Trump's legacy

[woody1]

I was glad when he lost in 2020 but in hindsight it might have been better if he'd got back in then, rather than having 4 years to fume/stew and plot his vengeance.

The best we can hope for is to survive the chaos of the next 3 years. Well actually that's not true, the best would be if...

[woody1]

From the About page of his website:

"Did you know almost 90% of all traders lose money. I want you to be in the 10%. Therefore don't follow me."

Obviously I added a bit.

[woody1]

As an aside, you can't even avoid EES going to Gibraltar because they're now part of Schengen.

Moreover, even though it's a British territory, we can only stay there for the 90/180 days.

[woody1]

I haven't actually measured it but according to the boiler installation manual, it uses max 140W (burner 90W; circulating pump 50W).

Apart from the borehole pump, the only other big item we'd want to keep running in an extended power cut is the fridge/freezer. I put a plug-in power monitor...

[woody1]

Watched a reality series on Discovery a few years back about a group of miners and geologists who went to Greenland searching for precious metals and gems. They spent several months exploring all over the place but found f'all. The weather is only just about bearable for a few short months in the...

[woody1]

Which presumably means it doesn't come on in Summer? And turning up the thermostat would be self-defeating?

Aside from this, there would be a few other considerations.

1) connecting anything to the outflow, even large ducting, would restrict airflow which might cause problems...

[woody1]

Assuming Mr Titanic is alive/vaguely compos mentis for 3 more years.

Made America great again? Financial armageddon? Literally armageddon?

NB. probably best not to say anything negative about him if you have any plans to visit the US

[woody1]

I'm guessing this is an air source heat pump with a gas boiler as a booster for when it's very cold?

Is it just heating the cellar, or is warm air pumped elsewhere in the house?

[woody1]

That's why it needs honest Reform.

[woody1]

I've been looking into soft start controllers, and apparently they can be problematic with "capacitor start motors" which is what our pump has.

AI seems to give a good summary of the issues:
https://share.google/aimode/6MtSRsCszefE3F7rx

[woody1]

It's a B6, so just a regular lighting one. I remember many years ago, before LEDs, installing a 1000W halogen outside light but had to swap the bulb for a 750W because it kept tripping.

[woody1]

The pump is on its own circuit, and I hadn't noticed before that it's only a 6A circuit breaker. It's never tripped but I guess that's because the inrush current (20-30A) is only momentary?

[woody1]

Assuming the inverter doesn't go up in smoke, if it won't run the pump I can always use it to power the telly, laptop/broadband, LED light....

[woody1]

Measured the power consumption of the pump yesterday; it's 1kW.
Ordered a 3kW (6kW peak) pure sine wave inverter. A charity had been donated a few new ones, and was selling them on-line. So, if nothing else, £77 goes to a good cause.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/277635379315
...

[woody1]

I don't want to go OTT for the odd power cut, especially when the existing system has worked trouble-free for 20 years.

Not sure a low voltage submersible would be capable of raising water 50m and then pressurising the system to over 3 bar. Even if this was possible, you've got to be talking...

[woody1]

I want to test if it's possible to power the water pump (1.5kW) with an inverter.

I'm thinking a 3kW (6kW peak) inverter might suffice. I'll probably go for a more expensive pure sine wave one, so I've always got the fallback option to use it with electronic devices (TV, laptops etc)....

[woody1]

On reflection, maybe the easiest thing to do, if the power looks like it's going to be down for longer than a day, would be to just do what one of our neighbours did and check into a hotel.

[woody1]

It's 19 years old so I doubt it, and the battery is readily accessible. When the electricity goes down, I hook a 12V 10W LED to it so we at least have some lighting in the house....

[woody1]

Just thinking...

If I get a deep cycle 12V battery and it runs down before the power comes back, could I recharge it using the car with the engine running?

[woody1]

Will definitely look into replacing the existing control box (which I think just contains a capacitor) with a soft-start controller. The pump itself is nearly 20 years old, and may not have much much life left in it, so I might get this replaced at the same time.