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Thanks, will check these points.

Situation: Large-ish (1.5m x1m) double radiator on microbore takeoffs from 15mm main feeds in hall. Inlet/outlet are at base. Rest of heating system works OK. Only the top half of the radiator is hot, and its heat output isn't really enough to cope with the weather we're getting just now...

In Theory. "Self-extinguishing" only applies when there is no external source of heat-input, e.g match applied then taken away once alight. What actually happens is that the isolator-switch or whatever plastic part carbonizes. Carbon is a conductor, thus starts to pass current. Heats up...

Many a true word... The principle is the same, a procedure that keeps you right when you simply cannot afford a mistake will suit either job. The biggest hazard in any high-current or live work is distractions. Turn off/unplug phones and make others in the building aware of what you are...

Agree. Ring mains are a special dispensation, and the only normal example of a doubled cable. In other circumstances, pairing-up of cable is considered doubtful, if not bad, practice.

First point to realise is that on lighting, a black wire need not necessarily be neutral, it may be a switched live. You're supposed to indicate this with tape or sleeving, but cowboys don't bother. Therefore, make no assumptions. In general the best way to sort-out a tangle like this is to...

If it's going to be a fixed-temp setting, you may also be able to find a knobless thermostat with a reasonable IP rating. Additionally you could mount it high enough to be out of the zones if the ceiling-height permits.

Can I persuade you to think carefully over this, anyway? I had to deal with a case of 'ceiling acne' after removing old-fashioned PAR spots from this house, and I would be extremely reluctant to create the same situation again. The halogen types may be neater, but they are not much more...

True, although the real benefit of a more upmarket camera is its having manual controls. Automatic exposure does a reasonable job, and is a timesaver for snapshots, but autofocus IME never really works properly, in fact it often causes you to lose shots through 'tromboning' (focus-hunting) that...

Alarm is SELV so preferably shoud be non-RCD. Though, either will do so long as the backup battery is good. I used one of these Wylex units earlier this year, and generally they're OK, one point I don't like is that (with the front removed) the busbars are only covered by a flimsy plastic...

The majority of D-series use Compactflash cards (Some might be SD cards I think?) and any of these cards will connect directly to any computer with a USB port, using a cheap cardreader. The reader becomes a driveletter such as E: and you work with the images from there. Any OS will do so long...

I would have to agree in any case that Defra's handling of the last FMD crisis was appalling. For example, the damage to the Scottish tourist industry was huge, despite there being no cases here, not to mention the problems it created for people without cars, what will almost all footpaths being...

True, although I think you find that the majority of phones these days conform to the American two-wire standard. Why the idiosyncratic three-wire system was ever introduced is a mystery. It does have the advantage that you can stop a phone ringing if you want to, but makes the wiring much more...

I think we all know the answer to that. Cue Pink Floyd, "Money." To your list I would add Tibet, BTW.

Just a few. Milking parlours are spotless, true, but that's just our faddishness with clean surfaces. Doesn't mean the animals are healthy. Worst was a "free range" chicken operation. The birds spent their entire lives in the near-dark, up to their ankles in their own poo. I had to do...

The 'meat machine' is the fundamental problem, try stuffing humans into accommodation as cramped and insanitary as that of the meat/dairy herds, and you'll get some interesting plagues. (Think they found out about that in the middle ages, with the Black Death, did they not?) A spot of humour...

At least CD's don't start fires. I've seen one case where boxes upon boxes of paper piled on top of IT equipment did. In quite a few firms there's an ongoing battle between IT guys/electricians and the accountants to keep this stuff out of equipment-rooms -Turn your back for a few days and the...

You don't know my neighbourhood. Matter of fact I was thinking of a few remote-controlled Davy Crocketts to go with the CCTV :twisted:

Is it just me or does everyone find thixotropic "non-drip" paint to be utter junk? It seems like you can never achieve a good job with it- daub it on and it runs and sags, brush it out and you have a load of brushmarks. And, then it still runs some anyway! I know that the pros won't...

Not sure I quite envisage the setup here - Is it that tails run direct from the meter to a small CU containing an isolator and two breakers? If so, the correct approach would be to tap into the shower cable itself downstream of the breaker, and fit an RCD into a 2-module or 4-module DIN...