The lovely wife thought I should get back to the blog as it might help with my post purchase depression or as it's known better being pee'd off with how slow things are happening, we have yet to finish anything , not even the un packing as we await the demo days ahead.
Things are going so slowly as we are still waiting for the licence for the pool etc, the architect has been and drawn up the application , the rambler association WHO ? Have been and we await their opinion , endesa have been to advise on proximity to the pylon . We have had to slightly move the location to achieve the correct clearance from the path of the over head lines ( 6m ) strange really that when they replaced the pylon and lines after the big flood that they didn't mind almost running it across the workshop roof ! If you remember we have a letter of pre approval from the ayuntamiento and the builder and architect are adamant that there is no problem but still that's not like having a licence in the hand.
As we thought prior to buying the wiring was dodgy , after I wired the workshop and went to connect to consumer unit I found loose wires and that the RH side of the house , patio lights , sockets ,old workshop feed and the old deposit water pump feed were all off a single strand of 1.5mm in a 25amp trip , to assist it the main RCD had been bypassed . The wire was all crispy along with the trip , the feed from the meter was much better that was a generous 4mm , the whole place running on a strand of wire rated at about 3.5 kW , good job we fitted those energy bulbs !
Your also meant to have an over current trip supplied by Endesa called an ICP but not every one has one ?? If you don't have one they fine you about 1€ a day on top of the 20€ a month for having a 4kw/h peak supply contract that they can't control without the trip . It's just very Spanish .
So we had a sparky recommended to us and he came to have a look and stated the frickin obvious that it was not safe and needed new ! He said he did not know if it was a big job or a very big job ! As we needed a Bolitina for Endesa to fit the ICP reluctantly we agreed and throw in the alterations for the new kitchen as good measure .
So he arrived with his SDS chisel and started with no warning to chop a hole in the rubble stone walls 50x50x10 for the new box and a chase down the wall for 2 x 40mm flexi trunks then 10m across the floor to the new kitchen positions. The dust was horrendous , no sheets no warning and all the windows were open , as the house is open plan it went every where we were just sat in a cloud of dust .
The next day after hours of cleaning and moving stuff in to the bathroom ( the only room downstairs we can close off ) we asked if he could move the bathroom light switch from the RH to the LH side of the door , yes no problem is easy ! So we went in the other room and left him to it a bit later we heard the Sds again , he was in the bathroom cutting in a chase for the switch he didn't say anything and even left the white towels on the rack ! SHE WAS NOT HAPPY , I have heard that the Spanish trades have no perception of service or customer care , the work quality is ok but they are just task focused . Four days later we found this to be true .
So today I started to connect the workshop into the consumer unit , I ran the 6mm 3 core 12 m across the patio pergola then in the house and down the new trunking along with the new socket supply. When I tried to turn the power off I found that all the trips for the existing parts were mixed up , you could turn 3 off before anything went off, then the whole lot went off , and if you turned the second one on again the lot came back on even with the other two off ! Not bad for over a grand inc 100€ For the cert saying it's all ok !
So I got him back and he reluctantly had another go and fitted more trips , so now were sorted and the workshop is also up and running , so at last some finished jobs and a life time wish achieved with a workshop to fit out.
So we have a cert from our quality sparky & can apply for the current trip and stop the fine , but 4kw/h is not enough so we have applied for a 6kw/h trip , they charge 10€ to fit the trip and 60€ to increase our supply ? Increase ? We have no trip so can pull what we want hence the fine , weather you fit a 4 or 6 trip is all the same isn't it ? We then rent the trip for 0.30 € month plus we now pay 28€ a month for the 6 kW/h , And they say British electric bills are confusing.
I'm now fifty not out , passing the big 50 in May , the lovely wife bought me a table saw for my birthday , apparently it was less than half the price of the UK amazon one on the Spanish amazon and was then shipped free by a firm in Germany from Dusseldorf ? How's that figure ?
Apart from all that , we have been tile shopping and now have 200m of tiles on pallets and 3 complete sets of bathroom fittings behind the settees, settees we found at a auction place in Albox ,a three and two seaters in red leather very comfy and a real bargain.
We have the kitchen design done, so far we are having ikea units but they are about 40% more then the same in ikea Nottingham , Ikea's reply , each location has it's own franchise and can price as they wish , didn't expect that ?
Being over 50 I'm now a proper pensioner and it's good to be getting paid again off the company scheme , after 2 years without any pay it's quite novel to see the bank balance go up before it goes down again .
Apart from all that it's just life in Spain , markets , daily bread runs and sun, well we even had some rain the other week the first time since October it rained enough to make a puddle . We often see storms to the south , Almeria , Malaga. But they don't reach us , every where is so dry people are getting twitchy about grass fires, there are acres of open scrub full of dry grasses and weeds , not good .
Til next time .
PS, today the Rambler Association have said yes to issuing a pool licence , it's still not a licence but it's a step closer !