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His Divine Shadow posted:Not worried in the slighest, europe is full of old crap and bad designs, even a lot of modern stoves are pretty bad. The air quality in Finland is measurebly one of the best in the world and the air consistently measures low particulates and pollutants, despite most homes have firewood stoves here. also finland has very nearly the lowest population density in europe, 17x lower than the UK
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Sep 27, 2022 11:31
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Lasted ten minutes into The Labour Files before having to shut it off out of anger. Will watch it properly later but gently caress me it’s grim having to relive all that. It’s also incredible how novel it feels to see someone with resources actually take the time to think ‘hey let’s see if any of this stuff is true’. It damns the entire media class of this horrible country by comparison
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Sep 27, 2022 11:34
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peanut- posted:That's beyond the pale now, the new line is that the turmoil is actually the fault of the next Labour government. It's genuinely funny watching the Party of Personal Responsibility seamlessly progress from blaming everything on the Last Labour Government, to blaming everything on a hypothetical current Labour government ("imagine how bad things would be if Labour were in charge") to blaming everything on an apparently inevitable Future Labour Government. Speaking of which, the sheer batshit levels of free-market ideologue-ry and thieving going on in the current government, and some of the stuff rumbling away at the Lab conference has made me genuinely consider if a Labour government would genuinely be better than a Tory one - still poo poo and still not meaningfully left wing, but better than Britainnia Unchanged/sell the Yorkshire Dales to Aramco madness. Then I see that the conference is today including a discussion on how to 'deliver a progressive gig economy' fronted by Deliveroo and without including a single food courier (or even a rep) on the panel. Basically a discussion on how to frame Britannia Unchained-style precarious labour as 'actually it's really left-wing guys because you don't have a boss.' And that thought that Labour might just possibly be better than the current bunch of sociopaths gets snuffed out.
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Sep 27, 2022 11:39
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Answers Me posted:Lasted ten minutes into The Labour Files before having to shut it off out of anger. Will watch it properly later but gently caress me it’s grim having to relive all that. Sadly I have checked with the racists and it's just the Muslims doing propaganda for Jihady Carbomb
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Sep 27, 2022 11:41
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Rustybear posted:im not really following the explaination tbh After the financial crash UK bond yields also rose to very high levels (higher than today, maybe not next week lol) but for very different reasons. Then in 2009 the government started using QE to finance debt. Inflation was very low then so from the government's perspective it made total sense to basically print a bunch of money rather than pay high yields with little concern of there being damaging levels of inflation - and they were right because inflation stayed relatively low. But inflation is very high now, so from the government's perspective it means there's no good option to increase debt as using QE risks even higher inflation. Hence total panic at the idea that this government wants to issue a ton of new debt at a time when it's very expensive and risky to do so and not for a big investment plan but instead to cut taxes to a bunch of very rich people. Yields had already been going up all year but nobody expected the government to throw petrol on the fire.
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Sep 27, 2022 11:42
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BalloonFish posted:And that thought that Labour might just possibly be better than the current bunch of sociopaths gets snuffed out.
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Sep 27, 2022 11:42
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Rustybear posted:also finland has very nearly the lowest population density in europe, 17x lower than the UK Well yes, I did qualify my statement earlier by mentioning I was talking about non urban areas.
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Sep 27, 2022 11:44
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His Divine Shadow posted:I know all about that actually and it's not really a problem with a good burning setup and particularly not in a non urban area. Surprise T Rex posted:Count us in among the "bought a house with insane radiator placement" though. One in the hall right by the front door, one in the living room right behind the only sensible place to put a sofa so you just block the majority of the heat, bedroom ones right under windows, kitchen one at the very far end of the room basically next to the back door... most of it is loving pointless. Guavanaut posted:I got one of those painted fibreboard covers for the one that's not in a stupid place.
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Sep 27, 2022 11:46
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His Divine Shadow posted:Not worried in the slighest, europe is full of old crap and bad designs, even a lot of modern stoves are pretty bad. The air quality in Finland is measurebly one of the best in the world and the air consistently measures low particulates and pollutants, despite most homes have firewood stoves here. not to derail fully into wood burning chat but even a cursory google turns up papers talking about the health and climate effects of wood burning, even in Finland specifically. Is it even possible to fully scrub particulate emissions from wood combustion? energy paper posted:Residential wood combustion (RWC) is a major source of climate-impacting emissions, like short-lived climate forcers (SLCF) and biogenic CO2, in Finland. In this paper, we present projections for those emissions from 2015 to 2040. We calculated the climate impact of the emissions using regional temperature potential metrics presented in literature. In our results, the climate impacts are given as global and Arctic temperature responses caused by the studied emissions in a 25 year time span. The results show that SLCF emissions from RWC cause a significant warming impact. Using our selected metrics, SLCF emissions from RWC added to the warming impact of Finland's projected greenhouse gas emissions by 28% in global temperature response and by 170% in Arctic response. When compared with other common heating methods in Finnish detached houses, using a typical Finnish stove (masonry heater) was the least climate-friendly option. Taking biogenic CO2 emissions into account further highlighted this finding.
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Sep 27, 2022 11:47
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Color me skeptical to those claims anyway...
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Sep 27, 2022 11:53
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Yeah how are you magically converting wood into thermal energy?
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Sep 27, 2022 11:54
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A Buttery Pastry posted:Far as I can tell, that one is in a stupid place. Internally located radiators exacerbate the effects of cold outer walls and windows, creating an updraft that speeds up the downdraft near cold surfaces.
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Sep 27, 2022 11:58
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Tesseraction posted:Jihady Carbomb Proper lol, hadn't seen this one before
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Sep 27, 2022 12:05
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FYI QE is not money printing. QE is the purchase of typically riskier assets such as longer term govt debt and even sometimes mortgage bonds specifically from commercial institutions using central bank reserve currency. These reserves pay a fixed interest rate but can be used to settle debts between other banks in overnight trading. They can’t be lent out to consumers however because consumers do not have reserves accounts with the central bank. In short, QE is the restructuring of a financial institution’s balance sheet to make them more liquid. This is why the central bank is known as the “lender of last resort”, but it is strictly not creating new money to do this, it’s just acting as a clearing house for financial institutions to settle their cash flows.
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Sep 27, 2022 12:10
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peanut- posted:Really can't be overstated how little Labour is doing to win anyone over, and that the massive poll lead is much more precarious than you'd assume Depressing your opponents voting block is a valid tactic these days (2019 was a masterclass) so I am going to go out on a limb and say that a lot will stay at home as Keith isn't a big scary lefty, he's just there thus it is safe to not vote.
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Sep 27, 2022 12:12
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Maugrim posted:Proper lol, hadn't seen this one before To be honest I made it up just now but I doubt I'm truly the first.
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Sep 27, 2022 12:14
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Mourning Due posted:😬 same. September 2024. ~£270k to go. Paying ~£2350 a month, which is £1000 over-pay, £450 in interest. If rates go up to 6%, and that's what we remortgage on, if I've done my math right (highly unlikely tbf), we'd be paying ~£1350 in interest each month 😐. Varies by airline, so you'd have to check with them. Big animals need to go in the hold and it is just awful, I'd avoid it at all costs if possible. Smaller animals like cats can usually be taken into the cabin and honestly even if you need to buy them a ticket to reserve a seat (which you usually don't!) I'd do that over having an animal in the hold. Especially on long flights.
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Sep 27, 2022 12:29
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Mourning Due posted:😬 same. September 2024. ~£270k to go. Paying ~£2350 a month, which is £1000 over-pay, £450 in interest. If rates go up to 6%, and that's what we remortgage on, if I've done my math right (highly unlikely tbf), we'd be paying ~£1350 in interest each month 😐. Biggus Dickus posted:Oof, that's quite a commitment. I still have 13 years to go but have been overpaying too, and I'm down to about £44k remaining now. I think I could pay it all off in May/June or a year later at the very worst - that would just after my fix runs out. What is your current interest on the mortgage? Overpaying is only a good financial strategy if your current mortgage interest is higher than available savings rates. For a lot of people, it was the right choice the past few years when savings rates were dire, but they have now shot up overtaking a lot of mortgage interest rates for those currently on a fix. You can now get instant access cash savings rates of 2.5% (Yorkshire Bank) and if you get a fixed term cash saver you can push 4%. MSE updates a daily list of the best available cash savings accounts. These are cash savings accounts with banks, so not gambling with investment risk. So if your mortgage rate is fixed at less than what you could get in those savings accounts you're losing yourself money. To give an example in numbers: £1000 on a mortgage with, say, 2% you're getting £20 gain from the interest saved. £1000 put into a 2.5% savings account you're getting £25 gain from the savings interest. £5 better per £1000 paid than overpaying. The best approach in that scenario would be to chuck it all in a high interest cash savings account until you are ready to remortgage, and then use the lump you've saved (+ interest earned) to pay down against your mortgage on remortgage to get the best available rate/lowest possible monthly payments. Ewan fucked around with this message at 12:39 on Sep 27, 2022 |
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Sep 27, 2022 12:35
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There's also the fact that using a wood burner increases your indoor air pollution even with newer stove designs, see this study report - if you're going to use one, try and absolutely minimise how long it's open for refueling or lighting and ventilate afterwords. Burning wood is better than being cold, but it's certainly not harmless for you or your surroundings environment. Nothingtoseehere fucked around with this message at 13:36 on Sep 27, 2022 |
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Sep 27, 2022 12:36
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SixFigureSandwich posted:Our mortgage's 5-year fixed period ends in February, so I am definitely going to take a good long look at the numbers to switch to a new fixed rate asap. Problem is that we want to leave the UK in a couple of years so we can't fix it for too long either.
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Sep 27, 2022 12:46
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When we moved to the States 10 years ago we took our cat in the cabin with us but it's highly airline dependent whether they'll let you; we ended up with KLM which meant going via Schipol, and much fun was had holding a struggling cat while going through all the security/metal detectors (had to take him out of the carrier for that). Made it fine though, he was mostly disturbed by my wife giving him a poke every half hour or so just to check he hadn't died for some reason. Still with us, still a pain in the arse. 
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Sep 27, 2022 12:47
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I am getting condensation on my windows every morning now, which wasn't an issue during the summer. I run a dehumidifier in the rooms where it happens but it's not enough to completely stop it and will probably get worse as it gets colder. I'm pretty sure my windows are already double glazed. Is there anything else I can do beyond replacing my windows or just opening the windows and making the inside temperature plummet?
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Sep 27, 2022 12:53
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Miftan posted:Varies by airline, so you'd have to check with them. Big animals need to go in the hold and it is just awful, I'd avoid it at all costs if possible. Smaller animals like cats can usually be taken into the cabin and honestly even if you need to buy them a ticket to reserve a seat (which you usually don't!) I'd do that over having an animal in the hold. Especially on long flights. Unless things have changed, DEFRA regulations for flights from the UK require any animal to travel in the hold. Unkempt posted:When we moved to the States 10 years ago we took our cat in the cabin with us but it's highly airline dependent whether they'll let you; we ended up with KLM which meant going via Schipol, and much fun was had holding a struggling cat while going through all the security/metal detectors (had to take him out of the carrier for that). Made it fine though, he was mostly disturbed by my wife giving him a poke every half hour or so just to check he hadn't died for some reason. Was that flying from the UK or elsewhere? If UK then things really have changed!
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Sep 27, 2022 13:02
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Stop keeping a paddling pool in each room imo
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Sep 27, 2022 13:02
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So we smashed open the boy's piggy bank to make sure there were no old notes in there before they become invalid, and now I've got all the pieces of a torn plastic ten pound note in my wallet that no fucker will take off my hands. Apparently I've got to fill out forms at the bank and wait for the Bank of England to reimburse us? Pretty sure I'm now the protagonist of a very British It Follows and they just closed all the banks in the high street to make sure I get murked. gently caress.
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Sep 27, 2022 13:02
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I get a trivial amount of condensation at the foot of the pane, so I wipe it up with a microfiber cloth each winter morning. If you get more than a trivial amount, look into buying a window hoover. It's essentially a motorised squeegee that vacuums up any liquid from the glass. Run it around each morning, shouldn't take more than a few minutes for the whole house.
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Sep 27, 2022 13:03
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Miftan posted:I am getting condensation on my windows every morning now, which wasn't an issue during the summer. I run a dehumidifier in the rooms where it happens but it's not enough to completely stop it and will probably get worse as it gets colder. I'm pretty sure my windows are already double glazed. Is there anything else I can do beyond replacing my windows or just opening the windows and making the inside temperature plummet? Try opening most of them throughout the house for just 10-20 minutes to get some airflow going before you start spending money.
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Sep 27, 2022 13:07
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Miftan posted:I am getting condensation on my windows every morning now, which wasn't an issue during the summer. I run a dehumidifier in the rooms where it happens but it's not enough to completely stop it and will probably get worse as it gets colder. I'm pretty sure my windows are already double glazed. Is there anything else I can do beyond replacing my windows or just opening the windows and making the inside temperature plummet? I'm just making some tertiary glazing so I'll see how it works. I have double-glazed windows but a draft does come in through the edge of the panel that opens and also getting condensation at the bottom inside in the morning. I ordered some acetate panels and bought lots of bits of wood and as I have no workshop or spare room, my 'workshop' consists of a plank of chipboard balancing on top of a pile of crates. Gradually sawing up the wood and attaching the panels. (They need to be on a frame otherwise the handle of the window - and I swapped them out for as flat a profile as I could get - would bang into the panel. I've got some magnetic tape to attach to them which I hope is going to hold them (with support under the frames) in position against the window. I'll probably take the bedroom one down weekly for a good airing, and the living room one down daily for half an hour. Hoping they work!
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Sep 27, 2022 13:08
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Miftan posted:I am getting condensation on my windows every morning now, which wasn't an issue during the summer. I run a dehumidifier in the rooms where it happens but it's not enough to completely stop it and will probably get worse as it gets colder. I'm pretty sure my windows are already double glazed. Is there anything else I can do beyond replacing my windows or just opening the windows and making the inside temperature plummet? Having the windows wide open for 3-5 minutes will make the temperature of the air plummet, but most heat energy sits in the walls and furniture so you will be back to your previous temperature within a short time while getting rid of the humidity. Ideally you open several windows to create a draught. The goal is to replace as much air as possible in as little time as needed.
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Sep 27, 2022 13:09
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qhat posted:FYI QE is not money printing. QE is the purchase of typically riskier assets such as longer term govt debt and even sometimes mortgage bonds specifically from commercial institutions using central bank reserve currency. These reserves pay a fixed interest rate but can be used to settle debts between other banks in overnight trading. They can’t be lent out to consumers however because consumers do not have reserves accounts with the central bank. QE has nothing to do with overnight lending. The whole point of QE is that it specifically isn't using the interest rates to achieve the BoE's goals which at the time of the financial crash they had already drastically reduced the interest rate. When QE is used to buy government bonds it is functionally the same as printing money, but with the caveat that you can destroy the money by selling the bonds into the private sector. The amounts of QE that has been used to be private assets was and is miniscule compared to the amount of government debt it funded. A quick check on the BoE's website tells us: "We used most of that sum (£875 billion) to buy UK government bonds. We used a much smaller part (£20 billion) to buy UK corporate bonds." so just 2.2% of QE was used on the private sector. How is it you think the BoE bought £895 billion of bonds without creating money? Lord of the Llamas fucked around with this message at 13:15 on Sep 27, 2022 |
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Sep 27, 2022 13:11
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Chubby Henparty posted:So we smashed open the boy's piggy bank to make sure there were no old notes in there before they become invalid, and now I've got all the pieces of a torn plastic ten pound note in my wallet that no fucker will take off my hands. Apparently I've got to fill out forms at the bank and wait for the Bank of England to reimburse us? Pretty sure I'm now the protagonist of a very British It Follows and they just closed all the banks in the high street to make sure I get murked. gently caress. Just been to the Barclays 'customer service' drop* in which replaces the bank which has closed down to try and sort out a few things to get another signatory added to our flats account. WE cannot pay cash in via the PO without a deposit card. We're not allowed a deposit card because we are a 'community account' and are required to deposit cash through a branch. Nearest branch is 15 miles away. Apart from myself (who doesn't drive), most of the others are in their 80s and most don't drive. Last week 'in emergency' when we had a lot of petty cash (we had to raise a £50 levy on each flat for increased electricity costs) the signatory who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and will probably not survive until xmas got in a panic and ended up giving me £350 cash and I paid £350 from my personal account to the flats account. VERY far from ideal. Now of course, we don't have enough cash to pay for weedkiller or whatever and we are not allowed a debit card either and apart from me the other 2 signatories are (1) at deaths door (2) almost immobile so paying by cheque is also a pain in the rear end. Grrrrrr. Just been checking out other 'community' account providers and there's bugger all out there with a branch in our local town. Most of the old dears don't even have a mobile and definitely do not do online banking so everything is cash and cheques. British banks boo hiss. *where you can't pay in any money or withdraw any money.
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Sep 27, 2022 13:15
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Jaeluni Asjil posted:Unless things have changed, DEFRA regulations for flights from the UK require any animal to travel in the hold. Yeah, that was Heathrow->Schipol (Amsterdam)->Logan(Boston). Delta also had a cat-in-the-cabin option but they turned out to be fuckups. Maybe they've changed it? Haven't looked tbh.
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Sep 27, 2022 13:15
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Thanks for all the replies. Ideally I'd like to stop it happening at all so I might try opening a few windows for a bit at night before bed to get the air circulating and then close them right before bed. If it keeps up with that I'll see what I can do. It's usually just a bit at the bottom, nothing major unless it's the kitchen and I'm doing early morning cooking which yknow, fair enough, but I'd still like to avoid it if possible since it'll probably cause me issues long term.
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Sep 27, 2022 13:27
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Miftan posted:I am getting condensation on my windows every morning now, which wasn't an issue during the summer. I run a dehumidifier in the rooms where it happens but it's not enough to completely stop it and will probably get worse as it gets colder. I'm pretty sure my windows are already double glazed. Is there anything else I can do beyond replacing my windows or just opening the windows and making the inside temperature plummet? Have you tried not breathing? For real though, crack the windows a tiny bit at some point in the day (mine have really small vents that you can open which are good when it's properly cold outside). UK houses are poo poo unfortunately.
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Sep 27, 2022 13:31
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Nothingtoseehere posted:There's also the fact that using a wood burner increases your indoor air pollution even with newer shove designs, see this study report - if you're going to use one, try and absolutely minimise how long it's open for refueling or lighting and ventilate afterwords. I run an air purifier near to ours and it spikes crazy when we open the doors or load it initially. Try and keep it using it to a minimum in general.
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Sep 27, 2022 13:35
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A Buttery Pastry posted:We're discussing making firewood stoves illegal in Denmark in suburban areas, due to the pollutants being a risk to your surrounding environment. Yeah, my plumber told me that radiators were traditionally positioned under windows to prevent circular convection draughts. Not sure how relevant that is with more modern double-glazing, though. Mortgage Chat: My 1.64% fix ends in March 24 so I have a bit of breathing room. No early repayment fees (thanks, First Direct) so I can get rid of one worry at least.
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Sep 27, 2022 13:37
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My mortgage is fixed til 2027 now so I'm in a pretty decent position but I can't help feel the rates will still be hosed then, must look into any savings account possibilities
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Sep 27, 2022 14:01
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Biggus Dickus posted:Yeah, my plumber told me that radiators were traditionally positioned under windows to prevent circular convection draughts. Not sure how relevant that is with more modern double-glazing, though.
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Sep 27, 2022 14:20
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Miftan posted:Thanks for all the replies. Ideally I'd like to stop it happening at all so I might try opening a few windows for a bit at night before bed to get the air circulating and then close them right before bed. If it keeps up with that I'll see what I can do. Probably the best long term option is a heat recovery extractor fan, but those aren't cheap at present. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDFDycc_uc0 Though I guess some people have DIY'ed it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJB3dyHDa-8 Because sealing the whole house up isn't that great, even if it does save heating bills. Stale air is bad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Nh_vxpycEA For the meantime windows with vents or open a crack and flushing air through like Just Another Lurker said is also a good idea, but I'm not sure how much that will stop condensation when we hit wet rear end air season.
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Sep 27, 2022 14:21
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Guavanaut posted:wet rear end air season. It's always Wet Fart Season on these islands
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Sep 27, 2022 14:36
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