The problem is that there's a weird thing in the UK and EU where (crudely) the unit price is based on the most expensive production route at any given time, so even if there's enough energy for 90% of the UK from wind and sunshine it gets charged at the same price as the gas-generated stuff...
I'm with Octopus. They're great. In fact, they're one of the few suppliers at the moment who if you go to try to switch will actually suggest you're probably better off financially staying put right now. I really get the feeling that they want to provide a service, rather than just take my money...
Tungsten was definitely a step backwards in terms of reliability.
Halogen more so.
CFL was a stopgap solution.
I have every expectation some of my LED lights will last well over 20 years.
Also my three bed semi with every light on including the floods in the garden uses under 300W. I'm willing...
When we were renting and moving house every couple of years, I had a big box of lightbulbs, and on moving day I'd take out all my CFLs and LED bulbs and put back all the tungsten and halogen ones that were there when we arrived on my way out, then walk into the new place and put them in, putting...
I ran neutrals to my upstairs switches from the loft. Pulling 3C+E with T+E worked perfectly for all but one which it turns out ran through a couple of really tight holes drilled through the stud frame.
Some choice words were uttered when the tape snapped, but on the bright side I'm now a lot...
Hm. Given the feed in tariff is about to vanish I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of questionable companies are throwing out as many installs as they can to clear stock and get their cheques from the government before they quietly dissolve the company and swan off to pastures new!
My limited understanding was that the fuse was there in case the fan gets installed and then forgotten about for 5 years, at which point the motor is trying to spin blades covered in ming and overheating. So more overcurrent failure than electronic in mind, but I can see your point.
My Xpelair...
I looked at openhab, but I try to keep the custom code and hardware to a minimum, otherwise you quickly get into a situation where no-one else has a chance of understanding your system if you're away. I went for Smartthings as it supports Zigbee and Zwave out of the box, so for most of the stuff...
I got the smart lights bug when we bought our place after renting for ages. I tend to prefer LIFX lights to Phillips as I've got great wifi coverage and they don't need their own hub, but you pays your money and you takes your choice on that, to some extent. I've also got a Smartthings hub...
It's a 6ft vertical right by the door to the hallway. It looks lovely, it's just (to my mind) in the wrong place. Can't easily be altered as the room was knocked through into the dining room and it's the wrong side of the old wall (also the cause for the lack of heat - two radiators out, only...
Thanks guys. The Nest/IFTTT would be setup by me, it's not hard. Basically:
If: Nest temperature drops below 17
Then: Switch on kitchen heater
If: Nest temperature goes above 21
Then: Switch off kitchen heater
or similar.
Thanks for the links to other heaters. The problem she's having is...
Don't bite my head off...
My mother-in-law has recently had her kitchen redone, and has realised now it's autumn that she needs more heat in there. As it would involve ripping everything up to run pipes for another radiator on the opposite wall to the existing one, she's looking at a...
DJ-OG - noted. Mine tend to be fairly reliable, but I should definitely factor in ease of reset.
Thanks Westy, that was what I thought, but good to have confirmation.
Me again, with another question which I fear will become more common as Smart Home technology becomes more popular.
Lighting isolation: is it a requirement to have a switch which breaks the live circuit close to the light?
Background: I've got some smart bulbs which I can turn 'on' and 'off'...
Just in case anyone stumbles across this, Hikvision and Dahua were both the subject of massive security vulnerabilities built into their camera software: Dahua, Hikvision IoT Devices Under Siege — Krebs on Security - https://krebsonsecurity.com/2017/03/dahua-hikvision-iot-devices-under-siege/ -...
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