Recent content by smp50

Rest assured that I will be enlisting the services of an expert in dealing with this but in the mean time (the football means few are answering the phone at the moment), how does this happen...? I'm told that the tenants were "cooking" at the time; I'm not sure whether that means oven or hob...

Ah, nice idea - yes I do have a multimeter, could you specify what/how I should test them? What setting and where will each electrode go? I will return to the house in a few hours and do this. I'll also remove the cupboard and ply, and see if I can see anything through the drill holes.

Tonight I may have drilled through a cable but at no point did I notice it, in terms of drill feel, reaction, or anything dramatic happening. I merely have the coincidence of drilling into walls and an electrical problem. Perhaps you guys can help me figure out if I should rip the walls open or...

The grey plate at the very bottom of the image is metal. The terminals definitely weren't touching that, in fact when I switched the heater back on with the replacement component, I hadn't even pushed it back into its seat yet - it was just loose and nowhere near metal parts.

There's definitely no shorting or contact with metal parts of the heater, no. The white stuff around it is plastic. Nope.

Hmm, really? Its switch temperature is 175 degrees already, so I'd have thought it would cope with that - and also the body is plastic (spade terminals pass into the plastic body) and none of that was damaged by the soldering. I'd be very surprised if the soldering heat damaged the component...

OK - what am I looking for there? Although, the heater itself was off (on its control panel) when I turned it on at the wall, so the elements weren't in the circuit anyway at the time. No, that off-white part of the chassis is actually plastic, there's no metal contact there. Yes - I cut...

Hi, guys. I have a thermal shutoff in an electric storage heater which failed suddenly with burn marks on one side and onto the connecting wire (pic). I ordered the replacement component and connected it in, all the wire cut back and cleaned, etc. As soon as I turned the heater back on, it...

Attached is a picture of the vent and duct, it's 100mm. The fan mechanism itself I can't see or access, I'm trying to find out if that portion of the loft is accessible perhaps from a neighbour's house or something. I did a toilet-paper test and it will hold a sheet tight to the grill. It is...

This is all with the door wide open. It's quite a large house, as well, though I don't suppose any windows were open at the time of my test. Would that make a difference. In any case, for years (also before my ownership) it sufficiently kept the mould at bay so I wonder if something has...

An extractor fan in a windowless bathroom is barely drawing, I can feel only the slightest pull and a smoke test confirms. Tenants report that steam is very slow to clear and, indeed, after years of no problem the black mould is advancing. The fan sounds normal - not too loud or quiet. I can't...

I don't have one to hand - it's at another property, but it's a pretty standard toilet seat. Was a cheapo once from screwfix at the time. You have nylon bolts" inserted from the top of the pan, the head of these bolts being a wide, flat section onto which the seat brackets slide. There's a...

Metal ones? This one has nylon nuts and bolts, yea. Fair, but I did only try that after two or three "loosening events." Maybe I'll try a different brand/type of seat altogether?

Yes it is - here's some pics. It's a spinflow S2000, apparently. There are others like it, it's not an uncommon design. So it's clear that the under-hob grill mates into the "grill compartment" of the oven itself, but the issue is that the thickness of the worktop is going to elevate the grill...

NB - my question has nothing to do with gas or electricity connection. I'm installing an oven/grill/hob in a camper van. The cooker is designed for boats/caravans/campers etc. so its meant for this purpose. But it's of a strange type I haven't encountered in the home - the oven needs mounting...