P&O Cruisers - What are things like where YOU are?

[brian1]

37 minutes ago, Caullkhead said:

Well our new log burner is sitting in the hearth waiting to be installed, we need a new flue liner so who no when it’ll be. Our preferred chap can’t do it till sometime after Xmas hoping he’ll come & quote in the next week, have another who has given us a ball park figure going by our info we’ve given him, waiting for him to come & look in person  too, so this is Cornwall where everything is done dreckly, let’s face it we asked a plumber to quote for a new heating system 14 years later still waiting! ( we did get someone else in case you’re worried 🤣)  Our hob is bottled gas so no worries there, have loads of candles as my kids & dh keep buying me scented ones that last forever. We used to get power cuts all the time here, not so bad now though. 

That's the way to go.All the rage in Italy.Putin doesn't supply trees.

[yorkshirephil]

P&O new dry dock

[Ardennais]

I would recommend emergency lights. We installed most of them over 20 years ago and they still work, but not as bright as the new ones we installed after redoing the kitchen three years ago. I’ve tried to persuade my parents to get some too but in vain! 

[Eglesbrech]

4 hours ago, Harry Peterson said:

Overhead power lines probably  -  we get cuts on a fairly regular basis, and after long conversations with National Grid I’ve had to accept that they’re inevitable. You probably get them too?

 

More concerned at the contingency planning currently underway relating to possible 7 day outages this winter if things don’t go well. 4 hours on a rota basis can easily be worked round - 7 days less so!
 

Logs ordered for wood burner - it’s the only thing in the house that produces heat without electricity.  And a new Calor gas cylinder for the BBQ to cook with!

Yes from time to time, usually over the winter. We have battery candles in most of the rooms all year round which go on at a flick of a switch just in case. We are lucky to have a large high therm gas fire and gas oven so even if the power goes we have heat and a way to cook at least.

 

It is prudent for everyone to start making some small plans for potential power cuts. A few hours here and there would be fine but 7 days at a time would cause absolute chaos, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. 

 

I think there will be a lot of bbq cooking if this comes about.

 

You like me will remember the pre announced regular power cuts in the 70s. it actually fostered community spirit as people hosted others whose power was off, cooked meals etc as they did the cut offs in phases up here.
 

You would think by 2022 we would have secured our power sources better. My husband keeps threatening to put up a wind generator (he has a mini one which is just for fun and doesn’t seriously generate as such). All the new houses being built up here have to have solar panels in the roof, waste of time for most of the year but I suppose every little helps.

 

Glad you have your wood supply, at the first sign of power cuts the price will rise.

 

 

[zap99]

3 hours ago, kalos said:

A few years ago I bought a single burner camp stove with gas canister in it's own case ,ready 

for such emergencies but thankfully never needed to use it yet . I see places like Halfords 

still sell them for around £20 ,so not an expensive back up .

The Lancaster solar lamp I was telling you all about that can be charged via USB as well  is 

doing us proud . Only charged it once and that was weeks ago .It has 3 light settings that we

have not used ,we just have it in standby and it sits near the bathroom door emitting a 

moon light blue colour that acts as an emergency light , that will only operate in darkness , 

a dawn till dusk if you like . Very happy with it and thinking of buying another one  .

 Apart from our torches and big stash of tea lights and a couple of stove lighters  I think 

we are set for any power outages .

We cook with gas, so should be OK. We don't have a battery powered TV or Radio . DW is practicing talking at me in readiness.

[zap99]

3 hours ago, kalos said:

A few years ago I bought a single burner camp stove with gas canister in it's own case ,ready 

for such emergencies but thankfully never needed to use it yet . I see places like Halfords 

still sell them for around £20 ,so not an expensive back up .

The Lancaster solar lamp I was telling you all about that can be charged via USB as well  is 

doing us proud . Only charged it once and that was weeks ago .It has 3 light settings that we

have not used ,we just have it in standby and it sits near the bathroom door emitting a 

moon light blue colour that acts as an emergency light , that will only operate in darkness , 

a dawn till dusk if you like . Very happy with it and thinking of buying another one  .

 Apart from our torches and big stash of tea lights and a couple of stove lighters  I think 

we are set for any power outages .

We have a small appliance that keeps food warm using tea lights. It will heat soup up in about 30 mins. Must charge up the new elecrtic tea lights. Best to be prepared.🤔

[Snow Hill]

We have gone from there will be no power cuts this coming winter to planning for worst case scenario of 7 day outages. I suspect the 7 day outages would be born mainly by businesses. Can’t understand why power saving initiatives haven’t been introduced, other countries have done so, but not here. Perhaps businesses should take the initiative and ensure unnecessary lighting is switched off overnight including advertising signs. We stayed in a hotel during the summer which faced an office block, the lights in the offices were on all night even though no one was there. A lot can be done to cut usage in the coming months ahead.

 

As for planning for outages, we are all electric, apart from the heating, however if electricity goes off so does the central heating. We have a gas fire in the lounge which would provide heat and would rise into our bedroom which is directly above. 
 

We don’t have a BBQ, we got rid of the one we had about five years ago as we used it so infrequently and we want the space it took up on the patio. 
 

We have candles, a number of church style ones which last a long time, a couple of rechargeable camping lamps, 2 power blocks so we can keep our phones charged. We are having a decluttering exercise at the moment and we found an old Roberts DAB radio which operates on mains or batteries, so have ordered some batteries for it. 
 

We were considering solar panels with batteries and switching the gas fire to a wood burner, but in both cases it would be next year before they could be installed. 
 

On the plus side we received our notification of our winter fuel allowance today on top of the normal £100 each, the was an additional £150, half of the £300 household uplift, so in all £500 towards winter heating bills, assuming of course we are allowed to use it.

 

 

[Snow Hill]

34 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

Yes from time to time, usually over the winter. We have battery candles in most of the rooms all year round which go on at a flick of a switch just in case. We are lucky to have a large high therm gas fire and gas oven so even if the power goes we have heat and a way to cook at least.

 

It is prudent for everyone to start making some small plans for potential power cuts. A few hours here and there would be fine but 7 days at a time would cause absolute chaos, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. 

 

I think there will be a lot of bbq cooking if this comes about.

 

You like me will remember the pre announced regular power cuts in the 70s. it actually fostered community spirit as people hosted others whose power was off, cooked meals etc as they did the cut offs in phases up here.
 

You would think by 2022 we would have secured our power sources better. My husband keeps threatening to put up a wind generator (he has a mini one which is just for fun and doesn’t seriously generate as such). All the new houses being built up here have to have solar panels in the roof, waste of time for most of the year but I suppose every little helps.

 

Glad you have your wood supply, at the first sign of power cuts the price will rise.

 

 

Why are the solar panels a waste of time? 

[davecttr]

40 minutes ago, zap99 said:

We cook with gas, so should be OK. We don't have a battery powered TV or Radio . DW is practicing talking at me in readiness.

I have a gas cooker as well so should be OK for food, unless they cut the gas in which case it is the camping stove. Water might be cut too, don't panic, a bath full of water lasts a few days

[davecttr]

22 minutes ago, Snow Hill said:

We have gone from there will be no power cuts this coming winter to planning for worst case scenario of 7 day outages. I suspect the 7 day outages would be born mainly by businesses. Can’t understand why power saving initiatives haven’t been introduced, other countries have done so, but not here. Perhaps businesses should take the initiative and ensure unnecessary lighting is switched off overnight including advertising signs. We stayed in a hotel during the summer which faced an office block, the lights in the offices were on all night even though no one was there. A lot can be done to cut usage in the coming months ahead.

 

As for planning for outages, we are all electric, apart from the heating, however if electricity goes off so does the central heating. We have a gas fire in the lounge which would provide heat and would rise into our bedroom which is directly above. 
 

We don’t have a BBQ, we got rid of the one we had about five years ago as we used it so infrequently and we want the space it took up on the patio. 
 

We have candles, a number of church style ones which last a long time, a couple of rechargeable camping lamps, 2 power blocks so we can keep our phones charged. We are having a decluttering exercise at the moment and we found an old Roberts DAB radio which operates on mains or batteries, so have ordered some batteries for it. 
 

We were considering solar panels with batteries and switching the gas fire to a wood burner, but in both cases it would be next year before they could be installed. 
 

On the plus side we received our notification of our winter fuel allowance today on top of the normal £100 each, the was an additional £150, half of the £300 household uplift, so in all £500 towards winter heating bills, assuming of course we are allowed to use it.

 

 

I got my winter fuel notification too. £500 paid into my bank account sometime from November to January so you can use it on what you want. I have already had the first monthly £66 paid into my account from EDF. The gas people will not be giving me anything

[Eglesbrech]

19 minutes ago, Snow Hill said:

Why are the solar panels a waste of time? 

Lack of sun, much cloud cover and very limited daylight hours in the winter so they don’t produce / produce little for much of the year. Add to that the fact that given the level of wind, rain etc here they get dirty quite quickly which diminishes what they can do even more. 
 

Our neighbours have them and have also had issues with birds nesting under the panels causing a fire hazard. This doesn’t happen in new builds as they are properly fitted with the roof. Older properties have gaps which the birds exploit and the droppings further diminish the effectiveness of the panels.
 

As I said every little helps but solar and Scotland don’t naturally come to mind, now wind power we have in spades.

 

[pete14]

19 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

Lack of sun, much cloud cover and very limited daylight hours in the winter so they don’t produce / produce little for much of the year. Add to that the fact that given the level of wind, rain etc here they get dirty quite quickly which diminishes what they can do even more. 
 

Our neighbours have them and have also had issues with birds nesting under the panels causing a fire hazard. This doesn’t happen in new builds as they are properly fitted with the roof. Older properties have gaps which the birds exploit and the droppings further diminish the effectiveness of the panels.
 

As I said every little helps but solar and Scotland don’t naturally come to mind, now wind power we have in spades.

 

You can get netting installed to block the gap between the panels and the roof to stop birds going underneath the panels. Why they don’t fit it as standard when the panels are installed is a mystery. My elderly mother was persuaded to have panels fitted a few years ago and for the past couple of yours had pigeon problems. After much detective work, I finally managed to track down the company who ‘rents the space on her roof’ (they had changed name a few times) and they installed netting for her free of charge. They actually do reduce her electricity bills but not enough to persuade me to have them.

[Harry Peterson]

12 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

Lack of sun, much cloud cover and very limited daylight hours in the winter so they don’t produce / produce little for much of the year. Add to that the fact that given the level of wind, rain etc here they get dirty quite quickly which diminishes what they can do even more. 
 

Our neighbours have them and have also had issues with birds nesting under the panels causing a fire hazard. This doesn’t happen in new builds as they are properly fitted with the roof. Older properties have gaps which the birds exploit and the droppings further diminish the effectiveness of the panels.
 

As I said every little helps but solar and Scotland don’t naturally come to mind, now wind power we have in spades.

 

You’re right - location is everything with solar panels. We’re reasonably lucky here, and they’d fully repaid their cost around seven years after their installation in 2010 - but only because of the generous government subsidy at that time. 
 

They’re currently bringing in a couple of thousand pounds a year income, plus the savings on electricity. The house was designed very much with them in mind though, in the early 2000s. We had them cleaned earlier this year and it improved the output by around 20%!

[kalos]

1 hour ago, zap99 said:

We cook with gas, so should be OK. We don't have a battery powered TV or Radio . DW is practicing talking at me in readiness.

We shouldn't  joke about power outages .That's just dark humour

[pete14]

45 minutes ago, kalos said:

We shouldn't  joke about power outages .That's just dark humour

Perhaps we should look on the bright side of life instead 

[yorkshirephil]

17 minutes ago, pete14 said:

Perhaps we should look on the bright side of life instead 

 

[kalos]

26 minutes ago, pete14 said:

Perhaps we should look on the bright side of life instead 

 You're right, so I Just Googled "how to light a candle"

Now I've got 250 thousand matches

[Presto2]

Yeah, finally managed to log in to the site .. was beginning to take it personally!!

[Snow Hill]

3 hours ago, Eglesbrech said:

Lack of sun, much cloud cover and very limited daylight hours in the winter so they don’t produce / produce little for much of the year. Add to that the fact that given the level of wind, rain etc here they get dirty quite quickly which diminishes what they can do even more. 
 

Our neighbours have them and have also had issues with birds nesting under the panels causing a fire hazard. This doesn’t happen in new builds as they are properly fitted with the roof. Older properties have gaps which the birds exploit and the droppings further diminish the effectiveness of the panels.
 

As I said every little helps but solar and Scotland don’t naturally come to mind, now wind power we have in spades.

 

Forgot you were in Scotland, however Norway has a thriving solar power industry, what can Scotland learn from them.

 

https://www.wiersholm.no/en/newsletter/solar-power-in-the-land-of-the-midnight-sun

[twotravellersLondon]

10 minutes ago, Snow Hill said:

Norway has a thriving solar power industry, what can Scotland learn from them.

 

Lots possible if the country was about 1,000 km further north and could take advantage of the midnight sun and the 24 hours daylight in summer?

[kalos]

3 minutes ago, twotravellersLondon said:

 

Lots possible if the country was about 1,000 km further north and could take advantage of the midnight sun and the 24 hours daylight in summer?

 

Thank you for "shedding some light" on Scotland's problem 😉

[brian1]

12 minutes ago, twotravellersLondon said:

 

Lots possible if the country was about 1,000 km further north and could take advantage of the midnight sun and the 24 hours daylight in summer?

Doesn't it cancel out in the winter with no sun at all.

[twotravellersLondon]

1 minute ago, brian1 said:

Doesn't it cancel out in the winter with no sun at all.

 

No solar power... no extra leecy or hot water in summer or winter.

 

Solar power....about twice as much leecy and hot water in Norway compared to Scotland in summer.

So that's a bit of a win.

 

In summer, many modern Norwegian homes can run totally independent of the grid and have the capacity to use battery storage if it's a bit dull for a few hours.

 

 

Problems?

Average house in Norway... would probably take 15-20 years to recover the investment of solar panels. But... fit the panels and the house price will instantly increase by the same amount as it cost to install the panels.

 

Advantages?

Fit the panels using a Government subsidy... the house price still rises by the same amount and the Government subsidy is as good as money in the bank... more so if the homeowner is planning to sell. For a Norwegian home owner it's a win-win situation.

 

On top of that, it proclaims that the homeowner has cash to splash on being very, very green.

 

[yorkshirephil]

So sweet

[P&O SUE]

Hello all, sorry I missed your birthday Brian, hope you had a good one.

 

Lots of rain this week - very miserable! 
Our combined gas and electricity is £199 a month! Virtually doubled - although we are in credit by about £400! If we’re still in credit by the end of the winter I will be demanding they put it down!