house won't use the battery or the solar.  At least when we are exporting we are not using from the grid but as soon as we use anything larger than the export it uses completely from the grid.

greenbee

I already have a smart meter, so don't have this issue. It sounds like you need your installer to come back and fix it. I can force a charge during the free period BUT if I'm exporting solar it can't import from the grid at the same time. So you have to be using more than you are generating. 

themadvix

badmemory said:

Can you not force charge during the free period?  

A word of advice do not change your meter.  I had to change mine as I needed a smart one.  The meter may be smart but the fitter wasn't.  It is now going berserk.  The solar filled the battery after the co did a fiddle but the house won't use the battery or the solar.  At least when we are exporting we are not using from the grid but as soon as we use anything larger than the export it uses completely from the grid.

That sounds like an inverter settings issue to me. Don’t ask me what, but it’s possibly something that your installation company can fix remotely or you may even be able to change the settings in the app yourself.