Anyone else seen the Gritish Bas advert with the poncy ecobollox title "Look
After Your World with British Gas"?

http://www.visit4info.com/advert/Loo...tish-Gas/69319

"A whimsical animation shows individual little green planets floating in
space with a house on each, as the narrator advises that British Gas is
doing its bit by building the world's largest wind farm, which is
illustrated by a British Gas van towing a blue planet festooned with wind
turbines. He continues that this helps provide us with renewable and
affordable energy, as the gas man leaps onto one of the green planets and
plugs his blue planet in."

Point is, the Gritish Bas bloke uses a presumably 'live' 13 amp plugtop to
connect into a socket outlet - clearly a very dangerous thing to do.
Imagine if a small child on one of those little green planets unplugged it &
touched the live pin?

I may grass them up to the ASA if I get bored/annoyed enough.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

Absolutely right! Contravenes the wiring regulations.

Make your complaints he

http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/how_to_com...mplaints_form/

Simple online form - I've just done it.

On Thu, 26 Feb 2009 01:01:56 GMT someone who may be "The Medway
Handyman" wrote this:-

Anyone else seen the Gritish Bas advert with the poncy ecobollox title "Look
After Your World with British Gas"?

No. You watch adverts?

I may grass them up to the ASA if I get bored/annoyed enough.

Please do so. People have already complained about this
advertisement and the more complaints the better.


--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00023--e.htm#54

RubberBiker wrote:
Absolutely right! Contravenes the wiring regulations.

Make your complaints he

http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/how_to_com...mplaints_form/

Simple online form - I've just done it.

Oh go on then. I'll join you! Lets see if we can take down Gritish Bas. It
would serve the b*stards right, promoting a green image whilst condemming
perfectly serviceable boilers & over charging for vents.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

"The Medway Handyman" wrote in message
om...
RubberBiker wrote:
Absolutely right! Contravenes the wiring regulations.

Make your complaints he

http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/how_to_com...mplaints_form/

Simple online form - I've just done it.

Oh go on then. I'll join you! Lets see if we can take down Gritish Bas.
It would serve the b*stards right, promoting a green image whilst
condemming perfectly serviceable boilers & over charging for vents.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk



My 86 yo mother has a Baxi back boiler in her living room, behind a gas
fire. She has both serviced by BG every year on contract, and neither has
ever given her any problem, or any cause for concern. Every year they try to
sell her a new system for a couple of grand, by telling her that they might
not be able to get parts soon. The room is supplied with fresh air via a
sliding vent above her patio doors. It is always left open, as some years
back on one of these service visits, a screw was put in to make sure that it
can't be closed. This year, they told her that this no longer "conforms to
regerlashuns, luv!" so arranged for someone to come along and put in the new
'approved' vent at floor level - mercifully for no charge.

It was duly done, and then inspected by some other officious erk, who said
it had been fixed wrongly or something, so sent the original crew back to
finish the job properly.

We went to see her a couple of weks later, and her living room was like an
ice box, despite her having her gas fire, which is the only heating in that
particular room, on full. We eventually tracked the reason down to the new
vent, which is out of sight, out of mind, behind a chair. It is such a
bloody great thing hacked through the wall, that gale-force winds of outside
freezing air now whistle through it straight into the room. So much for
saving the planet. She's a feisty old bird, and said that she was having
none of it, and promptly fetched a surplus cushion, which she jammed between
the vent and the back of the chair that's in front of it ! It's her
contention that if it has worked perfectly well for the last 20 odd years,
there's no reason it should be any different now, and if it is, well then,
san fairy ann.

So what has changed ? Why all the waste of effort to change something that
has always been adequate, and was presumably specced to supply the required
air back when the house was designed and built, and architects still knew
what they were doing ?

Arfa

"David Hansen" wrote in message
...
Please do so. People have already complained about this
advertisement and the more complaints the better.

Just done it, come on everybody let them have it!!

John

David Hansen wrote:
On Thu, 26 Feb 2009 01:01:56 GMT someone who may be "The Medway
Handyman" wrote this:-

Anyone else seen the Gritish Bas advert with the poncy ecobollox
title "Look After Your World with British Gas"?


No. You watch adverts?

Oh don't tell me. I should turn off the telly when the ads are on to save
energy?

What do you do during the ad breaks? Darn your wholewheat dungarees?


I may grass them up to the ASA if I get bored/annoyed enough.

Please do so. People have already complained about this
advertisement and the more complaints the better.

What have you Greenies got to complain about? You like giant windmills
don't you? Or are you miffed about a van being used instead a horse & cart?



--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

RubberBiker wrote:
Absolutely right! Contravenes the wiring regulations.

Make your complaints he

http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/how_to_com...mplaints_form/

Simple online form - I've just done it.

Ditto!

Just got this back

"Thank you for your recent complaint.

We have decided to pass your complaint to the Advertising Standards
Authority Council for their consideration. I will write again with more
information following the outcome of their discussions in due course.

In the meantime, thank you for your patience."

The Medway Handyman wrote:
Anyone else seen the Gritish Bas advert with the poncy ecobollox
title "Look After Your World with British Gas"?

http://www.visit4info.com/advert/Loo...tish-Gas/69319

"A whimsical animation shows individual little green planets floating
in space with a house on each, as the narrator advises that British
Gas is doing its bit by building the world's largest wind farm, which
is illustrated by a British Gas van towing a blue planet festooned
with wind turbines. He continues that this helps provide us with
renewable and affordable energy, as the gas man leaps onto one of the
green planets and plugs his blue planet in."

Point is, the Gritish Bas bloke uses a presumably 'live' 13 amp
plugtop to connect into a socket outlet - clearly a very dangerous
thing to do. Imagine if a small child on one of those little green
planets unplugged it & touched the live pin?

I may grass them up to the ASA if I get bored/annoyed enough.

Yes, I noticed this last night as well and thought I was wrong!
I think I'll join the crowd re ASA complaint.

"John" wrote in message
...

"David Hansen" wrote in message
...
Please do so. People have already complained about this
advertisement and the more complaints the better.

Just done it, come on everybody let them have it!!

John


Done also.

In article ,
The Medway Handyman wrote:
Point is, the Gritish Bas bloke uses a presumably 'live' 13 amp plugtop
to connect into a socket outlet - clearly a very dangerous thing to do.
Imagine if a small child on one of those little green planets unplugged
it & touched the live pin?

I may grass them up to the ASA if I get bored/annoyed enough.

Think they were just admitting that many of these alternative schemes
actually consume energy rather than generating it...

--
*No sentence fragments *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
The Medway Handyman wrote:
Point is, the Gritish Bas bloke uses a presumably 'live' 13 amp plugtop
to connect into a socket outlet - clearly a very dangerous thing to do.
Imagine if a small child on one of those little green planets unplugged
it & touched the live pin?

I may grass them up to the ASA if I get bored/annoyed enough.

Think they were just admitting that many of these alternative schemes
actually consume energy rather than generating it...

--
*No sentence fragments *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

LOL What a cracker ! Excellent !

Arfa

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
The Medway Handyman wrote:
Point is, the Gritish Bas bloke uses a presumably 'live' 13 amp
plugtop to connect into a socket outlet - clearly a very dangerous
thing to do. Imagine if a small child on one of those little green
planets unplugged it & touched the live pin?

I may grass them up to the ASA if I get bored/annoyed enough.

Think they were just admitting that many of these alternative schemes
actually consume energy rather than generating it...

Wonderful. Now we know how they keep those windmills turning. And all from a
13A socket!

The Medway Handyman wrote:
RubberBiker wrote:
Absolutely right! Contravenes the wiring regulations.

Make your complaints he

http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/how_to_com...mplaints_form/

Simple online form - I've just done it.

Oh go on then. I'll join you! Lets see if we can take down Gritish Bas. It
would serve the b*stards right, promoting a green image whilst condemming
perfectly serviceable boilers & over charging for vents.

Go easy on em, one of the few shares about that have not taken a caning! ;-)

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On Thu, 26 Feb 2009 08:58:58 +0000, Arfa Daily wrote:

So what has changed ?

The industry assessment of undersized ventilation. Until about the middle
of last year anything over about half the correct ventilation was OK
(technically "Not to Current Standards") provided the appliance seemed to
be working OK. Now it's got to be spot on (less a few percent allowance
for margin of error). It's not Brutish Gas' decree but the industry
generally, in response (apparently) to an increase in Carbon Monoxide
incidents due to undersized ventilation. (I would guess this may be
connected with more people putting in uPVC windows and laminate flooring
which cut out much of the 'adventitious' ventilation one got from draughty
wooden windows and floors.)


Why all the waste of effort to change something
that has always been adequate, and was presumably specced to supply the
required air back when the house was designed and built, and architects
still knew what they were doing ?

Because it wasn't specced to supply the required air back when the house
was designed and built because the architects still didn't know what they
were doing ?



--
John Stumbles -- http://yaph.co.uk

Seagull Management
Management technique characterised by flying in, making a lot of noise,
crapping on everything, and then leaving.

YAPH wrote:
On Thu, 26 Feb 2009 08:58:58 +0000, Arfa Daily wrote:

So what has changed ?

The industry assessment of undersized ventilation. Until about the middle
of last year anything over about half the correct ventilation was OK
(technically "Not to Current Standards") provided the appliance seemed to
be working OK. Now it's got to be spot on (less a few percent allowance
for margin of error). It's not Brutish Gas' decree but the industry
generally, in response (apparently) to an increase in Carbon Monoxide
incidents due to undersized ventilation.


Is this actually true? Despite the widespread availability and, I
assume, use of CO alarms?

Hmmmm....


A review of carbon monoxide incident information,
for 2005/06, produced from the full investigation of
incidents which had resulted from the use of piped
natural gas and LPG, within Great Britain

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This report has been written by Advantica as a continuation of the work
established during the Joint Industry Programme (JIP), Addressing Carbon
Monoxide (CO) Issues, within the Incident Data project area. It covers
the period 2005/06. The aim of this work is to identify common causes of
CO incidents related to appliance and system design, installation and
maintenance.

This information can then be used to further improve customer safety, to
target expenditure on CO incident prevention and to identify further
research work. As part of the JIP project, a national data collection
scheme for CO incidents, arising from the use of piped natural gas and
LPG which occur within Great Britain, was established by Advantica. This
was with the support of the HSE and the gas industry. This report
provides information collected via the national data collection scheme
and analysed by Advantica.

This is the tenth report of a series that commenced with the publication
of its first report for incidents that occurred in 1996/97, and it
covers the financial reporting period 2005/06. The incidents are only
described by postcode to ensure anonymity. For the period covered,
details of 15 domestic piped natural gas incidents were submitted to
Advantica, and analysis of this data constitutes the main part of the
report. Details of an LPG incident are included in an appendix of the
report.

The results of the 15 natural gas incidents in the main part of the
report are summarised below:

The number of domestic related CO poisoning deaths reported, at 7 during
2005/06, was the same as last year and equals the lowest recorded since
the DIDR system was introduced in 1996/97.

The over-all FPPY figure of 0.15 x 10-6 is within, what would normally
be considered as, the €œbroadly accepted region€� of HSEs criteria for
the tolerability of risk. However societal concerns over gas safety
override averaged numerical considerations. This also equals the lowest
value recorded since the introduction of the DIDR system.

In variation with previous years, nearly 2/3rd of the incidents included
in this report occurred in owner occupied properties. During 2004/05 the
proportion of incidents between owner occupied and tenanted properties
was almost evenly split.

In contrast with earlier years, terraced properties had a lower
propensity for incidents than other property styles.

The most common room location for casualties was the living room/lounge
followed by the bedroom. Unusually, in 2005/06, more than 50% of
incident appliances were installed in compartments.

The majority of CO incidents involved appliances fitted with open,
individual, natural draught flues.

Central heating appliances were responsible for the majority of fatal
and non-fatal casualties.

The most common incident cause was an appliance fault, the next in order
was a lack of servicing.

Flue and ventilation faults were concurrent in many domestic incidents.

There was 1 LPG incident reported during 2005/06 giving rise to a single
fatality.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrpdf/rr634.pdf

--
Rod

Hypothyroidism is a seriously debilitating condition with an insidious
onset.
Although common it frequently goes undiagnosed.
www.thyromind.info www.thyroiduk.org www.altsupportthyroid.org

"YAPH" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 26 Feb 2009 08:58:58 +0000, Arfa Daily wrote:

So what has changed ?

The industry assessment of undersized ventilation. Until about the middle
of last year anything over about half the correct ventilation was OK
(technically "Not to Current Standards") provided the appliance seemed to
be working OK. Now it's got to be spot on (less a few percent allowance
for margin of error). It's not Brutish Gas' decree but the industry
generally, in response (apparently) to an increase in Carbon Monoxide
incidents due to undersized ventilation. (I would guess this may be
connected with more people putting in uPVC windows and laminate flooring
which cut out much of the 'adventitious' ventilation one got from draughty
wooden windows and floors.)

Is the problem that the rules are evolving to assume the house is sealed and
only explicit ventilation is relevant? Is there no correction for eg a
draughty house, where the ventilation could well be more than adequate? Can
the rules be based on measurements of air flow rather than just sizes of
holes?

On Feb 26, 1:47*pm, "The Medway Handyman"
wrote:
David Hansen wrote:
On Thu, 26 Feb 2009 01:01:56 GMT someone who may be "The Medway
Handyman" wrote this:-

Anyone else seen the Gritish Bas advert with the poncy ecobollox
title "Look After Your World with British Gas"?

No. You watch adverts?

Oh don't tell me. I should turn off the telly when the ads are on to save
energy?

Don't be silly. You fast forward through them ... or haven't you
discovered the joys of watching programs on commercial channels 30
minutes after the start via a hard disk recorder.

In message , The Medway
Handyman wrote

Point is, the Gritish Bas bloke uses a presumably 'live' 13 amp plugtop to
connect into a socket outlet - clearly a very dangerous thing to do.
Imagine if a small child on one of those little green planets unplugged it &
touched the live pin?

BG must have part P accreditation for their staff so you are probably
incorrect in assuming that the use of live plug isn't safe.

--
Alan
news2006 {at} amac {dot} f2s {dot} com

Alan wrote:
In message , The Medway
Handyman wrote

Point is, the Gritish Bas bloke uses a presumably 'live' 13 amp
plugtop to
connect into a socket outlet - clearly a very dangerous thing to do.
Imagine if a small child on one of those little green planets
unplugged it &
touched the live pin?

BG must have part P accreditation for their staff so you are probably
incorrect in assuming that the use of live plug isn't safe.

Part P does not cover portable appliances and hence plugs ;-)


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

BG must have part P accreditation for their staff so you are probably
incorrect in assuming that the use of live plug isn't safe.

Oh well if they're *Part P qualified*, they must be right - and the
rest of us with degrees, phd's, chartered engineers status (and have
actually read the wiring regulations and have a career's worth of
practical experience) must be wrong.

It's a cartoon, and no professional would ever be influenced by the
coke-addled ravings of anything sourced from marketing - but somewhere
there will be a clueless diy-er attempting to wire up his own wind
turbine (or genny, or hook-up, or whatever) and *will do it* with
exposed live pins from the power source.

RubberBiker wrote:

Snip

It's a cartoon, and no professional would ever be influenced by the
coke-addled ravings of anything sourced from marketing - but somewhere
there will be a clueless diy-er attempting to wire up his own wind
turbine (or genny, or hook-up, or whatever) and *will do it* with
exposed live pins from the power source.

Quite, hence worth flagging to ASA.