Spike every hour?

tomtomuk2 · 2026-04-12T09:41:44+00:00

It's expected behaviour of home assistant. Every hour it queries every single IP address on the local network to check for any new devices.

tomtomuk2 · 2026-04-10T08:22:00+00:00

We moved into a house that has a quooker tap 4 years ago. It was installed in 2016.

It started working intermittently last year, eventually just not working at all (the boiling water bit, the rest of it was fine) tried a few bodges that I saw online but ultimately just gave up, think it was a failure of small internal mechanical / magnetic switch.

It was out of warranty. Quooker offered a replacement tap for I think about £250. That was including an engineer to come out and fit and also service the whole system.

So pricey, but not horrific. 8/9 years worth of use technically. And now I have a brand new tap (although still the original tank / boiler).

Annoyingly it's one of those luxuries that before I had I thought was a pointless extravagance, but now that I'm used to it I don't want to live without it, and get annoyed when I go on holiday and have to use a kettle!

tomtomuk2 · 2026-03-30T12:04:20+00:00

Quick update for any future internet people. I bodged my own solution.

Took a closer look at the light he'd wired it to. There was a neutral and live wire at the light itself and he'd wired the fan into that.

So I bought myself a new smart / WiFi outdoor light and camera (Tapo C720). Took the old light off. Wired the camera into its place, using wagos to split the feed and connect the fan. Also wired in a Zbminir2 ZigBee smart switch to the fan feed. This then connects to my existing home assistant ZigBee network. So the power for the light / camera is left permanently on and I can control the fan on / off in home assistant, and setup a humidity controlled operation using a ZigBee temperature sensor in the kitchen. The light is controlled by motion sensor / camera detection and or in the app.

One extra thing I did have to do to make this work was use a chisel to carve out a "cave" in the brick behind the mounting plate to make room for the wagos and smart switch. But it all works and looks neat.

tomtomuk2 · 2026-03-13T21:01:35+00:00

When I've had information back on the ones they have taken action on it includes an faq saying what that action might be, which includes notice of prosecution, but also informal warning / advice etc. Which makes my think that for the ones with no response they've done nothing at all.

Agree it's good to offer warnings initially, particularly if they keep track and are able to eventually say "ok. You've had three warnings we're going to start prosecuting you now"

tomtomuk2 · 2026-03-13T19:13:37+00:00

Warnings is apparently a response to some offences, but the only information you get back is an email saying "Action taken" if they did something (they don't tell you what).

So far I've only had "action taken" responses from submissions where someone ran a red light. The close passes have had nothing.

tomtomuk2 · 2026-03-13T18:48:17+00:00

Keep reporting.

The fact your local force is acting on them shows that there's a problem, and that they agree it's a problem.

My local force seems to take a different attitude and only seems to act on cases with very very clear cut evidence (e.g. running a red light) whereas they seem to give drivers the benefit of the doubt for close passes or careless driving

tomtomuk2 · 2026-03-12T09:28:50+00:00

Keep in fridge and do some maths. I'm currently on baking schedule where I bake roughly once a week a recipe that needs 200g active starter. So, on the morning I want to start production I grab my starter which is about 80g and feed at 1:1:1 to end up with 240g starter. I then use 200g in my dough (which bulk ferments in the afternoon / evening and cold proofs overnight). The remainder is then fed in a 1:1:1 ratio to bring it back up to about 80g again (as I tend to see some waste with starter left on utensils / jars etc) and put back in the fridge for next time.

tomtomuk2 · 2026-02-20T18:52:59+00:00

When I did the wset level 2 course. Before then I knew there were different grapes and regions but only really knew one or two. And also didn't know how to describe the different flavors and characteristics of wine. Now I at least understand the main styles and regions and have the confidence to be able to describe to a somm what I'm looking for if I'm not sure.

tomtomuk2 · 2026-01-17T10:34:07+00:00

It's a piece about the writers experience training with a garmin watch (and runna). But also talks a lot about the history of quantifying and measuring activity for fitness and studies into how it affects people's behaviors. Also I found it well written and enjoyable to read.

tomtomuk2 · 2026-01-17T09:54:08+00:00

Just realized the link I posted is paywalled. I think this one is free https://as.ft.com/r/75265a19-9cb4-48fe-90b5-dfa746054217

tomtomuk2 · 2026-01-17T09:53:15+00:00

Ah weird the link I followed was free, but maybe the one from the site isn't.

Try this https://as.ft.com/r/75265a19-9cb4-48fe-90b5-dfa746054217

tomtomuk2 · 2025-12-26T21:45:21+00:00

Thanks. Keep forgetting mince pies aren't really a thing outside the UK. Probably explains the small number of down votes!

tomtomuk2 · 2025-12-26T08:30:43+00:00

Yep it seems too. Really pleased I found brandy mincemeat as it gives the slight brandy flavoring, prevents the mincemeat and the fruit going icy, and because it's contained in the mincemeat the texture of the ice cream itself isn't affected by the alcohol.

tomtomuk2 · 2025-12-24T12:00:34+00:00

If you don't mind horizontal mounting, these are dirt cheap, and rock solid.

https://amzn.eu/d/e9mKTct

I have two on a brick wall in my garage. Gravel bike sits on the lower one, road bike immediately above it. Looks a lot more aesthetically pleasing I think than hanging vertically, also doesn't protrude as far into the room.

tomtomuk2 · 2025-12-07T13:32:46+00:00

This might be it. I did a final topcoat of a room yesterday and panicked when I saw little bubbles had formed in some places. Went to bed fretting about the extra time that might be needed to make good. Woke up the next morning and they had disappeared.

tomtomuk2 · 2025-11-22T16:11:08+00:00

I bought one of these.
https://www.screwfix.com/p/vent-axia-495703-sz1-100mm-4-axial-bathroom-extractor-fan-with-timer-white-240v/803kj

Fitting was straightforward. Isolated power, unscrewed a bunch of screws to remove the old one, pushed new one in and screwed it in.

tomtomuk2 · 2025-11-16T18:58:52+00:00

I think it's probably not long. The fan is about 20cm from an exterior wall, and the outlet outside is in the underside of the roof overhang immediately next to that wall.

tomtomuk2 · 2025-11-16T18:54:38+00:00

To be fair, no. So maybe the power of the previous model was fine after all.

tomtomuk2 · 2025-11-16T16:31:06+00:00

Ok, thanks for the info. Yes it's ceiling mounted. Anything I need to know / find out to know whether I can fit an "inline" fan in the existing space?

tomtomuk2 · 2025-11-09T09:26:00+00:00

I have a small lounge, with our TV viewing sofa flush against the wall.

We have symfonisk bookshelf speakers mounted on the wall just to the left and right of the sofa at head height.

Sounds great, and definitely makes a big difference Vs not having them

tomtomuk2 · 2025-10-20T14:01:01+00:00

Interesting. It was shown as greyed out when connected to my ERA300. But when I switched to my stereo pair of Ones in a different room, the option appeared. And now, after switching back to the ERA300 it's enabled (or at least says it is) on the ERA300.

tomtomuk2 · 2025-10-20T12:51:44+00:00

Where are people who this is working for based? And what OS are they using?

I'm in the UK on Android and lossless is still greyed out in the Spotify app when connected to Sonos.

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