Owning your own home

Spent a silly amount of money on an electric lawnmower today, will be debuting it tomorrow for the traditional Aussie 7am Sunday morning mowing scenario...

Fail. 7am Sunday scenario requires a too large petrol motor, fouled plug and dual exhaust churning through grass and large twigs with a very dull blade.

I want to get power to my shed. I know the right way to do this is using armoured cables, but they're pretty pricey, and I don't think I've got anything that will cut through them, so they look a bit painful to work with (maybe some Park cable cutters might work...) .

Is it a no-no to just use standard cable in a tough conduit? I don't think there's a significant risk of cutting through it, but I read that cable can overheat in conduits; sounds bad, but not sure what the consequences are.

It'll be running a 24/7 heater / dehumidifier (on timers) a 12v led light system and various power tools / dust extraction.

Now I've written this down, it's obvious I should just get the armoured cable. But any comments welcome!

Heaters draw a lot of current. Do not skimp on cable or protection.

How long will the cable be?
Calculated the voltage drop?
Part P may seem quibblesome, but a qualified Electrician can sign off the works to the local Building Control.

It'll be about 15m long. No idea on voltage...

The heater / humidifier will only be there on a thermostat to keep the place above the dew point so hopefully not on for long periods.
I was planning on it being not much more than a glorified extension cord from an outside socket that's already in place (and wired to circuit breakers on the main fusebox). Is it reasonable to do this?

Buying a flat is fucking bullshit. This is my second go and neither has taken less than a year or cost less than my sanity. This time around might not even happen if every fucking universe gremlin that’s trying to disrupt it succeeds.

Cross post from the DIY thread.

Anyone got a Vailant boiler?

Do you have a woo based hard water doobry fitted to it?

I have and I haven't.

A few parts were a bit scaled up when I had it serviced and something had to be replaced but it's about ten years old and hadn't been serviced for at least six.

I have one, an have no idea what a woo based hard water doobry is?
The only issue I have is keeping the pressure topped up.
Was installed about 12 years ago.
No issues, and I'm in stockwell, which I believe is a hard water area..

Cheers guys.

Was told that V won't honour their warranty if one isn't fitted. Was also told at the same time that they do nothing... the internet seems to agree.

yes and no.

mine's about 7 years old. the gas valve went recently so maybe a gas softener would be a better option...

We've just had a Combimate fitted to protect our new boiler.

There does seem to be some science behind them.

I that’s because CM actually changes the chemical make up of the water whereas the magnet jobbies are woo shit.

I looked at CM and Christ it’s not cheap.

Think I know the answer to this but here goes:

I had the fuse box replaced with a consumer unit today, there were a few issues - one of which was that the lighting circuit has no protective conductor. I had a building survey carried out and this issue isn't listed but I'm assuming there will be no comeback here on them? Without this I think the electrics are uncompliant and so will have issues selling the house?

electrics aren't covered by a building survey, you need an electric installation condition report. if you're selling you aren't obliged to have one or tell buyers about the state of the electrics, let them pay for a report and if they do then you can haggle over any issues that come up.

Your electrician should of tested the house wiring and produced a report when s/he replaced the fuse box.

No earthing on the lighting circuit is a major fail and you won't get a certificate unless it's rectified.

Anyone cany enough to recognise a new CU has been installed will ask for the certificate when you are selling the house.

Do you mean it has no earth in the lighting wiring? I suspect that may be permissable as an existing installation, but may be worth checking online. Building surveys don't delve very deep.

Not really sadly. Garden electrics all need signing off these days.

If you were to use armoured cable, which you should, then you score around the cable with a hacksaw and the wire (armour) can be broken off quite neatly. The terminations are quite pricey. Don't even think about doing it with conduit but also don't do it if you don't feel comfortable breaking the law.

Ok - thanks for this. I'll live with an extension for now, and get an electrician in when we have some work done in a couple of months.

You sound like you know what you're talking about. Given a socket in the garden (in a waterproof box), is it possible to run a cable off that to the shed and then have a little fuse box inside the shed on the end of that cable. The alternative would be I guess to run a cable from the main fuse box to the shed, but that would be much trickier to route.

I'm looking at running an armoured cable to the back of the garden too - for which I'll be getting a sparky - and have an external socket.

I seem to recall reading that I can't have a cable run off a spur - hopefully, I can have the cable run through the same path as the external socket though.

What are people paying agents at the moment? I just had 1.25% plus VAT, along with a £149 charge for professional photos.

I'm thinking of saying that I want 1.2% including VAT and photos. Seems reasonable?

It's worth between £280,000 and £320,000, depending on who you ask.

I'm thinking of saying that I want 1.2% including VAT and photos. Seems reasonable?

Yes.

You could try negotiating some kind of tiered rate but it's hard to get them to go lower than 1% on the lowest band, so why bother?

Is your outdoor socket a spur on your power ring main,
or,
does it have its own fuse/circuit breaker in your consumer unit?