It might be prudent to move the chairs before the fire officer visits and hide the wood with “door stop” on it. 🙂

Not a fire expert but with my “a little knowledge is dangerous” hat on, the callpoint requirements are covered by BS5839-1. This says that they should be no more than 1.4m from floor level (+-200mm) and no-one needs to travel more than 45m (25m if disabled) to reach one. They should be sited at “all stairwells AND EXITS FROM BUILDING”.
There doesn’t appear to be anything more specific than that. If I remember correctly there is a clause somewhere in BS5839 about minimizing false alarms. I would say that if you locate it to the other side of the firedoors it would be fine as it is reachable at the exit but minimises the false alarm possibility by being away from the switch.

Rich.

Sad, but I hope there is some comfort from the fact that it was doing something he was enjoying.

psychobiker, as an electrician I’d obviously advise the use of a qualified person to do the checks for you to make sure all is ok. However, if you want to do the connection yourself I’d suggest that at a minimum you confirm that you have continuity between the two legs of the ring on all three conductors (L,N and E). With only 7 sockets I’d stick a 20a MCB on it rather than a 32. If the ring breaks it will give you additional resilience and unless you’re loading the circuit with heavy duty devices (dishwasher, tumble dryer) I would doubt you’ll have any tripping issues.
I’d like to see a proper RCD test but a mechanical test at least shows it’s capable of tripping.
Hope this helps.
Rich.

So an existing ring circuit in brick and blockwork has an mcb of 32a, so if i create a new ring circuit in brick and blockwork and use an mcb rated at 32a I am wrong exactly how.

Running the cable in brick and block is known as “clipped direct” and can dissipate the heat from the cable easily. The issue can come if you’v run the cable in the loft space and it’s been covered by insulation. Depending on the thickness of insulation and the way the cable has been run (ie touching the plasterboard or through the insulation) the effective capacity of the cable is lowered; sometimes by up to 50%. In reality it’s not likely to be a problem as the likelihood of the cable running at full capacity (and thus exceeding its temperature rating) is low. However, the regulations, which surprisingly are advisory rather than a legal requirement, would require the rating of the MCB to be reduced to a size that is lower than the effective capacity of the cable.

Rich.

Why do I need an electrician before connection, I plan to connect myself as well.

One of the reasons for an electrician is the need to make sure that the circuit, if a fault occurs, fails gracefully. It’s relatively easy to make a circuit work, but it’s possible for a working circuit to have a latent problem which might not manifest itself until it’s too late.

A ring circuit effectively overloads the cable because a 2.5mm cable has a current carrying capacity of 27amps but usually has a 32 amp MCB protecting it. A key test of a ring circuit is ring continuity which ensures that the ring is complete. Also, what is known as the Zs figure is important because the MCB needs to trip within a certain time and this is only possible if the earth fault loop impedence is low enough. Insulation resistance testing is also carried out to check that a cable hasn’t been damaged during installation. This would usually be picked up by the RCD but may not be the case in a N-E fault on TT earthing systems. Also, an RCD test should be carried out to confirm that the RCD trips in the required times – <300ms for 1x fault current and <40ms for 5x fault current. The test button only tests the mechanical operation, not the operation in fault situations.

A good electrician, and there’s plenty of poor ones out there, will undertake all these tests and be prepared to certify that it’s safe. They will have access to the test gear necessary to do the tests and the experience to interpret the results they find.

The part P/Building Control debate is a complex one. Like most things there are competent non professionals and incompetent professionals.

The important issue is that it’s safe for you and your family.

Rich.

(Edited for spelling).

Ten years ago I moved from London to Pembrokeshire and bought a somewhat rundown stone house in a small village. I was competent at DIY but hadn’t done a major building project.
The renovation has involved walls back to the stone and rerendered (traditional lime mortar); ceilings down, floors up, blockwork, plumbing, electrics (I’m now an electrician by trade),carpentry – just about everything.

What have I learnt?

1. Don’t buy a stone house in Pembrokeshire (or anywhere).
2. Get a good DIY book. The Collins complete DIY manual has been a good reference.
3. The internet is great but there’s a lot of bad advice out there.
4. Plan your work so that you don’t end up having to undo stuff you’ve already done. (Electrics and plumbing in before the ceilings go up).
5. Invest in good tools.
a. Spirit level
b. Cordless drill/impact driver, No.2 Pozi and Philips bits.
c. SDS bits – 6mm/8mm
d. Sharp Saw
e. Workmate
f. Tape measure

6. Don’t be afraid to use a tradesman in some situations. – for me a good plasterer for ceilings saved hours of grief – yes I probably could have done it myself but it wasn’t worth the aggro.
7. Jewsons are expensive – don’t buy at the front counter, go round the back and haggle.
8. Screwfix goldscrews are great
9. “sticks like sh*t” , gripfill and decorators caulk are your friends
10. Push fit and solvent weld waste pipe and fittings are different even though they say they are the same size
11. You’ll make mistakes, but at least they’re yours, not ones that you’ve paid someone to make on your behalf.
12. Don’t let it consume your life so much that you neglect yourself and family – there should always be enough time to ride the bike, read a bedtime story etc.
13. Don’t hesitate to ask for advice.
14. Keep your Building Control Officer sweet. Keep them in the loop (if they are required) and they’ll bend over backwards to help you.

Hindsight is wonderful. If I knew at the start what I know now it would have been much easier, but if you’ve got a basic competency you’ll do fine. It’s just a matter of confidence.

Good luck!

Rich.

Personally, I’d prefer more sockets and standard/table lamps. More flexible and less of a pain when redecorating.

Naff or not depends on the design.

Hire car? I think it is actually the law that you thrash it within an inch of its mechanical life.

I thought everyone knew that about hire cars?

Yes, two way is fine. Check the requirement for depth of backbox though. If you’ve 16mm boxes you may find that flush mount switches require 35mm. You might get them into 25mm but it’s a squeeze.

My son (14years) just invested in a gopro hero2 silver. He’s very pleased with it. Gopro black is “better” but silver is more than adequate unless you want to get really fancy with your videos. It will leave cash available for the inevitable extras like different mounts.

I think one of the problems these days is that cars are driving with their lights on all the time. Not only are the lights dazzling, they make it difficult to pick out other road users such as cyclists and motorcyclists. In built up areas the lighting on most vehicles is excessive. If there was less on them, or perhaps better placed, a well lit cyclist would be easier to see.

We went to Mayrhofen last year off peak for a walking holiday. It was a Thompson package. You could try asking in one of the Thompson shops or ring them.

Also, is this link any good?

Timetables – Mayrhofen

(nice place – good mountain biking).

I assume this is a shower pump rather than an electric shower – ie it pumps hot and cold rather than heat up the cold water? If you can see sparks on the latter then stop using it.

As nickjb says, it’s possible to see sparks from the brushes of a motor. For a remote pump this doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a problem. However, if it’s noisy and you’re uncertain I’d change it.

The transformer has probably gone. Try a local electrical factors.Not sure where you are, but in Wales it would be LH Evans, Edmunsons, City Electrical Factors etc.

eTrex 20 with maps built myself using openstreetmap. Also got topo maps for it. I can probably get the maps onto a CD if you need them.

Someone once said “there’s too much religion and not enough Christianity” – the cycling equivalent for me is calling myself a cyclist but not stopping to see that a fellow rider is ok if you see him at the side of the road.

Too caught up in the symbolism and not the true meaning.

A search of the Pilkington site doesn’t show anything similar. My parents have got this glass at home so I guess 60’s vintage is about right. Email the photo to Pilkington, they might have some suggestions.
Rich.

What type of fan and where

The regs require 15 litres/second airflow – but this should really be measured at the vent. The 15 is going to be good for through the wall applications where the run is short ie directly out through a cavity wall. For ducted runs ie up through a roof via a slate vent, a 30 is probably a better bet.

The fan should be IPx4 rated and can be fitted in zones 1 and 2 (I can explain those if you don’t understand them). The regs say that a fan supplied from a lighting circuit for a bathroom without a window should have it’s own means of isolation as otherwise replacement or maintenance would have to be carried out in the dark. The isolator should be installed outside of the zones.

Rich.

Our current one (an Icon airflow 15) is useless

We fit Icon fans – they’re no better or worse than any others. The problems are usually a) too long a run of pipe to the outside b) an air vent to replace the air being expelled.

Icon do a PIR module with timer run-on. Just fitted one inside a shower cubicle and seems excellent.

Bathroom fans should ideally have a 3 pole isolator installed.

You are right. Spare the (virtual) rod, spoil the child.

I think it may be possible to lock them up?

Obviously, but I’m assuming the OP doesn’t want the bike stolen at his destination just as much as when it’s left at home.

I’m not sure I’d be happy leaving my Brompton locked and chained in public as it’s probably going to be more of a thief magnet than a normal bike.

My son’s got a silver and it’s great. Not yet into fancy editing so maybe we’ll be limited in the future but for a general use it’s fine.
Price was an issue for us as he was paying (he’s 14). It was a balance between function and cost with some money over for extra mounts which you’ll need if you want to make the most of it.

Well, the Brompton is the obvious choice but is expensive and is a target for theft in it’s own right. It’s a great bike though.

Dahon make some ok folders but not as compact as the brompton.

The problem with a folder is that it needs to be taken with you at your destination so the foldability will work for home but it could be a pain the rest of the time.

The dial on the front controls the temperature the boiler raises the water to before it shuts off – essentially a high limit stat.

The towel radiator/airing cupboard radiator are heat sinks to allow the system to dump heat if all the valves are shut. It can be done this way or it can be done with a bypass valve.

The boiler will run until the high limit stat reaches temperature. Once it cools sufficiently it will run again.

A stat. will stop the boiler running once the location where it’s placed is up to temperature. It will probably be a bit more efficient as the heat sink rads will not be heated all the time but I would doubt massively so.

As northernmatt says, a stat is dead easy to fit but may require the boiler to be disassembled.

I’ve used altech stats from Graham’s the plumbers merchants which are cheaper than honeywell and work ok. Stats are a bit of a minefield as there’s wireless, wired, programmable etc.

Too far away to help but in commissioning the work ensure that the electrician is a member of one of the part P bodies – ie NAPIT, NICEIC, ELECSA to name a few. You should expect an Electrical Installation Certificate to be completed and supplied to you and the work notified to building control on your behalf, which you’ll have a copy of.
A CU change should take around a day assuming a normal 3 bed type house and the proper testing is undertaken (often longer than the CU change itself). The CU should, in most circumstances, have 2 RCDs covering all circuits.
The cost of a fully populated 10 way CU is around £100 plus vat.

Any questions/concerns, give me a shout.

Rich.

Electrician rather than a plumber but if it’s got a 3 port valve that could be stuck in the open position. If you turn the stat. off you should hear (and feel) the valve shut and vice versa. If the boiler is on for hot water and the valve is stuck open it will feed the radiators even with the stat off.

Also, did you wire the stat correctly? They’re quite complex now but if it’s 3 core you’ll have a Live, Neutral and a switched live which, if I remember correctly, should go to pin 4.

As jdean says. I run the live feeds to the switch rather than loop into ceiling roses, making it easier to retrofit alternative lighting but it has the downside of putting a lot of wires in the backbox.
Don’t forget to use open grommets to fill the knockouts (avoids chafing).

Technically it would be theft – “dishonestly appropriate property belonging to another with the intent to permanently deprive”. You could keep it if you could show you took all reasonable steps to find the owner, but as you know it’s BTs you’ve got no grounds to keep it.

Normally they need the clock set as wwaswas said. Does it have an “auto” mode (probably not if there’s no clock)? What is strange is that if it was faulty I’d expect either the light to not work or the oven not to heat up but not both.

4 or 6. However, the answer may well be dictated by the spacing of the joists. They should be fire rated and depending on where they are positioned, ie over the shower, may need to be “IP” rated. (IP44 minimum).

If you’re fitting a ceiling mounted extractor fan this will also need to be factored in to the spacing.

We specify Bell GU10 bulbs cool or warm white as you prefer. Not cheap but better than what you’d normally buy from a high street DIY store.

Ours cost £92, paid to the registrar in cash in a brown envelope (“sorry, cash only, no cheques or cards”). Also cost another couple of quid for the train ticket to work afterwards.

We couldn’t stop laughing at the gushing registrar going on about our happy event “come on luv, hurry it up, I’ve a train to catch and the kids are bored”.

Best buy under a hundred quid I’ve ever had. (though I think she paid).

Do it for a grand and put the rest into the mortgage.

Regular oil changes and good oil are required. Make sure the oil is left to drain for a long time to ensure all the bits come out. I have heard that the sump nut is poorly positioned, not letting all the oil drain properly.

There is also a school of thought that says the problem stems from loose injectors, particularly number 3, which cause carbon to build up and get into the oil. Once in, it’s almost impossible to get out.
The check for injector tightness is apparently only a few minutes job and requires an allen key to tighten.

see post by 1275jstrap here diesel problems

My apologies if links to other forums are not allowed.

What fuse is protecting the circuit?

4800W is a fraction over 20 amps.

Cable capacity should be greater than the fuse capacity which should be greater than the load.

4mm can carry 37 amps clipped direct/run in walls assuming no insulation.

So providing the fuse/breaker is <37 amps you’ll be ok.

It is legitimate to apply diversity to the cooker circuit in that you can assume that it will not be pulling full load all the time which will drop the load value down to less than 20 amps but I personally prefer to use the full load for ovens.

Without seeing it “in the flesh” it’s difficult to tell whether it’s safe but the calculations imply that the circuit has sufficient overload protection.

It is important to get what is known as a Zs figure from the circuit. This will establish whether the resistance of the circuit is low enough to trip the fuse in the required time.

The electrician connecting the cooker should do a Zs check and check the earth continuity from the consumer unit to the outlet. Insulation resistance should be checked too as should the performance of any RCD on the circuit.

It’s not tidy, but tidy doesn’t necessarily mean safe and untidy doesn’t necessarily mean dangerous.

The thing on the left looks like an RCD to me. It would point to green when it’s off – ie it’s safe to work on. The red button, if pushed, should turn off the power – I would guess it’s a mechanical test button.

My first thought would be to see what other people do. It may be that some houses have a safety earth (ie three pins) and others not.

The shock comes from there being a potential between the case and earth and you are making the circuit when you touch it.

My DIY fix would be to ground the metal case somehow – a piece of wire attached to a good earth (metal water pipe/structural steel). The thicker the wire the lower the resistance and thus less voltage drop.
In essence this is all the earth pin is on a three pin plug.

Obviously all at your own risk – I’d check around first though.

My son has just bought a gopro hero 3 silver. Great bit of kit.Wifi allows preview/remote use on a suitable mobile/tablet.3 is more compact than the 2. There is also the 3+ out now – better battery life and a few other things at the “black” level. Black gives faster frame rate if you’re going to do serious slow motion at 1080p. If it’s just action I would say the silver is fine and use the difference for mounts.

Ok, wiring a shed requires notification to building control. If the work is done by an electrician who is a member of a self certification scheme (NAPIT, NICEIC +others) he will do this once the work is completed. If you want to do the work yourself, which you are fully entitled to do, you need to notify building control BEFORE you start, pay the fee (I think it’s £75 here in Pembrokeshire) and they will send someone out to inspect/test the work on completion. Alternatively you could just do it yourself and not tell building control. I’ve never heard of any homeowner being prosecuted for doing it although your insurance company may have an issue if there was a fire.
If you do have an electrician do it make sure that they give you an electrical installation certificate for the work. You should also get notification through to say it’s been notified.

If you’re doing the work yourself there are a number of things to consider, some of which have been mentioned already.

In the shed I’d use a “garage” type consumer unit. This will normally have a 30mA RCD plus a 16A and a 6A MCB in. Wire the sockets in 2.5FTE onto the 16A MCB and lights in 1.0FTE to the 6A MCB. If you’re likely to use high loads you might need a different cable size for the sockets but 2.5FTE takes 27Amps if clipped to the walls.

If there is no water/gas services into the shed that bring in earth potential you’re good to go. If there is you’ll need to bond those back to the garage unit using 10mm2 yellow/green earth cable. There may also be a need to put in an earth rod for earthing. (See later comments).

From the house to the shed you need to run a cable that is suitable for the load and the conditions it’s being run in. Armour is usually a good bet but it could be FTE in conduit to provide protection.

The sheath of the armour should be properly glanded off and earthed. This should definitely be done at the supply end but at the garage end will depend on whether you’ve got an earth rod or not there.

At the consumer unit in the main house use an MCB that is rated lower than the current carrying capacity of the cable that’s been used to supply the shed. I would prefer it not to be on an RCD as there is an RCD in the shed which provides the necessary protection. However it’s ok to be on an RCD in the main board but there is no guarantee the one in the shed will trip first.

Earthing systems will have some impact on what you do. If you have an earth rod at the house, you’ve no big issues but the MCB at the main board should have at least a 100mA RCD to ensure disconnection in a fault situation.
If it’s TN-S (a third wire into the house from your supplier, or the sheath of the incoming cable is used), things are fine.
If it’s TN-C-S (ie PME) it is recommended that the shed be earthed using a rod. This isn’t strictly necessary if there is no water/gas/structural steel in the shed. However, if you don’t want to put a rod in I would ensure that the feed to the shed is at least 10mm2 including the earth so that the earth can act as a bond too.

It sounds a bit complicated and obviously it depends on each installation as to how it would actually be done but easily in the capability of a good DIYer with a bit of guidance.

Any questions, don’t hesitate to ask and I’ll do what I can to help. If you’re in West Wales we’ll come and quote for the job!

Rich.