Sonoff make a range of Wi-Fi-connected devices for various monitoring and switching applications based around ESP8266 processors. As I wasn't happy with the performance of the thermostat in the fridge in the house I'm renting I got a few of their TH16 switches with the idea of using one of them to switch the fridge on and off without freezing the food in the salad compartment.

A few sources indicate that supplying power to these devices while flashing programs in them is tricky. tl;dr, I found that a surprisingly high voltage, about 3.9 volts or higher, was needed to load software in the version 2.1 devices I received. I'll explain the process by which I got to this conclusion in some detail as there may be some useful hints for others along the way.

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June was not too much of a success. I finished off the window in the small bedroom which I got in at the end of May but then had problems doing the similar one in the main bedroom resulting in a window with enough damage that it'll be better just to get a new one.

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Thin Ice: Unlocking the Secrets of Climate in the World's Highest Mountains by Mark Bowen was first published in 2005 and in paperback in 2006. It has three intertwined themes:

• Lonnie Thompson's group's research into ice cores from tropical and sub-tropical glaciers (particularly in the Andes, Tibet and Kilimanjaro),
• the physics of global warming in general and
• the effects of past climate change on civilisations in western South America (what's now Peru, mostly).

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Most people are familiar with the sort of clamps used for wood but some might not be aware that, as well as being used to clamp things together, they can also be used as spreaders to push things apart.

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Today turned out to be mostly dry with a bit of breeze from the north so I tried out my cunning plan to lift the small bedroom window sash into place. It turned out to be cunning enough, just.

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It's a wet and breezy Sunday morning nearly three months after I last posted so time for an update even though there's not a huge amount of interest to report. tl;dr I'm ready to put some more windows in but haven't actually done any yet.

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After the previous attempt at installing the small window in the main bedroom resulted in a bit of a falling out there was a longish break for the weather but it's in now.

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In my previous post I said I thought solar gain would not be a significant influence on the boiler run time. It's worth checking, though.

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A few people I've talked to have suggested that running the heating continuously in a house might actually reduce the amount of oil burned. I was a bit sceptical so decided to do a little science.

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Oil Use

The house I'm renting has oil-fired central heating. It's a leaky old house so burns quite a lot so I've been playing around with methods of reducing the consumption while still keeping things comfy. I got an oil delivery earlier in the week that provides a good point to check some of my measurements.

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