The dark nights are coming

[Frnc]

Boiler was serviced the other day. Not even a year old. Is working fine. For some reason it's been serviced by 247 Staywarm AND the manufacturer.

Batteries and first aid up to date.

Water containers needs rotating.

Need to get dental checkup and free eye test when scaffold is gone (roof is finished).

Put a CO alarm in Amazon basket for kitchen.

In October I need to re-charge stored NiMH batteries, check powerbanks, and the dreaded 18650s. I hate these, due to the fact that I bought spares for my radio, and they were longer, and I bent the radio terminals trying to get them out. Why the hell can't they be a standard size? It's ridiculous to make them different sizes. I have noted the exact size (18.50 mm x 69.80 mm) anyway, for future reference. I've put ribbon in to pull them out. The terminals are just about OK, bit bent. It's a spring and it's at an angle now. 18650 means 18 x 65.0 mm long. Why are they 69.8?? That's nearly 5mm longer!

Clothes etc rotation is done at the end of Sept/start of October. Now I have a clothes rack in the prep room, a lot of stuff stays on there permanently. I hardly ever have to open my wardrobes. Some bike gear might get swapped a bit earlier. My bugout preps have only 2 seasons. Oct to May inclusive is winter. But my bike wear is finely tuned to the exact temperature and likelihood of rain. Some out of season stuff is in drawers in the prep room. They are labelled Winter, Summer etc.

[GillyBee]

Any chance you can share your seasonal checks calendar once written down? It would benefit newbies and be interesting as mine is in development and it would be good to see what i am missing (lots I suspect).

[Yorkshire Andy]

Boiler was serviced the other day. Not even a year old. Is working fine. For some reason it's been serviced by 247 Staywarm AND the manufacturer.

Batteries and first aid up to date.

Water containers needs rotating.

Need to get dental checkup and free eye test when scaffold is gone (roof is finished).

Put a CO alarm in Amazon basket for kitchen.

In October I need to re-charge stored NiMH batteries, check powerbanks, and the dreaded 18650s. I hate these, due to the fact that I bought spares for my radio, and they were longer, and I bent the radio terminals trying to get them out. Why the hell can't they be a standard size? It's ridiculous to make them different sizes. I have noted the exact size (18.50 mm x 69.80 mm) anyway, for future reference. I've put ribbon in to pull them out. The terminals are just about OK, bit bent. It's a spring and it's at an angle now. 18650 means 18 x 65.0 mm long. Why are they 69.8?? That's nearly 5mm longer!

Clothes etc rotation is done at the end of Sept/start of October. Now I have a clothes rack in the prep room, a lot of stuff stays on there permanently. I hardly ever have to open my wardrobes. Some bike gear might get swapped a bit earlier. My bugout preps have only 2 seasons. Oct to May inclusive is winter. But my bike wear is finely tuned to the exact temperature and likelihood of rain. Some out of season stuff is in drawers in the prep room. They are labelled Winter, Summer etc.

Was the lack of a CO alarm pulled up on the boiler service?

Make sure you get a good one to British standards so much cheap china crap infesting Amazon / eBay ...

Lidl had some Gloria branded units in last week £12 with an LCD readout rebranded Kiddie with a BSI kitemark dash 2 certified

[Frnc]

Boiler was serviced the other day. Not even a year old. Is working fine. For some reason it's been serviced by 247 Staywarm AND the manufacturer.

Batteries and first aid up to date.

Water containers needs rotating.

Need to get dental checkup and free eye test when scaffold is gone (roof is finished).

Put a CO alarm in Amazon basket for kitchen.

In October I need to re-charge stored NiMH batteries, check powerbanks, and the dreaded 18650s. I hate these, due to the fact that I bought spares for my radio, and they were longer, and I bent the radio terminals trying to get them out. Why the hell can't they be a standard size? It's ridiculous to make them different sizes. I have noted the exact size (18.50 mm x 69.80 mm) anyway, for future reference. I've put ribbon in to pull them out. The terminals are just about OK, bit bent. It's a spring and it's at an angle now. 18650 means 18 x 65.0 mm long. Why are they 69.8?? That's nearly 5mm longer!

Clothes etc rotation is done at the end of Sept/start of October. Now I have a clothes rack in the prep room, a lot of stuff stays on there permanently. I hardly ever have to open my wardrobes. Some bike gear might get swapped a bit earlier. My bugout preps have only 2 seasons. Oct to May inclusive is winter. But my bike wear is finely tuned to the exact temperature and likelihood of rain. Some out of season stuff is in drawers in the prep room. They are labelled Winter, Summer etc.

Was the lack of a CO alarm pulled up on the boiler service?

Make sure you get a good one to British standards so much cheap china crap infesting Amazon / eBay ...

Lidl had some Gloria branded units in last week £12 with an LCD readout rebranded Kiddie with a BSI kitemark dash 2 certified

CO alarm was pulled up on previous boiler service. I got one put in lodger's room, which is above boiler in cellar. About a year ago I read that landlords are supposed to get gas appliances tested every year. 247 Staywarm, who do the boiler service 10 year contract, did a free check last November. So I should get them to do it again in November. It just occurred to me that I should have a CO alarm in the kitchen for the gas hob. I will make sure it's to BS.

[Yorkshire Andy]

Looks like the regs in rented accommodation is changing they did Scotland the other year... Council installed 2x more alarms in ours when they did the electrical installation checks earlier this year..

This is the current regs

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... nd-tenants


We had 2x mains alarms one in the lounge one at top of the stairs...

When they came they added a combined co and heat alarm in the kitchen and a smoke in the tiny hall way

Guessing they are for seeing a change to the regs like Scotland (mains powered and interconnected)

https://www.safelincs.co.uk/updated-smo ... 20property


Know the regs for small rented holiday let's is adding emergency lighting in guest rooms by the way of a plug in rechargeable torch or similar

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... -from-fire

Once we buy this house I'm putting a recessed emergency light over the stairs

My parents have a socket top and bottom for the hoover dad's got these

https://www.diy.com/departments/NiteSaf ... lsrc=aw.ds

In those sockets come on automatically at night when motion is detected... And come on in the event of a mains failure

[Frnc]

Any chance you can share your seasonal checks calendar once written down? It would benefit newbies and be interesting as mine is in development and it would be good to see what i am missing (lots I suspect).

It's mostly just clothes, what is where, where moved from. Also I have a checklist. I don't think it would make much sense to anyone reading it. A few winter items will come out of storage, and a few summer items will go into it. The original idea was that in a hasty evacuation I can quickly grab whatever I need. The clothes rail in the next room makes this a lot easier. I also have a bag of season appropriate base layers on my wardrobe door, and a bag of winter outer wear extras like overtrousers, gloves, neck warmer, overgloves. This bag stays pretty much the same year round.

Obvious things at the start of October:
Insulated jacket goes on bedroom door, hat and gloves in pockets.
Winter trousers go from storage to clothes rail.
Winter socks come out of storage and go into my bedroom drawer. Summer socks go into storage. I also have some in between mid-season socks.
Summer t-shirts go into drawers and wardrobe.
Long sleeved t-shirts, EDZ long sleeved tops and Talus tops go onto clothes rail. Some might stay in bedroom drawer, at the front.

[Frnc]

Looks like the regs in rented accommodation is changing they did Scotland the other year... Council installed 2x more alarms in ours when they did the electrical installation checks earlier this year..

This is the current regs

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... nd-tenants


We had 2x mains alarms one in the lounge one at top of the stairs...

When they came they added a combined co and heat alarm in the kitchen and a smoke in the tiny hall way

Guessing they are for seeing a change to the regs like Scotland (mains powered and interconnected)

https://www.safelincs.co.uk/updated-smo ... 20property


Know the regs for small rented holiday let's is adding emergency lighting in guest rooms by the way of a plug in rechargeable torch or similar

Screenshot_20230810-093332.png

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... -from-fire

Once we buy this house I'm putting a recessed emergency light over the stairs

Hmm... looks like I don't need one for the hob. "Ensure a carbon monoxide alarm is equipped in any room used as living accommodation which contains a fixed combustion appliance (excluding gas cookers)."

[jansman]

We have a ‘test’ calendar for alarms and such. Basically based on clock changing times. Another thing I test is water mains taps. Without attention they can soon seize. We have the main into the house, and into the outside toilet/ tap. I make sure they are sprayed with 3 in 1 oil and turned on and off. Another tap is the on/off over our hot water cylinder. It isolates the cylinder itself, so that is tested too. It all stops aggravation for a short check.

[Frnc]

Motion lights I have are these. The batteries last for months before they need re-charging.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07Q9JFH1Y/

[Frnc]

Today
"'Don't buy': Dangerous carbon monoxide alarms found on four major online marketplaces"
https://news.sky.com/story/unsafe-carbo ... e-12937330

"The retailers said the models have all been removed."

Unfortunately all the Which reviews are paywall. I know mine is ok anyway as British Gas supplied it.

https://www.britishgas.co.uk/energy/gas ... alarm.html