Doing my bit for the UK trade deficit

[the gardener 6,125]

Bought an electric radiator yesterday. Researching the options and all the marketing pushes you towards German-made ones, bigging up their engineering quality etc. We'll, I made the effort to do a bit of digging and found a UK manufacturer, Electrorad. I've bought one of their Digi-Line rads. 

That's one in Merkel's eye. They don't like it up 'em. 

[dgul 16,004]

My understanding is that for the last few months the UK has been running a trade surplus.

[onlyme 10,312]

I'm making for of an effort to do the same.  Recently an Ideal boiler, actually pretty impressed, according to plumber very easy to work on and reliable too, though they all pretty much have limited work life thanks to condensing design.

Worcester Bosch have the name but they also have an increasingly bad reputation.

 

[the gardener 6,125]

6 minutes ago, onlyme said:

I'm making for of an effort to do the same.  Recently an Ideal boiler, actually pretty impressed, according to plumber very easy to work on and reliable too, though they all pretty much have limited work life thanks to condensing design.

Worcester Bosch have the name but they also have an increasingly bad reputation.

 

If you want a reliable old boiler (no wife jokes please) then get hold of a Glow-worm. I had one in my last house, at least 30 years old (my model was last manufactured in 1991) and extremely reliable. Only needed a new thermocouple every few years (about £10 a pop) - and that was just preventative maintenance, could probably have let it go longer. 

[onlyme 10,312]

31 minutes ago, the gardener said:

If you want a reliable old boiler (no wife jokes please) then get hold of a Glow-worm. I had one in my last house, at least 30 years old (my model was last manufactured in 1991) and extremely reliable. Only needed a new thermocouple every few years (about £10 a pop) - and that was just preventative maintenance, could probably have let it go longer. 

Had an old Baxi, pretty much the same, heavy, cast iron, built to last and be serviced. New boilers are a different breed, lightweight, thermally very efficient but paper thin internals as a result partly of their efficiency. Best you can hope for is you don't suffer any expensive electronic / sensor (often repeat) repairs during its short life.

[longtomsilver 2,779]

I'm doing my bit too; needed a new pair of work shoes and they arrived this morning. Solovair Gibson and they are very comfortable already. Their boots are well made too and the prices are reasonable for UK made footwear. 25 years ago I used to wear Church's shoes and they cost £200 then but are £500 now so makes my £155 spend a comparative bargain. 

[stokiescum 10,307]

51 minutes ago, the gardener said:

If you want a reliable old boiler (no wife jokes please) then get hold of a Glow-worm. I had one in my last house, at least 30 years old (my model was last manufactured in 1991) and extremely reliable. Only needed a new thermocouple every few years (about £10 a pop) - and that was just preventative maintenance, could probably have let it go longer. 

Had mine serviced once in 7 years think my new one is ideal

[Democorruptcy 8,139]

27 minutes ago, longtomsilver said:

I'm doing my bit too; needed a new pair of work shoes and they arrived this morning. Solovair Gibson and they are very comfortable already. Their boots are well made too and the prices are reasonable for UK made footwear. 25 years ago I used to wear Church's shoes and they cost £200 then but are £500 now so makes my £155 spend a comparative bargain. 

£200 for a pair of shoes was a lot 25 years ago. If you could have got some Solovair Gibson's or equivalent, the £138 saved could have gone into divi shares!

[spunko 24,568]

I bought Acova ones from Screwfix, didn't know they were made in Germany, just assumed Chy-na.

Radfan are UK made and quite good too.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Radfan-Classic-Small-Power-Radiator/dp/B00GR0STTG/ref=pd_lpo_60_t_0/260-8863996-0293620?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00GR0STTG&pd_rd_r=a1debceb-4929-4f1d-abd0-bd77aa9c9a17&pd_rd_w=8aDCk&pd_rd_wg=RwuGb&pf_rd_p=7b8e3b03-1439-4489-abd4-4a138cf4eca6&pf_rd_r=9FFHDA4C166G4JVCQN9N&psc=1&refRID=9FFHDA4C166G4JVCQN9N

[Boglet 2,776]

1 hour ago, onlyme said:

Had an old Baxi, pretty much the same, heavy, cast iron, built to last and be serviced. New boilers are a different breed, lightweight, thermally very efficient but paper thin internals as a result partly of their efficiency. Best you can hope for is you don't suffer any expensive electronic / sensor (often repeat) repairs during its short life.

The house my parents lived in until a few years ago had an Ideal Mexico boiler - I remember them having it installed when I was a kid sometime in the mid/late 80s! Still going strong when they moved out.

[MrPin 18,149]

1 hour ago, Democorruptcy said:

£200 for a pair of shoes was a lot 25 years ago. If you could have got some Solovair Gibson's or equivalent, the £138 saved could have gone into divi shares!

They are probably size 24 in yellow.

[Rare Bear 1,878]

6 hours ago, the gardener said:

If you want a reliable old boiler (no wife jokes please) then get hold of a Glow-worm. I had one in my last house, at least 30 years old (my model was last manufactured in 1991) and extremely reliable. Only needed a new thermocouple every few years (about £10 a pop) - and that was just preventative maintenance, could probably have let it go longer. 

Yes, I've got a Glow-worm. It was in the place when I bought it in 1989 so it must have been there since the place was built about 10 years before. It just works.