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  1. C

    Changing hot tap with no isolator

    You won't drain the hot water tank - instead, once the cold water feed tank has drained, the flow of hot water from the hot water tank will stop. But there'll probably be a stop cock on the outlet of the cold water tank that feeds the hot tank. If there is, close that, open the hot taps and the...
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    TRV at top of radiator?

    For a TRV to work, it has to have the water flow into the radiator passing through it so it can regulate the flow according to the temperature of the room. If you could somehow get a TRV which didn't have any feed pipe connection (which your picture apparently shows) how could it work?
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    Anyone know if this hole in pipe is meant to be there?

    What I meant was that if you placed the zinc sheet over the hole and then sealed around it, it will have left a crevice between the outside of the pipe and the inside of the zinc sheet. If on the other hand you placed sealant around the hole and then bedded the zinc into it, that would have...
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    Anyone know if this hole in pipe is meant to be there?

    That looks like solid zinc not the perforated kind, which of course has holes all over it. It should work but does look a bit untidy and you may have created a crevice between the outside of the pipe and the inside of the zinc, unless you bedded the zinc into the soudal before sealing around it.
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    Leaking boiler connection

    There may be the remnants of the old fibre washer trapped in the nut that you screw onto the treded pipe. That needs to be dug out before you insert a new fibre washer. The outside diameter of that must be of a size to fit closely, but not tightly, into the nut.
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    Best Ferrules to use on copper radiator piping?

    I agree copper olives are better than brass ones. Irritatingly though, nearly all compression fittings come with brass olives, forcing you to buy the copper ones separately - and they're not always easy to find
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    Anyone know if this hole in pipe is meant to be there?

    The picture shows an inspection/access hatch within a few inches of the hole, so it would be a bit bizarre to deliberately make the hole to clear a blockage. The hole looks to me caused by rust, so the area around it might be fragile also. I would carefully clean off all the paint around the...
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    Poor toilet flush

    Modern push button cisterns are NOT syphonic - there is no syphon. Instead the push button opens a valve at the base of the cistern to allow the cistern to drain out and flush the toilet. The means of governing the cistern refill - ball valve or inline float system - is completely separate from...
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    Stop birds nesting under solar panels

    Why would nesting birds get "cooked"? The space under solar panels will be cooler because no sun can get there - be definition. Birds will definitely get under the panels if you don't install some sort of mesh around them. Apart from nesting they'll make a terrible mess with their droppings
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    Which Type of Boiler / System?

    Plumbers quite often suggest replacing the boiler but, even though yours is 25 years old, if some radiators and you HW are getting hot then it is not the boiler at fault. Probably need to start with removing the radiators that don't get hot and flushing them through with a hose. Then think...
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    Changing toilet

    And/or actually FLUSH the loo before photographing it!
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    mixing Fernox leak stop and unknown inhibitor

    These bleed valves seal against the raditor by compressing a rubber O-ring. This detiorates with time and this may be the cause of the leak. Nipping it up may stop the leak for a while but, if the O-ring is getting hard, then it might start leaking again. Eventually you'll probably need to...
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    Gravity based back boiler CH system - Advice needed.

    It sounds like the system has been drained and re-filled several times whilst you have owned it. Did you always replace the corrosion inhibitor each time? If not, that could be the source of the black sludge you're encountering and the fact that several radiators have had to be replaced. As for...
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    Advice on how best to insulate around water inlet

    The quickest action would be to leave open the access "door" that you have opened to take the picture, when outside temperatures get low. That'll keep it at "garage room" temperature, but also make the garage room a bit colder I guess. I don't think insulation on its own over the water entry...
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    Radiator Sludge

    Have any of the tradesmen actually gone around and balanced the radiators? That is: adjust the lockshield valves on each radiator to ensure that water doesn't flow preferentially to only a sub group of radiators? That could be the reason why some of your radiators don't get very warm rather than...
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    Henrad Radiators

    Henrad seem to offer "designer" radiators rather than the standard single & double panel convector radiators offered by Stelrad and what appears to be the connected company Prorad. However, their website does say "part of the Stelrad group" so the radiators offered should be similar quality to...
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    Leaking radiator valve - downstairs living room

    If the olive has been over-compressed than I guess your "more difficult solution" just involves removing the old olive and putting on a new one. You can get olive splitting tools that remove them quickly and cleanly. You can also use a hacksaw but you have to be careful not to saw into the pipe.
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    Leaking radiator valve - downstairs living room

    The bottom nut which you attempted to seal with PTFE tape and jointing compound looks to be a compression joint. As such, the nut and its thread do NOT form a seal - the seal is formed by an olive around the pipe which is compressed when the nut is screwed up. So the only way to improve the seal...
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    Intermittent radiator

    If all the radiator valves are fully open, that's your problem. The hot water is flowing through the other radiators and by-passing the problem one. As has been said, turn off completely all the lockshield valves on all the other radiators (but fully open the TRVs) and see if the problem...
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    What drains are there for toilet/sinks?

    When you flush YOUR toilet do you see anything going through your manhole? If you don't, I suspect that the toilet drains from all the terraced houses combine and this single pipe is teed into the pipe that runs through your manhole someplace a bit downstream of it. That would explain why you...
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