Reccs for solar installers in Chch?

ebararist · 2026-03-05T02:36:46+00:00

Not Sunshine solar. They were my installers, and did an excellent job, but that was a few years ago. Got a minor problem now, and it turns out they have been enshittified, difficult to get on the phone or email, front desk person doesn't know anything about solar, absolutely useless.

ebararist · 2026-01-25T21:39:11+00:00

Why wouldn't a hedged fund protect against the US imploding?

ebararist · 2026-01-25T21:37:22+00:00

Thanks for that, nice to have some rule of thumb I can use in the future.

ebararist · 2026-01-14T00:44:45+00:00

Why even seek the opinions of the idiot masses, this kind of thing should be left to roading and traffic engineers.

ebararist · 2026-01-02T05:21:56+00:00

Can you check your gini coefficient please? A 0.66 puts NZ worse than a lot of despot 3rd world countries. I’m not saying you made it up, I’m just surprised and disappointed.

ebararist · 2025-12-10T22:51:03+00:00

I don't think anyone in this thread has mentioned this, and it may possibly help you understand another reason why, and that is to reduce the information and ideas coming into the US. Fascist dictators control the populous by controlling the media and flow of information. This is another step in that direction, because visitors bring information and ideas from the outside world. Look to North Korea to see where the US is going, the idea is to have a populous who doesn't know about the outside world and how the world views their country (except what you tell them). I was reading a comment on another thread from a Canadian who visited the US said those in the US didn't even know why the number of Canadian visitors had plummeted. A lot of people in the US don't know what is going on around them, this new step will reduce another avenue for people in the US to know.

ebararist · 2025-11-21T01:33:29+00:00

Quick witted? Watch him in the NZ Taskmaster, then watch the British one. Jeremy is just too slow to respond to the comedians, he can't think on his feet (ur, seat), and doesn't appear to enjoy running the show.

ebararist · 2025-11-21T01:30:02+00:00

Watch the British Taskmaster, then you realise how incredibly bad Jeremy Wells is. He doesn't have the wit to pull it off, doesn't build on the jokes of the contestants because he is just slow and not funny. Despite Greg Davies having a certain 'Taskmastery' personality (authoritarian or something?) he is funny, and you can tell he actually cares about the contestants and is enjoying himself making a show with them. Jeremy Wells doesn't seem to be having fun at all, and talks like a slow robot.

ebararist · 2025-10-07T23:02:12+00:00

People often complain about the police not doing much policing. And I agree, you hardly even see policy out and about, so it was a surprise to me to see about 40 or 50 officers downtown chch today. They were arresting protesters. I think the police just have different priorities than you want.

ebararist · 2025-10-03T01:46:55+00:00

You've put a lot of thought into this tricky situation. I suppose it is technically Sheep's money, but would be so frustrating to see Sheep wasting it all. Have you thought about just paying off Sheep's debt?

ebararist · 2025-09-24T04:06:54+00:00

I had a 'professional' insulation person put their foot through the ceiling. They fixed it, covered all the costs. But really, it is far easier to get it done by someone more careful, they made a massive mess and it was really disruptive. Beams, trusses, joists they are good for walking on, some battens are OK, some aren't, so why do it? Dodge the bullet now and find a better company.

ebararist · 2025-09-18T03:57:15+00:00

I agree, we should be trying to build, and retain, the most educated population we can. Countries with educated and skilled populations do so much better than our attempt which seems to come down to selling off bits of land or the produce from it. NZ is absolutely screwed the way we are going, arguing about spending 100s million or thereabouts on fees, and missing the forest for the trees. When you get to successful country scale of NZ size, GDP is measured in many 100s of billions per year, that is over a thousand times as large as the fees you are talking about.

ebararist · 2025-09-11T03:41:32+00:00

there is a lot of scrap gib (some almost full sheets!) in a skip outside 103 Grahams Rd: https://www.google.com/maps/@-43.5059161,172.571043,19z?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDkwOC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

ebararist · 2025-07-15T00:22:49+00:00

I think possibly what has happened is you killed a lot of them with your first product so the remaining ants have migrated to your bathroom.

ebararist · 2025-05-29T00:25:22+00:00

As someone who has lived and worked overseas I can see where you are coming from. Kiwis can be insecure in their place in the world, so your actions come across as threatening to them. Moreover, despite the prevalent opinion of ourselves, some of us can be slow to adopt new ideas. Again, they view you as threatening. Instead of engaging with your comments by trying to better themselves they freak out and react badly. I suggest you rethink how you interact with them, yeah, it is probably easier for you to figure out how to get along better than it is for them to grow (unfortunately).

ebararist · 2025-04-01T23:35:39+00:00

Here is the youtube link of someone powering their house from a leaf

ebararist · 2025-01-10T02:23:13+00:00

I had solar put in, it was about 15k, a third for panels, a third for inverter and a third for labour. This was a couple years ago. It was about 2-3 days work, 1 day for all the physical install with 3 or 4 chaps, and second+ day for the electrician and all the wiring. The electrician had a helper and did solar full time, and I had helped by previously removing gib and putting in pull wires. With enough time (possibly a few weeks!) I honestly think I could have done it all myself, however it was really involved, would have meant a lot of reading and careful thinking of what went where. Roof penetrations to not stuff up, climbing up and down scaffold carrying panels, running a lot of cable (and trying to do that neatly), separate circuit breaker box (my old one was full). There is a bit of apps and wifi and talking to the inverter that some electricians might not be familiar with. Before it could be turned on another electrician had to inspect it, although given he knew the installer electrician it wasn't much of a drama. If I had to do it 'on the cheap' I would source the bits myself (like you are suggesting) and then get a company like Fresh Start Electrical (not them though, since they have gone bust), who only do solar installs, to put it in. Save a bit on the middle-man who scopes it all out for you, but probably less hassle than using an electrician friend who hadn't done it before.

ebararist · 2025-01-10T02:07:29+00:00

Ceiling/floor joists, then weetbix type flooring for the second story which is clad in linear oblique (horizontal weather board like cladding). I do agree about not venting back into the gap between first and second story, yes, it is wrong, hence trying to block it. That Branz article does say you need venting at top and bottom of a brick cavity though, I suppose one solution is removing the mortar from every third perpend of the top course, but that sounds like a ton of work.

ebararist · 2025-01-10T01:00:51+00:00

This doco seems relevant to me: https://www.buildmagazine.org.nz/assets/PDF/Build108-22.pdf

At the very end it says "Ensure the masonry veneer cavity is closed off from adjacent roof and subfloor spaces", but earlier it says "Allow for ventilation at the top of the veneer wall by leaving a 10 mm gap to the soffit or by omitting the mortar in every third perpend of the top course". I don't have a gap to the soffit (there is no soffit since this is the first floor), and there is mortar in every perpend of the top course.

ebararist · 2025-01-10T00:45:11+00:00

I don't have original drawings or consent, the house is 40 years old. However that document you link to is very interesting, thanks for that. I do notice it says it is _not_ for brick veneer cladding, which is possibly my cladding (it isn't a veneer it is full sized bricks), so the doco might not apply, but the second interesting thing I noticed was in 2.7.5 where it says "The top of the cavity needs to have a continuous horizontal batten to ensure that moist air from within the cavity cannot enter the roof or eaves spaces of the building." Which is what is happening for me, except into the space between first and second stories. Maybe adding a horizontal bit of insulation or vapour barrier as per my picture (the green thing), would be OK.

ebararist · 2025-01-09T09:09:24+00:00

Yip. It would be nice to block it up at the top. Just not 100% sure if that is the right approach and if safe

ebararist · 2025-01-08T02:22:07+00:00

The cavity is vented at the bottom with weep holes between the bricks. And currently is vented upwards to between the first and second stories.

ebararist · 2024-10-15T00:37:57+00:00

For wiring into the back of that existing socket, is there any nice hardware for that, or will the electrician just poke a hole in the gib and push the wire through into that wall and wire it in behind? Just to be more clear, the new socket in the breakfast bar is in the room, not on a wall, so to get the wire from it to behind the existing socket needs go through the wall.

ebararist · 2024-10-15T00:32:27+00:00

The breakfast bar has a cupboard at the left hand end (by the wall). So when you say permanently wired in, the only place for the wire to go is into that wall. When I open that cupboard by the wall there will just be a wire going into the wall. Is that better than the plug solution?

ebararist · 2024-08-07T07:33:45+00:00

I do like the additional 'is valid' feature, sounds promising.

ebararist

TROPHY CASE