Plumber / Plumbers / Plumbing - Show us your pipes

thanks - will try this
gland nut being the little nut just below the tap?
when you say remove the gland nut, i assume this is with the tap closed still, just unthread the gland nut until it's essentially off, pop some ptfe in then pop the gland nut back on?

Essentially yes

You are likely to have ptfe, waxed string or similar is better. If you have any

ok, done. didn't have any waxed string or similar so went with ptfe, let's see how it holds up.
every single part of this valve now has ptfe on it... i feel like i've read somewhere that compression nuts shouldn't have ptfe

It does rather look like the tape is overdone on the fittings, the problem with putting it on fittings is that unless it is done well it can partially block the pipe, come loose and cause blockages, hotspots elsewhere.

Following a recommendation from @Airhead I went with this stuff rather than tape on joints. It seems to work well
https://fernox.com/product/ls-x-external-leak-sealer-50ml/

Yep - overdone tape on fittings is small fry compared to some of the DIY in this house...Previous owner was a dab hand...

That fernox stuff looks interesting, might be useful in future

I recommended it to a neighbour years ago. After a while he told me how good it was and how he had gone through 6 or 7 tubes on his bathroom. So we went to have a look and he'd covered every joint with a massive amount of LSX on the outside of the compression fittings. You couldn't get a spanner on them. He was very happy with the extra protection. :)

Does anyone have any ideas as to why my cold water bath tap is luke warm and the bathroom sink that sits relatively close to it is ‘normal’ cold? It’s not a major issue, but my flatmate/tenant loves an ice bath and it isn’t an option.
I can only think that the pipes are being warmed by proximity to the boiler, but it isn’t even that close.

Do you have a cold water tank and possibly the bathroom sink is connected to the mains to avoid pollution from the tank in what could be considered drinking water. As far as I know kitchen sinks are supplied from the mains for this reason.

Could be piped wrong, proximity to the boiler won't affect cold main temp. You'd need to know what kind of system you have.

If you have a combi fitted i'll bet you won't have a tank and even if you did have a tank for your cold water supply that supplied the bathroom it'll be too big to get heated from proximity to something unless as ive said its piped wrong.

I guess the tap could be a mixer that's always mixing.

Cold tank maybe as mentioned above.

What's the water pressure like on the sink compared to the bath? I had lousy cold water pressure from the cold tank compared to mains-fed.

Thanks for all the useful responses.

I don’t know anything about the system, or plumbing at all, as is probably evident.

It’s a block of twenty flats, I can tell you that the water is included in the service charge if that indicates anything. Checked the pressure and it’s equal in both the bath and the basin

The boiler is this mammoth thing. Not a combi, what is it?!

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Thats a unvented hot water cylinder, that should give you main pressure hot water. So what ever you cold is coming in, you'll have hot at the same pressure or should.

It could be various things, is there an expansion vessel on that cylinder or is it internal as it may need to be recharged. Are the pipes coming out of it hot if you run the tap in the sink in the kitchen?

That will either be heated via an immersor or a boiler will heat it.

I also would think that will be the hot water for the full block of flats my mum and dad have a cylinder the same size in there house.

We’ve had a leak in the bathroom, somewhere in the cistern, which is boxed in. I’ve made an access hole and we’ve had a plumber out to find the leak. He put dye in the cistern, nailed down that it was the cause and has cut off the supply to the toilet. He’s suggested replacing the toilet and cistern - changing the loo for a floor-standing one as we have a floating one and it has moved and out hairline cracks in the tiles. He sent a quote to replace the loo, cistern, and make good all the tiling on the boxed-in section and it’s come to £4,699. That’s mad, right? Any tips on who to approach? I’m SE near Catford.

I've got a leak from my toilet. It appears to be leaking from the black seal surrounding the plastic screw with a slot in it at the top left of the pic. This is one of two screws that join the cistern to the seat.

Is this screw/seal a standard size and can I buy it at a plumbers/screwfix etc.

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LOLOLOL, I need to get jobs like this. 5k to replace a toilet

Are you sure its coming from that and not condensation?

100% it's definitely leaking although not sure it's from there; that just seems the most likely source

It’ll probs be for holding the cistern to the pan one on either side. I’d have a guess it’s leaking from the middle and running across.

The min you split it you’ll need to replace the doughnut and sometimes it’s a bastard to get it to reseal.

I also silicon the doughnuts top and bottom as toilets leaking all the bloody time.

okay cheers. ~Thought if it was a simple remove and replace I would give it a go myself. sounds like I may as well call a plumber and transfer the risk to him.

If your handy it’s pretty easy, but toilets the min you split them leak like fuck. I actually try to avoid them unless were quiet 😂

No one on here fancy doing my bathroom do they? Struggling finding someone who's actually available...

(E17)

I have a question related to getting a plumber in and sorting some broken toilet stuff.

Our toilet needs some kind of simple repair done to it. Both the internal and external(street) stopcocks are faulty.
A plumber came around and said he can't repair the toilet or the internal stopcock as the water pressure is too high and would need it shutting off from the external stopcock in order to get anything done.

So, I called Thames Water who have said they they don't "legally" need to do anything as it's not a major emergency causing damage or a huge leak. They said that the plumber needs to either do what's called a clamp and freeze or fit an Aladdin valve to stop the water in order to sort out the internal stopcock (and other repairs)

Then, I got back on to the phone to the plumbers that had just left, explaining to them what Thames Water had said. They have said they'll call me back with some sort of reply by tomorrow afternoon.

So my understanding is that somewhere between the stopcock on the street and the internal one is where the temporary shut off should be?

Question is, should the plumber be doing this job or should Thames Water be fitting an up to date external stopcock like all of my neighbours have?

Have you got a water meter yet? Ask them to fit one and they will have to sort out the external stop tap as part of the job.