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I learnt all the devices and everything worked, I did a movement test with the PIRs in the rooms but not attached to the walls and they all triggered the alarm, then I put one PIR up on the wall and it was dead. It would not detect any movement (or rather heat!) even if I waved right next to...

I have been slowly working on the bathroom, the project started when the plaster next to the old cistern was crumbling away and the cistern was a horrible old 1980's thing anyway. I put in a new plasterboard wall and also put in a new cistern, the problem is during that I removed the old...

I am replacing the cistern and the old one was bottom entry, the new one is side entry. I am simply going to run a flexi hose from old pipe connector to the new one. The problem is I need a 90 degree connector that plugs into the male tread on the inlet valve that sticks out of the cistern to...

I bought a couple of 6w strip lights from Screwfix to go under two 400mm units in the new kitchen I am fitting. Sadly one of them has stopped working after being on for around 3 hours. I have double checked the wiring and have also energised the fitting using a separate cable and it is...

I needed just two metres of 1.5mm flex went to Wilko my normal source but they no longer sell cables (at least my local one didn't). I ended up buying it from my local DIY shop which is usually very good but they tend to stock some cheap crap. When I got it home something just didn't feel...

I am fitting in a new kitchen and the new sink bowel is slightly larger than the old one. I have changed a lot of the hot water plumbing which is copper and added a service valve etc, the cold water hose is attached to a lead pipe and I really don't want to touch it. The problem is the flexi...

I will tidy this up, put them in chocboxes and put them into the ceiling void but in a way that still makes them accessible. I have already put sleeving on the earth cables. Will also use heat resistant flex. Anyway I can't be certain which wire should go to the N and which should go...

In the next few weeks once the post Christmas rush is over I hope to rip out the kitchen and put a new one in. The problem is the existing CPC cable from the consumer unit to the kitchen sink pipe (main water pipe coming into the house) is built round the existing unit which is about 50 years...

I am currently repairing the kitchen celling hole (about 150cm by 130cm) by using plasterboard which I will then skim over. I have to some work on the electrics as the old light fitting was fed by imperial aluminium PVC which was then connected to terminal block which was not accessible. I have...

Was chatting to a girl who reckons she doesn't need a man because she can fix anything. She can even change fuses in a plug. I said to her can you calculate the required fuse given the size of the flex and the amount of current the appliance is likely to assume? Her reply:- Well what ever...

Suggested again that the 1980 wiring needs checking. During some building work I was doing to jack up a sunken floor I discovered the 2.5mm T&E cables which form the ring main are not even clipped to the joists but floating with the only mechanical anchorage being the gap between the floorboards...

I am hoping to gut and replace the kitchen early in the new year. At the moment there is just two double sockets on there, 1 of the ring main and other via what used to be old cooker outlet. There is another circuit which used to to the immersion heater in the bathroom. The cable goes to a...

One of the floors on the downstairs of the house has been sinking and today I decided to investigate. The problem is due to the mortar which secures the joists into the bricks failing which has caused it to sink, it just needs jacking up and re bonding so not a major issue. However I am not...

As Part P of the building regulations say all electrical work must be completed by a competent person what is actually meant by that? I consider myself competent at the work I do because I only do basic electrical work such as swapping switches, sockets and light fittings. The most advance...

I wired in a new alarm about 16 months ago which works perfectly, however I put the control panel in a cupboard under the stairs powered by an FCU and the problem is if the alarm goes off it is very quiet. You can hear it outside but inside the house so I want to put a new sounder so that when...

Now one of the bedrooms is finished, the next job is looking to be to refit the kitchen. Currently we having to use a extension lead with 1.5mm flex to power the washing machine from a different circuit. This is how it is wired at the moment:- 1980 - One double socket connected to the...

The question is not quite as simple as it seems. Last week I replaced a socket in my the room I was doing up. To my surprise there was no flylead to earth the backbox, the socket itself was earthed but not the box. So I put in a new sleeved earth from the socket to the backbox. However from...

Been re plastering the bedroom which has involved putting the old switch drop in metal cladding and fitting a new light fitting. The light fitting was the usual nightmare as nothing was labelled with tape so it was all guess work, but I have put brown insulation tape on the switch drop cable, so...

I could do with an extra socket in one of the bedrooms, it needs replastering and thought this would be a good time to add the extra socket. I suspect existing socket might be a spur (not checked yet) but if it is, could I simply add a 13 amp FCU to the existing socket and run a new socket...

I have a strange problem. My workshop is rented and is in a business park, there is over 100 units there and each unit has its own meter but its in a meter room and I don't have access to it. I use it to repair PCs, I am there around 5 hours a day 5 days a week so 25 hours per week, 100 per...