Scotty D

I've spoken to my local office, who were extremely helpful. As a "homeless" person, you simply state which address you spend most of your time at/ around/ outisde, and then nearer the time you go and pick up your voting form from your local electoral office. I personally think this is fantastic democracy and was really really impressed to see them spending a considerable amount of mon ey and resource ensuring everyone, even the homeless, can have their say on the day. I'm sorry to hear not everyone's office was as helpful, very dissapointing, sounds like training needed across the offices on this. As far as I know, on the voting forms there is a "none of the above" box for those of you who wanted to choose that option so I'd encourage you to do so! The thing about not voting, is it means you have no right to complain about future government, as you did nothing to influence change, not even a "None of the above". Best wishes to all! Scotty

I cam eon this forum a year ago with the same question; low energy washing machine. I listened to people and ended up with the twin tub. It's cheap £80-£90, it runs through our 300W inverter. It's silent. It's small (I put it away in a cupboard when finished). I love it. One disadvantage, it's too small to too big stuff like bed sheets so we take them to the laundromat when we change the sheets. I'd highly recommend it. Best Scotty

I've read everything I can find on here regarding high quality audio, but not alot of reference to energy efficient. I'm an environmental kind of man and like to minimise my energy usage. So what should I be looking for? I want to listen to radio and music from my Ipod, nothing else. I am NOT a music nut so I don't need huge sound quality/ crazy set up but I do need something better than my 7.5 watt computer speakers which crackle as soon as it gets a little loud. Some music needs to be listened to LOUD. SO I'm after one of two things, either a specific named set up (brand/ type of both head unit and speakers) OR a guide on what to look for (Is it just Wattage that defines energy usage on speakers?, what to look for on head unit?). Your help would be grealty appreciated gang, it has been my guide to a great genny, washing mashine and stove set up this far! Scotty

I run a Honda EU20i on LPG, made by Edge Technology here: http://www.edgetechnology.co.uk/honda/hondaeu20i.htm. Runs really efficiently. ONly had it 6 months so cannot comment on long term effects on internal working parts. Can confirm it invalidates 5 year Honda Warranty, however it is covered by Edge technology for 1 or 2 years, can't remember which. Not cheap though at over £1K. I would recommend it if you're going to use it alot, need it quiet and and need that much power (if it wasn't for the washing machine I would definately have gone for a 10i). I think quite often people go for it when actually they could get on with the 10i just fine. Scotty

Hi all, Just to echo the positives of the twin washer...I've had it a couple of weeks now, had lots to catch up on, have been washing incessantly and all is going well, just like everyone else says. Really easy to use, gets stuff clean, can re-use the water (I use a ridiculously small amount of water to wash; brilliant!), and the spin function really does mostly dry the clothes, couple of hours hung out and things are dry (9 large windows around lounge- broads cruiser- super heats in sunshine) I notice too much clothes makes the agitator struggle and would probably burn the motor out, and non centralised clothing makes the spin not work....once I sussed those two out...it's been great....now lets see how durable it is! Thanks for all you help gang; another one solved. Stickleback....I reckon a quicker option is to gett he manfuacturers to send you one out, or the seller. I'll not get time to scan things at work for ages!

Thanks Gang, Had me baffled for a while as after prodding around everything charged again, and then, it all stopped again yesterday....I suspected the black lead coming out the back of the alternator...had a look, and eh voila...charging again. Turns out the red and black are secured together 6 inches away from the alternator, but with the red having a bit more length to the alternator and being a stiff cable, means it wants to be straight which pulls the shorter black's spade out of the connection....I've realigned them so they're equal length and slot equallt into the spades and hopefully that's solved it. Brilliant. It's a nice feeling to have fixed my first problem. Thanks for the advice, really appreciate it. All the best Scotty

Well thanks for all the advice gang...in the end I like the idea of being able to minimise water use, energy use etc, I'm pretty frugal in how much dirty laundry I produce, and so the little 1.5Kg twin tub I think will suit us fine. Means more frequent washing sure, but seems quite quick & easy in the shower basin so I'll let you know how it all goes. Thanks for all the gang. Another problem solved...next!!! Scotty

Thanks Justme, You said 20 * 6.5Kg loads....I was under the impression they only took 1.5Kg loads. I'm confused? Do you mean the small twin tubs you can buy for £80. And it works out at 25 Litres per 6.5 Kg wash, which is tiny compared to Lady Mucks 70 litres and upwards...in which case...I'm leaning towards the twin tub....have I misunderstood? As an aside, is that an insane amount of washing or am I bizarre? I do one full load in an average full size washing machine (which is 6.5 Kg right?) for myself every 2 weeks which is plenty. Are those 4 changing their jeans twice a day? Look forward to figuring this out!!! Scotty

Thanks again gang, esp Lady Muck- helpful as always. 2 more questions: Q1) All useful stuff- anyone any clues on costs of having laundry collected and delivered afterwards- it's the time it takes to do it ourselves that bothers us (we have really limited time, I'm a bit ashamed to ask). Q2) How much water would a half size machine use per 3Kg load, or the twin tub per 1.5 Kg? Anyone? Just for info, I have a 750-1000 litre tank, takes around 1-1.5 hours to fill. Lasts us 2 weeks at the moment. A full size washing machine I suspect would take 1 day worth of water off of us then, meaning we would fill up every 13 rather than 14 days (or do washing whilst filling up!) We have cruiser rails too, and big windows which dry our towels quick just now, we'll also have solid fuel stove to dry things in front of/ above.

Loads of good info, thanks gang. LM I'm pretty certain I will be getting that EU20i (LPG converted) shortly. Lets do a quick comparison chart if you don't mind helping me fill it in to make the decision (Think Winter liveaboard): The twin tub average washing machine (which can go in boat) mini washing machine Load size: 1.5KG 6Kg 3Kg? Energy per 6 Kg: 4*300W? 1200W? 2*? Water per 6Kg: 4* ? ? 2* ? Launderette average cost per wash (LONDON!) £3 per dry £3 ??? Launderette average cost including collection and delivery (LONDON!) £10???? NOTE: My partner and I work crazy hours in the environment field, which is the only way I could possibly justify such lazy behaviour as having laundry collected and delievered!. The idea is the less time we're doing household stuff, the more time we spend making a positive difference (debatable I know; we weigh it up as we go as honestly as we can)

I'm looking for an easy solution to washing clothes on my boat. We continuously cruise and so have limited water and electricity. I've come across the single tub washing machine: http://www.thecanalshopwhilton.co.uk/html/...g_machines.html Does anyone have experience of this tpye of machine and will it actually wash clothes? My clothes are often oily and filthy from DIY and outdoor sports. Look forward to peoples thoughts. Scotty

Hi all, Apologies for the re-post, the last thread was hi-jacked by a some kind of cat fight over who was right and who was wrong. I'm just looking for some basic starter advice on the problem of my domestic battery not charging from the engine anymore, whilst my engine battery seems fine. I was initially advised to take readings, and check battery connections...I've done this. Here are the subsequent details: MULTIMETER READINGS Engine battery (Eng off) 12.7V Dom Batteries (Eng off) 11.99V Engine Battery (Eng On) 12.57V immediate after start, then 12.67 15 mins after running. Dom Batteries (Eng on) 11.99V immediate after start, and same 15 minutes later. Equipment: 2 Dom batteries are Squadron energy marine & rec FLA 110 Ah deep cycle. 1 Engine battery Sterling 4 step switch mode battery charger power pack (is this just for shore power?) Steca 110 PR1010 Regulator for Photovoltaic systems (This is the solar panel controller you guessed at; the error message it was giving me was to tell me it's not going to do anything again until I get the batteries back above the "deep discharge ). Kemo 2 Accumulator Charger (Connects engine battery to spare; but what does it do? Trickle charge I guess?). I think the charging is done via a split charge diode? It has an alternator in point, a batt 1 out point and batt 2 out point. Batt 1 is engine battery, 2 is dom's. There is also a solar panel with regulator panel which shows voltage etc too. Readings across supposed split charge diode are Alt-Engine Batt (eng off) 1.32, Alt to Dom Batt, .61. This remains constant for dom battery with engine on and off but drops to 1.24 for alt-engine batt with engine on. Does that give you any more clues? I've looked at the connections and they look very clean and tight, I doubt this is the problem....would adding petroleum jelly make that big a difference if they are dry? IS checking by eye sufficient for clean connections? Many questions, sorry, comes with steep learning cliff. Warmest Scotty

I'm about to install a solid fuel stove, with backboiler. It needs to heat two small rooms (10'L * 10'B * 7'H main cabin & adjacent bow bedroom 6'L * 7'B * 5'5"H) and heat water. There is a 200 Gallon water tank, and water is presently heated by calorifier. I'm also considering fitting an instant gas heater for morning showers when getting fire going isn't appropriate. 1) What stove would you recommend. 2) Would this normally provide hot water directly into the calorifier? 3) Is there then a loop for hot water from stove to calorifier and return loop for cold water from calorifier to backboiler? 4) If so does this mean my calorifier needs to have sockets to allow this to happen or do new one's get drilled? 5) I assume an instant gas heater is simply plumbed onto the cold water feed to the shower to provide hot water. Sorry gang, just looking for initial knowledge platform to move forward from. I'm making loads of progress in other issues thanks to all of your help, really appreciated, and soon I can start paying back! Warmest Scotty

Have two Leisure deep cycle batteries, 1 starter. Charged through what I think is a split diode charger (not sure, new to this). A solar panel also charges the domestics. Suddenly, the domestics are not charging off the engine any more, and the little display panel (which shows me how much charge is in the battery, and how mcuh is coming from the panel, and how much is being used) has a sad face and is flashing E07 at me. Someone said to me it would be a realy switch, all I can find is something similar to pictures of a split charge diode which has one cable in labelled engine, and 2 out labelled Battery 1 (which goes to engine) and Battery 2 (which goes to domestics). 1) How do I figure out what is wrong 2) What are the usual culprits in something like this. 3) I want ot post pictures of the suspected diode but don't know how to here. Help!

Holy moly, after reading this I have no idea which Dongle to go for. I will be mainly based in London from West of Kensal Green to as far North East as Tottenham and occasional jaunts up the Lee as far as Stantead Abbotts. Mainly I would want to use it London though. I don't download movies or anything else (although I do music) and use the internet all the time, pretty much every night for at least an hour and work from home on internet access at least one day per week all day. SO, I realise there's a ridiculous variety of opinions on someone finding T mobile to work and someone else to hate them.....but is there any consensus on LONDON ONLY???? It would be great if you wonderful peopel could offer consensus to save my eyes hurting any more searching!! (You lot really are wonderful, never met a more helpful bunch). All the best Scotty