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Why are my radiators not hot?

Posted on by Al

I’m not proud about this one and feel rather stupid but I’m going to share it anyway – it may help someone avoid falling foul of the same stupidity that I did.

I’ve seen adverts (by British Gas I think) whereby the elderly lady is getting help to save energy over the phone and she follows the instruction and turns down her boiler. I internalised this and one summers day turned down my boiler. You can see where this is going can’t you?

So the following winter my radiators weren’t hot and I was scratching my head. I checked the hot water cylinder thermostat was working, the 3-way valve, the Nest control hub, the individual thermostatic radiator valves, I bled all the radiators, I balanced the system.

Then, Eureka! I realised that the dial on the front of the boiler wasn’t a simple “use more or less energy for the same result” dial. It is actually, like most other controls in a heating system, driven by temperatures. In this case it tells the boiler how hot to get the water flowing through it.

So, if it’s in a middling setting my radiators will only get to a middling temperature and they won’t heat the house effectively and, therefore, the heating will be on all of the time because it’s never warm enough. By dialing it up to a higher setting, what do you know, the radiators get warmer! The house gets warmer! Not only a bit warmer but it actually gets to a temperature whereby the house is warm enough and the heating turns off!

If I had the time I’m the sort of person who would like to do some experiments and understand what the optimal setting is. Too hot and, no doubt, there will be a point of diminishing returns. Too cold and, as I now know all too well, the house doesn’t warm up and the heating ends up being on all day.

Anyway – lesson learnt. Hope my sharing of my stupidity helps someone else!

Declutter update 01

Posted on by Al

As an update to my resolution to declutter here are things disposed of:

1/1 Six coasters – never used

2/1 A Guinness tray (checked on ebay – not worth anything)

3/1 (short of time) timer clock wall mount, corner baby proofer, gadget charger

4/1 previous years page-a-day calendars (previously saved for note paper)

5/1 space themed magnetic toy – recently broken but could have been mended

6/1 given the last 3 days weren’t too fruitfull I put in some extra effort: Disposable film camera, spare car key that was cut but never worked, lighter holder, label maker, 7 old wallets, a large bag of old socks, underwear, a t-shirt and a pair of old shoes

7/1 sorted out the “bits and bobs” storage and got rid of a large bag full of all sorts. Eclipse glasses, sky viewing card, £1 coin holder, key ring, poppy seeds etc etc

8/1 tea light holding lantern

9/1 Encyclopedia, Dictionary, Tesaurus

10/1 A dozen CDs with drivers and linux distributions etc

11/1 Went through my wallet and got rid of receipts, expired memberships etc

12/1 A large cup for pop from a theme park

13/1 41 books

14/1 25 DVDs

It’s been going quite well – I haven’t even looked in the garage/shed. This is the easy stuff though, it will get more difficult.

Has there been any benefit? Yes. All the books now fit on the bookshelf instead of being stacked. There is space for more DVDs rather than that space being taken up by junk we won’t watch. There is also a little less clutter in my head, especially after sorting out the bits and bobs. Knowing what I’ve got and where it is removes a tiny mental weight I didn’t know I had.

Lawn Care

Posted on by Al

So I’ve apparently hit a point in my life when lawn care gains relevance.  I didn’t see that coming.

It used to be a chore to cut the grass but, over recent years, it’s become less so.  I thoroughly enjoy spending time with my family, but sometimes it’s also nice to spend time alone … and it doesn’t happen very often any more.  I’ve heard of people talk of a “third place”; the first two are work and home, the magic “third place” is somewhere for oneself. Somewhere to be away from both work and home.  My third place is becoming my lawn.  One of the few activities that will guarantee time without being interrupted (much) is cutting the grass.  Something to do with high speed rotating blades and children with no sense of danger I suppose.

So I’ve found myself, dare I say, enjoying cutting the grass.  That in turn has led to a new pride in seeing little bits of extra effort actually showing improvements.  In 2016 I bought a motorised scarifier and, in Spring and Autumn, I’ve used it to remove moss and thatch from the lawn.  The result has been a much improved lawn.  I’ve also done a couple of “weed and feed” treatments which have also shown visible results.

This success has led me to do a bit of research and I’m going to take things a little bit more seriously.  I’m now the proud owner of a hollow tine aerator and a 16 litre backpack sprayer.  This coming spring I’m all ready to start “the (second) year of the lawn”.  There will be scarifying, aeration, chemical spraying and mowing.

I’m actually looking forward to it.

Sad really.

Happy New Year

Posted on by Al

A time to reflect and resolve to do things differently. This years list:

Stop shouting: I’m sometimes guilty of raising my voice at the kids when they aren’t behaving but it’s not exactly a role model I want to set. Do I really expect them to be quiet when I’m loud?!

Declutter: I have too much stuff. I’m going to try and get rid of at least one thing a day (bin, recycle, upcycle, sell, giveaway).

Socialise more: In 2016 I found it difficult to socialise because I was too tired … now the kids are a year older it should be easier due to improved sleeping (fingers crossed).

Blog more: I didn’t write much in 2016 but I did re-read previous posts for useful snippets. Seems to make sense to write more.

Lunchtime walk: Before moving South I used to have a walk every lunch time. It seems a good habit for 2 reasons; The only other exercise I get is playing with the kids or working in the garden; Taking a break to clear my mind and come back fresh.

Progress will be posted on my blog – because I’ll be doing more of that 😉

A site is born!

Posted on by Al

So I’m starting a blog – we’ll see how long that lasts!

The main types of article I intend to write are:

  • Technology – this could be something I’ve worked on as part of my profession or something I’ve tinkered with as part of my hobbies.  Generally they will be for my own consumption for future reference but may help others out if they get to the 4th page of google.
  • Beer – I like beer I do.  Articles may vary from a simple beer review to my adventures into homebrewing and also may cross over into technology because the only thing better than making beer is making beer and leveraging technology at the same time.
  • RPG’s – and other assorted games.  Everything from D&D through Carcassonne and back to Skyrim.  What I’ve been playing, what I want to play etc etc.
  • Pi – 3.14159 … and the raspberry pi too.  I’ve got a couple of these and enjoy tinkering.
  • Stuff – Anything else that takes my fancy.

The main types of article I intend to avoid writing are:

  • Personal – anything to do with day to day life.  When I see other blogs of that ilk I tend to squirm.
  • Fan Fiction – I’m not a “writer”.
  • Humus – It’s not tasty, especially with Jammy Dodgers.

I contemplated having separate blogs for each of the topics that I end up writing about but then I realised it was just too much overhead – I’m a whole person and this blog is for me.  Furthermore, I will be using the categories you will see at the right of every page to vigilantly categorise each post – so if you only want my posts about SharePoint there will be a category that niftily filters the posts and shows you only the ones that you’re interested in.

So, finally, erm … Welcome!