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Have you tried with a conventional filament lamp installed in the fitting? Just removing the low energy lamp and leaving the lamp holder empty will not clamp down any transient voltages appearing on the switched live in the way that a filament lamp does.

Do you have a low energy lamp in the light fitting wired to the fan controller switched live? The switched live could be left floating at an indeterminate voltage by the high impedance electronics inside a low energy lamp, and that voltage may rise or fall as other appliances in the house are...

What will happen on a breezy day when a draft momentarily blows the curtains aside?

IME bleeding a system can be a reiterative process, taking several 'laps' to get most of the air out. The frequency of the need for further bleeding should decrease as you work towards clearing the last of the trapped air pockets, something like the next day, then the next week, the next...

Increasing the pipe size will make no difference at all to the STATIC pressure, but it should improve the residual pressure when water is flowing, or the flow rate for the same pressure drop. If the existing pipe is 1/2" iron or lead, with 80 years worth of rust, limescale, dings and dents in...

The rainwater system may run to a soakaway in your garden, or, if the soil condoitions are unsuitable, it may run to a seperate 'public' drain. Some sewage systems featured an 'interceptor trap' just before they joined the public sewer. The trap can get blocked, and the inspection chamber...

As above, there are usually two completely independant systems for rain water and foul waste. Both systems usually use similar pipes and inspection chambers, and may run quite close together underground, but there is no link between the two. There is no 'standard' layout as each site will...

Trouble is the inside of the waste pipe above the trap will quickly acquire a coating of grease, soap scum and food waste, and it will stink! Best compromise is probably a 'space saver' trap. They fit flat against the wall behind the sink, and link to the sink waste outlet with a...

If it's on a wooden floor, stand the feet on some bearers to spread the load over several floor joists. A couple of pieces of 4 X 2 usually works well. Replace chipboard flooring under the tub with plywood (moisture can reduce chipboard to something resembling soggy wheetabix) Securely fix...

As above, every 3dB of attenuation is equivalent to halving the amount of noise, so getting from 45dB to 40dB means achieving something approaching a fourfold reduction in noise transmission.

There's nothing wrong with an 'internal' soil stack. It's quite common to build close up to, or around it, then 'box it in' with plywood / plasterboard to conceal it. There's usually an inspection cover in the ground close to the base of the stack that may need to be either replaced with a...

A different choice of raw material may make your project easier to complete. Aluminium is difficult to solder or weld without specialist materials or equipment, but seams in brass, copper or mild steel can easily be closed by soft or hard soldering. Folded seams may be possible in aluminium...

There are three classes of symmetry:- Rotation ( \ | / - \ | /- \ ) Reflection ( \ / \ / \ / \ / ) Translation ( \ \ \ \ \ \ \ ) But I agree it doesn't look right. The layout does have one advantage for the manufacturer in that single sockets and both halves of a double socket will all...

I would have just put a thicker rubber washer in the waste union (it's not a 'compression coupler') The PTFE tape around the threads is pointless - the seal is (or should be) a rubber washer clamped between the bottom of the basin waste fitting and the top of the trap by the nut. The thread...

Does that not depend on the boiler? It was common practise for older boilers built with with gravity HW circulation in mind, but it isn't appropriate for a modern boiler which offers a higher resistance to circulation. So changing the boiler on an older system without giving any thought to...

Air admittance valves are not a substitute for an open vent stack. There should be an open vent at the end of the drain run to relieve positive pressures and release any build up of sewer gases. AAVs should only be fitted on secondary stacks as they only relieve negative pressures. Without...

The old switch appears to be wired strangely, that may be why only one switch is working. I would try to resolve that before tackling the switch change. Note the diagonal line moulded into the plastic on the back of the old switch. That denotes the division between the two switch units. The...

Yes, it can work.... for a while. Have you ever checked the DSL line speeds after an installation has been running for a few days, and noticed the speed has dropped from it's initial rate as the router and DSLAM try to stabilise the excessive error rate it creates? I frequently had the...

One snag is temperature regulation. Instantaneous heaters tend to have a fixed power input, and the user regulates the water temperature by adjusting the flow rate, with higher flows giving a cooler output. Shower mixers adjust the proportions of hot and cold water making up the same fixed...

Most use a tap connector with a fibre washer as the seal. You might not need to replace the washer, but get a few spares just in case. Drop one washer down the hole in the ceiling the water pipe comes through, and lose two in the loft insulation. Fit the fourth one to the float...