Houx - guaranteed electric ?

[Rs2oo]

We're camping at Houx this year for the 1st time since 2005 (could never get Houx tickets before)
I was told that although they sell tickets on the understanding that you get electricity, some people can't get it because there aren't enough points/plugs to go round and that some people unplug other campers leads and gaffer-tape thiers on etc etc.

Is this true, is it a problem and if so whats the answer. We are not taking a genny this year and we need to plug our fridge into the mains. We will be taking a french plug adaptor and long extension lead.

[//j17]

It's NORMALLY quite mature and sensible. Most people are some distance from a power point so run a 4-block extension with a second off of this to their tents. The next person to come along just daisy-chains off of one of the 3 unused sockets on the mid-way extension lead, etc, etc.

Provided you follow the rule of not leaving someone unplugged so you can plug in (just add another multi-block to the chain) and re-wrapping sockets in bin bags if it's not a bone dry year everyone seems to get along fine.

You do get people being selfish twunts and duck taping a plug in to a socket but that's just a red-rag to a (drunk) bull in my book. If you've taped it in and won't let people daisy-chain off of you you are saying "Please un-tape, climb the nearest tree and re-duck tape the plug as high as you can get it while we are sleeping/off watching racing/otherwise away from camp" as I see it.

[Nick M]

//j17 said:

You do get people being selfish twunts and duck taping a plug in to a socket but that's just a red-rag to a (drunk) bull in my book. If you've taped it in and won't let people daisy-chain off of you you are saying "Please un-tape, climb the nearest tree and re-duck tape the plug as high as you can get it while we are sleeping/off watching racing/otherwise away from camp" as I see it.

Just to add, it's definitely worth investing in a 'splitter' to go along with your cable, so you can plug in without leaving someone else disconnected. But would echo the comment about it *generally* being fairly sensible.

What we did find last year was that some of the electrickery points were a bit temperamental and kept tripping the circuit breakers. Just keep an eye on that because it may not be immediately obvious that you no longer have any power and with some of the 'knitting' which gets done with extension leads connected to one another it can sometimes take a while to find the culprit.

[Rude-boy]

One thing i would mention though is if you get to the main box and it looks like some twunt has collared a plug just for themselves, follow the lead, and if possible talk to them, to make sure before you get the snips and ladder out

I do worry about this a little as I am usually on site on the Tuesday morning and so tend to plug and duct tape one off which only I might be using until the Wednesday morning but there are another 4 or 5 pitches are all using by the Thrusday as they arrive

Not happened yet and am always happy for others to daisy chain off (unless they plan on using it to boil a kettle and trip 20 people's electric off at 3am and don't at least try to reset it )

Edited by Rude-boy on Thursday 29th April 11:43

[Rs2oo]

Reading the Houx Wall thread, it appears that some people plug in toasters heaters and kettles, probably microwaves too, which overload the system and it goes bank. If (when) this happens, how is it rectified ? is there a trip switch or what ?

Edited by Rs2oo on Friday 7th May 10:16

[Pied Piper]

Rs2oo said:

Reading the Houx Wall thread, it appears that some idiots plug in toasters heaters and kettles, probably microwaves too, which overload the system and it goes bank. If (when) this happens, how is it rectified ? is there a trip switch or what ?

We have a whole Manbulance to plug in, we have never had a problem in the 5 years we have been going, never managed to trip even when Ian was drying his hair.

We do plug in toaster, kettle, telly, playstation etc etc... a couple of years ago a group had a whole disco system with lighting running off a single socket no problems then and I really don't expect to have any problems this year, that is of course if we still have power.

[//j17]

We've had no real problems running fridges and kettles in the past. About the only time the power tripped it was a damp year so we wrapped our mid-way multi-block in a bin bag. Unfortunately the knuckle-dragger that daisy-chained off of said multi-block (not something I have an issue with of it's self) just unwrapped the bag and left the block sat face-up on top of it. A little over-night rain and one burnt out socket on the main post.

If the block does trip you need to open the cover on the box and you see a series of trip switches - one main and one for each socket. To open said box you need a special (triangular?) key...or whatever tools fall to hand and a bit of ingenuity

[Rs2oo]

Pied Piper said:

We have a whole Manbulance to plug in, we have never had a problem in the 5 years we have been going, never managed to trip even when Ian was drying his hair.
We do plug in toaster, kettle, telly, playstation etc etc... a couple of years ago a group had a whole disco system with lighting running off a single socket no problems then and I really don't expect to have any problems this year, that is of course if we still have power.

We are taking Venison fillet steaks for a meal on sunday and really need the fridge to keep them freash. You have reassured me a bit guys thanks !

Edited by Rs2oo on Friday 7th May 10:37