Post peak lodging house/bedsits

[RenewableCandy]

£10 pw, or about 80 units, is the weekly electricity consumption for the whole of Chateau Renewable, in the middle of winter! And we use hair-driers!

[adam2]

Yes, the £10 a week on electricity for one room was for a young lady, mainly hair related gadgets I suspect.
The mouse problem is a worry, the cats are keeping the numbers down but that is not the same as eliminating the pests.
Some of the mice are rather large*

The 12 volt lighting has proved useful, and student proof, so far. The PV input has not kept up with demand. This is to be rectified by the addition of a wind turbine, as the site is windy.

The local police have thouroughly investigated the outbuildings as "part of routine crime prevention" i.e. the endless prowling for weed, which must be nearby with students. They also seemed very suspicous of PV modules .

*large mouse=polite word for rat.

[emordnilap]

The mouse problem is a worry, the cats are keeping the numbers down but that is not the same as eliminating the pests.

The number one preventative is removing food sources. Make sure all food is inaccessible to them - use metal containers wherever possible - and make sure all humans are scrupulous with food.

I've heard mice don't like peppermint; try strategically locating cotton wool soaked with peppermint oil.

We had great success with a humane mouse trap - like a tunnel with a sensitive-trip panel at one end. We used peanut butter as bait. We caught loads of mice one year in it and eventually found where they were getting in - through necessary ventilation which we covered with metal flyscreen.

You have to check the traps very often otherwise it's a trauma for the mouse. Release them a mile or so away from the house.

Some of the mice are rather large*

And a rather larger problem but the same criteria regarding food applies. Still, rats appear to be able to eat just about anything.

[adam2]

What's the thinking behind keeping all the appliances at 12v? I'm curious because I was working on stepping up to 240v from the 12v battery bank. I'll need a pure sinewave inverter because of the equipment I have with the 12v dumpload from a turbine going to a 12v heating element in the immersion tank when batteries are fully charged.

I thought it might be easier for spares to salvage and to tap into the current lighting system in the house if everything still ran on 240v, but I'll swap to 12v if there's a good reason.

12 volts is simpler and safer for lighting and low power appliances.
12 volt CFLs and LED lighting equipment are often more efficient than 230 volt.
Not very suitable for high power appliances though, these are 230volt in this case.
12 volt microwave ovens do exist, but are expensive and need up to 100 amps.(mine is only 70 amps)
12 volt kettles also exist, but are slower to boil than mains ones and need at least 15 amps, sometimes more.

In the house mentioned, lighting and some small appliances are 12 volts, with everything else at 230 volts.

I dont like lighting or anything else essiential from an inverter. It introduces a single point of failure, more losses, and more risk of electric shock. If an inverter must be used it should be duplicated in case of failure.

[adam2]

Strangely, rats don't smell if they snuff it in yer wall cavities: because of the small size, they dry out (mummify) rather than putrify. How do I know this? Well, errr...
Perhaps giving the students metal tins (cake-tins and the like) with your agitprop talk about food storage will help them remember, just like giving people a box for stuff helps them remember to recycle.

It is not my house, I only assisted regarding design/technical aspects, but yes storing food in metal tins would certainly help and I have urged this.
A thorough search is underway for large mouse holes as it is suspected that the pests live outside and commute to the food source.
The old sheds were replaced with new as part of the refurb, and I dont believe that vermin can get into them, but they probably hide underneath. Raising the sheds perhaps 300mm above ground level may help as it would give the cats easy access.
One of the cats was only a kitten when aquired and has now grown into a large fierce female (spayed) it greatly enjoys killing "large mice" and is rewarded with a little meat for each kill.

[Catweazle]

I recommend the No6 Fenn Trap, it's UK legal for rats, squirrels and rabbits. It kills cleanly and quickly when properly placed because the killing bars are either side of the trigger plate. It should be placed in a tunnel or burrow, where non-target species will not step in it and where the top of the tunnel can ensure that the bars close around your pest completely for a very quick kill.

The No4 is also rat-legal, but the No6 is very powerful and I believe in humane kills.

Expect to pay approx £7 for a genuine Fenn trap, less for a copy.

[the mad cyclist]

I’ve found that Nutella and a 22 air rifle works very well if I need to get rid of any rats. At least they die happy.

[RenewableCandy]

I've found that eating nutella makes me a lousy shot...oh, sorry

[adam2]

I’ve found that Nutella and a 22 air rifle works very well if I need to get rid of any rats. At least they die happy.

The large mice have now been eliminated.
They had to call a pest control firm, and yes they did attract the pests with Nutella and shoot them with an air rifle.
Nutella, honey, golden syrup and other sweet sticky items are favoured as bait since the vermin have to eat them in situ and thus be an easy target for an air rifle. Dry bait might be carried away and eaten in a safe place.
The pests were living in a disused drain which now been filled with cement.

The wood stove that was intended as a standby facility has seen considerable use in the recent weather, for both cooking and space heating. Scrap wood can be obtained for free.

[vtsnowedin]

[The pests were living in a disused drain which now been filled with cement.

.

I hope you were very careful in making that determination. In very wet weather you might find that that drain was still a part that is needed. Sadly I speak from experience. While installing a new drainage system in a New Hampshire mill town's main street we encountered a stone box culvert eight feet under the street dating back to colonial times. It was dry as a bone and obviously not been used in decades and wasn't even on the plans etc. so we just dug through it smashing in the cap stones on each end and laid our new concrete drain pipe up to the end catch basin on the end of the project. Luckily it rained while we were still fine grading the new road base and had not yet paved the first course of hot top. About an hour after a hard and steady rain started cars started splashing in a rapidly growing pot hole in the middle of the street right where we had crossed through the "Abandoned" box culvert. The pot hole soon grew to a spring with a babbling brook of water coming out of it and running to the first new catch basin downhill from it. Upon further investigation (with very red faces) we found that the small park at the top of the hill about two acres in size had not one but five brick drain inlets with stone tops or cast iron grates out in the grass that drained the whole park into that stone box culvert which went all the way to the river running under two brick woolen mills that had been built much later.
It is still there doing it's job but now is hooked into the new system where they crossed. ( The park maintenance crew did know about three of the drains with cast iron grates on them but were "sure" they were just french drains without any outlet pipe. Being three quarters full of sand and other debris that was an easy assumption to make but you know what happens when you assume)

[adam2]

They seemed very certain that it was disused, have not seen it myself.
I am not convinced that it was a drain, sounds more like an underfloor draught to a previous stove or boiler to me.

[adam2]

Update again.
Several tenants have moved out, not from any dislike of the place but because they only intended to live there short term.

Other tenants found without trouble, one had to be evicted for non payment, the others have been fine.
Most of the new tenants are in local temporary employment and do not wish to make longer term housing plans until finding if the temporary employment becomes permanent.
The landlord would prefer relatively long term tenants, but did let rooms to a large family for a holiday recently.

"Large mice" are still regularly seen outdoors, but have not been seen inside recently.
One cat died, perhaps of over excitment due to chasing too many vermin, the others seem fine.

It was assumed that most tenants would be students, or of a similar age, but 2 are in their forties, and state that the accomadation is preferable to other lodgings in the area.
Several tenants have electric cycles, this was inspired by one of the older tenants who has a home made electric tricycle.

The solar thermal system has supplied ample hot water without any gas burning, in the warmer weather.
The use of rainwater for toilet flushing has saved money.
The 12 volt, largely LED lighting has been much admired, and I believe copied !
The industrial washing machines have worked faultlessly, despite very heavy use.
One of the new high efficiency fridges failed, and has been replaced with a 12 volt one.
Most furniture has survived.
The local police continue the endless prowling for weed, the growing of which they seem to think is indicated by PV modules
In mild or slightly cool weather, it has been decided to use the wood stove, rather than turn on the heating.
The Rutland wind turbine has been a useful addition to the PV.

[stumuzz]

Adam,

Don't forget to advise your friend to contact the police local intelligence officer for the area and give him a key for the front door.

If a warrant is issued for entry to search the premises(very easily obtained) then you will not get the door smacked to bits at 5am.

[vtsnowedin]

Adam,

Don't forget to advise your friend to contact the police local intelligence officer for the area and give him a key for the front door.

If a warrant is issued for entry to search the premises(very easily obtained) then you will not get the door smacked to bits at 5am.

Is "Police intelligence officer" an oxymoron in the UK?
In many jurisdictions here in the US it is certainly is and few would hand the keys to their property over before seeing a warrant.
Too many bad cops out there to give them any advantage.

[RenewableCandy]

a home made electric tricycle

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