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    blocked pipe

    Roll your sleeves up, and have a feel around the outlet at the bottom of the tank, removing any debris you find. Connecting a hose between a cold and hot tap, and running some mains pressure cold back into the hot system may help dislodge anything already drawn into the tank outlet. Pinch...
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    Overflow pipe for conventional boiler

    The overflow warning pipe should start from near the top of the cold storage tank, and, with luck, you should be able to follow it from there. There should be a similar pipe from the central heating expansion tank (if you have an open vented heating system) run in a similar way. Concealing...
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    Can anyone identify this bolt?

    What size (thread diameter X length) is the bolt? It may be possible to file down the head of a roofing bolt to match the head profile of the missing bolts, or use a piece of studding and a cross dowel.
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    Coax wall boxes

    A surface mounted coax socket would probably be neater than a flush socket on a surface mounted box.
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    Can't hang ceiling light - not electrical problem

    Or move the fitting sideways to fix into one of the floor joists above the ceiling. Joists are usually at 400mm centres, so you shouldn't ever be more than 200mm from finding a decent fixing, but you would have to patch the ceiling at the original position. A bit of prodding around with, say...
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    Charger / Power Supply for Kids Electric Ride On Car

    Do you have the original charger? Is the charger output 12 Volt AC or DC? (AC is often denoted by a ~ in the rating) Is the connector polarised or reversible? If it isn't polarised, it looks very similar to the 'figure of 8' leads frequently used on the 240 Volt side of a laptop PSU -...
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    almost no cold water upstairs in bathroom,rest of house fine

    Sounds like either an airlock or a blockage in the cold feed to the bathroom. A blockage ould be something stuck in the outlet from the storage tank in the loft, or somewhere else in the pipework, or it could be an isolating valve that doesn't open properly. Gate valves are notorious for...
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    Ballcock Valve in Water Tank Query

    The nearer to closed the valve is, the less the flow, so the longer it takes to raise the water level to close the valve further..... It's the same as the old snail climbing a wall problem - A snail climbs halfway up a wall in a day, but can only climb half that distance the second day, and...
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    Ballcock Valve in Water Tank Query

    That is generally the nature of a conventional ballcock, and it isn't usually a problem. If the mechanism is operating smoothly, as a new valve should, they will take ages to close completely. A theoretically 'perfect' ballcock would never close completely. In the real world they close...
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    Need to block off hot and cold pipe

    The stop ends should be OK. I would prefer compression fittings to push-fit myself, as they will work with 15mm or 1/2" pipe. Push-fits only work properly with 15mm, and it can be difficult spotting the difference. I would probably chose to fit isolating valves or service valves to the...
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    En suite build.....soil pipe question

    2.5 degrees, 1 in 40 or one inch of fall for every metre horizontally if you will excuse the mixed measurements. Soil pipe bends are usually 87.5 degrees, so the fall is automatically built in. Bear in mind that you should not make a connection to the soil stack immediately below and opposite...
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    Fitting a bath

    It is possible to fit the bath to a wall that's already tiled, but there's usually quite a generous radius on the edge of the tub that will leave an awkward gap to fill. Sometimes quadrant tiles or trims can be useful to cover that gap. If the bath is supposed to fit into a corner, Sodd's law...
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    How to make a cast of decorative masonry ?

    How about using liquid latex, somrthing like http://www.propbuilder.co.uk/howto/mouldandcastsolid.html ?
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    Can anyone confirm this is wrong?

    Routing the dishwasher waste pipe as high as possible, tight to the underside of the worktop will help prevent any backflow towards the dishwasher. A clip around the D/W pipe to stop it blowing off the spigot would be a good idea too. The hose may seem tight when it's cold, but once the D/W...
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    How do you test a uk 3 core wire to see if it's live

    Consider a few possible scenarios where the cable appears dead, but until you have found the other end you didn't know it is connected to the hallway light, so it suddenly becomes live when you switch that light on.... Or maybe t'other end is connected to the kitchen light, or the lounge, or...
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    Cutting bolts into aluminium

    Personally, I would tap the holes in the ally, and screw pieces of M6 studding directly into it - no need to countersink or anything, just a 5mm drill bit and an M6 taper tap. IME one characteristic of aluminium that makes it hard to work nicely is pieces of swarf cold welding to the cutting...
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    Plumb basin waste to bath then toilet

    Running the combined waste in 50mm 'south' of the tee can help too.
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    L.E.D Bulbs in Downlights with Transformers

    Two of the different 'flavours' of downlighters are GU10 and MR16. GU10s run directly from the mains, so don't require a transformer. That makes them susceptible to variations in the mains supply voltage shortening the lamp life. MR16s are usually 12 volt lamps, run from a transformer, or...
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    Intermediate pull cord switch

    The motor actually has four field windings. Three are switched in or out by a sequential switch to give different speeds, and one winding, connected via the capacitor and a commutating switch, controls the direction of rotation. The direction switch reverses the two ends of that winding, so a...
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    Intermediate pull cord switch

    Eric - I intended to use the switch to replace the exising switch that reverses one of the field windings on the cap run motor. Good point about the possibility of one pole making before t'other breaking Bernard, Maybe time for a re-think.....
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