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I was looking after my friend's house last week and opened the fridge to put in some veg that I had picked. It was totally dead - no lights or anything. I unplugged it and used another socket - same issue. I came home to Google for an hour or two and read that this can be a safety feature...

Just a footnote about smart meters. I do like mine and the range of web-based pages that EDF have to let you see your usage day by day. The main issue seems to be the monthly DD system that means you pay more in the summer to offset winter peaks. With EDF I've chosen to pay for what I've used...

Old Salt....my phone would love to do the same!!:giggle: When the edf chaps were installing the meter they did say that my road was well-known for communications issues. Is it true that some people have to send a reading to the supplier from a smart meter because it can't communicate?

My meter is in a cupboard at the back of the house and it communicates well with the remote display in the living room. My EDF hub (on their website) has got a reading for every single day since it was installed. But my road is in a dip and we can rarely get a good phone/data signal. Most of the...

I need a new strimmer. Mine has the plastic wire cutting system but I've been told that the bladed ones are much less hassle. Can anyone recommend a good one that they've used (that's still available to buy, obviously!) I don't need an edging tool attachment as I use my long clippers for that...

The bathroom lights were not the correct rating. I now have ones that don't have a replaceable bulb so the whole lot needs replacing eventually, but they said 5 to 10 years is a good expectation. The sockets had been left after the house was rewired (before we moved in). They had been connected...

Here in SE London the EICR threw up a few issues that needed to be rectified before my new CU went in. (The EICR and the CU installation were a fixed price for each job). The 'few issues' were quoted at £80 per hour plus the cost of materials (two blokes). They had to renew my bathroom...

I need to enlarge a cat flap hole in a PVC door panel. I would like to invest in a fairly cheap jig saw to do the job...any recommendations? Can be mains or battery operated. Thanks

My boiler has just the one control for the output temperature. I think the idea is that a high boiler water temperature isn't needed just to heat the domestic water in the cylinder. Heating off now, hopefully until October.

Thanks. Clark Drain is going to call me this morning. I saw the list of the various loads on their website and I'm sure it's the 6BG one but there's no identification mark that I can see on it. The Wickes site says pedestrian only.

I've offered to help my neighbour tidy up her driveway. I've ordered a new drain cover but many years ago Thames Water did a drain repair and concreted near and around the inspection chamber. This is now in poor condition as vehicles drive over it regularly. She is saving up to have the whole...

I've just bought this for a neighbour's driveway. I chose it because a car will drive over it daily. The company's official info. sheet is attached. But the Wickes info. says " not suitable for anything heavier than pedestrian traffic". Can you see why I'm confused? I know that Wickes used to...

I have read several articles recommending lowering the boiler temperature in the summer. The instruction booklet just tells me that the range is from 35 to 85 degrees with no guidance about winter and summer positions. My tank thermostat is set to 65 degrees so is my new boiler setting in the...

JohnW2... surely your immersion heater will cut off when the required temperature is reached, so it should only be on for an hour or so at most. It shouldn't account for a third of your usage, should it?

Thanks everyone. John..(using your cell references) I used DATEDIF(X99,Y88,"d") to return the result in days. I have now changed it and it works, so many thanks. I was putting an unnecessary = sign in the formula before DATEDIF. ETAF..the whole bill is subject to 5% VAT at the moment, I...

I have written an Excel formula to keep track of my usage since the previous bill - I expect that some people on this forum have done the same or similar. I can now enter my current reading and see exactly what my next bill will be, including VAT. Now the technical part: I have calculated the...

My Neff fan oven plugs in and is rated at 2.99KW. It is brilliant. It only really uses more than 2.2KW on the very highest settings or grill.

A recent test showed up a blown headlight bulb. I rarely drive at night so hadn't noticed, but my wife had driven it through London several times at night just before the MOT. A friend of mine was actually pulled over by the police as his brake lights weren't working - he had 10 months left on...

Ooops! Sorry - I'll post a few comments there.

Apparently this idea was raised at Cabinet by Grant Shapps when Boris asked for ideas that would reduce the cost of living. Over the years my MOTs have highlighted issues which were potentially dangerous (mainly brakes and tyres). On one occasion they found that a headlight bulb had blown and I...