Recent content by MrX

Well, good luck with it! I won't be commenting on anything like this again as my opinions are clearly most unwelcome on this forum. Adios!

If the wiring's from the 1920s you're talking about a system that's coming up on 100 years old! That is *NOT* safe. Ask any electrician.

To be honest, yes I would recommend a compete rewire of the house. That wiring is extremely old. In the interim, I would be very careful not to overload circuits or add new outlets. The design of old installations often didn't really foresee big load requirements. I would be careful with high...

It's surprising that the cloth insulation's held up so well over that time. That would definitely tend to point towards the 1920s/30s and would fit with the art deco design I guess. Interesting insect life going on there on the electrical terminals! The company that made the elements, HE...

I found an old 1940s Radiogram that my great grandmother originally owned. It had no plug, so I wired one up. The cord was just twisted pair with no way of identifying line and neutral. I plugged it in and it powered up. Valves (tubes) began to glow and it dropped a record onto the turntable...

That looks more like a 1950s appliance. Although it does have a bit of an Art Deco style. I would be a bit concerned about the wiring of an old heating appliance of that era. There is a very significant likelihood of disintegrated insulation and a possible fire risk. Cool to see something...

It's actually something to bear in mind when dealing with vintage appliances Make sure you're plugged into a GFCI (US terminology) or RCD (Euro Terminology) Old appliances, especially pre-1950s often didn't have much in the way of grounding and if they did it was often risky inadequate by...

European Ariel formulations are pretty 'pungent' in that way too. It's almost like a blend of something very citrus with eucalyptus and a touch of coconut as an undertone. Very odd scent, undoubtedly entirely artificial.

It does seem a little strange that the manufacturers put a huge amount of effort into designing a complex system that sprays the detergent with water and dilutes and disperses it (the drawer) and then we go and throw the detergent straight into the drum. My current machine goes to considerable...

Dosing Ball :) Where as older Persil liquid went in the drawer :

We've always had dosing balls for liquids. The early ones were about the size of a tennis ball and a lot louder! Unilever had a clear, soft plastic one for Persil liquid (not concentrated) which was a lot less noisy. The current Persil Small and Might liquid comes with a similar idea in a much...

That tends to happen here with Finish dishwasher products. Endless versions of Finish occupying 75% of the shelf space and then the rest has P&G Fairy and Unilever Sun and a couple of in-store brands. For laundry detergents P&G and Unilever compete usually fairly 50:50 although you can see...

There are still quite a lot of powder products on sale here and quite a bit of consumer demand for them despite the drive to switch everyone over to liquids. You almost only ever see advertising for liquids these days. However, consumers here seem fairly wedded to powder. In many other...

The manufacturers seem to have a death wish for powder for some reason. I assume that liquids are easier to manufacture. They're certainly not pushing them for their love of consumers ...

The Ariel pods are in an opaque green tub with a fairly simple hinged lid. It's a bit like a giant version of a spreadable butter pack with a hinged lid instead of a lift off one.