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1

General Car Chat / Re: So what have you done to your car today?

« on: 30 November 2025, 23:01:35 »

Obviously, your lease company don't mind being ripped off.

Or, they get a cracking deal so Kwik Fit have to make the margin by gouging joe public...

While sitting in the waiting room I heard some prices that nearly made me choke. It seems somewhere between £250 and £300 is the number of choice. Pair of discs for [some golf] £270, battery on [an Peugeot] £280.

2

General Car Chat / Re: So what have you done to your car today?

« on: 30 November 2025, 15:53:11 »

Are you allowed to say that on here? 

 

You make a good point Ronny, to be fair to this particular lot they seem ok. Also, being on lease I don't have a choice which chain does the work.

3

General Car Chat / Re: So what have you done to your car today?

« on: 30 November 2025, 15:45:19 »

Took it to Kwik fit to cure the hissing noise coming from the NSR tyre.

Thought it might be repairable to look at it, but apparently the hole was too big. So she's getting a new tyre. £323 had I walked in off the street. Thankfully the lease company's paying 

4

General Discussion Area / Re: Budget.

« on: 28 November 2025, 11:37:50 »

CPI is 3.6%, cash ISAs paying over 4% are easy to find.

Very true, but a) people have to be on board with chopping and changing to get the best deals, and b) over the past 5yrs those savers will have lost a shed load of spending power as its been well over 10% at points.

5

General Discussion Area / Re: Budget.

« on: 27 November 2025, 11:35:21 »

Better off spending any cash in ISAs now, can't see any point in being the richest guy in the cemetery.

Not to mention that if its in a cash ISA its likely not anywhere near keeping up with inflation, so its buying power will probably be shrinking quite dramatically with each year that goes by. 

6

General Discussion Area / Re: Boiler boffins.

« on: 26 November 2025, 23:31:30 »

Didn't even occur to me. Would this work?

YouTube seems to think so.

https://youtu.be/uBZ7NIEEvck?si=RsJt0OTwc-akTvJI

It might be useful to know what the values should be. But given the age of boiler, I suspect it won't be that precise.

 

7

General Discussion Area / Re: Boiler boffins.

« on: 24 November 2025, 18:30:04 »

If it's not igniting at all it's not the photocell. More likely the ht transformer, fuel solenoid or pump.

Thanks Kevin. I replaced the pump about 5 years ago. I don't want to replace any 'suspect' parts in the hope I may get lucky. It could cost me a fortune.

Pretty sure you could pull the photocell and test it with a torch and a multimeter. 

8

General Discussion Area / Re: Boiler boffins.

« on: 23 November 2025, 22:24:14 »

Our houses are not insulated to any kind of degree to those in Norway. You need to keep any heat which is generated, not pass it through your roof, windows and walls.

I agree 100%, I'd never advocate for one in an older house, but in the new build house Lizzie mentioned, a heat pump, correctly sized and setup should be more than up to the job.

9

General Discussion Area / Re: Boiler boffins.

« on: 23 November 2025, 21:58:56 »

I think our Lord should get rid of that dirty old boiler, replace it with an Air Source Heat Pump and save the planet! 

Not while I still have breath in my body.....

They don't seem to work very well from what I hear.

I think you may be right Opti.

One of my friends very recently moved into a brand new house which has been fitted with one of these new fangled heat pumps.  Over the last week it has become very cold down here, but she tells me the heating will only get to a certain level and no more, with her bedrooms remaining quite cold!   Another friend of mine is a master builder, and is very well qualified in the plumbing, and electrical, fields.  He says that the heat pumps have a limit on how much heat they actually push out, which is no where near as high as it is with an gas central heating system.

What the hell is going on I think?!!  Why are heat pumps being so enthusiastically promoted if they have limits for houses in our climate?!

And yet 60% of homes in Norway have them, and year ok year they don't all freeze to death...

I think it's far more likely that we in the UK don't have the expertise to size, install and configure them correctly (yet).

10

General Discussion Area / Re: 3D Printer Chat

« on: 22 November 2025, 18:42:57 »

I use tinkerCAD. One of the more basic programs (aimed at educational settings I think) but it definitely does the job of me. 

11

General Discussion Area / Re: 3D Printer Chat

« on: 22 November 2025, 14:06:15 »

What do you find yourself making?   I can think of a few things I'd make and then not sure on inspiration after that

The main reason I got one was so I could make custom trays and inserts for my tool boxes. I'm getting through them and by the time I'm done I'm sure the printer will have paid for itself. Beyond that I print quite a few bits of our aquariums. I also make up custom brackets or attachments for things, particularly if they break and would be difficult to glue back together. Plus daft stuff like little toys for the kids. Similar to TB, I always seem to have a backlog of stuff that needs printing.

12

General Discussion Area / Re: 3D Printer Chat

« on: 20 November 2025, 21:27:27 »

I probably should have updated this thread, being as I've had an ender3 v2 neo since Feb 2024 

Given it a fair thrashing, replaced a couple of nozzles, bowden tube and very recently an extruder gear. Considering the ender 3 gets a little of stick for its reliability I don't think it's been at all bad. Id estimate I've gone through well over 20kg of pla.

Is the K2 one of those multi filament jobs? What you got planned for it?

13

General Discussion Area / Re: Kentucky plane crash

« on: 20 November 2025, 21:21:22 »

NTSB preliminary report is out. 

https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/Pages/DCA26MA024.aspx

14

General Car Chat / Re: EV Drivers

« on: 14 November 2025, 13:17:56 »

Oh, and I wouldn't bet against a 5-10p fuel duty rise either 

15

General Car Chat / Re: EV Drivers

« on: 14 November 2025, 13:16:12 »

They can only be sold with huge reductions on list price.....and that was with no VED, future pay per mile, and Khan tax.

Sales will drop even further now. ......but at least we'll be able to buy one for buttons.

This is the upside for me.

In reality, the additional tax doesn't tip the cost argument back to ICE vehicles. Despite being a fat SUV, the iX costs us around 3.5p per mile to fuel, so even adding on a ved charge of 3p still makes the per mile cost the same as a diesel that can average 100mpg, which obviously doesn't exist and certainly not in the form of a big, comfy 5 seater barge. Maintenance is also a lot cheaper than for an equivalent ICE car.

Also, I'm not sure I buy the 'EV's are heavier so they wear out the roads' argument as, presumably those same cars should be wearing their tyres quicker too? In my case my car is still on its original boots having done 38,000 miles, and they aren't anywhere near the wear bars. It also weighs almost exactly the same as a diesel X5