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My gas engineers are coming this week to replace a three-way valve which is allowing the boiler water through to the hot water cylinder when the CH is on. Apparently the valve should shut when the HW thermostat closes it, but it isn't shutting properly. The valve is in the airing cupboard next...

So will mine still cut off the supply if the water gets too hot (boils?), but then can't be used again and will need to be replaced? How much water needs to be drained from the cylinder in order to replace it? I have tested the gate valve where the cold water comes down from the loft and that...

I've had this since about 2018 and have never thought to check if it has a cutoff which prevents the water from boiling if there's a fault. I have googled but there are several models and I'm a bit confused. Can anyone help? Many thanks.

I use the Hippo bags about three times a year and I agree that they are pricey, but the service is excellent and the drivers are very good. I once put an old duvet and a couple of pillows over the top of my load of garden waste. Luckily, I went out to chat to the driver and, as he was fitting...

Just wondering if that leaking tar/pitch would compromise the connection to earth.

Thanks, I get it now. When I had a new CU the electrician (at my request) set it up so that I could have a charger sometime in the future if I wanted one. He said that the DNO might insist on an upgrade from my 60A fuse though, as I also had an electric shower; I called UKPN and they did an...

Sorry if I got it wrong. Do you mean that the supplier (DNO) would assume that providing there was no electric shower, it wouldn't matter if the fuse was 60A or 80A even though labelled 100A?

So anyone who has an electric shower and a 100A fuse can't get a charger fitted? I don't think that's correct, is it?

Thanks, everyone. You've confirmed what I had already been told a few years ago but I thought I'd double check with the experts on here once again. Is there a limit to the amount of oil in these cables? This happens every year when it's hot and the part of the road going up from my house is...

I've mentioned this several times over the years and once again it's hot outside and my cutout has started to ooze oil. Nothing feels unusually hot and the electrics work well. It's a new cutout (2022) installed by UKPN engineers (100A). Before we went on holiday I put a small plastic tray...

My neighbour offered to water the greenhouse while I was away. When I got back I found the outside tap gushing - it had been left 'live' attached to a hose but the fitting had blown. I specifically asked him to turn off at the tap when he was leaving each day. He admits that it could possibly...

I tried to turn my main stopcock (under the sink) and it is impossible to move. I am hoping to have a new electric shower installed and I assume that the mains will need to be off when the plumber comes - I don't think that there's any other way to isolate it, is there? Anyway, I've watched...

Thanks Wayners - that certainly looks like it could be the answer. The large stain doesn't look too bad in the photo but it is visible from the living room and all of the upstairs windows - it just gives a messy impression to visitors too.

I noticed this paint stain on the road outside my house when I got home last Wednesday (warm and sunny weather). I followed the trail down the road and about 10 doors down they have almost identical staining to the tarmac (the drips go on all the way too). My neighbour suspects a builders'...

Thanks everyone - very useful advice!

This tiny shelter has been hidden for most of the year by Russian vine which spreads from the adjacent garden. I use it to dump stuff that I accumulate in the winter and then forget about it as it's invisible. Anyway, the local foxes have been using it as a landing area when they jump the...

I won't hear a word of criticism against VM installations (a few years ago, admittedly)! Mine goes through a lovely green plastic corrugated duct which emerges at odd intervals from a border before revealing its full aesthetic beauty for a few feet before connecting to the external wall box...

Presumably plugging one into an extension lead is much more dangerous. When I was a student I had one of those two-bar electric heaters (presumably 2KW) which I had plugged into a socket via an extension (along with various other things). I often left it on all night in winter. The plug did...

I was postulating a theory that many of those 'occasional backup' immersions are plugged into a ring main somewhere and don't have a dedicated feed. I might be wrong, of course. (It would be interesting to see what any plumbers who read this think).

My one issue is that a plug can be put into an extension cable, as I once saw at the home of a neighbour of my mother many years ago. The immersion had originally been wired into a connection unit (red switch, fuse etc.) on the wall beside the airing cupboard. Decorators had removed this and...