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Do It Yourself -- Not

A lot of them don't drive until 18 or older now as well.

Reply to
zzyzzx
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Home ec was the same at mine, although we had separate "design and communication" (the bit where you got to draw house plans) and "design and realisation" (the bit where you got to make towel hooks and cut your fingers off) courses - and I'm not sure if "shop" was ever really in use in UK schools.

(in all seriousness, I think the first time I heard 'shop' I assumed it was some sort of business course to do with buying and selling things :-)

cheers

Jules

Reply to
Jules Richardson

Never seen them, myself. I'm sure they exist (I'd love to find some of them, too - had them at the last place I worked for. Terrible to paint, but they look nice :-)

Ours* certainly don't - there's one by my feet right now. Just pipes and fins beneath a cover (I took the cover off to take a look).

  • we've got a few, but no longer hooked up to anything - I'll get around to pulling them out one day.

I'm not a fan of forced air systems either - they don't seem particularly efficient or per-zone controllable, and there's all that bulky duct-work to mess around with (I can sort of see the attraction if you're living in an area that also benefits from AC, I suppose)

Heard lots of good things about radiant floors, but I don't think I've ever experienced one in use, so can't comment on how accurate the reports are.

I don't recall ever seeing a 240V plug in the US that was the same size as a 120V one - I'll have to take a better look around! (particularly as I have a few low-power 240V things to ship over from the UK some day)

cheers

Jules

Reply to
Jules Richardson

The NEMA 6-15 (15a) and 6-20 (20a) are the same size as the regular

5-15 we are used to for 120v but when you get up to the 30a plugs they get bigger.
Reply to
gfretwell

You'll find them in a lot of older homes, often with steam heat rather than a hydronic system. Some have been converted to hydronic, though. They're expensive as well as taking a lot of prime floor space.

They were installed by a moron, then. Ours had a bleed valve on each unit, as part of the automatic bleeder (which never worked).

There should be a screw in one end.

It's cheap (installation), too. Baseboard electric is even cheaper. We use AC more days than heat, so yes, there is an advantage to heat pumps here. It's crappy heat, though.

It's very nice in tiled bathrooms. ;-) Radiant ceiling heat is useless, though.

240V plugs are very similar to the 120V-20A plug, with the opposite pin, or both, rotated. Clothes dryers and ranges have larger plugs (30A or 50A). The smaller ones are often found on window or through- the-wall air conditioners. Places were 120V 15A isn't enough. 15A 120V:
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20A 120V plug:
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20A 120V outlet:
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15A 240V:
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20A 240V:
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Reply to
keith

That's the one I was thinking about. One floor with a low pitch, either. Done it - never again. ;-)

Understood. I have always been so inclined, so became an engineer. ;-)

Reply to
keith

Sounds like Zzyzzx, CA.

In Florida at 12 I had a work permit, 14 I drove in the day time alone. Took sister on night drives, because she was 16.

On, I bought my own car at 14 years of age.

Reply to
Oren

"HeyBub" wrote in news:rNKdnfxYWLyC6-nRnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.com:

And pulling numbers outta my ass I'd say 90% can't make change unless the register calculates it and maybe 80% can't figure out quarter to the hour on an analog clock.

Reply to
Red Green

My son didn't drive until he was 18; no interest. I had to get him off is butt when my wife got sick and couldn't drive for six months. Taking her both to and from work got to be a big problem with my work schedule.

But you weren't born last night. ;-)

Reply to
krw

re: "Well, parents obviously ain't passing on these skill sets any more, assuming they ever had them."

Hey, kindly throw the word "some" before "parents" in your statement.

My sons know how to do lots of that stuff, and mostly because of me.

One is better than the other (has more desire - and his own apartment) but they both know the basics plus.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

I was, of course, referring to the unwashed masses out there, not the AHR regulars. I should have made that clear. :^/

Reply to
aemeijers

Better yet would be to learn how to acquire such knowledge.

Reply to
AZ Nomad

"aemeijers" wrote

No matter, my son does not know what end of a screwdriver to use, nor does he want to learn. Fortunately, he makes a lot of money because he'd rather pay someone to do that sort of thing for him.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

Yup-- different strokes. He's kind of the opposite of Henry Ford, who said on the witness stand when some lawyer was trying to prove he was dumb-- 'I don't need to know that-- I hire people to tell me those things'. [or words to that effect]

Jim

Reply to
Jim Elbrecht

Nonsense.

Reply to
keith

Hmm, I don't recall ever seeing anything above a 13A fuse in a UK plug, suggesting that for anything more than that, there's a different style of plug to use. I certainly recall running big Sun servers off something a lot more substantial than that.

Pros and cons with plugs on both side of the Pond, really. The UK ones are bulky (I like US wall-warts where the pins can just fold away easily when not in use) but at least are fused, and the pins are strong. I've seen plenty of US houses where the outlets are getting a little tired and things are plugged into them with the pins partially exposed, which is never a good thing.

cheers

Jules

Reply to
Jules Richardson

Yes, they are big, but I don't mind them so much because they usually look quite ornamental.

Yes, I can't rule that out :-) Ours are just a length of 3/4" pipe all the way through the case with aluminum fins around it. Next to useless in terms of heat output, but they still take up space which means you can't put something in front of them - in which case I'd much rather panel- style radiators which produce more heat and get it to where it's needed faster.

I could handle a ground-source heat pump here (too cold in winters for air-source to work) - I've got the land space for the coils. Problem at the moment is the costs, but that'll come down as more people have them.

Our baseboard electric's on a load-control setup (with the propane forced- air setup there to pick up the slack), which means it's something like 6c/ kWh to run - it works out slightly cheaper than propane, I think.

Yes, heat rises, so a heated ceiling's probably only useful if you're a gecko :-)

Thanks for posting those links - I'll have to look into fitting some of those outlets when I get around to rewiring our basement.

cheers

Jules

Reply to
Jules Richardson

That's just crazy! When I was a lass, getting your driver's license at 16 was a much-anticipated rite of passage. We didn't even have a car, and I lined right up to get mine.

Kids nowadays. What're'ya gonna do?

Cindy Hamilton

Reply to
Cindy Hamilton

The US considers 240 volt 100a service the bare minimum and 400a is not uncommon. Most houses are 200a. My spa pulls 70 by itself.

11kw heat, 2.5 hp jet pump and 3/4 hp circulation pump.
Reply to
gfretwell

Yeah, I got my license about a month after I turned 16. No point in getting the license before my parents would let me take the car out alone. ;-) I was one of the only males in my high school that year to pass on the first try (the examiner liked the fact that I took the test with a stick ;).

Grow 'em up and move 'em out. He's now 31 and married. ;-)

Reply to
keith

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