Free Plumbing Info discussion thread 14 June 2005 at 7:00PM in Water Bills 53 replies 21.2K views

Former_MSE_Andrea

This discussion relates to the article containing Free Plumbing Info given by Ian Puddick. Click reply to discuss.

Fran

Thanks to Ian for his hard work on this and providing us with some very useful information about our questions and other peoples. :T

scp_2

One of the questions in the interesting article was:

Q: I have an electric shower in my flat (one of the basic Mira ones) and when I turn the dial off it often stays on for up to 30 seconds after I turn the dial.

I can't remember the make of our electric shower, but it do know that it intentionally stays on for about 10s after being turned off. The reason is that it is pumping out the water from the shower heating system so that if you turn it straight back on again you do not get some water that is heated twice and therefore too hot.

I don't know if this is what your shower is doing - 30s sounds like a long time for this!

John_Stone

I have has Aqualisa showers for many years now and have found that their help with problems has been incredible. Often they have supplied spare parts at no cost long after the guanantee has expired.

https://www.aqualisa.co.uk
"To speak to a customer service representative, please call 01959 560 010
Please note that calls may be monitored for quality and training purposes. Lines are open Monday to Friday 8.30am to 5.00pm."

macwise

It was very interesting to read all the answers to other people's questions but I was a bit disappointed to find after reading through all the tips that none of them answered my queries. Oh well I guess there were too many questions to answer them all and I drew one of the short straws, still very interesting and useful.

susy_2

I too missed the opportunity to ask a specific plumbing question, However I will post it here, and with a little bit of luck, somebody else maybe able to give me a bit of advice. Martins weekly tip led me here, so with another bit of luck, it might lead other people here.

A few years ago, I had a small extension fitted to the end of the kitchen. For whatever reason, the builders did not move the existing mains water stopcock. This area where the stopcock is, is now part of my lounge. I have a solid floor and want to move the stopcock back into the kitchen. My house is about 30 years old. My questions are:-

I cannot see if the water pipe comes in from outside the house, or under the house. Can I assume that it comes from outside?

I have an outside water stopcock at the bottom of my drive at the front of the house, (slightly to the side of the house), as do all of my neighbours. Does this mean it is more likely to run down the side of the house and round the back? and if this is so, would I be able to intterupt it on the drive and take it into the kitchen from the front?

I have spoken to the local water board to check any regs etc, however they told me that as it was on private land, it was not in their scope to either advise or do the job.

p.s I am assuming it is a plumber that I need for this job?

misterri

Hi
Not sure if Im writing this in the right box but here goes! I am selling my house and the surveyor has said i have an asbestos concrete cold water tank in the loft, and should be replaced. I have spoken to a plumber and he says it is very unlikely to be asbestos, as house about 50 yrs old probably made of glass reinforced plastic/concrete, which is often mistaken for asbestos. Any opinions, i am wondering whether to challenge what the suveyor has said in housebuyers report. thanks

nasus_2

I have recently had my Gas fire which is a Baxi Bermuda with boiler behind for central heating, serviced. The plumber that the burner is cracked. Is it dangerous to use my fire? Please could you tell me if I should get a new burner and where from. Thank you

Cornwall2000

Sorry - can't help with any of the posts above, but I do have my own experience as a DIY plumber (I am a civil engineer by day) to recount - it may help someone. Many years ago I swore never to touch plumbing after a few "problems". I have found now that after a lot of reading of how plumbing systems are organised e.g tanks and mains supply it's a lot safer. The new push-fit fittings are also very easy and reliable - make sure you put an end sleeve in the end of plastic pipe.

Recently my thermostatic shower stopped working. This happened at the same time a water meter was fitted to the water connection to my property. After a lot of investigation I fixed the problem.

1) There was some grit on the gauze filter to the hot water inlet to the shower mixer valve. This must have been reducing the hot water pressure slightly.
2) The meter installers replaced an old stopcock that must have been throttling the supply, and thus the cold water pressure to the mixer valve. The cold water pressure then increased.

The resulting imbalance in pressure caused nothing but a cold dribble to emanate from our previously gushing shower. The thermostatic mixer valve could not handle the pressure difference. (and these are very dear to replace). After cleaning the grit out, and installing a push fit isolator valve on the cold water inlet to the shower valve, i cut off the isolator valve, turned on the shower and gradually opened up the valve until the shower started working. :j

david_smith_5

MSE_Andrea wrote:

This discussion relates to the article containing Free Plumbing Info given by Ian Puddick. Click reply to discuss.

have got oil filled boiler heating my gravity feed system which is feed with 28 mm pipe work want to put radiator in bathroom is this correct that flow pipe has to be running down to the radiator and the return from the radiator has to be flowing up if you can let me know any additional information
thanks

annitahamnett

i have purchased a bathroom suite, and have enquired how much it will cost to fit, its going into the same place as the old one, so no moving around of pipes, i have been quoted wildly varying figures, from £4000,
£2.500 from plumbers to someone telling me they got theirs fitted for £300 (they have forgotten the number!) can anyone give me a ballpark figure, of what i can expect to pay for just the fitting and not the tiling or moving of pipes. i dont mind paying a fair price for a good job, but with so many horror stories out there am vary of being ripped off.