Just back from an interesting stroll round the rather packed National
Homebuilding and Renovation Show at Olympia, where two companies were
showing gizmos claimed to generate true boiling water from a kitchen tap
(essentially a specialised mini combi boiler under the sink). I'm not sure
I can see an immediate need for this beyond making tea and instant coffee
(for which it would undoubtedly be handy) but what surprised me was that
they're marketing the idea in the midst of today's
health-and-safety-paranoia.

The other thing which caught my eye was on show on several stands:
mini-slatted Venetian blinds *inside* the sealed space of double-glazed
windows. Various control methods were in evidence - magnetic sliders,
remote-controlled motors and the like - but common to all of the various
designs was the reluctantly-admitted fact that if a blind goes wrong you
have to replace the entire sealed unit.

Interesting show in general, but I was glad I didn't have to pay to get in.

On Saturday 28 September 2013 22:43 Bert Coules wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Just back from an interesting stroll round the rather packed National
Homebuilding and Renovation Show at Olympia, where two companies were
showing gizmos claimed to generate true boiling water from a kitchen tap
(essentially a specialised mini combi boiler under the sink). I'm not
sure I can see an immediate need for this beyond making tea and instant
coffee (for which it would undoubtedly be handy) but what surprised me was
that they're marketing the idea in the midst of today's
health-and-safety-paranoia.


That's not new...

The other thing which caught my eye was on show on several stands:
mini-slatted Venetian blinds *inside* the sealed space of double-glazed
windows. Various control methods were in evidence - magnetic sliders,
remote-controlled motors and the like - but common to all of the various
designs was the reluctantly-admitted fact that if a blind goes wrong you
have to replace the entire sealed unit.

That's not new either - existed in offices for over a decade - maybe 2
decades.

Interesting show in general, but I was glad I didn't have to pay to get
in.
--
Tim Watts Personal Blog: http://squiddy.blog.dionic.net/

http://www.sensorly.com/ Crowd mapping of 2G/3G/4G mobile signal coverage

Reading this on the web? See:
http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?title=Usenet

Bert Coules wrote:
where two companies were
showing gizmos claimed to generate true boiling water from a kitchen tap
....
what surprised me was that
they're marketing the idea in the midst of today's
health-and-safety-paranoia.

Many people think they're safer than a kettle as although you might stick your fingers under it they only deliver a very low flow rate. Useful for people with poor grip for whom a kettle is dangerous.

Owain

Bert Coules wrote:
The other thing which caught my eye was on show on several stands:
mini-slatted Venetian blinds *inside* the sealed space of double-glazed
windows. ... common to all of the various
designs was the reluctantly-admitted fact that if a blind goes wrong you
have to replace the entire sealed unit.

I think one of the Grand Designs houses (possibly a log cabin) had them fitted within the cavity between a double glazed outer unit and an openable inner unit inside a triple-glazed window.

Owain

On 28/09/2013 22:43, Bert Coules wrote:
Just back from an interesting stroll round the rather packed National
Homebuilding and Renovation Show at Olympia, where two companies were
showing gizmos claimed to generate true boiling water from a kitchen tap
(essentially a specialised mini combi boiler under the sink). I'm not
sure I can see an immediate need for this beyond making tea and instant
coffee (for which it would undoubtedly be handy) but what surprised me
was that they're marketing the idea in the midst of today's
health-and-safety-paranoia.


Do you mean the Quooker Combi or similar?

I installed one in our kitchen earlier in the year. It is a large
stainless steel vacuum flask with an immersion heater, which maintains a
pressurised supply of boiling water at about 110 degrees Celcius.

The 'combi' description comes from the fact that it feeds both a small
boiling water tap - for tea making, etc - and provides a feed of about
55 degrees to the normal hot tap via a blender valve.

We got it because our new kitchen is at the opposite end of the house
from the domestic hot water cylinder - so it took a very long time to
get hot water out of the kitchen tap. Although it's more expensive to
heat water with electricity rather than gas, it's probably cheaper for
us because we don't waste a lot of (hot and cold) water every time we
run the tap.

Also, being able to make tea and coffee without having to boil a kettle
is very useful.

The capital cost is quite high, so it would be difficult to produce a
purely economic justification for buying one - but the convenience it
provides is great.
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.

On Sat, 28 Sep 2013 22:43:40 +0100, "Bert Coules"
wrote:

The other thing which caught my eye was on show on several stands:
mini-slatted Venetian blinds *inside* the sealed space of double-glazed
windows. Various control methods were in evidence - magnetic sliders,
remote-controlled motors and the like - but common to all of the various
designs was the reluctantly-admitted fact that if a blind goes wrong you
have to replace the entire sealed unit.

I've come across them before, thirty or more years ago. Admittedly not
micro-sized slats, but approx 1", the outside DG panel being
conventional, the inner panel being single-pane but hinged/removeable
and the whole construction made in extruded aluminium. Rather neat,
very heavy, not terribly reliable and expensive as hell.
Looked really good though; and the only place that could afford to
have their entire office block fitted with the system was the local
Electric Board. Of course.

"Tim Watts" wrote in message
...
On Saturday 28 September 2013 22:43 Bert Coules wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Just back from an interesting stroll round the rather packed National
Homebuilding and Renovation Show at Olympia, where two companies were
showing gizmos claimed to generate true boiling water from a kitchen tap
(essentially a specialised mini combi boiler under the sink). I'm not
sure I can see an immediate need for this beyond making tea and instant
coffee (for which it would undoubtedly be handy) but what surprised me
was
that they're marketing the idea in the midst of today's
health-and-safety-paranoia.


That's not new...

The other thing which caught my eye was on show on several stands:
mini-slatted Venetian blinds *inside* the sealed space of double-glazed
windows. Various control methods were in evidence - magnetic sliders,
remote-controlled motors and the like - but common to all of the various
designs was the reluctantly-admitted fact that if a blind goes wrong you
have to replace the entire sealed unit.

That's not new either - existed in offices for over a decade - maybe 2
decades.

Make that fifty years.

"Roger Mills" wrote in message
...
On 28/09/2013 22:43, Bert Coules wrote:
Just back from an interesting stroll round the rather packed National
Homebuilding and Renovation Show at Olympia, where two companies were
showing gizmos claimed to generate true boiling water from a kitchen tap
(essentially a specialised mini combi boiler under the sink). I'm not
sure I can see an immediate need for this beyond making tea and instant
coffee (for which it would undoubtedly be handy) but what surprised me
was that they're marketing the idea in the midst of today's
health-and-safety-paranoia.


Do you mean the Quooker Combi or similar?

I installed one in our kitchen earlier in the year. It is a large
stainless steel vacuum flask with an immersion heater, which maintains a
pressurised supply of boiling water at about 110 degrees Celcius.

The 'combi' description comes from the fact that it feeds both a small
boiling water tap - for tea making, etc - and provides a feed of about 55
degrees to the normal hot tap via a blender valve.

We got it because our new kitchen is at the opposite end of the house from
the domestic hot water cylinder - so it took a very long time to get hot
water out of the kitchen tap. Although it's more expensive to heat water
with electricity rather than gas, it's probably cheaper for us because we
don't waste a lot of (hot and cold) water every time we run the tap.

Also, being able to make tea and coffee without having to boil a kettle is
very useful.

The capital cost is quite high, so it would be difficult to produce a
purely economic justification for buying one - but the convenience it
provides is great.

Must cost a fortune in standing losses.

In article ,
"Bert Coules" writes:
Just back from an interesting stroll round the rather packed National
Homebuilding and Renovation Show at Olympia, where two companies were
showing gizmos claimed to generate true boiling water from a kitchen tap
(essentially a specialised mini combi boiler under the sink). I'm not sure
I can see an immediate need for this beyond making tea and instant coffee
(for which it would undoubtedly be handy) but what surprised me was that
they're marketing the idea in the midst of today's
health-and-safety-paranoia.

Very common in offices, where ordinary kettles are unviable, and
waste time ( = money). Often combined with a chilled water tap.

The other thing which caught my eye was on show on several stands:
mini-slatted Venetian blinds *inside* the sealed space of double-glazed
windows. Various control methods were in evidence - magnetic sliders,
remote-controlled motors and the like - but common to all of the various
designs was the reluctantly-admitted fact that if a blind goes wrong you
have to replace the entire sealed unit.

They're used inside office partition windows in the same way.
They tend to go wrong a lot less often when protected between glass.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On 29/09/2013 00:20, Roger Mills wrote:
On 28/09/2013 22:43, Bert Coules wrote:
Just back from an interesting stroll round the rather packed National
Homebuilding and Renovation Show at Olympia, where two companies were
showing gizmos claimed to generate true boiling water from a kitchen tap
(essentially a specialised mini combi boiler under the sink). I'm not
sure I can see an immediate need for this beyond making tea and instant
coffee (for which it would undoubtedly be handy) but what surprised me
was that they're marketing the idea in the midst of today's
health-and-safety-paranoia.


Do you mean the Quooker Combi or similar?

I installed one in our kitchen earlier in the year. It is a large
stainless steel vacuum flask with an immersion heater, which maintains a
pressurised supply of boiling water at about 110 degrees Celcius.

The 'combi' description comes from the fact that it feeds both a small
boiling water tap - for tea making, etc - and provides a feed of about
55 degrees to the normal hot tap via a blender valve.

We got it because our new kitchen is at the opposite end of the house
from the domestic hot water cylinder - so it took a very long time to
get hot water out of the kitchen tap. Although it's more expensive to
heat water with electricity rather than gas, it's probably cheaper for
us because we don't waste a lot of (hot and cold) water every time we
run the tap.

Also, being able to make tea and coffee without having to boil a kettle
is very useful.

The capital cost is quite high, so it would be difficult to produce a
purely economic justification for buying one - but the convenience it
provides is great.

We bought an instant boiling water thingy from Aldi a while ago for £30.
Looks like a coffee maker, you put your cup under the spout & press a
button to get instant boiling water.

Great for tea & coffee as you say.

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

Erm, I'd have thought some electrically triggered chemical in the glass
would work better than a mechanical blind like that, no moving parts. Sounds
like a gimmick for those with more money than sense. Anyone remember the
venetian blind craze for car back eindows?

Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"Bert Coules" wrote in message
...
Just back from an interesting stroll round the rather packed National
Homebuilding and Renovation Show at Olympia, where two companies were
showing gizmos claimed to generate true boiling water from a kitchen tap
(essentially a specialised mini combi boiler under the sink). I'm not
sure I can see an immediate need for this beyond making tea and instant
coffee (for which it would undoubtedly be handy) but what surprised me was
that they're marketing the idea in the midst of today's
health-and-safety-paranoia.

The other thing which caught my eye was on show on several stands:
mini-slatted Venetian blinds *inside* the sealed space of double-glazed
windows. Various control methods were in evidence - magnetic sliders,
remote-controlled motors and the like - but common to all of the various
designs was the reluctantly-admitted fact that if a blind goes wrong you
have to replace the entire sealed unit.

Interesting show in general, but I was glad I didn't have to pay to get
in.

Yes the boiling water device was around in the 1980s, but they tended to
stop working and wre not terribly power efficient either.

Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"Tim Watts" wrote in message
...
On Saturday 28 September 2013 22:43 Bert Coules wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Just back from an interesting stroll round the rather packed National
Homebuilding and Renovation Show at Olympia, where two companies were
showing gizmos claimed to generate true boiling water from a kitchen tap
(essentially a specialised mini combi boiler under the sink). I'm not
sure I can see an immediate need for this beyond making tea and instant
coffee (for which it would undoubtedly be handy) but what surprised me
was
that they're marketing the idea in the midst of today's
health-and-safety-paranoia.


That's not new...

The other thing which caught my eye was on show on several stands:
mini-slatted Venetian blinds *inside* the sealed space of double-glazed
windows. Various control methods were in evidence - magnetic sliders,
remote-controlled motors and the like - but common to all of the various
designs was the reluctantly-admitted fact that if a blind goes wrong you
have to replace the entire sealed unit.

That's not new either - existed in offices for over a decade - maybe 2
decades.

Interesting show in general, but I was glad I didn't have to pay to get
in.
--
Tim Watts Personal Blog: http://squiddy.blog.dionic.net/

http://www.sensorly.com/ Crowd mapping of 2G/3G/4G mobile signal coverage

Reading this on the web? See:
http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?title=Usenet

On 28/09/2013 22:43, Bert Coules wrote:
Just back from an interesting stroll round the rather packed National
Homebuilding and Renovation Show at Olympia, where two companies were
showing gizmos claimed to generate true boiling water from a kitchen tap
(essentially a specialised mini combi boiler under the sink). I'm not
sure I can see an immediate need for this beyond making tea and instant
coffee (for which it would undoubtedly be handy) but what surprised me
was that they're marketing the idea in the midst of today's
health-and-safety-paranoia.

The other thing which caught my eye was on show on several stands:
mini-slatted Venetian blinds *inside* the sealed space of double-glazed
windows. Various control methods were in evidence - magnetic sliders,
remote-controlled motors and the like - but common to all of the various
designs was the reluctantly-admitted fact that if a blind goes wrong you
have to replace the entire sealed unit.

Interesting show in general, but I was glad I didn't have to pay to get in.


Friend had one installed - about £800 IIRC for one that boiled the
water. Opposed to a couple of hundred for one that went to about 95C.

Justified through gritted teeth as handy for pasta and tea/coffee.

--
Cheers, Rob

On 29/09/2013 10:01, Brian Gaff wrote:
Erm, I'd have thought some electrically triggered chemical in the glass
would work better than a mechanical blind like that, no moving parts. Sounds
like a gimmick for those with more money than sense. Anyone remember the
venetian blind craze for car back eindows?

Brian

And what happened to the vinyl roof?

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

In article ,
wrote:
Many people think they're safer than a kettle as although you might
stick your fingers under it they only deliver a very low flow rate.
Useful for people with poor grip for whom a kettle is dangerous.

But needs two hands - one to hold the cup and one to operate the tap. I'd
be surprised if this is easier for anyone than a well designed kettle. Oh
- jug kettles are about the worst possible thing for those with a poor
grip. Older style with handle on top are far easier.

--
*When I'm not in my right mind, my left mind gets pretty crowded *

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

In article ,
Bert Coules wrote:
Just back from an interesting stroll round the rather packed National
Homebuilding and Renovation Show at Olympia, where two companies were
showing gizmos claimed to generate true boiling water from a kitchen tap
(essentially a specialised mini combi boiler under the sink). I'm not sure
I can see an immediate need for this beyond making tea and instant coffee
(for which it would undoubtedly be handy) but what surprised me was that
they're marketing the idea in the midst of today's
health-and-safety-paranoia.

Not that new - the H&S angle is that there is no trailing wires, no jug
full of 2 litres of boiling water, etc...

But have you seen the price?

I looked at them recently - the "true" boiling water ones are just
astronomical for what they're doing. I'm sticking to the kettle.

Gordon

Many thanks for all the replies. Both ideas were new to me, so it's
interesting to learn that they've been around for a while.

Roger Mills wrote:

We got it because our new kitchen is at the opposite end of the house from
the domestic hot water cylinder - so it took a very long time to get hot
water out of the kitchen tap. Although it's more expensive to heat water
with electricity rather than gas, it's probably cheaper for us because we
don't waste a lot of (hot and cold) water every time we run the tap.

Yes, that was rather my thought too. Always useful to hear from an actual
user.

The Medway Handyman wrote:

We bought an instant boiling water thingy from Aldi a while ago for £30.
Looks like a coffee maker, you put your cup under the spout & press a
button to get instant boiling water.

Now that sounds almost as good (if not more so). Are such things still
available? I'll have a search around.

Apparently Which tested instant hot water dispensers from several
manufacturers in January 2012:

http://tinyurl.com/n8gx7jf

That's just a summary introduction, the whole article is only available
online if you subscribe. I'll take a look at the print version at my local
library tomorrow.

"Bert Coules" wrote in message
o.uk...

Many thanks for all the replies. Both ideas were new to me, so it's
interesting to learn that they've been around for a while.


We installed one of the 'instant boiling water' taps during our recent
re-build and it is excellent. Yes it was pricy but we reasoned that it would
save us in the end. The 'dead leg' time from our hot tank to the kitchen is
a measured 20 seconds. For things like cups of tea and coffee there is no
delay. For water for boiling eggs, vegetables etc. it get used frequently.
Also recently for blanching stuff from the vegetable plot for freezing. Ours
also incorporates a filter for cold water as well.

AWEM

On 29/09/2013 08:59, harryagain wrote:
"Roger wrote in message
...


The capital cost is quite high, so it would be difficult to produce a
purely economic justification for buying one - but the convenience it
provides is great.

Must cost a fortune in standing losses.



It's highly insulated. According to Quooker, the cost of electricity for
keeping the water hot for 24 hours (if you don't use any) is about 3p. I
must admit that I haven't verified that with any accurate measurements -
but a few pence a day ain't going to break the bank.
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.

On 29/09/2013 09:15, The Medway Handyman wrote:


We bought an instant boiling water thingy from Aldi a while ago for £30.
Looks like a coffee maker, you put your cup under the spout & press a
button to get instant boiling water.

Great for tea & coffee as you say.


Ah, an entirely different animal! A Quooker isn't an instant boiler - it
holds a supply of pre-boiled water for instant dispensing. It ain't 30
quid either!!
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.

On 29/09/2013 11:07, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In ,
wrote:
Many people think they're safer than a kettle as although you might
stick your fingers under it they only deliver a very low flow rate.
Useful for people with poor grip for whom a kettle is dangerous.

But needs two hands - one to hold the cup and one to operate the tap. I'd
be surprised if this is easier for anyone than a well designed kettle. Oh
- jug kettles are about the worst possible thing for those with a poor
grip. Older style with handle on top are far easier.


Mine doesn't. The spout swings round and be over the sink or the
worktop. So you can stand the cup on the worktop under the spout and
then turn the tap on. The knob of the tap has to be pressed down before
it will turn - as a safety measure - but once on, you can leave it
running hands-free.
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.

On 29/09/2013 11:46, Gordon Henderson wrote:


Not that new - the H&S angle is that there is no trailing wires, no jug
full of 2 litres of boiling water, etc...

But have you seen the price?

I looked at them recently - the "true" boiling water ones are just
astronomical for what they're doing. I'm sticking to the kettle.

Gordon

Yes, as I said earlier, the ain't cheap! My 3kW 7 litre Quooker Combi
cost getting on for a grand. SWMBO deemed it worth it for the
convenience. It certainly does everything she wanted it for, and does it
very well.
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.

In article ,
Roger Mills wrote:
Mine doesn't. The spout swings round and be over the sink or the
worktop. So you can stand the cup on the worktop under the spout and
then turn the tap on. The knob of the tap has to be pressed down before
it will turn - as a safety measure - but once on, you can leave it
running hands-free.

Don't like the sound of that if it's for the elderly/disabled.

--
*Reality is a crutch for people who can't handle drugs.

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

Roger Mills wrote:

A Quooker isn't an instant boiler - it holds a supply of pre-boiled water
for instant dispensing.

Roger, do you notice any difference ion the taste of tea made with
pre-boiled water over that made with freshly boiled, as recommended?

On 29/09/2013 11:07, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
wrote:
Many people think they're safer than a kettle as although you might
stick your fingers under it they only deliver a very low flow rate.
Useful for people with poor grip for whom a kettle is dangerous.

But needs two hands - one to hold the cup and one to operate the tap. I'd
be surprised if this is easier for anyone than a well designed kettle. Oh
- jug kettles are about the worst possible thing for those with a poor
grip. Older style with handle on top are far easier.


You can get frames for kettles so you don't have to hold it up to pour.
I have seen them but I don't know where you buy them.

The tefal instant thing seems to be popular with people that can't
manage a kettle.

On 29/09/2013 12:03, Bert Coules wrote:
Many thanks for all the replies. Both ideas were new to me, so it's
interesting to learn that they've been around for a while.

Roger Mills wrote:

We got it because our new kitchen is at the opposite end of the house
from the domestic hot water cylinder - so it took a very long time to
get hot water out of the kitchen tap. Although it's more expensive to
heat water with electricity rather than gas, it's probably cheaper for
us because we don't waste a lot of (hot and cold) water every time we
run the tap.

Yes, that was rather my thought too. Always useful to hear from an
actual user.

The Medway Handyman wrote:

We bought an instant boiling water thingy from Aldi a while ago for
£30. Looks like a coffee maker, you put your cup under the spout &
press a button to get instant boiling water.

Now that sounds almost as good (if not more so). Are such things still
available? I'll have a search around.


Ours is similar to this, but was only £30 at ALDI
http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/househo...ces~ 04013995

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

The Medway Handyman wrote:

Ours is similar to this...

Thanks for the link. Does it produce water that is truly boiling, or simply
extremely hot?

In article ,
"Brian Gaff" writes:
Erm, I'd have thought some electrically triggered chemical in the glass
would work better than a mechanical blind like that, no moving parts.

LCD windows exist, which go dark at the flick of a switch.
They've come up a couple of times on Grand Designs, and a customer
I used to visit in London occasionally has them in the glass
conference room partitions. Damn expensive I suspect.

Sounds
like a gimmick for those with more money than sense. Anyone remember the
venetian blind craze for car back eindows?

I think it started with hatchbacks whose seat fabric was rotted by
the sun coming through the rear window. Citroen GS was infamous for
this problem, and various internal and external louvre add-ons were
available to try and address the problem.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

In article ,
Gordon Henderson writes:
In article ,
Bert Coules wrote:
Just back from an interesting stroll round the rather packed National
Homebuilding and Renovation Show at Olympia, where two companies were
showing gizmos claimed to generate true boiling water from a kitchen tap
(essentially a specialised mini combi boiler under the sink). I'm not sure
I can see an immediate need for this beyond making tea and instant coffee
(for which it would undoubtedly be handy) but what surprised me was that
they're marketing the idea in the midst of today's
health-and-safety-paranoia.

Not that new - the H&S angle is that there is no trailing wires, no jug
full of 2 litres of boiling water, etc...

The cost of PAT testing a basic kettle in an office where it's in
constant use can be a significant factor. Because they aren't
designed for such use, the retest period may be only one or two
months, and the life probably less than 6 months.

But have you seen the price?

I looked at them recently - the "true" boiling water ones are just
astronomical for what they're doing. I'm sticking to the kettle.

Gordon

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On Sun, 29 Sep 2013 14:28:03 +0000 (UTC), Andrew Gabriel wrote:

The cost of PAT testing a basic kettle in an office where it's in
constant use can be a significant factor. Because they aren't
designed for such use, the retest period may be only one or two
months, and the life probably less than 6 months.

With kettle avaialbe for afiver from the big supermarkets don't
bother testing at all just buy new every couple of months. New kit
doesn't *need* to be tested, though a lot of Elves seem to think it
does.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On 29/09/2013 14:10, Bert Coules wrote:
Roger Mills wrote:

A Quooker isn't an instant boiler - it holds a supply of pre-boiled
water for instant dispensing.

Roger, do you notice any difference ion the taste of tea made with
pre-boiled water over that made with freshly boiled, as recommended?

Yes, it's a lot better - but mainly because we were using a kettle which
seemed to taint the water!

In reality, the water coming out of the Quooker *is* freshly boiled.
Although it is heated to and held at 110 degrees, the internal pressure
prevents it from boiling until it comes out. There is also a filter on
the boiling water outlet, which improves the taste.
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.

In article ,
Andrew Gabriel wrote:
Not that new - the H&S angle is that there is no trailing wires, no jug
full of 2 litres of boiling water, etc...

The cost of PAT testing a basic kettle in an office where it's in
constant use can be a significant factor. Because they aren't
designed for such use, the retest period may be only one or two
months, and the life probably less than 6 months.

I'd say a source of instant boiling water very useful in an office - no
waiting around for a kettle to boil. Not so sure it would be at home,
though.

--
*Some days you're the dog, some days the hydrant.

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

On 29/09/2013 15:21, Bert Coules wrote:
The Medway Handyman wrote:

Ours is similar to this...

Thanks for the link. Does it produce water that is truly boiling, or
simply extremely hot?

Boiling. If it hasn't been used for a while (first thing in the morning
for example) we run off say half a cup, then make tea.

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

In article o.uk,
Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Sun, 29 Sep 2013 14:28:03 +0000 (UTC), Andrew Gabriel wrote:

The cost of PAT testing a basic kettle in an office where it's in
constant use can be a significant factor. Because they aren't
designed for such use, the retest period may be only one or two
months, and the life probably less than 6 months.

With kettle avaialbe for afiver from the big supermarkets don't
bother testing at all just buy new every couple of months. New kit
doesn't *need* to be tested, though a lot of Elves seem to think it
does.

A couple of years ago, I bought four new disco quality lights - just for
the hell of it, I PAT tested them. One failed!

--
From KT24

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.18

On Sat, 28 Sep 2013 22:43:40 +0100, Bert Coules wrote:

snip

The other thing which caught my eye was on show on several stands:
mini-slatted Venetian blinds *inside* the sealed space of double-glazed
windows. Various control methods were in evidence - magnetic sliders,
remote-controlled motors and the like - but common to all of the various
designs was the reluctantly-admitted fact that if a blind goes wrong you
have to replace the entire sealed unit.
snip

We have these inside our new(ish) bifold doors.

Expensive to buy and replace but not that expensive.

It also means that you don't have to work out a way to have blinds or
curtains for privacy which can cover part or all of a 4.7 metre opening
which can be anything from fully closed to fully open.

For curtains, you need space either side of the opening to hold a lot of
curtain material.

For blinds, you have all sorts of issues with multiple blinds and flapping
in the breeze if the doors are partly open.

We declined the electric ones, and the magnets work very well.

So far (about a year now) they have worked really well and more than
justified the extra cost - although the saving by not having to buy free
standing curtains or blinds has eased the pain.

Cheers

Dave R

David.WE.Roberts wrote:

We have these inside our new(ish) bifold doors...
We declined the electric ones, and the magnets work very well.

Thanks for that. I liked the relative simplicity of the magnetic sliding
design at the show, except for the fact that to close the blind completely
the magnet had to be slid right down to the bottom of the door, calling for
a bit of athleticism, or at least fitness.

On Mon, 30 Sep 2013 01:07:08 +0100, Bert Coules wrote:

David.WE.Roberts wrote:

We have these inside our new(ish) bifold doors...
We declined the electric ones, and the magnets work very well.

Thanks for that. I liked the relative simplicity of the magnetic
sliding design at the show, except for the fact that to close the blind
completely the magnet had to be slid right down to the bottom of the
door, calling for a bit of athleticism, or at least fitness.

Ours don't travel quite that far, and we are only of average flexibility :-
)

David.WE.Roberts wrote:

Ours don't travel quite that far, and we are
only of average flexibility :- )

That's encouraging, thanks. May I ask what make they are?

The Medway Handyman wrote:

Boiling.

Ah, right. Good. Thanks, Dave.