OT: I hate ECO

[Tim Streater]

So you are thieving less from other people than before. Good.

[Uncle Peter]

Narrow bore pipes would be a good idea, and pressurise the tank with mains going into it? Why don't they always do that instead of having a header tank?

[Capitol]

What's the half life claimed to be?

[Uncle Peter]

Not if each device had its own pipe from the tank.

With higher pressure, you can have thinner pipes for the same flow.

There must be a reason for the invention of the "cold water tank".

[Theo Markettos]

Someone I know had their machine suddenly running slowly for no apparent reason. It turns out that, while fixing an unrelated problem, their landlord had called a plumber who accidentally plumbed the cold fill on the washing machine into the hot water supply. The result was the machine was filling with hot water, and then discovering that its contents were too hot for the given programme. So it would wait until the contents of the machine had cooled down to the appropriate temperature, and then start the cycle. That would explain why it took 8 hours per load!

Theo

[harryagain]

The panel output is reckoned to reduce by 0.5%/year. Dunno if that's true or not.

The new inverter has no moving parts. The old one has a cooling fan and I can relays clicking.

The contract runs out after 20 years. Dunno what happens then. I don't suppose it's been thought about at all.

[Chris J Dixon]

With the variability of conditions you can't really detect it at the moment. My full year kWh figures have been:

2011 3,297 2012 3,510 2013 3,585 2014 3,688

Chris

[Capitol]

I see that cleaning to remove dirt/moss ia recommended every 6 months, how does this impact financial return?

[Uncle Peter]

Not really. My radiators all have their own pipe from a manifold in the centre of the house.

I've never found a need for hot water in a sink.

With mains pressure, you only need thin pipes, like I said.

I've never heard of mains water pressure being lower than the pressure created from gravity from the tank in your attic. In fact Scottish Water guarantee enough pressure to get water 10 metres above my ground floor.

[dennis]

A low pressure area then. mine will go to at least 70 meters, some days more.

[charles]

depends on the height of your site relative to the water supply.

[Tony Bryer]

Same for Thames Water, though when I lived in Twickenham the actual was around 3-4 bar (fairly low lying admittedly)

[Uncle Peter]

Where I used to live (Angus Council), my neighbour didn't have enough pressure to use a garden hose effectively, although I did. She lived in an area of newbuilds, perhaps they didn't upgrade the pipes there enough for all the new houses. I'm sure she said she complained, but they just told her hoses weren't guaranteed, and as long as her washing machine operated correctly, they wouldn't intervene.

[charles]

When we moved in here (35 years ago) we couldn;t get enough to run a hose. Eventually, the iron pipe under the garden (ours) failed and a new plastic one was put in its place. We now can run hoses with no problem. The old pipe was 'furred up'. But you probably had soft water in Angus.

[Uncle Peter]

Yes it was soft and her pipe wasn't there long enough to fur up. 10 years max.

[Uncle Peter]

Ooh you've got a big one!

[Uncle Peter]

I've never measured it, although I think it's quite difficult to stop the water with my thumb on the hose.

They GUARANTEE 10 metres, it's normally way more than that.

[Uncle Peter]

Do they pump it or just rely on high reservoirs? And do they ever reduce pressure? I mean I know of a reservoir 1000 feet above me, that would make an enormous pressure, presumably enough to rupture pipes and joints.

[Davey]

How did the mains water get up to the tank to fill it?

[polygonum]

The only time I ever lived in a significantly high building (15th floor), the water was pumped up to roof storage tanks. So, for a number of minutes each day the pressure at ground level was much higher than that provided by gravity, but for most of the day it was approximately zero.