Recent content by Steve__M

My earlier measurements were "worst case" estimates. In a eureka moment last night I worked out how to take better measurements (balance the level on two coins to lift it above the obstructions!), and it's closer to horizontal than 1 in 200. If it should be 3 degrees, then it's faulty. In...

Thanks for the comments! The insurance company sent round a Gasafe man who made a visual assessment (6 inches of flue is visible, but above and below there are wonky pipes and shelves) which he "confirmed" with a spirit level supplied by me. This included using it to measure the angle of the...

Thanks for those replies. I found a short enough spirit level. The flue is *almost* horizontal, but is angled *only just* the wrong way (maybe 1mm drop along the visible 200mm of the flue). Should a service engineer have checked this? I need to pin this on a tight-fisted insurance company!

My boiler got flooded at the weekend. Heavy rain and wind blew water into the flue. The PCB has fried (or boiled) itself to death. Is there specific guidance on the angle of a flue that goes approx horizontally from the boiler to the outside? The insurance company are saying they won't...

I have a similar problem. Some of my valves are open only 1/8th turn as otherwise the large kitchen radiator doesn't get hot enough. With that, the pump is juuust strong enough to keep the system hot enough (14-15C drop across the radiators instead of 11-12C that is advised). In my house the...

A tip from a plumber, but rubbish bathroom fitter that a friend of mine used to work with, was to use lots of Dow Corning 785 as a sealant. He'd fit baths which were wobbly due to his incompetence, but liberal amounts of 785 would then secure them sufficiently. I've used it myself on a bath...

If the lockshield valves are open and it's still cold, then an alternative possible explanation to sludge is that the radiator is too large for the pipes supplying it.

When you say you can see roller lines, do you mean lines of extra thick paint. If so, you probably need to do a few more strokes with each load of paint to even them out before reloading. I'm an amateur, and tend to spread on paint quite thin to get an even finish. I probably end up having to...

Before I could sort it out my tenant treated it with mildew remover and overpainted with bathroom paint - so cross fingers for next winter. Thanks for the suggestions.

Thanks all for your help. Sounds like the MCB is "on the edge" and I need to get a qualified person in to check it. That was part of my worry, the original shower is quite old. If the old heat exchanger was 9.5kW based on 240V and the new one is based on 230 volts then the new one is going...

Google is a dangerous thing, and I found the following: www.moeller.co.uk/ta_mcb_basics.htm which says:

My victorian terrace is bigger than the one next to it, so exposes a single brick thick wall to the western weather (ie. it's the width of a brick thick rather than the length) I currently let it out, and it's all been fine for 5 years till last winter's wet weather. I went there last week to...

It looks a bit more modern than the one in the picture. I'm guessing it was done in 2001 or a bit earlier. It's got 6 MCBs and an RCD. I knew I should have written down the details...

It's black & red T&E with 7 strands of copper per wire - is this enough info, because I can only see the end of the cable (where it comes out of the wall into the shower casing). I assumed it was fine because its the same as the cooker cable... Apparently someone in the house regularly has 40...

I bought a Challenge xtreme SDS drill with chisels included, from Argos last month for about 40 quid to rewire a house. Cheap rubbish, but it did the job and was cheaper than hiring. The work will be much much quicker, but possibly just as untidy.