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I'm fairly familiar with the principle of ground source heating but not too much of the detail. On last night's Grand Designs the building sat on 46 10-metre deep concrete piles, and wired to the reinforcing cage were loops of the heat pump pipework. (See...

According to the C4 website (http://www.channel4.com/4homes/ontv/grand-designs/houses/M/maidstone-bungalow-5.html) the door suppliers were Glass entrance (bi-parting entrance door) Tormax 0844 412 4707 www.tormax.co.uk

That is a huge box for such a relatively diddy pipe! Nothing else in there?

None, until an electrical load is put through the circuits. As for b, the vastly overrated fuse does not make the circuit unsafe, it's the fault in the circuit that will cause the house to burn down. Which would be a pity, as the correct fuse might have saved it. These comments are not...

They price of heating fuel seems to vary (upwards) every day. As far as I know LPG is as expensive as oil or even more so. So unless you have a very old boiler and were considering renewing it anyway I wouldn't bother. Put the £5k cost of the LPG installation into the bank and use the...

I don't think there is a max, within reason. Another question for the oil suppliers. A friend delivers oil for a living and he sometimes has to link hoses for some distance, but it isn't likely to put the delivery driver in a good mood.

I have seen these, as I'm sure you have, fitted to steel tanks, and they just seemed to be an extension of the filler in 2" steel pipework, capped at the fill end. I don't know how they would be fitted to a plastic tank, but I guess it's possible. However regs have rightly tightened up. At a...

What holds the sink up to the worktop? Is this flexing? There's a lot of weight and pressure put on a sink (just weigh a full bowl of water) so you will need something more substantial than bathroom sealant in my opinion, unless the sink is very positively supported. The joint will not be dry...

A little more sophisticated than a length of light chain and two screws, you mean? There are rod stays that are supposed to be used for piano stool type of furniture which limit the opening, they wouldn't be too bad. Do you have 180 deg hinges or 270? If 270, will 180 help?

That's almost exactly our problem. We have about 1/2 mile of 1" alkathene which sleeves down to 3/4" somewhere near to the house. A fine underground frog trap. Don't ask what turns up in the filter. Tea is fine, by the way, plenty of minerals.

Yes, 88% efficiency is amazing, puts it in Sedbuk A, or at least B+. Not that I believe it for a minute: how did the service engineer come to that figure? Two hours in the morning and four in the evening is not a lot. 1000 litres in three months is not tooo much either, about 11 ltrs a day...

I'd like to know how to keep them out of our drinking water.

Well, if you type in 'domestic oil supply meter' (without the quotes) in Google UK you will be presented with 250,000 hits, so there must be something suitable there. At a glance there are at least two meters on ebay at £145 and £180.

I can see that the large turbine could generate a fair bit of electricity, but I can't really see the point of all those little turbines......

The boiler isn't (I assume) burning continuously. It's difficult to say how frequently the boiler fires (OP?) but at 50% on/off that's 6 ltrs a day. Absolutely.

If the wall is plastered then there is enough depth in the plaster to take two cables (side by side) enclosed in protective sheathing without cutting into the brickwork. Unless adjoining sockets are close together (say 100 - 150 mm) then I would not route the cables horizontally, no matter...

Yes, free is nice! There are iron reducing filters/softeners available which you could use on your domestic feed, f'rinstance this: http://www.emwc.co.uk/Details.asp?ProductID=561 I don't know how effective they are, though.

This is interesting. Do you mind saying whereabouts you are in the UK, how deep did you have to go, how is the supply pumped to the house, how is it filtered, and how much was it? Didn't the installers test the water as part of the install? If not I should get an analysis and then get advice...

Whilst you're sorting the lead out, you could take the opportunity of using expanding foam as a second line of defence against water leaks before any sealant or finish is applied to gaps and joins. For instance seal the gap between the frame and wall with foam and then apply the bead of sealant...

Unfortunately wiped out by the shocking rise in the price of oil. One litre of 28 sec oil burnt at 100% efficiency gives 10.35 kw. If you're paying the average price for your oil, around 48p per litre plus vat (www.boilerjuice.com), this gives around 5p per kw inc vat. However your boiler...