For technical discussions about electricity, electrical equipment with particular emphasis on safe and compliant installations.
Off topic remarks are liable to be moved elsewhere, or in extreme cases to be deleted.
There are now many competing retailers of electricity, and it is widely believed that obtaining supplies from two or more competing firms will give protection against power cuts!
My local shop has two meters, one for the shop and one for the flat above, the owner has "wisely" ensured that he uses EDF for one and NPOWER for the other because "they wont both fail or be cut off together"
He doesent believe me that it wont help!
Oh dear oh dear . . . someone is going to be disappointed!
Still, the fact that people are even considering the question speaks volumes doesn't it.
True, they are disapointed now !
A local power cut occured a few days ago, and suprise suprise, both supplies from two different companies failed at the same time.
any fool can see that both meters are connected to the same service cable !
"Installers and owners of emergency diesels must assume that they will have to run for a week or more"
Consign her to the 'Only allowed to vote on extortionate phone votes linked to TV pile' and remove her forthwith from the electoral role as a result of innate congenital stupidity....
That will rule out 99% of the UK population and is a great idea!
A newish myth to add to the list.
A localised power cut recently occured, with several streets lacking power for about 4 hours.
Many sheeple rushed to Mr Patels shop in order to put credit on electricity keys, not noticing of course that the street lights were out, and that even solvent neighbours were in the dark.
The credit thus paid for is of course of no immediate use since no power was available, but the credit was of course still there for use when service was restored.
Not that sheeple can understand that, the general view was that "each evening costs me about £3 or £5, as there was no power for most of the evening, I have lost £3 or £5. How do I get it back ?"
They clearly believe that it costs a set amount per evening, even if lack of supply means that no energy was consumed.
And these people are allowed to vote.
"Installers and owners of emergency diesels must assume that they will have to run for a week or more"
adam2 wrote:Thought others might like some of the urban myths I have discovered, feel free to comment or add your own!
[....]
7) "low energy lamps dont benefit the enviroment due to the energy used in manfacture" Not true, firstly the energy used in manufacturing any common domestic lamp is very small compared to the energy used by the lamp over its life; and secondly the energy used in making a CFL is only about twice that used in making an incandescent lamp, but the CFL last many times longer.
Except for the ones distributed free, house-to-house by the energy companies two or three years ago around here. These all seemed to have extremely short lives: as short as two weeks, and the longest of my batch was three months. This was unfortunate, as for some people - such as an elderly neighbour - these free lamps would have been their only experience of CFLs.
mikepepler wrote:Well I read a letter in the FT yesterday, where the author had overheard two very chic ladies talking beside the SUV that one of them owned. One was saying "I don't know what all the fuss is about. How can it be so bad for the environment, it has climate control"
That would be hilarious, if it wasn't so believable
"The stone age didn't end for a lack of stones"... correct, we'll be right back there.
One of my faves: "Now we've got (grid tied) Solar PV installed, we're immune from power cuts."
Another popular myth-of-the-moment is that the current electrical generation/distribution system in the UK is in any way capable of supplying the energy necessary to support transport (electric cars) on any meaningful scale.
woodpecker wrote:
Except for the ones distributed free, house-to-house by the energy companies two or three years ago around here. These all seemed to have extremely short lives: as short as two weeks, and the longest of my batch was three months. This was unfortunate, as for some people - such as an elderly neighbour - these free lamps would have been their only experience of CFLs.
Hmm, not sure about them specifically, but the subsidized ones from Tesco, of which I have a literal life times supply, are lasting years.
T'other 'alfs dad has some that are 25 years old and still going!
Certain foolish persons, including a neighbour of mine, believe that the fuse or circuit breaker in an electrical circuit does in some way regulate or control the amount of energy used in normal circumstances, rather than being a simple safety device to cut off the supply in case of a fault.
For example they have found that their washing machine uses 10 amps but is fitted with a 13 amp fuse.
They believe that use of a 10 amp fuse will save energy.
Likewise they expect that the use of a 1 amp fuse in the plug of a desk lamp will give a useful saving in electricity when compared to the commonly used 3 amp fuse.
They believe that the lack of ready availability of 1 amp, 2 amp, 5 amp, 7 amp, and 10 amp plug fuses is some variety of conspiracy by the fat cat utility companies, in order that EVEN MORE money may be extracted from hapless consumers.
"Installers and owners of emergency diesels must assume that they will have to run for a week or more"
adam2 wrote:They believe that the lack of ready availability of 1 amp, 2 amp, 5 amp, 7 amp, and 10 amp plug fuses is some variety of conspiracy by the fat cat utility companies, in order that EVEN MORE money may be extracted from hapless consumers.
Another I've heard a lot recently is that Mars will be able to provide us with energy resources. Eh?
I experience pleasure and pains, and pursue goals in service of them, so I cannot reasonably deny the right of other sentient agents to do the same - Steven Pinker
emordnilap wrote:Another I've heard a lot recently is that Mars will be able to provide us with energy resources. Eh?
Is that deep fried Mars, or the normal sort that helps you work, rest and play?
Well, at least you'd get four or five hundred calories out of a deep-fried Mars bar, which is a good few more than we're likely to get from planet, raw or battered, a minimum of 56 million kilometres away.
I experience pleasure and pains, and pursue goals in service of them, so I cannot reasonably deny the right of other sentient agents to do the same - Steven Pinker
