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These are very reliable old boilers. However, the efficiency of large old cast iron heat exchanger boilers is probably about 20% lower than that of a modern condensing boiler. With the higher gas prices we now have that can make it financially worthwhile to replace it in spite of the £2,200...

Like most of the Peugeots of similar years the headlights are not at all bright. The low and high bulbs are all 55W halogen bulbs. There are some 100W LED bulbs being sold from China but they do not get very good reviews. But if I did try some would I be risking any damage to the wiring? Or...

A lot of vertical rads have obstructions inside which have to be correctly located. They do not give out the heat in the same way and many people are not very happy with them!

Well obviously I haad lowered the water level so it did not leak and with part of the edge drilled away it reduced the pressure on the cylinder thread and enabled it to rotate and be removed. But that was an extreme case.

Only once have I had an immersion element which would not unscrew even with heat. I ended up drilling 4mm holes in the element top.

I have always first loosened the immersion elements with the cylinder full of water as that makes them more rigid and the weight prevents the cylinder rotating! But I usually start with a hammer blow on the end of my cast iron spanner.

Well I must have removed and refitted quite a lot of immersion heaters during my time. But I have never encountered any spanner which did not fit. The cast iron spanners are far better than those pressed out of sheet steel.

I cannot see any problem apart from its casing and electronics are designed to be in the dry. I will need to try to work out what its function is going to be. A friend has a 300 li cylinder as a buffer on his swiming pool boiler. With about 40 cu m of buffer water in the pool I never...

It seems that there is little better than hammerite to paint over the rusty parts but it is quite expensive. Does anyone know of a rather cheaper anti rust paint available now?

Normally the pump would be connected to the boiler in order to provide pump over run. If boiler is in cold area they sometimes run pump if boiler is at less that 5 C as a frost protection precaution!

No, your boiler does not have the thermistor which described as that is on a later model. Yours has an earlier type with a long thin bulb which is inserted into a drypocket and does not need any heat transfer paste. But its setting should not allow the flow temperature to exceed 80 C. It is a...

Unfortunately your lighting had not made it easy for me to see which position the valves are in. Basically the handle needs to be in line with the pipe at the point it is connected.

Sounds like time to desludge. Add X400 via the header tank and bleed out a couple of litres from a rad to get some into the system. Run the system on heating only and mostly turn off the rads which are working to encourage flow into the blocked ones. X400 can be left in a system for up to...

When the valves close that normally removes the call for heat signal to the boiler. This is achieved because the valves have a micro switch which is operated when the valve opens. While the boiler is operating the temperature of the flow should not exceed 82 C and for economy it is best run a...

I do not know how you think you can hear kettling in an expansion tank. Kettling is a sound made by water inside a metal heat exchanger when it turns to steam inside on the surface of the metal. Generally those old cast iron heat exchangers are quite forgiving. Although a short pump over run...

TRVs only operate on the generality of the temperature around them. In that case, with 100mm gap at the top, the heat should be able to get out well at the top and so the temperature around the valve will be pretty much that of the lower part of the room. So I do not forsee any significant...

I was just quoting the extremely high charges for private midwives as another area where charges for some work seems far too high.

Pity you have left it so long. The steel on the rad has rusted and ideally the rad needs to be isolated with its valves and drained to below the blanking plug. Then use a brush on an electric drill to remove all the rust and then paint with some rust prevention maybe zinc based paint followed...

Thats an interesting link and I will send it to the customer who is interested. I drove past an asbestos mine in Zimbabwe and the ground was all white around it. I expect I closed all the car windows and almost stopped breathing. I also identified some asbestos pipe lagging on some 15"...

Recently I was asked what the likely cost of removal and disposal of an old asbestos cement flue might be. This is at high first floor level and about 2 m tall. I would guess about 30-35kg weight and probably too heavy to remove using a ladder. So might need a few sections of scaffolding tower...