Recent content by Sparky54

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    Installing new 13A socket next to existing socket

    Thanks for all the comments and thoughts. The ‘new technology’ for us is very low current, FTTP box, router and an Alexa thingy. There are two other double sockets in the bedroom, one unused by the door, which will be used for higher-current devices. But, as you say, new owners may have...
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    Installing new 13A socket next to existing socket

    We have a dual 13A socket on the ring main on the bedroom wall but, thanks to new technology, now need additional sockets. I would prefer not to use an extension block and would prefer to fit another dual immediately alongside it. Does that need to be wired as a series connection in the ring...
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    Mortar above and below uPVC window

    Sorry about the delay. This is one of the two windows. Forgot the flashing is involved. The mortar just doesn’t stay in one piece in there for very long.
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    Mortar above and below uPVC window

    Hi. I need to replace the mortar above and below two upstairs windows again but every time I do it cracks and some of it falls out after a few years! I’m obviously missing something. What’s the secret to keeping that solid and in place? It’s probably 1” high and 3” deep across the width of each...
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    An Intermittent RCD Tripping Issue Question

    All noted thanks. The 96-year-old lady’s daughter was staying with her this week so I have only been back in once. I have bought a known double-pole switched fused spur just in case the spare one I had wasn’t. I just presumed the separate L and N load terminals were both switched. Good point...
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    An Intermittent RCD Tripping Issue Question

    Our very elderly neighbour has recently started having irregular RCD tripping on her ring mains ccts. Usually with a few days in-between. There are two (Steeple) MCBs in the fuse box with their circuits supplied through the RCD. She had her side utility room rebuilt and new LED lights fitted...
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    Neighbour connecting into our sewer pipe?

    Thanks for the advice. I think their issue isn’t so much running another underground soil pipe parallel to ours and maybe less than a metre away, it’s more connecting into the main sewer as they have a thick concrete slab at the top of their drive over where the end of the run and the inspection...
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    Neighbour connecting into our sewer pipe?

    We have an existing side and rear extension at the back half of our detached house. The waste pipe from the new en-suite and the downstairs sink run in an underground pipe at the side of our house (where it isn’t extended) into a new manhole connection on our property to the main sewer which...
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    To screw or not to screw…

    I lifted two runs of our creaky 1950s upstairs hall floorboards, which aren’t in great condition and had obviously been up before, to run in a cable. There is a sheet of 3mm hardboard between the boards and the underlay across the whole hall. They have now been temporarily replaced with the...
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    Joining ring main in wall behind kitchen cupboards

    Double-checked and there is only one dead cable cut off. OK, should have taken the tape off earlier… The two cables going into the wall on the left of the choc block drop down from upstairs. The two on the right feed one double socket below the cavity. Do the cables feeding that socket need...
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    Joining ring main in wall behind kitchen cupboards

    It's a solid wall. In the cavity is, from left to right: 1) a cut-off dead cable from an old water heater switch which was behind a cupboard and which we have never used. It won't pull out so I'm planning to cut that off to where it enters the cavity and remove the switch and plaster over the...
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    Joining ring main in wall behind kitchen cupboards

    I removed our old kitchen cupboards yesterday and found the ring main has been joined using two choc blocks covered in insulating tape in an open cavity in the plaster behind one of the cupboards. What is the correct way to join those cables please? And can it be plastered / covered over or...
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    New Electric Oven Wiring

    Thanks for that Harry. Makes life a bit easier. Just got to work out how to lift the laminated wooden flooring in the one bedroom now without damaging it to access the hole bringing the cables up from the garage!
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    New Electric Oven Wiring

    Hi, We really need to fit an electric oven to replace our old gas oven but have no 'big' wiring into the kitchen, just a ring main and lights. I have just checked and the house has a 100A main fuse, 100A meter and a distribution board with 100A main switch with MCBs of 20,6,6,6 unprotected and...
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    Irregular tapping sound in one rad

    Turned out to be s simple fix really...! I tried closing and opening both valves a few times and it has stopped. The noise sounded like it was coming from about 1/3 along the rad so not sure what it was and why it has stopped. In fact the whole system seems to be running quieter :) !
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