Gas boilers

Not IME

Think thermocouple?

Ah...I guess that just about counts

I thought they used bimetallic strips

No, not *all* - probably the name number as all-electric houses which have a *large* generator.

A pure sine wave inverter at my parents house.

And it has just enough juice to power a travel kettle.

I have a gas ring for that. Mind you, we have to boil water in a saucepan, though.

Does the gas ring also power the modem, computer and a few table lamps?

It happens that charles formulated :

They also have chandlers, close to busy rivers and canals, canal basins.

No. I have a UPS on my modem and another one for this computer. I have a laptop with a 6 hour battery, I also have small generator and plenty of flashlights (for our US readers) and candles.

last year we had 3 interruptions to our suppply of about an hours' duration each. Unlike the one 4 years ago where we lost power about 1pm. A 60KVA generator was provided at 2am.

Our nearest chandler is in Shaftesbury Avenue, London.

During the 3 day week power cuts in 1974 I recall my father rigging up a generator to power the boiler - think he used a car battery to power it.

We had 7 days without power in late autumn 1987 and a 6 month old baby at the time. A borrowed genny was a lifesaver then. Since then, I've taken precautions!

Ditto if that was the year of the "wrong type of snow on the overheads".

Fortunately although we had no gas we did use a coal fire, kept the house warm and allowed us to continue to cook - still got black bottomed saucepans to remember the occasion by.

It wasn't on the overheads, it was snow getting into the under-coach electric motors and shorting them out.

No - but easy enough to run from a UPS.

I won't have candles in the house. I have worked on too many insurance jobs where they have caused fires.

I fitted a generator set up for a poster in the rec.motorcycle group about 6 years ago. He has never used it.

It set my parents up with a inverter at about the same time. They have never used it.

Gf got a 6 hour power cut the other week. She sent her son off to his Grandparents and then got into my bed.

Any truth in the story you have installed a remote control (pocket activated) contactor between the meter and Consumer Unit in your house to encourage her to share your pit on cold nights?