Home DIY

They dont need to be hard wired, so can get away with RF unit. Fuckin no cheap and apart from no one actually going to be checking up, if you dont it'll be a get out of jail for the insurance companys if your house does go on fire.

Plumbing questions - How do I tell if it's the immersion heating element or if it's the thermostat that is borked in my unvented cylinder?

And two port zone valves - is there any difference between brands (other than price)?

this one looks like a decent enough set - just going to get a sealed battery RF set. cba getting a spark to mains wire some. not checked the Ts & Cs of my buildings insurance but assume non-compliance would invalidate its cover in the event of a fire... so probably best just to get them. can't have too much fire safety too, I guess

Is there any regs for smoke detectors in England? My 1930's house has individual battery ones dotted about the house.

Only for newly built / significantly modified or rented stuff.

Your home insurance policy may specify something though.

but assume non-compliance would invalidate its cover in the event of a fire

Probably this, even if there was nobody home to hear the alarm.

Cynical me has wondered which SG minister or official has connections with a manufacturer, or one of the many websites now selling them.

Checking resistance value over each component with a multimeter. Broken element would usually give you an open loop. And thermostats have a specific resistance they should be, but again open loop wouldn’t be a good sign.

I’ve not done a huge amount of fault finding on boilers and stuff but that’s my basic understanding.

Trying to replicate the existing skirting using pine board and some parting bead stuck on with a spacer and plenty of caulk.

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Yeah it feels like someone got skin in the game, which really sticks with me

That’s pretty much what I’d do to check them, I’ve actually got one to go fault find on Monday

Lick of paint and that will blend in nicely

Cheers. STILL waiting for the tiles to come in stock to finish off the hearth surface. Then a dark hardwood border around that. Happy enough with how I cut the skirting around the fireplace (so it could mount flush to the wall, I didn't fancy cutting the fireplace to go around the skirting).

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Still happy to have seen the back of the brick monstrosity. Fireplace is just held in place by two screws in the side that go into battens fixed to the wall. So it can come off easy to finish the tiling and painting.

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I like mirror in the fireplace when it's open like that. It's not easy to get right because of the multiple angles but it sets off whatever you put in it. Dark tinted or antiqued works nicely too.

That's an amazing transformation.

But you lose a lot of marks for the Halloween decorations.

Nice - thanks.

Turns out that one of my multimeters doesn't work at all, and the other is flaky af.

Neither the element nor the thermostat seems fucked - Both have reasonable resistance, and the thermostat resistance is infinity when it is supposed to.

Back to testing!

Taking points off a two year old, you monster.

Fuse gone somewhere? Perhaps test for voltage at the various points in the chain, assuming you can get to them while it is on safely enough.

How do I tell if it's the immersion heating element or if it's the thermostat that is borked in my unvented cylinder?

It's more likely to be the thermostat as this is a switching device with contacts that are making and breaking. It's also the easiest bit to swap.
Mine went recently but used to have a normal and overheat stat (which didn't tip) wired in series with the heating element. The cylinder over temp and over pressure relief valves were functional.

Replaced with a combined dual safety unit, just slid into one of the sensor tubes.
https://www.screwfix.com/c/heating-plumbing/immersion-heaters/cat830986

Actually, if yours isn't working. Is there a reset button to press on the immersion thermostat.

That looks like a really good job, well done

you're smaller than I imagined. longer hair

That looks nice. What shelving system is that? I had ruled out that setup for alcoves

Curious too.

In particular whether you need some sort of vapour barrier. Or if you should have. Especially in a shed type environment. Or is a shed leaky enough for it not to matter. Or should you install an air vent?

Well done man. You've really transformed that.