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The traditional syphon toilet flush system is by far the most reliable but, unfortunately, no new toilets use it. I don't understand why all manufacturers have moved away from syphons as, by their nature, they cannot leak water into the bowl as a lot of newer flush systems often do, wasting...

I'm not sure a lever will be any easier to press down than the push buttons - in fact may be harder.

The oil pump wouldn't fail with a burning smell. I reckon it might be the control box (that governs the startup sequence) that has burnt out. I had exactly the same issue after starting my oil boiler after a period if disuse. Damp can get into the electronics and, if they are getting old, this...

I find the reason for the initial post a bit obscure! If there's a gap between the radiator tails and the valves when the towel rail is secured to the wall with its brackets, then obviously the answer is to lower the brackets - either by making use of their elongated screw holes or, if that is...

I agree - brass compression fittings are far superior to the push fit plastic fittings.

If it aint broke don't fix it!

I wouldn't bother with replacement parts to get this flush valve repaired. I'd just replace the whole flush valve with a new one - they're pretty cheap and will all have standard connections.

Call me old school but, if you have a working vented system (other than the boiler), fed by a header tank, why change to a pressurised combi boiler system? The possibility of leaks with a pressurised system and old radiators and pipes might be small but is not negligible, and pressurised systems...

I would cut the pipe at a little distance away from each side of the existing elbow and then fit new lengths of pipe connected to the existing vertical and horizontal pipes with inline compression fittings, with a new compression elbow to join them

If L shape cabling is not allowed, how are ring mains installed? Surely the usual arrangement for ring mains is to have the first socket in a room connected via a vertical drop and then subsequent sockets in that room connected to each other by horizontal runs of cable, with a vertical cable...

The downside of replacing the "polished" bit is that you'll then need two couplers - one at each end of the replacement section of pipe. This will mean 4 new pipe joints, and such joints have a greater risk of leakage than plain pipe. Unless your "nick" is really deep I'd be tempted to leave it.

If both valves are identical then I guess that was an error in installation (or maybe the plumber didn't have a lockshield valve so just installed what he had to hand. It doesn't matter though - the valve that gets hot first should be the one with the knob and is the one you should use to turn...

I'm curious to know what the advantages are of sealed systems with expansion tanks. The old fashioned vented HW cylinders and vented boiler radiator systems with feed and expansion tanks in the loft do not have the "potential to explode" if not serviced regularly and correctly. So why are sealed...

One of the valves should have an obvious knob on it (the one that gets hot first) and is used to turn the towel rail on and off (if that's what you want to do, though its normal to just leave these rails on) The other valve shouldn't have an obvious knob on it and is called a lockshield valve...

Well, that's not my experience at all. The turn-in that you get from pipe cutters is much more resistant to de-burring than normal hacksaw burrs and even working away for more than a minute with "the pointy bit" does not remove the turn-in sufficiently to insert a bending spring which, of...

If it's working and not leaking I would leave it alone. If it ain't broke don't fix it!

The only issue with pipe inside burrs or turn-in is that they make bending springs impossible to insert. It's virtually impossible to open these turn-ins enough to get a bending spring in so, when using these, it's necessary to use a hacksaw to cut the pipe.

Pretty much all new siphons come with a 1.5in outlet. As you note, older cisterns typically have 2in outlets. You used to be able to get plastic 1.5in to 2in converters but these seem now to have gone off the market. About 3 years ago I managed to get one of these converters but was told by the...

It's not quite a simple as that. A heat pump has to run more or less continually for the low temperature of the water flow to the radiators to be able to maintain the desired temperature in the house. A lack of insulation will have a great effect on the ability of the heat pump to maintain this...

When you say "constantly running toilet" do you mean that your toilet cistern has an overflow that discharges into the toilet (rather than the older method of having it discharge to an outside overflow pipe)? So that the issue is constant water flowing into the toilet? If so, there is absolutely...