Home DIY

Good idea. Can't get self amalgamating tape in there, it's an elbow in the pipe just as it pops out the wall and heads up to the tap.

I've realised I could isolate the mains water and drain down the tank by running my bath taps on full (for ages!) but this would leave me without a flushing toilet as the cistern is also fed from the header tank.

If there's an isolation valve on the hot water system where would it be?

(it's a boiler connected to a hot water cylinder with a heat exchanger, so the boiler including radiators is a closed system and the hot taps are driven from the tank). Perhaps there's something at the outlet from the hot water cylinder? (which I haven't checked as it's hidden behind a wooden panel)

Yup I've got a water tank (above the bathroom) and an expansion tank (next to the boiler).

I thought the system attached to the water tank was vented and therefore not susceptible to airlock?

Or does it need to syphon...

I can probably get some tape on if I try real hard. Drip tray ftw for tonight I reckon.

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Assume this is the expansion tank next to the boiler

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Ha, yes. First home, it's an ex rental, one takes what one can get and spends all money on the purchase and mortgage until such times as this. Edinburgh.

I'd like a whole new bathroom. I'm not sure I can afford it, but might have to dig deep into debt to get it sorted if I need work anyway

Soldered at the leak hence my thinking the need for a drain-down to enable a proper repair

Cheers, guess the mystery red tank will wait for a plumbers diagnosis. Yeah I'll give the putty a shot tomorrow, reckon there's a good 6-8 hours of space in my drip tray :)

I'm not a plumber, so it's highly likely I'm talking out of my arse, but couldn't you use pipe freeze?

a water tank (above the bathroom)

A big cylindrical sealed one (like a hot water cylinder) with lots of pipes attached, or a rectangular plastic/fibreglass one with an open top?

The red cylinder looks like an expansion vessel for an unvented system, although maybe you can get combi boilers which don't have an internal expansion vessel and need an external one?

The 3 bar pressure release valve is the giveaway, central heating expansion vessel.

Could be that your boiler doesn't or a previous boiler didn't have one so needs a stand alone unit or that the one in your current or previous boiler broke and someone fitted a stand alone unit because it was an easier and cheaper fix.

Talking of cheap fixes, I'm pretty sure that thing should be attached to a wall bracket.

previous boiler broke and someone fitted a stand alone unit because it was an easier and cheaper fix

I reckon it's that - happened in my old flat. Disassembling the boiler vs attaching that is no comparison if you're cheap.

So is the concensus that I should try a putty repair on the pipe, or just call a plumber?

Call a plumber and ignore the last two pages.

Having a clear out and came across some tools. They've been ridden hard and put away wet so no guarantees but anyone who is on a tight budget with time and no tools could easily get themselves into A&E with any one of these. Free to anyone collecting them from SW6. PM if you're interested. Anyone taking it all will get preference.

There's a skill saw, angle grinder, electric plane, corded drill and router (complete with homemade plate for hanging in a table). No guarantees about any of them but they all worked last time I used them. Please don't make me regret not throwing them in the tip. Also available 2 halogen work lamps, 1 2 head, 1 single. If you're nice to me I might even find some spare bulbs, they worked recently but the halogens can last for 5 years or 20 minutes.

So enough here to burn down your house and hospitalise yourself, you have been warned.

Don't sleep on this as I might just get tired of seeing them and tip them at any moment.

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Diable's interested in the tools but will defer to anyone who is just starting out and needs a leg up.

Do I really need to sand a fence before spraying ronseal all over the place?

What does it say on the tin ?

No

When spraying a fence it still helps to use a brush to get a smoother finish. Ive watched the missus do about thirty meters of fence so consider myself a bit of an expert.

10% perspiration - 90% observation - good man.

I've got hooks on my wall for hanging bikes that are about 220mm deep (two hooks, the bike sits horizontally, parallel to the wall). One of my bikes has been relegated outdoors and my girlfriend's hybrid is now on the hooks. It has wide bars so I suspect there was some force pulling directly on the screws attaching the hooks to the wall and they came out somewhat inconveniently.

They were fairly substantial rawlplugs but, although it's theoretically a solid wall, it is a bit crumbly. Any suggestions on what to use to stop this happening again. Epoxy things maybe? How do they work if you want to take the screws out? Cheers

Epoxy could well pull out in the same way with a coating of crumbly wall stuck to it. Admittedly I haven't tried that sort of thing since bonding steel dowels into shale rock down a coal mine in the early 80s, but excessive length and much epoxy was the only way it worked.

Battens perhaps? Multiple screws and rawlplugs to distribute the load, one of which could be your original hook screwed into the timber and into a rawlplug underneath, albeit with less length in the wall. Really you need to be sure of passing through any plaster etc., so the longer the better in many ways. You could hide the old holes under a pair of battens, and gain more clearance from the wall by the thickness of the timber.

Spur shelving brackets might work? - same principle as battened hooks,but with some element of height adjustment...