Recent content by EdR

Agreed - the bottom line is the same. Not a Sunday afternoon repair. Time to call in an expert, and get it put in order.

I have been doing some more reading. The wires are definitely PVC. We still have a bakelite fuse box. I suspect that the wiring in the loft wand to the switches as probably replaced in the early 1960s. Apparently this early PVC is not as long lived as the modern stuff. When we moved in, in the...

I have called an electrician. Thanks all.

The switch cable is old and brittle and two wire only (no earth). The light socket back is wood. The old dimmer paradoxically was metal. The junction box looks like bakelite. The wires in the loft have earths which have been taped back away from the junction box. I can see no evidence of a nail...

In the words of the Communards, "Don't leave me this way...." lolol :)

No obvious signs of shorting. Everything appears secure etc. I have found the junction box.

No - completely unrelated work - on the roof. But the person may have stood over (and therefore on) the wires going into the ceiling rose. The ceiling rose appears standard to me - I did notice that the earth wires are not sleeved, and that the upstairs lighting wires all run under (rather than...

A one way light switch in one of our bedrooms wont turn off. I assumed it was a defective dimmer. So I changed it. Initially it worked but about an hour later the trip at circuit board tripped, and when I turned it on again the light stayed on once again, regardless of switch. Just out of...

Forget it. I have just gone back to it, and its now boiling hot. I wonder whether he found out what was wrong, corrected it, and couldnt bring himself to give me a fourth explanation. Whatever. I'm warm.

I had a tower radiator put in last summer. Can't seem to get in contact with the plumber. It doesn't get properly hot. I tried to fix by balancing the system. I am not a plumber. May not have got it right. The gas central heating man came round today to service the boiler and I asked him...

Thanks both. I'll let the fitters who return in new year to service decide.

Good point. We hadn't thought. There is a four burner gas hob. The rest is electric. There are two gas fires in adjoining dining room, and sitting room respectively but they have floor vents (1930s house with suspended wooden floor on joists). Four bedroom relatively large detached...

The wife is complaining that the kitchen is cold. There is a draft from an air vent. We have a Worcester condensing boiler in the kitchen. She wants me to buy a closeable vent cover, to replace the fixed one reasoning that this boiler (unlike our previous one) draws air from the pipe which...

That makes sense. This morning I was "rewarded" with a magnaclean full of sludge. I will work my way round the radiators as you suggest until Magnas clean and bright ;) Thanks very much for your clear instructions.

Thank you. Combination of X400 treatment and removing the powerhead and loosening up the valve seems to have done the trick. Final question. How long would you leave the x400 in place? The instructions say up to 4 weeks. I have no idea whether longer is better, or whether I should flush it...