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My chalet bungalow suffers badly from overflowing gutter corners during cloud bursts, due to rain flowing down the valleys. The guttering is conventional semi-circular plastic which has been reasonably well laid and I see little chance of improving this. Is anyone aware of an easy solution to...

Many thanks for that advice, which makes perfect sense. Final question: Should I replace the pipe inserts with the latest stainless steel ones, or should the existing ones be OK for compression?

I wish to replace some grey (3rd gen) Hep2O connectors by 15mm service valves with compression joints, prior to fitting new taps. I gather that all should be well so long as I can fully remove the Hep2O fittings. Is there a 'best' method for removing the grab rings, or am I better off just...

Thanks for all this valuable feedback. Regarding my 'RCD tester' I examined this today and it contains five 39k 1/2W resistors in parallel (7.8k) so is close to the nominal 30mA. I have used this at a previous property which had a battery of RCBOs and it was very helpful as a go/no-go tester...

Thanks everyone for your feedback and I will reduce my worry level!. I plan to get a professional with the right kit to do some earthing tests 'just to make sure'. Would a conversion to PME (if available) be worthwhile?

I measured the 18mA ac by using a suitable multimeter onto a cable plugged into a ring main (with the live well insulated!). My previous property had PME, this one doesn't.

My (new to me) property has a TT supply with a 30mA RCD protecting all the MCBs (not ideal but not causing inconvenience so far). There is a substantial Earthing Rod robustly connected to the earth bar of a modern Consumer Unit. PME is not available so far as I am aware. The RCD trips via its...

EPC is unhelpful as merely states 'Cavity wall - insulated (assumed)'. Tapping walls can be misleading as many properties have plasterboard dabbed into block work (to save rendering/plastering) and sound variously hollow and solid.

I am looking at purchasing a 1980s terraced property but would prefer that it was brick and block construction, not timber frame. Please can someone suggest the key points that I should use to tell the difference. I suppose that taking a power socket out would be one way, but it's a bit drastic!

The gunge is hard to photograph but looks like a white puddle underneath the combustion chamber cover. Clearly I need to get someone round with an FGA if they can pick up leaks. I can't live with it as it is! Thanks everyone for the advice.

I had the boiler professionally inspected before I bought the property and was told that it was a combustion gas smell, not kerosene (see initial post). I've had small kerosene leaks with other boilers (thirty years with oil heating now!) but I can't see the slightest weep on this boiler and...

The boiler (which came with the house I have moved onto) smells unacceptably despite having been serviced by an OFTEC person a year ago and I need to get something done about it. There is some sort of gunge on the boiler floor which looks as though it must have dripped from the bottom of main...

I am told by my local heating engineer that leaking primary and secondary combustion chamber gaskets are weaknesses in this boiler. Is there a good workaround for this, or is replacing the seals from time to time the best that can be achieved?

I would like to be able to make some accurate bends in 10mm plastic covered oil pipe (which has an overall OD of about 12mm). Am I expecting too much? Maybe I should use plain pipe and a conventional bend tool (Rothenberg for example). Any guidance much appreciated.

Just to close this thread I attach a photo of the defective elbow which the RGI replaced. It seems it must have developed a hairline fracture after installation (5 years and two property owners ago) and disintegrated altogether when the RGI dismantled and reassembled the hob. It has now been...

I need to replace the oil lines to the RDB2.2 burner in my Worcester Greenstar Camray 18/25 kitchen system boiler. Worcester-Bosch have recommended a long-life item part 8-716-115-311-0 and I have purchased two of these on their recommendation. But the burner oil pump has right angle 1/4 in...

My newly acquired home has a number of Hep2O shutoff valves installed for use as service valves for taps etc. But the first one I tried using immediately developed a leak. I quickly opened it again and I think the leak has stopped (!). Is this a common finding and is the valve repairable? I...

I have just moved house and in so doing acquired a Domextra 640MD water softener. The control panel seems quite complex and the user instructions are minimal. In particular they fail to explain what the control panel is about. And what do the jumpers do? Any chance of some installation or...

Thanks again for all the feedback on this forum. But I would ask that those who seem a trifle irritated note that I have never suggested that the boiler services I had done failed to do work that should have contractually been included. I merely asked the question as to what work was included...

As recommended (and clearly necessary) I got an RGI to attend the property today (it's actually unoccupied just now so I had turned the gas off at the meter). He found the problem to be a split aluminium elbow underneath the hob, which he suspected of having been seriously over tightened at...