Home DIY

Why would prices fall? The demand is still there. Prices won't fall till they have to incentivise (sp) buyers

Depends if it is supply or demand driven? My understanding was that it was both, so if supply picks up again, which is at last partially linked to shipping issues then price may come down again

Decent outside light with PIR sensor? Screwfix offerings all have plenty reviews claiming short working life.

I use these ones, as I like the integrated PIR, but does mean the PIR faces the same as the light if that is an issue for you. Also comes with a little remote control to do all the settings which is useful. Have had them installed for about 5 years with no issues, and of differing wattage as well.

Just bought one of these and had it installed in our exterior porch (vestibule?), looks neat, can't vouch for longevity. Needs a fiddle as it still comes on in the day.

https://www.lights.co.uk/thilo-led-ceiling-lamp-ip54-white-24-cm.html

Decommissioned an old electric shower and bathroom heater circuit.

Get a call back this evening that the central heating hadn’t come on. Pop by to check and discover that the boiler man had spurred off the old circuit but made no note of it anywhere.

The circuit was left powering an old bathroom heater that I was there to remove, and the electric shower was long gone (and documented as such). So I disconnected the lot.

Fortunately it was easy enough to reinstate, and now there’s a 6mm cable supplying a boiler spur that probably needs about a watch battery’s worth of current. But hey ho.

Relieved that it was a quick fix, and ultimately my own fuck up. But for Christ sake, would it kill people to add “boiler” to the rest of the meticulously labelled fuse board.

this is shite @nefarious i've seen the state a qualified electrician was in after he got a full packet from an electric shock on site because some twat didn't disconnect and label the cables correctly at the fuse board. he was taken to A&E didn't return to site, not sure how bad his injuries were and i didn't look in the site accident book, nor any questions thereafter, but his boss was fuming for weeks...

TRVs replaced by the plumber and Tado head unit now properly attached on the bedroom rad. Dumped a bottle of inhibitor into the F&E tank when turning the water back on. The F&E tank is in a really awkward spot with no stop cock or valve of its own and no easy way of tieing up the ballcock so just turned the mains off.

Only had to bleed one other rad when it when the heating went back on and then all got consistently hot.

Win.

Excellent.
Did you consider fitting an isolation valve for the header tank while you had the water off?
😖

Did I fuck

Won a watch there for sure, could have been a nightmare if he had to do some sucking on that tank

No need to worry about an isolation value when stevo upgrades to a pressurised system be it combi or something else ;)

Fortunately I wasn’t at any risk during the whole thing, but it definitely wound me up how fucking lazy the bloke must have been. At minimum he would have needed to switch off the circuit at the board, so it’s not like he couldn’t see how thoroughly it was all documented and labelled.
Lesson learned anyway.

Today’s grief has been with combination PIR/daylight sensors. After adjusting for dusk, the motion sensor no longer works at all.

3 dials - time, sensitivity, lux.
From reading the instructions, the light should operate on the motion sensor until it gets to the light level selected for dusk, at which point it becomes a permanent floodlight, however, the client only wants it to be a motion activated. So I moved the lux dial to the lowest setting (ie flood light activating in pitch black/never), but now it’s not working on motion sensor at all.

I’ve left it until tomorrow (was still there at 9pm, bit of a disastrous day), as last time I had daylight sensor issues, it just needed a few hours being left alone to settle down.

Anyone got any experience with these things? Will ring the manufacturer/wholesaler tomorrow, but first hand experience is always more useful!

My experience isn’t very helpful. We have had about 5 PIR lights - mine were very good. Opted for one which works off a switch - can’t be happier now and it’s LED so nice and bright. I realise that some people need PIR but I’ve only had bad experiences of them.

They've got outside lamps at the back on a switch, but wanted to replace their old PIR lights with something similar. Bought some slightly more expensive Brackenheath ones to replace the LAP landfill that had previously been installed (terribly), but I think they're only marginally better.

It's my understanding that the light will only stay on for the length of time set by the time knob. So set the time knob to 3 mins, dusk to around the light level when you want it to operate, sensitivity depending on the position and where you want movement to have a reaction. Your reading of the instructions doesn't make any sense to me. No one wants a PIR to come on at dusk and stay on all night, that's what the motion sensitivity and timer are for.

I've had some luck with separately wired PIR units and standalone lamps. They are a problem if they're on a switch that can be operated by the uninitiated though. Some of them have a mode where you can switch on and off quickly and it will come on all the time or stop coming on altogether.

At one point I had a guy at the wholesalers counter tell me they are sensitive to polarity and require earthing to work reliably. Not sure on the wisdom of that.

Don't want to jinx it but we had problems with one that was wired to a switch in the hallway until I put a permanent feed in for it, since then it's not missed a beat.

I try to avoid having anything to do with them.

What do you reckon?

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Having re-read the instructions I reckon you're right. Setting it up at 8.30pm, having been fasting all day, didn't have me at my most cognisant.

It's on a permanent feed (it's own dedicated circuit which is nice!), unswitched. I think it's all down to poor reading comprehension on my part, lol. Back to replace an outside socket there later so will get it sorted! Thanks for the help/ability to read.

I try to avoid having anything to do with them.

I'm not having much joy with lux and PIR sensors so far, that's for sure!

It's got to be close to top of the list for call backs and moans. Guess work if you're not there at dusk as well. I try to encourage the householder to set it themselves but that's not always practical.

I want to order double glazing units to fit myself. Anyone got any recs for good online companies for this?

Have you read this?

Thanks. I hadn't, but I've been out off a couple of my local places that come up on that list by the standard of their driving/pushy salespeople so I thought I'd see if anyone has a personal recommendation.

Almost any local high street glass place can order units for you. The more responsibility you take on for measuring, delivery etc. the less it will cost.

What's the forum approved combi drill for someone who has never owned one before?

It’s likely to be this -

https://www.screwfix.com/p/dewalt-dcd777-18v-li-ion-xr-brushless-cordless-drill-driver-bare/955kf

I have one of these which I actually quite like. Not astounding quality and I prefer work’s makitas but for odd jobs around the house I’ve found it to be perfect

https://www.screwfix.com/p/mac-allister-msdd18-li-2-18v-1-5ah-li-ion-cordless-drill-driver/873fx