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My father, a builder by trade, put up a conservatory. The council insisted on slates due to the area. The weather is terrible, especially in winter with strong winds and sheet rain. Anyway he died a year or so ago of cancer, leaving my 68 year old mother with a house that leaks. I was...

I have a Vaillant VC15/1 T 3 WDH boiler which is about 20 years old now. It has developed a number of problems. Firstly, to fire the boiler, the thermostat in the lounge needs to be turned on and then the heater control turned on and the boiler pump then starts and the boiler appears to start...

Can you pump the hot water only, if you have a thermostatic mixer shower? We have a thermostatic mixer shower with mains cold and gravity fed hot water. I bought a twin impeller pumpt today, and it says I must not connect it to mains pressure hot water. Am I correct in thinking I bought the...

Can you pump the hot water only, if you have a thermostatic mixer shower? We have a thermostatic mixer shower with mains cold and gravity fed hot water. I bought a twin impeller pumpt today, and it says I must not connect it to mains pressure hot water. Am I correct in thinking I bought the...

Is there a limit to the number of radiators you can have in a system? Can I run 9 rads from a 15mm pipe, if everything else in the house is 15m or microbore? I read in one of the B&Q leaflets you should only use 3 rads from 15m. I already have a bunch of 15m pipework to one rad, but to replace...

I want to install, or have installed, a Heatrae Megaflo HE, but I don't understand what the difference between a direct and indirect system is. The direct one is about £200 quid cheaper, so this seems like a good bet, but how do I know which one I need? I have an oil burning boiler on the...

I'm looking for a programmer that can control three heating zones plus hot water, ie four zones. Are there any such products on the market? I've managed to find the "Horstmann H37 Centaur Plus" which does three zones, but none that do four. Any suggestions? Kind Regards, Shane Cook.

I've heard that thermostatic radiator values break and need replacing over time. Is this true? Are some brands better than others? If so, which ones are the most reliable? Thanks. Kind Regards, Shane Cook.

I was wondering how you go about insulating floors in Victorian houses. Under the floor, there is a dwarf wall, which sits on earth. On top of the wall sit untreated rafters, on top of which sits sheets of compressed wood bits. I know these type of floors must have air flow via the air bricks to...

I was wondering if somewhere like B&Q was actually a good place to be buying insulation? I need a reasonably large amount (£250 or so) of loft insulation and also the pipe insulation for our new central heating. Loft insulation is rather bulky so rather than make half a dozen trips in the car, I...

I have a number of lights I'd like to switch on to 20% during the evening/night, and 100% when a PIR activation takes place. I'd like to have a number of PIRs, any of which trigger all lights. I can do this part by connecting the PIRs in parrallel, and the load in series, so any PIR will...

I have a Velux window, in our new house, with a nice woodern window frame. However, the previous owners have painted over the woodern part (the bit next to the glass) with some horrid white paint to match the rest of the room. Is there anything I can do to remove this paint from the woodern...

Being a bit of a computer junkie, I'd like to monitor my house using a number of fixed cameras, connected to a PC, and have the PC monitor the camera for movement. When movement is detected, I want to start capturing video or a series of photos and have the PC email then to me, or upload them...

I have bought a house we intend to renovate and rent out as a holiday home. Currently there are two electric showers. I wanted to add a futher three showers. I am concerned about the amount of power required to run five electric showers. Typically 40A per shower, is 200A in total if they are all...

I\\\'ve bought a house we intend to renovate and rent out as a holiday home. Currently there are two electric showers. I wanted to add a futher three showers. I\\\'m concerned about the amount of power required to run five showers. Typically 40A per shower, is 200A in total if they are all...