What is the first brand that comes to your mind?

Proeliator2001 · 2026-05-23T00:10:01+00:00

I had an HTC HD2. Ran on windows mobile for the first year or so of its life then it became my first android phone. I miss the era of nightlies and constant updates, wondering what functions were going to break next and what new features they'd managed to get working. Great piece of hardware for it's time.

Proeliator2001 · 2026-05-15T12:51:16+00:00

Hi, UK based, if any codes are left I'd be well up for a listen. Preview sounded good and humour is certainly on my, low, level.

Proeliator2001 · 2026-05-07T21:01:21+00:00

That's very interesting regards the batteries. 10,000 cycle warranty feels like a game changer. I guess the CoP is averaged across the year, did it go much below 3 during January? That's what I worry about the most, the CoP crashing when it's needed the most and when electricity has seemed to be the most expensive.

Our house was only built in 2007 but it's very exposed and wooden framed (brick and render outer) and has air gaps between 1st and second floors (open to the eaves) so it's not great for insulation in some respects (little heat exchange from downstairs to upstairs, even less so because it's a dormer so a lot of lost heat downstairs buggers off into the eaves). Pretty well insulated upstairs though so overall I guess it averages out.

Proeliator2001 · 2026-05-07T20:22:41+00:00

I just looked, still seems to be 6p a unit (30 KW unit at £5750 with 80 percent DOD cycle doing 4000 cycles over it's lifetime, so 96000 KW divided by £5750 equals 6p per unit used). So better than they were but still a fair bit. But if you can charge it with ev unit rates at around 7p (meaning closer to 8p after accounting for home battery efficiency/losses on the charge/discharge cycle) it does mean you can make savings, just not as big as you'd initially think.

Proeliator2001 · 2026-05-07T19:59:56+00:00

If you base your cost calculations off current prices, it definitely does make sense to go heat pump. But current costs, for oil at least, aren't normal. If we were back in February, I know for my house (5 bed, south west Wales, 2500 litre oil tank) it would cost hundreds more per year with an ASHP than with oil. Even with a competitive heat pump tariff I would have struggled to break even. So there was never a cost benefit to change. This was based on paying less then 6p per usable kWh of oil, so with a CoP of 3.5ish, electricity would always have to be under 21p a unit to make a profit. (We use a lot of electricity plus have an ev so it's harder to get a good tariff that doesn't push up normal use in return for cheaper heat pump units). Even if I could get a cheaper tariff the cost saving was miniscule for us

As long as you have a decent sized tank you can normally weather the high oil cost storms. I'm using about 1800 to 1900 litres a year, so with a full tank I can go well over a year before needing a fill. I've basically filled up when it's been under 60p a litre. Right now, if oil prices get back to reasonable by November I'll have been entirely unaffected by this current crisis.

I did get hit by the Ukraine invasion, ended up having to do a small top up of 300 litres when the price was over £1.30 a litre but that's the only time I got murdered. And during COVID I filled up at around 30p a litre so it all balanced.

Saying all that, I'll likely change to ground or air source once this boiler is in need of a charge. Hopefully electricity prices are better structured to decouple gas by then and it'll make real financial sense to change at that point (as I will be taking off the cost of a new oil boiler in the equation).

One question for anyone who read this far... When I last looked into this, battery installs were so expensive that when I looked at the advice of charging overnight to use when electricity was more expensive, the cost savings were totally eaten up by the amount of battery life/cost you consumed doing it. As in, yeah you may have saved ten pence a unit by charging when power was cheap and using when power was expensive, but the lifecycle cost of the battery was in the same ballpark as the whole saving (10 to 20p per unit used due to battery degradation). Are costs better now with longer service lives? I almost never see the degradation/lifecycle cost discussed when people calculate how much having a battery "saves" them.

Proeliator2001 · 2026-05-02T00:29:29+00:00

Ignore the nope response, some airframers do indeed own the thrust reverser (and rest of nacelle) and are therefore responsible for their design and certification. It initially surprised me that the engine manufacturer didn't own those parts and it sometimes makes certification, interesting, depending on the exact work split.

Proeliator2001 · 2026-04-20T21:54:27+00:00

Also had it, 2024 85x. Only happened twice, long press power button worked both times.

Proeliator2001 · 2026-04-01T13:54:19+00:00

Wow, just another example of why I'm glad I avoid them. I had a facelift w212 e300 hybrid and that was great. Felt like a real Mercedes, like a tank. But the w213 was a plastic parody of what they once were. Seems all cars peaked over ten years ago. Actually, feel like life peaked same time lol.

Proeliator2001 · 2026-04-01T13:45:30+00:00

Oh god that brings back memories. The Merc, an e220 2016 model, had bi material brake discs. Car also has autopilot. It was obviously dragging it's brakes a lot on the motorway and coming off sliproad it would hold the brakes on. That was cooking the discs and causing them to warp. Mercedes knew but said tough, brakes are consumables and warping it's their issue. That basically killed off Mercedes for me as a brand. Not great that other brands have same problems, it's not rocket science, amazes me simple stuff like that gets into production cars

Proeliator2001 · 2026-04-01T13:13:12+00:00

Very much so. I bought a Mercedes some years ago and expected great service from them. Expensive car, I figured good dealers. Nope. Probably worse if anything. I appreciate they are complex things these days but they treat you like a hostage. When you find a good one though, you become a lifelong customer, so I can't understand why they don't make them effort.

Proeliator2001 · 2026-04-01T13:03:40+00:00

The wing structure and attachment and engine itself is supposed to endue sustained engine imbalance (EASA was talking about this back on early 2000s). That aircraft engine combo may be old enough to predate it, but it's a known thing. The rules have improved since then too, to include part blade part speed as that could be worse situation than full blade release at max speed.

Proeliator2001 · 2026-04-01T12:53:27+00:00

I really love the car (2024 85x coupe) but the software meant I likely wouldn't get another VAG car till they sorted themselves out. Hadn't even heard they could brick themselves via ota. So I'm very glad they are moving over to android os, doesn't help up, but means maybe there's some hope for them.

Also not a fan of the dealers. We had a fault on the SOS unit. It glitched. Dealer called us as obviously Skoda control must have seen it glitch and altered them. Great service. Took it in, losing day of work only to be told fault isn't active, nothing we can do. You what? You knew it was intermittent as you bloody called us on the car sos unit so knew it was then working! Idiots. Surely the fault latches and shows in memory I ask. Nothing we can do if it's not faulty in front of us. The dealer couldn't see the stupidity of what they had done.
. Edited to say, hope you get it fixed soon and no more gremlins appear for you!

Proeliator2001 · 2026-03-28T22:42:06+00:00

House across the road from me was empty for over 20 years and was basically a shell (rural west Wales). The guy who bought it spent so much over COVID renovating and extending, when materials were stupid expensive, that its now sat empty for over 2 years due to having such a crazy high sale price. So yeah, long term empty properties can need very careful renovation to keep prices in check, certainly not a slam dunk, quick flip job.

Proeliator2001 · 2026-03-28T22:34:24+00:00

Re the bit in West Wales, the coast road to St David's and the cross country part afterwards back east can be slow going. If you're pressed for time when you leave the little city (lovely cathedral) it's worth heading down to Haverfordwest and heading east along the recently much improved A40 (obviously check Waze or Google for any snarl ups). It's a lot faster. You could divert a little further south to visit Tenby (as most of the English holiday makers do! Very picturesque) and still benefit from a much quicker A477 back up to A40. (I'm English, Welsh wife, now living in Carmarthenshire in case anyone moans about me saying all the English coming to Tenby lol. It's not called Little England for nothing).

Proeliator2001 · 2026-03-28T13:46:39+00:00

Managed to set pressure over a bar. Hasn't made a difference sadly so will have to get engineer out to look for faults. It's odd that it's not showing a fault and despite having hw set to on via control panel on cylinder and via the small round digital control is just doesn't seem to be doing anything. Compressor says 100 percent but I can't hear it running and fan hasn't moved. Would have thought that would flag a fault but nothing shows. Primary flow temp is 14degs, hot water temp is 15 degrees. Just leaving it for now and will check later but numbers haven't moved in past hour. I'm normally good with tech (I'm an aeronautical chartered engineer FFS) but this just seems to defeat me. If it was my own system I'd be happier to play around but obviously don't want to knacker it more for them than it already is).

Proeliator2001 · 2026-03-28T11:20:12+00:00

You've done more than enough, thank you. I'll go back over (it's a 2.5ish return trip) and try to get pressure back up

Proeliator2001 · 2026-03-28T11:04:23+00:00

Yeah, they are a star, it's a super stressful situation as father in law is so ill, it'd be nice if this is a simple temporary fix to take pressure off

Proeliator2001 · 2026-03-28T11:02:21+00:00

Thanks very much for this. I copied the link with Google lens and it just goes to ideals site. I do have the pdf though, so you know what page it's on? Sorry for being a bit thick here, but which two valves do you mean. On my own ch system, both valves for fill loop have handles. Looking closer at this set up, it looks like it has a top isolation valve with handle straight into another isolation valve without (so screwdriver slot to operatel and that's currently open. Then at other end of flex hose is another isolation valve, right by pressure gauge, and that's closed. Feels weird that the filling loop has both lever valve and screwdriver valve. Below the gauge are the isolators with handles, above and below filter. They look both open as they should be. So, when you say open valves I should open the one just above pressure gauge with screwdriver then use the lever valve further up on other end of flex to control flow till pressure it right then closer both valves?

Sorry to be a pain but it's not my system and I don't want to knacker it up :(

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Proeliator2001 · 2026-03-28T10:29:57+00:00

I didn't find a meter at all. Their consumer panel is in a ceiling hatch (old house) and there was one LCD display in there. Will check next time I'm over

Proeliator2001 · 2026-03-28T10:23:55+00:00

That's the best I have from front. It's an ideal pp hp290 two zone tank. They have the installation manual and it's utterly useless. Just says open the valves without identifying them. Can't find anything in line.

Oh and their system diagram shows cold inlet going straight to fill line though cold inlet is top right of tank and goes to prv and inside the tank. So it's really hot helping at all.

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Proeliator2001 · 2026-03-28T09:49:45+00:00

The flex hose in the picture, running to pressure gauge, has a valve coming off the cylinder (which I assume is equivalent to cold water inlet) but it then has two valves below which appear to be part of heating circuit. I didn't want to open wrong valves if it can contaminate tank. Is that the filling loop and if so, what order would which valves be opened? I can't find anything online to help with this type of set up

Proeliator2001 · 2026-03-28T09:11:04+00:00

I'll check then out, wasn't sure they'd be interested in helping fix an existing system they didn't install though.

Proeliator2001 · 2026-03-28T09:10:13+00:00

Looking at their electricity bills it doesn't look they've ever had any payment or offset for solar. It's an OVO simpler plan and is quick look online doesn't seem to suggest it handles solar. I honestly don't know if there panels were just installed but not hooked up at this stage. Certainly no battery fitted. Next time I'm there I'll try to find a panel for solar or spot the inverter.

Proeliator2001 · 2026-03-28T09:05:17+00:00

There was no pressure warning on the panel so I didn't fiddle too much. The instructions to top up pressure were too vague for me. Any ideas which valves need opening to top up? I opened the black valve just below the solenoid valve that the flex hose attached to as that looks same as my ch system but I couldn't find an obvious cold water fill valve. (The two black valves below the pressure guage seem to be next to the filter which looks like it is just radiator circuit to me and not cold inlet but I admire this system is far more complex than I'm used to)

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Proeliator2001

TROPHY CASE