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Recent hot weather meant I dusted off my old gas BBQ and fired it up. After a few minutes I found flames come out behind one of the control knobs... :(Disconnected the gas and took it apart. Gas bottle feeds a horizontal pipe which runs behind the knobs. The knobs then open a valve to allow the...

We had a Vaillant ecoTec Plus 630 combi boiler + Honeywell ST9400C timer installed a few years ago. Everything seemed to go well until last autumn when we realised that the (water) underfloor heating in our kitchen was warm in the morning even though the heating should have been off all...

I'm having a problem getting a solder ring to attach properly. I'm new to using solder rings but I took the advice here and practiced a little on some scrap pipe. I clean the pipe, apply flex, heat and end up with a perfect joint - nice neat, even solder appears. When I do the same thing...

I'm having a problem getting a solder ring to attach properly. I'm new to using solder rings but I took the advice here and practiced a little on some scrap pipe. I clean the pipe, apply flex, heat and end up with a perfect joint - nice neat, even solder appears. When I do the same thing...

Over the summer I bought a house with a burglar alarm fitted, but we've got no manuals, no codes, no nothing for it. We asked the previous owners, but they said that they never used it! We got ADT round to look at it and they tried to flog us a contract at £20+ per month for "bells only"...

Apologies if this is a stupidly silly question, but I'm stuck on how to touch up some paint chips on my car bonnet. I cleaned up the chip to make sure there was no rust around. Applied some primer and left it to dry for at least 24 hours. Gently spray painted the spot with some paint from...

I've just moved to a new house and wanted to change the 1930's style switches with nice metal ones. I was expecting a nicely earthed back box for me to earth my new switch to, but no, the back box is made of wood and there is no earth wire in sight. What should I do?

We've just moved into a new house (4 bed, 1 bath, 1 shower) and were considering replacing / upgrading the heating & hot water before we start decorating. We currently have a Potterton Profile boiler approx 10 years old, and a well insulated tank which is in good condition and has an...

I've got a 2003 Ford Fiesta with just under 20k miles on it. Recently it started to develop a shudder which - according to my well-timed service - is due to a mis-firing spark plug. Despite being 4 years old, the plugs have never been changed... :oops: Turns out that my ignition cables had a...

Hi, I found a puddle in my kitchen last night, which I tracked back to a dripping washing hose connection - where the hose screws into the washing machine tap. Ideally I should probably replace the tap / hose I'm guessing, but the tap itself is in a very awkward position and is really...

The cold water tap in my bathroom has recently developed a habit of whistling quite loudly. (And it isn't even a good tune!). The volume gradually increases and decreases, but it can last for quite a while. Turning the cold tap on stops the whistling. We think (but aren't certain) that the...

Apologies for what might seem a really simple question, but I really hope somebody can help me. I recently changed my kitchen sink from being an overmounted one to and under-mounted one. Because the sink intrudes into the base cabinet more than the last one, I'm having real problems trying to...

I'm in the process of getting my kitchen re-done, and I've gone for an integrated diswasher and washing machine. (To satisfy Part P, all of the major electrical work was conducted by a qualified electrician of course :) ). The dishwasher and washing machine both have molded 13amp fuses in...