I'm changing my 3-port valve and I don't think I can get these olives off. Will they be ok with some fresh paste? Is it important enough to cut the old nuts off? If so I'll need to go out for a new hacksaw!
My central heating pump is leaking between the black and red areas. Is the ups-3 the right replacement? The valves are seized unfortunately so I think I'll need to drain down the system and replace those too. Are they generally a standard size? I'm hoping to avoid modifying any pipework. And where can I get one quickly? Amazon is a few weeks and screwfix are out of stock.
(It's a Y plan so this is the only pump)
Wanted to get some thoughts - I'm looking into upgrading my water system. Comparing getting a combi to just a pressurised hot water cylinder or pressurised everything.
Current setup: fully vented system. F&E and cistern in the attic, indirect hot water cylinder in the airing cupboard upstairs, conventional gas boiler in the kitchen (pictured), y-plan.
What I want: better hot water pressure balanced with the mains cold, free up space in the airing cupboard and attic (long term we would like to do an attic conversion). And I guess a bit less anxiety about cisterns leaking etc.
Option 1: rip it all out and put in a combi. I'm guessing this will be the most expensive option.
Option 2: keep the boiler, get rid of the cylinder and cistern and put a pressurised indirect cylinder in the attic. Keep the heating loop vented. Try to push the tanks into a corner so if we convert the attic they can be in a little closet out of the way.
Option 3: option 2 plus pressurise the heating loop and get rid of the f&e tank. Don't know if this is possible with the existing boiler.
Considerations:
- we have a pumped shower with really good pressure. While our mains pressure is pretty high, I don't know if a combi would reduce the hot water pressure noticeably if we switch to a combi and thermostatic shower valve and we might miss that.
- we get the boiler serviced every year and have been repeatedly told it has a good bit of life left, so we're reluctant to swap it out until we need to.
- the heating loop is all 22mm as far as I can tell. There is also a 22mm mains feed to the attic for the tanks - this goes up through the soil stack cavity so easily accessible in the bathroom. There are of course hot pipes from the airing cupboard to the bathroom and kitchen (think those are all 15mm) and cold from the attic to the bathroom. So I'm not sure there would be significant repiping involved in options 2 and 3.
- the 3 port valve and pump are easily accessible in the airing cupboard.
Am I right in thinking option 2 would be a lot cheaper than option 1? And is option 3 viable/worth doing?
I'm going to be tiling this backsplash, and as you can see there are areas with paint, old adhesive and some bare plasterboard. I have a polymer primer - is it fine for this whole area? Should I prime the plasterboard and old adhesive? I will make sure to scrape away any adhesive that feels crumbly.
Also there will be an end panel on the left. Just haven't done it yet.
Bit of a weird one. For context I've a vented hot water system. I've just installed a kitchen tap that has two outlets (a rigid one and a hose). Each has its own lever, separate to the mixer. So the mixer can be turned on with nothing coming out of the tap. I've realised that if the mixer is opened in the middle, and the two outlets are off, water is flowing - the mains is going back through the hot tap up to the cylinder and eventually the cistern.
My worry is that there are birds nesting in the soffit, and they've pushed the end of the overflow pipe in. I'm not sure how far - it could be in the attic. So if someone accidentally leaves the mixer on in the middle it could flood one of the bedrooms. I can't fix this until the birds have left - probably a few months. I know it's a remote possibility but it worries me. Are there non return valves that don't restrict the flow so I can fit one to the hot? The pressure is already very poor so I don't want to make it even worse.
I've a granite sink and the instructions say to knock the hole out with a punch and hammer. I've seen people say these can be a bit sketchy. Is it safer to just use a diamond hole saw or something? Or is it fine if you're careful? Any tips?
Any issues with how I've done this? With the position of the valves (my own fault, but too late to sort once the floor was down) I ended up having to loop up. Got a bubble but managed to force it through and the heater is working properly. I added a filter on the flow and a lockshield on the return.
I recently drained down my vented heating system to do some work, and since the bleed valve for the heating coil is seized I had to bleed the pump every day for about a week. Just as I've got all the air out I've realised the bleed valve on the pump is now leaking. Can these be replaced or does it have to be the whole pump? Rest assured if I'm draining down the system again for this (there are no valves, and no space for them) I'll add a new bleed valve for the coil.
Edit: I think a lot of people have misunderstood. I have not joined them yet - I will be scribing it as the walls are out of square. It's a square edge worktop so I'm going to peel back the facing strip and butt join with three worktop bolts which I will rout channels for, as well as titebond 3 and colourfill. My question was if this will be enough. I'll add some brackets for sure if there's a stud or grounds in the right place.
Would you be concerned about this worktop join being unsupported? The (freestanding) washing machine will be under there.
This is my first attempt at a big soldering project. I know it's super over-engineered but I like it. My main aim was to have anything that's not soldered under the sink so I know straight away if it fails. I have copper all the way to the dishwasher and washing machine. I also replaced the seized stop valve with a 22mm lever ball valve. I spent most of today figuring this out, and thankfully nothing leaked except the copper side of the mdpe adapter on the right (it's a supply to the garage so not crucial for now). I may have taken it apart and not put it together right, because it's really tight. I also have separate stand pipes for the appliances so the waste in here will be just a trap, nice and compact. It's a bit improvised, a bit wonky, and I could have used more clips, but any advice? A few pipes come into the cupboard in awkward places, so I had to work around that a little, but any advice on routing?
I installed a new outside tap. With a slope to stop water tracking along the pipe. Only I went and sloped it the wrong way. How big a problem is this? Big enough to take it out and do it again? I haven't soldered it on the inside yet.
First time doing any copper work in my house. For a kickspace heater. How'd I do? I know the solder is excessive but it'll be under the subfloor so I don't care how it looks. I've added insulation to the flow - I only realised after it was done that they're a bit too close to get insulation around both pipes.
I'm planning to add a sink to my garage. The corner of the house nearest the garage is where the soil stack is. Is it ok to bury part of the 40mm waste pipe between the garage and house? Or would I need to extend 110mm pipe to the point where the 40mm meets the ground?
Ripping out my kitchen and wondering what this device above the stop valve is. It's before anything else in the house - pressure reduction maybe?
I need to change my main stopcock (it's seized). Is this the correct place to isolate the incoming supply? I can't see anything at the bottom except dirt. I know it looks like a W but you never know, it could be an M and I'd rather be sure. There's one in front of every house.
Not sure if I'm missing something here. I plan to run copper pipe behind my units to the dishwasher and washing machine, with valves under the sink. So where the appliances connect I need to adapt 3/4" bsp to 15mm copper. However I can only find end feed fittings to adapt 3/4" to 22mm copper. Is this something that is not done? Is my best option adapting onto 22mm and then reducing to 15mm? I am trying to avoid push-fit or compression in hidden areas.
I'm going to be installing my new kitchen soon. I see a lot of plumbers using silicone for the sink waste, but others say this isn't the 'proper' way to do it. I recently installed a new waste on my bathroom sink, and used plumber's mait on the outer nut. Is this a better way to do it?
I'm planning to install a hydronic plinth heater in my kitchen. I'm looking at the Smith's one on Plumbworld. They sell the flexible hoses separately, but £100 seems a bit crazy for these. I can see similar ones elsewhere for a fraction of the price. Is there a big difference between these branded ones and something from Screwfix?