What's made you grumpy today?

[portland_bill]

Didn't know about AO - I'll look into it - thanks.

I was introduced to AO quite a few years ago, when our washing machine went pop. The engineer recommended them. I was on their website at just after 5pm, new washing machine arrived just after 7am next day.
Used them quite a few times since for other stuff. Longer delivery times are cheaper, or free.

Oven should be just three fat wires. If you can get at them behind the unit. Oven probably just held in by those four tiny screws you can see with the door open.

It is at eye level. Place your Workmate table (or something similar) in front, slide it out onto it then disconnect. As long as you can handle the weight. But you have a boy can help with that.

 

[portland_bill]

Been out fighting with the crowds, looking at mowers. Now pondering which of three.
Bosch Rotak 34. Looks well made. Support should be good, have experience with them.
Flymo EasiStore 340. Again, well made, and a brand I know. Support usually good, although they have stopped supporting my 25 yr old unit.
MacAllister 34cm unit. B&Q own brand. Looks well made, much better than the Mountfield rubbish, and cheap at £89. No idea about support.

Bosch and Flymo both £130
The Mountfield was reduced as a special from £139 to £79. Its build quality is only a little better than the cheap unknown brands, so £59 would be a more suitable price.

 

[porta]

Been out fighting with the crowds, looking at mowers. Now pondering which of three.
Bosch Rotak 34. Looks well made. Support should be good, have experience with them.
Flymo EasiStore 340. Again, well made, and a brand I know. Support usually good, although they have stopped supporting my 25 yr old unit.
MacAllister 34cm unit. B&Q own brand. Looks well made, much better than the Mountfield rubbish, and cheap at £89. No idea about support.

Bosch and Flymo both £130
The Mountfield was reduced as a special from £139 to £79. Its build quality is only a little better than the cheap unknown brands, so £59 would be a more suitable price.

If you’ve got tools with the same battery pack, buy that…got several tools that have more than one type and it’s a pain, but have started to replace with Stanley and Guild (which are surprisingly good)

 

[vexorg]

Not sure you can get smart phone and simple.

For all the apple hatred, I've used them for years because they are simple and just do what you want. Apple are very good at keeping apps clean and there's no real risk of virus or malware on an iphone.

I have a hatred of android due to early days of my daughter having one and it doing things on its own! I've also got one as a work phone, but never use it, always doing updates when i need to use it and pretty much only calls or work apps. Really non intuitive on android.

 

[StevenRB45]

We've all had crap work phones though...I used to get iPhones..which forever needed charging and used a bloody proprietary charger which was forever somewhere else. That and forever needed an update...just because it was always off until I needed it/was on shift so it always flashed at you I need an update when you turned it on. Also really unintuitive to me...as I'm used to setting my phones exactly as I like rather than how the manufacturer thinks it should be and I couldn't change half the things I'm used to being able to change or use a memory card with it although that's par for the course these days unfortunately.

Also couldn't use my earphones with it etc etc...

The reality is they do the same damn thing, and use either daily you get used to how they work...but one has much heavier reliance on you buying into the ecosystem to actually be any good.

I'm mildly baffled about things moving themselves as I've never experienced this in 10 years...or viruses and malware but I don't use a phone out of software support and get my apps off the dark web.

At the same time old Samsung's were an absolute pain to get started with, basically requiring formatting the phone to remove all the Samsung crap they'd added on top and rooting the phone to get rid of the Samsung UI.

But the Pixel is a much simpler thing to live with...without much of the look at me toss Samsung (and other android makers)like to include to look good on the advert or requirement to uninstall all the apps that came pre-installed that were duplicates of things that came on stock android but a proprietary own brand version.

So happy with it in that it's clean and simpler but allows me to mess with it as I want.

 

[varesecrazy]

Personally, too old and disinterested to bother with "tech"..

I've basically bought what my son has had great service from, after his 5 years hassle free service

So a Samsung Galaxy, and now some Chinese thing

Panda Driver has had HTC Desire, Motorola and now another cheap Android. All pretty good

She sets it up Left Handed.. so neither of us are great with the others phone

People's experience of Company Android work phones..

Our outfit runs them, and indeed they DO seem to spend Lots of time updating.. (No doubt due to all the Security junk)
and obviously Apple users struggle with the transition.

My Chinese thing.. HONOR..?
has updated Once in 9 months, and all I've Noticed are new colour backgrounds (screensavers)


For @Pugglt Auld Jock


Tinker with all your visitors phones,
(Kids.. And their kids..) see what looks kind of Logical/intuitive

AND see which network they are on.. And it's SignalStrength

My 1st smartphone could only get signal at the back of the house.. Bloody useless.. Down to the Network !

 

[The Panda Nut]

Aye, very very old pay as you go. So, a friend has said to buy either a used phone or refurb and a separate sim as it'll work out cheaper. I really haven't a clue though.

Mrs bought a refurb phone recently its got all the basics and was pretty near new if not new. Under £100 so bearable cost. I wouldnt spend much more than this on a first phone. My kids and siblings have phones that cost into the thousands. Im afraid I cant see any difference from mine which was a new one at £129. Another big lesson is buy a matched cover and a screen protector at the same time these things are not optional. If you drop these phones they are often very tough and bounce, but sometimes they just break. The covers are worth having and the screen protectors helf spread shock over the glass. They are not guaranteed to save you but definitely help. We have broken 4 phones between 4 of us in the last 12 months. Touch wood I am the only one that hasn't, mine is now in its 4th year. This is definitely a good reason to buy sensibly priced phones.

 

[The Panda Nut]

A closer look at Peanuts tyres means all 4 are are past it, a bit like me. I dont think the wheels have ever been off the car. The sidewalls look like new. The tread however on both fronts is very badly cracked indeed, I have managed to get the layer of brake dust and rust from the discs off the front wheels and wire brushed them - by hand - and given them a coat of primer and two coats of satin black. They now look good. Better indeed than the wheels off my waze that have only seen 3 mild winters of use, Those really need some paint. I shall have yet another look at the rear tyres tomorrow and decide if we can get another month or two from them. As Rubys tyres are also old, excepting 1, its going to be expensive. I may do a deal on all 8 and just keep the newish one as a spare. I would rather space these costs out!

 

[porta]

Agree with panda nut, since leaving my contract, with the accompanying annual phone upgrade, I get her hand-mi-downs, I’ve got her old iPhone 11pro on a sim only and, not like past iPhones, the battery still lasts after three years of abuse.
I’m not bothered about having the latest ‘anything’ and, if you watch the adverts, the only improvements tend to be camera related, big deal, so long as I can get the phone into tight spots and take part numbers I don’t care…that photo was taken between manifold, heat shield and a stupidly placed cover

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

I was introduced to AO quite a few years ago, when our washing machine went pop. The engineer recommended them. I was on their website at just after 5pm, new washing machine arrived just after 7am next day.
Used them quite a few times since for other stuff. Longer delivery times are cheaper, or free.

Oven should be just three fat wires. If you can get at them behind the unit. Oven probably just held in by those four tiny screws you can see with the door open.

It is at eye level. Place your Workmate table (or something similar) in front, slide it out onto it then disconnect. As long as you can handle the weight. But you have a boy can help with that.

Thanks PB. I think I could probably manage that. Note to self, isolate supply first! I'm guessing they are modular, by which I mean another make of twin oven unit will be the same dimensions? Think the boss (Mrs J) is keen on a Bosch whereas the existing unit is a Hotpoint.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Been out fighting with the crowds, looking at mowers. Now pondering which of three.
Bosch Rotak 34. Looks well made. Support should be good, have experience with them.
Flymo EasiStore 340. Again, well made, and a brand I know. Support usually good, although they have stopped supporting my 25 yr old unit.
MacAllister 34cm unit. B&Q own brand. Looks well made, much better than the Mountfield rubbish, and cheap at £89. No idea about support.

Bosch and Flymo both £130
The Mountfield was reduced as a special from £139 to £79. Its build quality is only a little better than the cheap unknown brands, so £59 would be a more suitable price.

I just bought a Ferrex from Aldi £69 plus battery £25 and charger £15. I have to say I am delighted its a very good tool indeed and has decent battery life. I have about 450m2 of grass and it can do it all if I dont dally, on one battery. I have two so can change. I understand its the smae as a worx mower but cheaper. its 340mm cut. I cannot see any draw backs. Just as well as I bought 2... One charger does all their 20v or 40v batteries so overall its a good deal as I have a cordless mini sander / saw and a chainsaw thing so just one charger for all.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Thanks PB. I think I could probably manage that. Note to self, isolate supply first! I'm guessing they are modular, by which I mean another make of twin oven unit will be the same dimensions? Think the boss (Mrs J) is keen on a Bosch whereas the existing unit is a Hotpoint.

I think your right on the modular sizes, but dont trust anyone or anything! You should be able to get the dimensions for your existing by googling the model number and then compare. Measure twice etc.

Still having dished out that advice I can admore again my new garage window. It was supposed to be in my daughter house in Manchester. I measured twice and still managed to order a window that was only 2/3 of the necessary size.....

 

[The Panda Nut]

I used to think duracell were a good brand, but their name is dirt in the USA, nothing about bad reviews on batteries leaking within date.

I have now received prepaid envelopes to send back batteries that are faulty. 6 of them ! I am sending everysoingle one I have in the house leaking, used new, they can have them all I have told them I never want to hear from them or their batteries ever again. I am however going to consult trading standardas about them and may send them for T>S to have a consider about the misleading adverts and dangerous products rather tham]n letting Duracell off the hook.. If I had a helicopter I would drop the wholwe lot of them on teh factory from the highest height it could make. ANd no mIm not sending all the wrecked lights, totches and radikos etc to Duracell fro their benefit. I have two backup batteries in my new reclining chair that are Duracell, if they have leaked it will definitely be a court case!

 

[portland_bill]

If you’ve got tools with the same battery pack, buy that…got several tools that have more than one type and it’s a pain, but have started to replace with Stanley and Guild (which are surprisingly good)

I just bought a Ferrex from Aldi £69 plus battery £25 and charger £15. I have to say I am delighted its a very good tool indeed and has decent battery life. I have about 450m2 of grass and it can do it all if I dont dally, on one battery. I have two so can change. I understand its the smae as a worx mower but cheaper. its 340mm cut. I cannot see any draw backs. Just as well as I bought 2... One charger does all their 20v or 40v batteries so overall its a good deal as I have a cordless mini sander / saw and a chainsaw thing so just one charger for all.

I'm looking at a mains powered mower, not battery. Not a big garden, and grass only goes 2/3 way up from the house, so no issues with cable length.
Only battery tool I have is an ALDI drill. Ferrex, but strangely 16v. Was even cheaper as clearance.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

I have now received prepaid envelopes to send back batteries that are faulty. 6 of them ! I am sending everysoingle one I have in the house leaking, used new, they can have them all I have told them I never want to hear from them or their batteries ever again. I am however going to consult trading standardas about them and may send them for T>S to have a consider about the misleading adverts and dangerous products rather tham]n letting Duracell off the hook.. If I had a helicopter I would drop the wholwe lot of them on teh factory from the highest height it could make. ANd no mIm not sending all the wrecked lights, totches and radikos etc to Duracell fro their benefit. I have two backup batteries in my new reclining chair that are Duracell, if they have leaked it will definitely be a court case!

I feel your pain. This has recently affected me in two respects. Firstly, with the recent death of my brother and the subsequent clearing up of his affairs - he had an auction business - we've found a number of battery powered devices, quite a number of which being toys and stuff like transistor radios, which are completely ruined by their batteries having leaked. I suppose not the battery manufacturer's fault, the batteries have just never been removed. but doesn't alter the fact the items are ruined. Most annoying is a nice stereo audio system which has a ruined remote. It's made by Technics so maybe a replacement would still be available?

The second one worthy of mention is that now the grandchildren are pretty much all teenagers - with the exception of the youngest - I've fallen heir to a host of non working battery powered toys and "devices". My kids all know that I like trying to get these sort of things working again so tend to just dump them on me (which annoys Mrs J - Why are you collecting all this junk!) It's very frustrating how many are damaged by batteries which have leaked. I clean them up with bicarbonate of soda solution and many can be made to function again. The question then becomes what should I do with them?

Regarding what batteries to buy? I think I mentioned earlier in this thread that I like Ikea's batteries but they don't do a big range of sizes, mind you they do supply AA, AAA, and some popular sizes of button cells. Quite a number of years ago I read an article which tested batteries for service life vs cost and the final recommendation was that cheaper products, whilst being of shorter service duration, won out in terms of cost per unit of functional time. ie. they didn't function for so long but were cheaper overall. Ever since I've bought either Ikea, Lidl. Aldi or other store batteries, like Panasonic, GP, and others. Most of my remotes are running on Aerocells just now. I pop the covers every two weeks or so and have a quick look for leaks and always replace/remove them when performance drops off.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

I'm looking at a mains powered mower, not battery. Not a big garden, and grass only goes 2/3 way up from the house, so no issues with cable length.
Only battery tool I have is an ALDI drill. Ferrex, but strangely 16v. Was even cheaper as clearance.

I have very mixed feelings towards battery powered stuff of this type in general. On the plus side is the convenience factor. They are without doubt very convenient to use and require almost no maintenance as long as you keep their batteries charged and ready for use. Also you're not restricted as to where you can use them (ie. cables and power sockets etc.) For me though, the batteries are the problem when compared to mains power. If they are not tools you are using very regularly then it's easy to forget to keep a charge in the battery and it takes too long to charge them up if you find yourself with a flat battery. Then there's the problem of battery size and capacity. Having owned a couple of Aldi/Lidl battery drill/drivers, which were very good but expired due to me expecting too much from a budget device, I "invested" in a Ryobi "one +" 18 volt special offer of impact drill/driver and circular saw with two medium capacity Ni-cad batteries and charger. The drill has been an unqualified success. It has done a shed load of work without any problems and still functions like new. The batteries are still excellent and charge up well. I find, even when using almost continuously, if you keep one battery charging then it's ready for use when the one on the drill packs in so swapping them over and putting the other on charge allows continuous use. The circular saw has been a big disappointment as it flattens the batteries very quickly and can really only be used for trimming stuff up rather than making cuts of any length - needs a much bigger battery. So, a bigger battery? well yes, but it costs and it's heavy on a hand tool. I pretty much ignore it now and use either my small mains powered or much larger mains powered jobbies. Must say though, the drill has been an unqualified success and I'll replace it with another if it ever fails. I've been thinking of buying the Li-ion batteries which, being the one + system, are interchangeable.

When it comes to garden tools though I'm completely into IC powered stuff. Lawnmower is a combination of an Italian Harry deck with a quite large Techumseh commercial grade side valve cast iron bore engine from a larger Toro machine. It's a simple push mower now about 30 years old and still going strong - gets it's oil changed twice a year which I think is very important on engines of this type where they have no filter and small sump capacity on an air cooled engine which, by definition, will "work" it's oil hard. With it's oversize engine it baulks at nothing and cuts my wee lawn without even thinking of breaking sweat. Brush cutter/strimmer, leaf blower, hedge cutter? all "professional" quality machines with two stroke Kawasaki or Echo engines of similar age to the lawnmower and all going well. The lawn mower is a bit "different" in that I bought the deck from my boss when it's original engine expired and fitted it with the Techumseh which I already had. But the other machines were all bought second hand when everyone was getting worried about vibration factors and "white finger" so buying into newer designs to comply with health and safety. Not one cost me more than £25. I bet a lot of perfectly good machines were scrapped at that time to comply with the regulations for professional use. So, Electric power? In most applications it's not for me I'm afraid. I very much doubt that any modern electrically powered machine bought today would still be going at that age.

 

[porta]

I know, working in the local authority in H&S, we didn’t get rid of the older stuff due to VWF or WBV (whole body vibration) we merely risk assessed and limited the exposure time further…new kit still has vibration, think strummers, cutters, rollers, whackerplates, they’re either dampened better or have controls that are more isolated from the vibrating source

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

I know, working in the local authority in H&S, we didn’t get rid of the older stuff due to VWF or WBV (whole body vibration) we merely risk assessed and limited the exposure time further…new kit still has vibration, think strummers, cutters, rollers, whackerplates, they’re either dampened better or have controls that are more isolated from the vibrating source

Yes, I remember looking at some of the new hedge cutters the council were buying at that time - our sheds were on the same site as the council's main nursery - and they had the engines separated from the handles with a system of springs.
Our machines in the gardening squad were all vibration assessed and the hedge cutter was the worst. Same make and model as the one I have now - Danarm TM310 with Kawasaki engine - but it gets such infrequent use with me that I'm not worried.

 

[porta]

Yes, I remember looking at some of the new hedge cutters the council were buying at that time - our sheds were on the same site as the council's main nursery - and they had the engines separated from the handles with a system of springs.
Our machines in the gardening squad were all vibration assessed and the hedge cutter was the worst. Same make and model as the one I have now - Danarm TM310 with Kawasaki engine - but it gets such infrequent use with me that I'm not worried.

Yup, for domestic use most tools are fine on short bursts. Rather than buying new kit, and implementing shorter use times, we also retrofit more cushioned grips, suspension seats for ride on stuff and gel gloves (a pain in summer for the heat, a pain in winter due to lack of dexterity).
The priority for new kit was usually noise or inability to source parts for older stuff. LA’s seldom have excess brass and, with most authorities having budgets slashed and those being annual, there’s bugger all long term planning or spending they can do, which just means more subbies and leasing kit…

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

The priority for new kit was usually noise or inability to source parts for older stuff.

Especially parts. Cheap kit can be ok and work well but then you need a throttle cable/operator presence cable or any of a million other "silly" parts and find you can't source them. So I'd insist on buying from our local machinery people Melvins being my favorite but also Hendersons. That way I might spend slightly more to buy the machine but I knew none of the machines would ever be "down" for long.

LA’s seldom have excess brass.

Neither do charities I can tell you.