Rogues' Gallery.......

[Dieselman 63]

No fun tidying up somebody else’s mistakes, especially when they can be avoided

Neighbours never show up most of the year as they have a holiday home out the back down a tree-lined drive. The trees cause all sorts of havoc to them including one which appears to have been severely rammed by a vehicle and is on a serious lean!

Anyhow around Easter I see him out the side doing some tree work on a large limb up a ladder with a carpenter's panel saw cutting straight from the top... I went over and said I've got a bow saw if you want to use it, and do remember to cut from the bottom so it doesn't tear etc etc... yeah yeah I know I've done it this way before.

Crash. Man is fine, ladder on ground, big limb on ground, massive tear all down the tree. I have the chainsaw but due to his prior attitude it's his mess, he can clear it up, with a panel saw, must have been about 4-6" dia, poor tree

The same people get funny about the conifer hedge at the back of the garden which is a good 20ft high at least, 'it's getting out of hand'. If you think it's getting out of hand, you're more than welcome to get a machine in to trim the top... Oh I see, you want US to get the machine in!

 

[eLuSiVeMiTe]

Neighbours never show up most of the year as they have a holiday home out the back down a tree-lined drive. The trees cause all sorts of havoc to them including one which appears to have been severely rammed by a vehicle and is on a serious lean!

Anyhow around Easter I see him out the side doing some tree work on a large limb up a ladder with a carpenter's panel saw cutting straight from the top... I went over and said I've got a bow saw if you want to use it, and do remember to cut from the bottom so it doesn't tear etc etc... yeah yeah I know I've done it this way before.

Crash. Man is fine, ladder on ground, big limb on ground, massive tear all down the tree. I have the chainsaw but due to his prior attitude it's his mess, he can clear it up, with a panel saw, must have been about 4-6" dia, poor tree

The same people get funny about the conifer hedge at the back of the garden which is a good 20ft high at least, 'it's getting out of hand'. If you think it's getting out of hand, you're more than welcome to get a machine in to trim the top... Oh I see, you want US to get the machine in!

Always enjoyed reducing big conifer hedges.
Once you've got your initial cuts in place on a big hedge like that you can pretty much walk on top with care

 

[Dieselman 63]

Always enjoyed reducing big conifer hedges.
Once you've got your initial cuts in place on a big hedge like that you can pretty much walk on top with care

Or even drive

http://i.stuff.co.nz/oddstuff/3070920/High-rider-trims-his-hedge

 

[selectedgrub]

Pushrod,
Burt Munro smiles.

 

[Dieselman 63]

Pushrod,
Burt Munro smiles.

I met a guy the other day whose dad lived two doors down from Burt. He would happily lend tools, the guy said his dad had a Massey power hammer and would make bits for Burt on on it as he could get them to size by sight, very skilled. Apparently he was a genuinely nice guy with a shed full of modified motorbike bits.

 

[tflnemesis]

We have just had western power out as we lost all electricity but nothing had tripped..

Very nice man turned up, tested a few things and said "Well it's looking like it might be in here." and tapped the main fuse holder. Everything came on!

After some investigation he found that the guys who fitted the smart meter 6 months ago had bent one of the fuse holder pins and it could have come loose any time . Old style Fuse holder apparently with split pins, one half had been mashed over to a right angle. Electrician said he probably just didn't line it up properly.
He had some interesting PPE especially for the 11KV work he sometimes has to do.

Hope he didn't mind me hovering whilst he was in there and answering all my questions but I like to learn about stuff .

 

[Cobbler]

I had a similar experience a couple of weeks ago, have changed suppliers & had to take a meter reading. I noticed on the companies fuse, the insulation on the tail had burnt back & the live conductor was bare for about 1/2". Rang Western Power & reported it, classed as an emergency call out. When the engineer came he found the clamping screw loose, last person in there, smart meter man! Apparently they've had more than a few problems with the fitting of them.

Smart meter is a waste of time as well, new supplier can't access it, I have to give monthly reading.

 

[ibrooks]

Smart meter is a waste of time as well, new supplier can't access it, I have to give monthly reading.

Apparently that's just the first generation ones - the second generation will work for a new supplier.

SO WHY THE F**** DID THEY BOTHER WITH THE OLDER ONES?????

GRRRRRR!!!!!

Guess which I too was tricked into having installed - if I'd known then what I do now I'd have told them to stuff it until they could put a Gen2 one in.

 

[Seadog]

I'm going to hang on to the bitter end before I have one of those fitted. You'll probably end up paying more. They measure kVA not kW, so are measuring actual power, taking into account the power factor. If you've a perfect installation, your power factor is 1, your kW = kVA , which means you'll pay the same. You'd need to be running just incandescent lamps and electric fires for a figure of 1, unless you have power factor correction, which you won't have. Also, they are monitoring constantly so will build a picture of your power usage. Somewhere along the line, they'll decide that since certain times have a greater demand, they'll increase the price. the possibilities for charging more are endless. On top of that, they can remotely disconnect you, should they so choose.
The accuracy is also in doubt - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...giving-readings-seven-times-high-study-finds/

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Is it 1984 already?

 

[Gritineye]

Bit at the bottom of that article..

Update: Since the publication of this article BEAMA, the trade association which represents manufacturers of smart meters, has been in touch to say that none the smart meters tested in the study are part of the UK's official smart meter roll out.

I intend to be the last person in UK to have one fitted, me no trusty thingy..

 

[Seadog]

I intend to be the last person in UK to have one fitted, me no trusty thingy..

No, I'll be the last person

 

[skotl]

No, I'll be the last person

I'm Spartacus/Brian/last!

 

[ajlelectronics]

I'm Spartacus/Brian/last!

Starting to sound like The Onedin Line!

 

[rtbcomp]

I'm going to hang on to the bitter end before I have one of those fitted. You'll probably end up paying more. They measure kVA not kW, so are measuring actual power, taking into account the power factor. If you've a perfect installation, your power factor is 1, your kW = kVA , which means you'll pay the same. You'd need to be running just incandescent lamps and electric fires for a figure of 1, unless you have power factor correction, which you won't have. Also, they are monitoring constantly so will build a picture of your power usage. Somewhere along the line, they'll decide that since certain times have a greater demand, they'll increase the price. the possibilities for charging more are endless. On top of that, they can remotely disconnect you, should they so choose.
The accuracy is also in doubt - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...giving-readings-seven-times-high-study-finds/

They can electronically compensate for power factor on the fly. I have one of those plug-in monitors that displays power factor.

 

[WorkshopChris]

I intend to be the last person in UK to have one fitted, me no trusty thingy..

No, I'll be the last person

Well that make 3 of us but i have a feeling at some point a non smart meter will end up billing at a higher base rate, similar to the peak rate unit cost's the smart meters will be at.

 

[Dieselman 63]

One I walk past every day @eLuSiVeMiTe job well done?

 

[mrsbruce]

I had a similar experience a couple of weeks ago, have changed suppliers & had to take a meter reading. I noticed on the companies fuse, the insulation on the tail had burnt back & the live conductor was bare for about 1/2". Rang Western Power & reported it, classed as an emergency call out. When the engineer came he found the clamping screw loose, last person in there, smart meter man! Apparently they've had more than a few problems with the fitting of them.

Smart meter is a waste of time as well, new supplier can't access it, I have to give monthly reading.

When we had the smart meter fitted, the fitters couldn’t get the gas warm air heater/water heater to relight. After they left, I checked the heater. Well, they got the water heater lit, but obviously had never seen a warm air heater before, and had either accidently left the heating burner off, or just couldn’t work the unit.

I wouldn’t have minded, but when I saw they were struggling, I offered to switch them on for them. The man refused, and was obviously happy to leave the job half done, rather than let a mere women check everything was ok.

I had a meter readef apoear at my door a couple of weeks ago. She told me that the smart meters weren’t sending in proper readings so our supply company were having to send out meter readers. One household have had only estimated bills for almost a full year. She actually reccommended either sending in monthly readings, or just calling Scottish Power up, and getting the smart meter removed.

 

[skotl]

One I walk past every day @eLuSiVeMiTe job well done?

That's gotta be homemade rather than a tradesman, naw?

 

[Dieselman 63]

That's gotta be homemade rather than a tradesman, naw?

Probably used fenceposts is my guess since wet, milled timber is hard to find... it’ll be impregnated with copper sulphate so whilst a bad finish, super durable!