Recent content by DavidLewis

Thanks - I'll buy some for next time. I've run out of PTFE tape now anyway :LOL:

I suppose you are correct. I did, in fact, make up another draincock using a tapered-thread coupler and a plain draincock. But the amount of taper on the thread was surprisingly small... 30 turns of PTFE tape later (20 wasn't enough!) and the thing is installed nicely. So I guess...

Ok, I admit I'm just assuming the female thread on the cylinder is parallel. I am therefore wanting a male tapered thread on the draincock. The draincock I have is parallel-thread, and doesn't get any tighter as I screw it in, until its "shoulder" touches the boss on the tank. But, as far as...

Hi all, My nice new Gledhill copper cylinder has a tapping for a drain cock. This tapping is 1/2" BSP female parallel threaded. I naively thought the drain cock I bought https://www.toolstation.com/made4trade-mt-cock-type-a/p83905 would come with a tapered thread, but no, it's parallel too...

a bit like the old trick of using squashed bread to temporarily block a pipe? ;)

I agree. I have a couple of Mira Platinums off a large shower pump. They are great (particularly compared to the Grohe Digital ones they replaced!) but if I was installing them from scratch I would go for the ones with inbuit pumps. I'd stick with Mira because I've been happy with them.

I live in a village, apparently surrounded by decaying water mains. We have "water cuts" several times a year while roads are dug up and mains are repaired. I know this because those of our neighbours who have converted to combi boilers or unvented cylinders post on the neighbourhood Facebook...

It's a system boiler, so internal pump. It's set at the lowest pump speed, so that return temperatures are low for maximum condensing operation.

I have no idea what causes it. Mine's a sealed system, with JG pex barrier pipe. The fact that the "flakes" (actually, they're more like crushed seashells) are black and magnetic means they must be iron, which must come from the radiators. But why they happen at all, and particularly why they...

I'm another person with a Viessmann Vitodens 100 (system boiler, not combi) who suffers from black magnetic flakes. The boiler was fitted at the same time as all new radiators, plastic pipes, plenty of inhibitor, and a filter. The system water runs clear. The hoses were replaced the first...

This is a situation where plastic pipe would come into its own. A long length of it could be threaded through as many holes as necessary, to go all the way from where it starts to where it's needed with zero joins.

I edited my reply to include another example too.

I bought an Ideal Standard bath about 10 years ago, which had the same problem with the tap holes. The fibreglass was much thicker on one side of the hole than the other, so there was no way that standard washers would have sealed. A few minutes with a sanding disc on an angle grinder fixed...

Yes, I think this is the key point. Which is why I use brass compression fittings whenever I use plastic pipe - no rubber to deteriorate.

That sounds ideal. For reference, what combination of boiler / controls manufacturers (and models) do you use to achieve your setup please?