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Thanks for the reply. I actually have a heap of old bricks (that came out of the hole). But I don't think these would count as 'clean stone' though? The MOT type 1 is ordered and I'm not sure if I can cancel it at this point. What I did think about was simply adding cement, then water, to the...

Need to fill a small area of existing patio where there used to be a pond. 1m x 1.6m. But the hole is deep. It varies but in some places there will be 300mm depth of sub-base (plus 50mm mortar, plus 50mm Yorkshire flags). This is a patio at the back of the house, it'll never have vehicles on it...

Just had a look at the machines. Washing machine nominal power 2300 watts, nominal current 10A. I'll take that as being when the heater is on. Tumble dryer max power 2300 watts. So both running at the same time, while the washing machine is heating, 20 amps. Just on the edge of a double...

I stand corrected, deepest apologies. Just wondering then, did the electrician who did my kitchen rip me off? There's 4 switch type things for the oven, hob, microwave and extractor? Hope I didn't shell out unnecessarily.

Who knows what happens in an unlikely emergency scenario. One thing that turning the electricity off would do is make it safer to use water to put the fire out. Maybe by that point the RCD would have tripped anyway. Still, when my mothers old electric heater caught fire a few years back she was...

I'll use a 32 amp cooker one then. It was that recent headline - 'Family dies horrible death in house fire because father unable to turn power off to blazing tumble dryer' that gave me the idea ;) http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/spinflammable-washing-machines-biggest-cause-5882657

Thanks. Sorry used wrong term. 'Turn it off when all hell breaks loose' was the expression I was searching for. Nobody's going to be pulling the plugs under the sink out every time we stop using one of the applicances.. Especially as we all get creakier. It's just not going to happen. So a...

Thanks very much for all your comprehensive replies. So the way forward: Immediate future - find what's causing this 70 volt 'leak' and fix it. Presumably dodgy socket, or dodgy connection to ring main. Electrician coming tomorrow. then: Medium term - plug washing machine into ring main...

Thanks for all the advice folks. Though must admitted getting a bit confused now. I'm going to assume (at least for now) that the 'first' double socket I have in this room is on a ring main. So my question: 1. Is it OK to have, as there is currently, a fused spur (for lights) AND an unfused...

It's back to back with another socket. I mean there's another double socket on the other side of a single skin brick wall. That's where the wires are coming. How can I tell if it's radial/ring? The house was rewired 20 years ago. Though these parts are new and I think are new circuits. The...

Thanks. So an FCU and an unfused spur BOTH coming off the same ring main socket is acceptable? I've just had yet another grovel around and managed to get the flex from the washing machine direct into the ring main double socket. It's not pretty but with some clips it won't look too bad. If I...

It seems I have a bit of a mess here then. 1. There is a double socket in the laundry which is, I think, on the ring main - it's on the ring main because there is a thick (4mm?) wire going in and one coming out. 2. Also come out of that double socket is a very short wire which goes to an FCU...

Oh right, I didn't realise that. Yes, they sometimes run at the same time. No problems so far. Will that be an overload then?

Thanks for advice folks. Actually none of this is in the kitchen, it's a separate laundry room. The ring main socket and the spur are in the same room, maybe a whole 5 feet apart as the crow flies. Somewhere I've got one of those neon circuit testers that I used to carry round when I was doing...

I fancy replacing this socket anyway. It's a cheapo plastic one. Given it's position (under the sink) the cable side entry seems a bit sub optimal. And the wire slopes down into the socket, so any water that gets onto it will flow down, of course. I fancy a nice metal MK one with cable entry...

OK, another update. Wife super safety conscious (good) worried about using machines - 'could we run them from a different socket' she asks. Brilliant, I've got a super thick extension, plugged into that I don't get the voltage. The socket that is (maybe) the problem is a spur off a ring main...

Thanks for the reply. You mean the thing that the Yorkshire Electricity Board (in my case) did? They changed us onto PME about 15 years ago. Have left message for electrician. And will keep trying till I get one. I'll probably try a similar test somewhere else in the house if I can find there...

I am not an electrician, but I'll get one in. In the meantime, for safety and to see if I can use them: Had a (bit) of a flood in the laundry (overflowing sink). No more than a couple of mm on the floor. More a very big leak. Moved tumble dryer and washing machine out to mop up. When pushing...

My house - 1920s semi. Timber ground floor, space under floor about 4 feet. I can get under there, but it's not a cellar. Just a crawl area. I'd like a central NAS for the various computers in this house. NAS = backup disc storage. Under the floor would be un-nickable. That's my reason. But it...

Our kitchen units are 2 years old. One by one the handles are failing. The thread on the inside of the handle just seems to collapse. They were cheap and I wouldn't be surprised if the fitter used a power driver to screw them in. Who makes decent quality handles? Thanks.