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  1. ericmark

    Interesting Regulation of Yesteryear

    For years, it has been believed that electric bulbs emitted light. However recent information from Bell Labs has proven otherwise. Electric bulbs don't emit light, they suck dark. Thus, they now call these bulbs dark-suckers. The dark theory, according to a Bell Labs spokesman, proves the...
  2. ericmark

    Interesting Regulation of Yesteryear

    1980 I went to Algeria, returned for a short time, then the Falklands, so I had around 10 years out of the country, and I returned on the building of Sizewell 'B' to the 16th says this, and the 16th says that, from a foreman who did not have a clue how a star/delta started worked, and was...
  3. ericmark

    Plug-in Solar Panels: Are They Worth It for UK Homes? By DIYnot / April 28, 2026

    Agreed, however we were seeing loads about people jumping the gun, and what it would or would not mean, to those buying in to the plug and pray idea. Once we knew what was going to be permitted, it all went silent, I did look at it, as my panels are orientated south-west, so in the morning I...
  4. ericmark

    Interesting Regulation of Yesteryear

    Before 1992 it was not a British Standard, it was just a bunch of chaps saying what they thought should be done.
  5. ericmark

    Interesting Regulation of Yesteryear

    These allowed that, every point switched off with one flick of the switch. I know what you mean, pre-MCB one could not isolate a single circuit without the danger of ionisation as you drew the fuse, so had to turn off all before drawing the fuse. With no flash arrestor when drawing a plug...
  6. ericmark

    Interesting Regulation of Yesteryear

    I had forgotten about that, little dash hound, did not like the vacuum cleaner, returned home to find the power cord, still plugged in and live, and in about 100 bits, dog it seems bit it, and it bit back, so dog really attacked it, how it survived I don't know, it was an electricians house (my...
  7. ericmark

    Animals in the garden, wish they would stay in the garden.

    Moles can lift the lid on humane mousetraps, but could not open my hand, so outside again.
  8. ericmark

    In line battery condition tester

    I read the instructions, and looked at website, and my thoughts were why, how does it help? I have cheap Lidi changes, under £20 each one 3.8 amp the other 5 amp, and they auto turn off once the battery is charged (14.4 volts) and on again as it self-discharges (12.8 volts) so I simply move...
  9. ericmark

    Plug-in Solar Panels: Are They Worth It for UK Homes? By DIYnot / April 28, 2026

    It seems the interest in plug in solar has waned, likely as it does not include batteries? I note this month only 2/3 of the output to last month, so it seems as far as solar goes, missed the boat, by September looking at 1/2 the output of peak months. Looking at March and April now before we...
  10. ericmark

    Fused spur arching

    Heard bad reports for LAP, but personally they have been fine. I like the LAP grid system, and have a few socket, fuse and switch combinations in a double socket backplate.
  11. ericmark

    Fused spur arching

    It should be safe, you are just unlucky.
  12. ericmark

    Interesting Regulation of Yesteryear

    Words change meaning over time, when I was a boy "Decimate" meant to get rid of one in ten, it, I think comes from Latin, and was originally kill one in ten to make soldiers fight harder at the next battle, but today people seem to think it means 9 in 10 not 1 in 10. OK an extreme case, but...
  13. ericmark

    Patio drainage

    I also had the problem, wanted a level threshold for mothers wheelchair. I drain was fitted next to the door, and quarry tiles under the door, it was a case of there being no real option to do anything else, but the porch roof came out about a foot over the front door, so unless high winds...
  14. ericmark

    Tarmac path meets Zen Garden ideas.

    I had to look up Zen Garden, at least it does not need rain. I also had the existing tarmac which needed repairing, I started with a weed burning electric hot air gun, burnt off the weeds, then filled holes with cold fill tarmac, first bag it was cold, and it was a pain to lay, and got walked...
  15. ericmark

    Interesting Regulation of Yesteryear

    Would that not be true for any socket outlet, withdrawing the plug switches it off, I know at one time we had sockets which you turned the plug to turn it on, and pressed a button to turn it off, think it was a Reyrolle, used by GEC Large Steam Turbines, but the English is open to miss...
  16. ericmark

    Fused spur arching

    It does depend on how much power the condenser dryer uses, I went to great lengths so washing machine and dryer were not on the same supply, but really not needed, as when I moved from a vented dryer to a condenser heat pump dryer the amount of power used went down, still uses about same energy...
  17. ericmark

    Discover more, immersion heater, Gemini generated content may include mistakes?

    I wanted a wireless thermostat to work the DHW in summer, the programmer would only go down to a 2-hour burn, but when swapped for Nest Gen 3 I could set to ½ hour, the tank would stay warm for around 3 days, so experimented with 3 and 4 days only a week, but worried about legionnaires so once...
  18. ericmark

    Interesting Regulation of Yesteryear

    I note the exemption for taking an earth to a light required among other things "(ix) Lighting fittings using filament lamps installed in a room having a non-conducting floor, mounted at such a height that they cannot readily be touched and are out of reach of earthed metal." And in my parents...
  19. ericmark

    RCD adaptor won't reset...

    The testers pass at around 1.8Ω to 1.9Ω where the pass for a ring final is 1.38Ω. A 20 amp radial with a type B MCB/RCBO it will trip on the magnetic part at between 3 and 5 times the rating, so 100 amp, plus 5% safety margin so 105 amp for the calculation so 230/105 = 2.19Ω, with 25 amp 1.75Ω...
  20. ericmark

    RCD adaptor won't reset...

    There are plug in testers which can test RCDs and do a loop test, but it seems designed for radials not ring finals, so they can pass circuits which should fail. Some cheap testers still have a RCD test, but no loop test, but the one you show does not seem to have a RCD test.
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