Recent content by ashdale

I have plain double doors between my lounge and dining room in a fifties chalet bungalow. I've acquired a pair of doors with glass panels from an identical house opposite of similar vintage to my doors (ie, probably original) that I wish to use instead. However the hinge positions are different...

Several years ago, I discarded my bell transformer with associated wiring and went for a wireless door chime, the bell unit itself being plugged into the mains. I've had no end of trouble since! At random intervals, say every week, the plug-in unit decides to stop working. However if I flick the...

No, I hadn't considered going the whole replacement route! I had assumed that push buttons could be bought separately. The base the valve fits into (I'm sure there's a technical term, but you drop the valve into it, then twist 45 degrees), is that a standard item that all flush valves match, or...

I'm on my third macdee siphon and they all fail the same way. Half flush is always fine, full flush (a few months after purchase) and it jams. I have to remove the thing, shake it loose and refit (not easy as I'm working blind from the side beneath the fixed worktop or whatever it's called in a...

In response to winston1's experience--yes, I should have mentioned the two buttons. I've pressed them and neither will kick the hands into life. At the top in a recess at the back are two little pins and I read somewhere that shorting them out with a screwdriver blade, say, will also get the...

I have a battery-operated wireless-controlled clock on my garden shed, a present from five years ago. Two weeks ago, it suddenly stopped. I've changed the battery twice but still hands don't move. The battery terminals in the case are quite clean. The hands, glass and electronics are all in a...

I had a Trafalgar bathroom unit fitted some years ago and it came with a Macdee cable-operated dual flush siphon. There was a problem with the siphon leaking into the bowl a few weeks after installation and the installer eventually (and reluctantly!) came round to have a look. He couldn't...

Yes, it really is a fuse box with fuse wires. You're right, having a new and larger single CU for all circuits would solve the problem. Thanks.

Thanks for all your useful replies, guys. By the way, I forgot to say that the garage hasn't used for car storage for years, so there are no petrol fumes any more! We've decided that when the girlfriend has a new kitchen built, maybe next yet, she'll get the electricians to move the fuse...

My girlfriend lives in a 70's semi where the fusebox and meter are in the garage (part of the house, not detached). When the house was built, the builder put the fusebox high up on the garage wall next to the roof and the meter is just below it. To reach the fusebox you need a ladder and whilst...

All sorted, finally!!!! After Xmas I took the siphon unit out again and found it wasn't the cable that was sticking, it was the plunger itself. It wouldn't drop to the extent that it would when I pulled on it manually. So I flushed the whole thing through under the mains tap, checked with my...

Right I've moved on a bit. By turning it CLOCKWISE (forcing it a bit more) I found a lifting position and the siphon came out. I wiped the seal dry but it wasn't dirty. There's no way that I could reach whatever the seal pushes against--my arms are normal length! It took me quarter of an hour...

My upstairs lavatory is continually flushing. It's a dual flush cable operated one with (according to the bathroom installer's invoice of two years ago) a Macdee Kayla flush unit. I understand that to remove the siphon and clean the sealing washer, I have to turn it an eighth of a turn and lift...