Solar panels electrical connection to mains.

I got my worst ever sunburn on a cloudy day in the UK. Because it was cloudy, though warm, I thought it was OK to work outside without a shirt.

That was a *long* time ago. I've always worn proper shirts outside in summer since then, as they can be unbuttoned for ventilation and T shirts can't, as well as preventing sunburnt arms.

Some folk are unfamiliar with high stagnation temp collectors.

Generate hydrogen and oxygen to run a fuel cell?

Yes, very. Although I suppose it might be only if *any* work needs to be done on the installation. Such as upgrading the power output or just a routine repair.

I had those until two years ago when I had a new consumer unit fitted. One trigger was the complete unavailability of fuse wire in the pandemic.

Did you actually need it? You can always use a few strands from a flex if the correct fuse wire isn't available. I think I've managed to blow one CU fuse in over 20 years. A few plugs have blown fuses in that time; I tend to replace the standard issue 13A fuses with appropriate lower values.

In message <20230408011034.61514db1@Mars>, at 01:10:34 on Sat, 8 Apr

A fuse blew, so something was required.

I think this one was in a low-amperage lighting circuit and a faulty bulb got it.

Lower values are again hard to get, but I do have a few plugs fitted with 2A and 5A.

Eh? Wilko sells 3A 5A 10A in same-value 4 packs for £1.00-1.50, and Tesco does a pack of 3 each 3, 5 and 13 Amp, 2 packs for £2.00 with clubcard discount.

Screwfix 10 pack of 3A @£2.10, 10 pack of 5A @£2.10

Toolstation 10 pack of 3A @£2.10, 10 pack of 5A @£2.10

In message <20230409201437.0c10f9d1@Mars>, at 20:14:37 on Sun, 9 Apr

Wilko saying they have something, and it not being an empty shelf, are two separate things these days. But I will look in Tesco - although not sure my branch is big enough to have that kind of item. And again stock can be an issue, last time I went I couldn't get photocopier paper, there was just a big empty shelf.

The Tesco app allows you to check stock in stores.

So do the apps and web sites from other retailers but that doesn't mean that the "in-stock" items are actually on the shelves or even physically in the stores.

Maybe having partially empty shelves is the way we should be running the economy? Do we really need to always have the choice of a vast variety of essentially similar products? Does this not lead to over-stocking, and consequential unnecessary wastage? [Just a thought!]

Most online shopping does, unfortunately they don't seem to allow for 'shrinkage'. Where it's offered, it's bet to use a click&collect option, so it's their staff wasting their time, not yours, searching for them ...

Our experience is that what can be put in a "Click and Collect" order is a poor guide to what's on shelves. That might be because they expect a delivery. Or because they will source the item from another store: we've had items labelled to show that happened.

And of course it doesn't help if the store you are going to doesn't do C'n'C.

In contrast the Tesco app gives the current stock and covers smaller stores. It's not infallible but I find it usually accurate.

Sainsbury's online stock checker is somewhere between, tracking only some things in smaller stores.

I once did a C&C for a bottle of engine oil from Wilko, just to make sure my trip wasn't wasted. It turned out they fulfilled those from a central warehouse and were effectively using the store as a parcels collection point. Despite seeing plenty of stock of oil on the shelf, instead I had to wait 15 minutes while somebody rummaged in a back room to find the bottle of oil, wrapped in packaging, with my name printed on it. And of course I'd prepaid for it, so I couldn't just abandon it there.

I didn't bother with that in future and just took my chances with the shelf stock...

Theo

In the case of the ones I used, it does.

In message <Hcq* snipped-for-privacy@news.chiark.greenend.org.uk>, at 11:05:37 on Mon,

I've had that experience at Wilko too, but the click-and-collect I did last week said to allow just two hours before turning up.

Screwfix seem to have changed their workflow management and now often claim [by SMS] something is "ready for collection" impossibly quickly. Like about an hour before the store opened the other day. And then when I arrived later, the chap spent at least five minute wandering around with a puzzled look peering at some kind of handheld device, before he located it.

Yeah, that worked brilliantly in the old USSR.

Steaming turd, actually.

The only time I've had that happen at SF when the person couldn't find my item was when he admitted that he thought a T square (for use with plasterboard) was small item and not something packed in a 5 foot long box. He hadn't been checking the large items in the pile waiting for people to pick up.

SF usually send me a text at store opening time if ordered out-of-hours or within 10 minutes telling me that I can pick up the item if ordered with opening hours. Their new(ish) system is working a lot better than it was a few years ago.