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Well 14 years later I am still alive. But I do not spend so much time on forums as I may have done 20 years ago. Today I am hoping to go to an electronics show near Reading. But I find that I rarely meet more than a few people that I know there. That is partly because ex-BBC colleagues all...

My petrol 1974cc Peugeot 307cc 2004 year goes through long cycles of showing an antipollution fault. It is showing the light at the moment and the MOT is due next month. I cannot tie any driving history with the light going on or off. It seems totally random. Any further suggestions on how to...

Probably something to do with the time but most teaching cars were Morris Minor 1000 when I took my test and passed first time. I also did most of the teaching for my wife. I had told her that the oil was to cool and lubricate the bearings. She was asked that question on her test and armed...

And I still do not know how the waste fitting was attached !

The BBC report on the problem seems to say that the Heathrow emergency generators did start up as expected. But it seems they decided that was insufficient output to power everything needed when handling passengers like luggage handling facilities and lighting so just decided to close...

My reaction to the apparent problem is to fit a shower which uses the stored hot water. Electric showers do not give a very good shower, usually no more than 6 litres per minute. Whereas a cylinder can give up to 22 litres per minute. I like at least 10 to 12 litres per minute for a nice...

Yes, but why would a transformer suddenly seriously overheat? Particularly on a warm 14 C day when domestic demand is low? The buchholz relay obviously failed to trip the OCBs.

So when did two RCD consumer units become "old"? They have always seemed a good idea to me! But then I repair boilers and like the lights to still be on when a boiler has tripped an RCD. Boiler pumps sometimes leak internally and cause leakage to the case to trip an RCD. One amusing case I...

Now my experience of repairing large transformers is limited to just one repair to a 150 kW oil filled one. It provided the HT supplies to the 100 kW transmitter when I worked in Doha Qatar! And that was just to help the Pakistani engineer in the SW transmitting station. And on the basis that...

I have always thought that all properties installed since 2004 needed an RCD to all circuits in a kitchen or bathroom. But that there is no requirement ( at the moment ) to bring them up to the current standards.

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!