When do you run your engine?

[MtB]

2 minutes ago, doratheexplorer said:

That’s exactly right. The diary provides the evidence base for any prosecution. It also helpfully weeds out time wasters. Anyone with a genuine issue will be keen to note it all down. 

 

My neighbour a few years back was a 'noise abatement officer' at the local council. I made a mildly disparaging comment to him suggesting this was how they might deal with complaints and he said oh no, he is on duty every weekend and most of their work is 'abating' noisy parties. He reckoned they would attend a noisy party within an hour and turn up armed with serious powers to confiscate music equipment on the spot which they regularly did. I was rather taken aback at how seriously they took complaints about serious noise at antisocial hours. I very much doubt however they would have turned out for an engine running. Another source of serious noise nuisance was burglar alarms that didn't stop after the prescribed 20 mins. He reckoned they didn't muck about with those either. They had powers to take a ladder and a crowbar and lever them off the wall if the owner could not be raised.  

[Rickent]

9 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

My neighbour a few years back was a 'noise abatement officer' at the local council. I made a mildly disparaging comment to him suggesting this was how they might deal with complaints and he said oh no, he is on duty every weekend and most of their work is 'abating' noisy parties. He reckoned they would attend a noisy party within an hour and turn up armed with serious powers to confiscate music equipment on the spot which they regularly did. I was rather taken aback at how seriously they took complaints about serious noise at antisocial hours. I very much doubt however they would have turned out for an engine running. Another source of serious noise nuisance was burglar alarms that didn't stop after the prescribed 20 mins. He reckoned they didn't muck about with those either. They had powers to take a ladder and a crowbar and lever them off the wall if the owner could not be raised.  

We lived in a house in Leicester and had serious noise issues for almost nine years, local noise team couldn't give a flying ferk. All they could do was monitor and send letters, absolute waste of time.

One sunday afternoon the local dj  next door had his music so loud the bass was shaking my window frames apart. The noise team came round with their gear but said they couldn't monitor the noise as the sausages my wife had cooking were sizzling too loud, the fact that the foundations were in serious trouble from the noise was irrelevent.Absolute waste of time which is why I ended up doing 140 hours community service when eventually snapped and went round and lost the plot. Police not interested nor was the local council.

[Guest]

Sadly in my experience council response to noise control is very variable and dependent on the indiviual council, and even the individual working fo them.

[bizzard]

26 minutes ago, MJG said:

Sadly in my experience council response to noise control is very variable and dependent on the indiviual council, and even the individual working fo them.

If your on a site with no mains hook up with your caravan Martin, do you run your cars engine to charge the vans battery, or do you have a generator, or solar ?

[Guest]

Just now, bizzard said:

If your on a site with no mains hook up with your caravan Martin, do you run your cars engine to charge the vans battery, or do you have a generator, or solar ?

Tbh we never go completely 'off grid'. Even the most basic sites we choose have 240v ehu.

 

We do have solar on the roof, but it's only a small panel 40 or 60 w I think from memory. Its basically for keeping the battery topped up when the van is in storage and keeping ahead of the draw created by the alarm.

 

It works very well doing that but I'm not sure how well it would keep up with us being off grid and us on 12v exclusively.

[alias]

18 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

Wasn't there a posting here some time back from someone moored in Birmingham who was subject to a noise complaint and the council were investigating.

There was a post to this effect from someone at Sherborne Wharf on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/narrowboatusers/permalink/10159613822235352/ , but it doesn't mention the outcome of the investigation.

[doratheexplorer]

14 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

My neighbour a few years back was a 'noise abatement officer' at the local council. I made a mildly disparaging comment to him suggesting this was how they might deal with complaints and he said oh no, he is on duty every weekend and most of their work is 'abating' noisy parties. He reckoned they would attend a noisy party within an hour and turn up armed with serious powers to confiscate music equipment on the spot which they regularly did. I was rather taken aback at how seriously they took complaints about serious noise at antisocial hours. I very much doubt however they would have turned out for an engine running. Another source of serious noise nuisance was burglar alarms that didn't stop after the prescribed 20 mins. He reckoned they didn't muck about with those either. They had powers to take a ladder and a crowbar and lever them off the wall if the owner could not be raised.  

Both the party thing and the alarm thing sound very very familiar.  It's a more interesting job than it first seems.

[doratheexplorer]

5 hours ago, Rickent said:

We lived in a house in Leicester and had serious noise issues for almost nine years, local noise team couldn't give a flying ferk. All they could do was monitor and send letters, absolute waste of time.

One sunday afternoon the local dj  next door had his music so loud the bass was shaking my window frames apart. The noise team came round with their gear but said they couldn't monitor the noise as the sausages my wife had cooking were sizzling too loud, the fact that the foundations were in serious trouble from the noise was irrelevent.Absolute waste of time which is why I ended up doing 140 hours community service when eventually snapped and went round and lost the plot. Police not interested nor was the local council.

Different Council's take different approaches.  Some Council's take noise issues very seriously.  The way to get it pushed up the agenda is to lobby your local Councillor and get a few people together.  Especially if the Councillor only got in with a small majority.  They will be very keen to protect those votes and so will ensure the Council allocates a good budget towards noise abatement.  Some Councils typically take 1-2 cases to court weekly so up to 100 cases a year, winning most of them, having costs awarded and confiscating equipment (The law could authorise a Council to remove an engine from a boat - not that it's likely).  Other Councils have NEVER successfully prosecuted a noise nuisance case.  *shrugs*

[mrsmelly]

20 hours ago, aracer said:

But on the same basis that's also when a somebody is most likely to be on their boat to run their engine.

 

I agree that where possible it's sensible and neighborly to avoid those times (though personally I don't see a big deal with the evening slot). Being very new to boating, I've only run my engine twice whilst stationary so far (the only days I've been on the boat and not moved or had electric hookup) - once was in town near houses and I was conscious of the noise nuisance given how loud it is when I'm standing there steering - though I went out and checked and it was a lot quieter than I'd expected and almost inaudible to me once more than a few metres away (being a trad stern I don't need to open anything to turn the engine on either). But then I didn't run it for long either as whilst my batteries seem to have been over discharged and not in great nick - a shame as they're high quality Trojans - I'm not using much electricity either, don't currently have a TV and have only run the inverter once. I suppose I should admit that the other time I broke the rules as I got back late but I was nowhere near anybody else and I'm sure nobody could hear me.

There are two kinds of boater on the forum in the main. The hobby boater and the liveaboard boater. As a liveaboard boater I never break the rules but as I need leccy not being Fred Flinstone I run the engine anytime between 8 and 8 that is necessary. Hobby boaters sometimes take the high ground re engine running issues before locking the boat up and running off " Home " to use as much leccy as possible being supplied by the national grid. As for those who buy a house next to the canal and then moan they are as bad as the idiots who buy a house near a church and complain about the bells ringing!!  If you comply sensibly with the easy legislation take no notice of the few whingers, they are everywhere in life.

[cuthound]

16 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

My neighbour a few years back was a 'noise abatement officer' at the local council. I made a mildly disparaging comment to him suggesting this was how they might deal with complaints and he said oh no, he is on duty every weekend and most of their work is 'abating' noisy parties. He reckoned they would attend a noisy party within an hour and turn up armed with serious powers to confiscate music equipment on the spot which they regularly did. I was rather taken aback at how seriously they took complaints about serious noise at antisocial hours. I very much doubt however they would have turned out for an engine running. Another source of serious noise nuisance was burglar alarms that didn't stop after the prescribed 20 mins. He reckoned they didn't muck about with those either. They had powers to take a ladder and a crowbar and lever them off the wall if the owner could not be raised.  

 

That is how we came to have our rescue GSD, Zeus.

 

His previous owners banished him to the garden,  where he entered a barking competition with the dog next door.

 

Neighbours complained to the council (his bark is louder than most dogs), noise abatement officer attended and gave them 30 days to resolve his barking or they would out him down.

[doratheexplorer]

1 minute ago, cuthound said:

 

That is how we came to have our rescue GSD, Zeus.

 

His previous owners banished him to the garden,  where he entered a barking competition with the dog next door.

 

Neighbours complained to the council (his bark is louder than most dogs), noise abatement officer attended and gave them 30 days to resolve his barking or they would out him down.

You have to wonder why some people have dogs?

[cuthound]

3 minutes ago, doratheexplorer said:

You have to wonder why some people have dogs?

 

Indeed, his owners had him from a pup, (we got him at 14 months) and also had a female Staffie.

 

When Zeus matured, he got the Staffie pregnant and it his pups, and then began to attack him as it presumably defended its pups. 

 

He had no other socialisation with dogs, or indeed training of any kind.

 

He is now 4 and a half, and has achieved the highest level certificate for obedience at his training school, but still struggles with reactiveness when meeting other dogs.

 

If I had my way, people would have to pass a test before being allowed dogs or children.

[doratheexplorer]

21 minutes ago, cuthound said:

 

Indeed, his owners had him from a pup, (we got him at 14 months) and also had a female Staffie.

 

When Zeus matured, he got the Staffie pregnant and it his pups, and then began to attack him as it presumably defended its pups. 

 

He had no other socialisation with dogs, or indeed training of any kind.

 

He is now 4 and a half, and has achieved the highest level certificate for obedience at his training school, but still struggles with reactiveness when meeting other dogs.

 

If I had my way, people would have to pass a test before being allowed dogs or children.

Or boats?

[ditchcrawler]

8 hours ago, peter n said:

There was a post to this effect from someone at Sherborne Wharf on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/narrowboatusers/permalink/10159613822235352/ , but it doesn't mention the outcome of the investigation.

That's the one I was looking for thanks

 

[David Mack]

I arrived and tied up on the end of a long line of moored boats south of Batchworth at about 7.45 this evening. The fat boat 2 in front had its engine running. It was still running after 8.00 when I walked up to Tesco, and on my way back. It's still running now at 10.20, and I can hear it from inside Belfast's cabin with the doors closed. Judging by the number of lit up windows there are other occupied boats here, none of whom need to run their engines at this hour, but presumably can also hear the antisocial one.

Just wondering if I should take a potato from the shopping and shove it up their exhaust!

 

Edited to add:

Peace at last! Just after I clicked Submit on the post above they turned the damn thing off.

Edited October 16, 2018 by David Mack

[Richard10002]

Given that there is no apparent penalty imposed for running your engine between 8pm and 8am, it’s no wonder that some people do it. Most people are considerate, but a small number are not.

[Timx]

1 hour ago, David Mack said:

I arrived and tied up on the end of a long line of moored boats south of Batchworth at about 7.45 this evening. The fat boat 2 in front had its engine running. It was still running after 8.00 when I walked up to Tesco, and on my way back. It's still running now at 10.20, and I can hear it from inside Belfast's cabin with the doors closed. Judging by the number of lit up windows there are other occupied boats here, none of whom need to run their engines at this hour, but presumably can also hear the antisocial one.

Just wondering if I should take a potato from the shopping and shove it up their exhaust!

 

Edited to add:

Peace at last! Just after I clicked Submit on the post above they turned the damn thing off.

I've had it twice where it caused me enough annoyance to do something about it, on both occasions, they were weird, mad or bad, whatever, they turned it off, but it was confrontational, and not sure I would do it again., maybe get some white paint and paint twat on the side of their boat .

[David Mack]

10 hours ago, David Mack said:

I arrived and tied up on the end of a long line of moored boats south of Batchworth at about 7.45 this evening. The fat boat 2 in front had its engine running. It was still running after 8.00 when I walked up to Tesco, and on my way back. It's still running now at 10.20, and I can hear it from inside Belfast's cabin with the doors closed. Judging by the number of lit up windows there are other occupied boats here, none of whom need to run their engines at this hour, but presumably can also hear the antisocial one.

Just wondering if I should take a potato from the shopping and shove it up their exhaust!

 

Edited to add:

Peace at last! Just after I clicked Submit on the post above they turned the damn thing off.

And at 8.30 this morning it started up again!

[Tonka]

If we are running the engine to do the washing then we will run it in the morning otherwise our clothes will shrink !!

[Sea Dog]

8 minutes ago, David Mack said:

And at 8.30 this morning it started up again!

It's not an engine, it's a power station.

[Sea Dog]

16 hours ago, doratheexplorer said:

You have to wonder why some people have dogs?

Isn't there a saying that explains that it's to save them from barking themselves?  Perhaps being inconsiderate is harder work than we imagine.

[MtB]

There are plenty of posters on here who say they don't find the noise of an engine running disturbing in any way. Perhaps this bloke is one of that sort of person, and doesn't consider himself to be causing a nuisance. 

[cuthound]

I was moored towards the bottom of the Atherstone flight on the night of one of last summer's World Cup matches.

 

Just before the match started, the boater behind knocked on my boat and asked if I minded him running his engine during the match and beyond 8:00pm as his batteries were too knackered to support his TV for a couple of hours. 

 

I agreed and the second the match was over he turned his engine off, just as he said he would.

 

That I thought, was an excellent example of consideration and something we could do with more of on the cut.

[mrsmelly]

5 minutes ago, cuthound said:

I was moored towards the bottom of the Atherstone flight on the night of one of last summer's World Cup matches.

 

Just before the match started, the boater behind knocked on my boat and asked if I minded him running his engine during the match and beyond 8:00pm as his batteries were too knackered to support his TV for a couple of hours. 

 

I agreed and the second the match was over he turned his engine off, just as he said he would.

 

That I thought, was an excellent example of consideration and something we could do with more of on the cut.

I agree, but I still wouldnt have inconvenienced other people just because I hadnt maintained my boat correctly. He could have gone into one of those abysmal pubs that have televisions in, yuk and secondly show football double yuk.

[rusty69]

3 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

I agree, but I still wouldnt have inconvenienced other people just because I hadnt maintained my boat correctly. He could have gone into one of those abysmal pubs that have televisions in, yuk and secondly show football double yuk.

Yuk Yuk's is a national comedy club chain in Canada.Soon to be funnier after today.