Home DIY

Probably worth adding a cover or building a frost box over the tap to prevent it happening again.

Sounds like my sort of diy - let's hope it's not further upstream

Sort of cross post from the smart home thread, but this is more about trouble shooting.

• We have a freezer in an outbuilding plugged into a wall socket.
  
• in the main house consumer unit, there is a fuse for the out building and shed
  
• in the outbuilding there is one of those little two switch break fuse things (idk if you'd still call it a consumer unit)
  
• since our patio layers have been here with their big yellow power box the sockets keep tripping. Have not been here since the weekend.
  
• sometimes the trips are on the house CU fuse for the outbuilding, sometimes at the out building's little breaker. This morning sockets went off and it didn't seem to have tripped switch for the sockets, but flicking on and off sorted it.
  
  

Any ideas?

Also where do I start trouble shooting? Unplugging everything, and plugging in one-by-one, but what do I do after that?

Cheers

Run a long extension out to the freezer from another house circuit with rcd. See if the freezer trips the rcd on that circuit. If not you need to check the insulation resistance of the cable connecting house to outbuilding and the condition of the internal sockets.

The big yellow power box is a 110v transformer which is standard on building sites because it's not as lethal as 240v in the case that a builder should damage a cable with or while operating a power tool.

If the problem were linked to the builders and not the freezer then damage to sockets or possibly larger current draw causing deterioration through arcing in already damaged cable insulation is a possibility.

Freezers in outbuildings do have a reputation for failing like this over time though. Sometimes the compressor starting can draw too much current when it's reaching end of life, also check the lamp inside it if it has one.

Of course this could all be wrong as you don't really have enough information about the circuit to tell yet.

This morning sockets went off and it didn't seem to have tripped switch for the sockets, but flicking on and off sorted it.

This could indicate a wiring problem or an issue with the RCD. Probably the second.

Maybe replace the RCD that's on the sockets and see of that solves the issue.

if you are losing sockets but the RCD is not tripping I think it should be replaced anyway

Cheers.

I'll post some pics of the CU in the outbuilding to clarify.

110v transformer was the correct phrase!

I am not 100% how the electricity gets from the house to the outbuilding. So I'm worried they've been clumsy and hit something. Or been clumsy and damaged one of the sockets.

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Or been clumsy and damaged one of the sockets.

builders damage an electrical outlet, never!

Thanks for the recommendations, will actually buy both, the cardboard one @atk linked to as that can be in the high traffic/perimeter of the room and reused, the stick down one for everywhere else.

I'd like to move my toilet by about 6 inches but I really do not want to move the soil/waste pipe and I also don't want to box any pipes in. I have a flexy waste attached to the soil pipe but I can't move the toilet as the rigid waste pipe comes out to far form the wall. But if I trimmed the rigid pipe I still can't see how I have move it a few inches as the back of the toilet (pan) will crush the flexy hose.

I'm not sure if I am being really silly. Any advice!

If anyone else fucks up with expanding foam I can strongly recommend this stuff to sort out the resulting mess!

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This will buy you 4 inches https://www.bgplumbingservices.co.uk/co/100mm-pvc-rubber-leak-proof-offset-toilet-flange-shifter-for-drainage-systems-8971532.html

Don't want to start the perennial debate, but is there a forum approved oil/finish for wooden kitchen worktops? It's an Ikea butchers block style (oak?) one.

I need to sand and re-finish it. I used to use the Ikea oil on our old one but I think they changed it and I wasn't impressed with the new one.

More bothered about protection than aesthetics, although I don't want a varnish that will peel/crack over time.

Go back and read what folk have said over the years, still current into there's nothing new with wood tops.

I would sand down to 400 or 800 grit then wipe up dust and get to it with some wire wool 00, then 000. Your trying to get it as smooth as poss, helps keep water out. This will take ages, use a random orbit or by hand with a large block. Grain should be gone, your looking for almost a glass finish.
Clean up then oil with whatever you choose. Avoid cheap stuff like rustins danish mix etc.
Osmo polyx clear satin over about 2 years worth of some danish mix a high end wood shop gave me half a pint of, and lately some tong oil (darker but a nightmare to work with, gives almost no protection but the colour is nice).

Is all about prep, time and then more time. Osmo do various polyx with tints in it to simulate whatever effect you want. It's more pricey than some, but compared to how much you have paid for wood plus fitting is a drop (lol) in thr ocean.

I've rescued various mates wood tops that they say they have sanded abd wire wooled to perfection, only to spend another whole hour to get anywhere close to what id call done. None of the tops I've done (30+) have stains aside complete abuse like a wet rusty steel can left for days, or very strong chemicals like oven cleaner foam penetrating the finish. The osmo you'll habe to top up once a month for first 6,then 3 then just once a year is prob fine, no idea when I last did mine.

Don't varnish.

Also, what can I use to fill this gap (and maybe the void behind it)? I was going to use DraughtEx but it's hollow behind so I think it will just fall through the gap.

Main aim is to stop the weed smell coming through from our neighbour's house. But insulation is a bonus.

Edit- picture didn't upload

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Go back and read what folk have said over the years, still current into there's nothing new with wood tops.

I would sand down to 400 or 800 grit then wipe up dust and get to it with some wire wool 00, then 000. Your trying to get it as smooth as poss, helps keep water out. This will take ages, use a random orbit or by hand with a large block. Grain should be gone, your looking for almost a glass finish.
Clean up then oil with whatever you choose. Avoid cheap stuff like rustins danish mix etc.
Osmo polyx clear satin over about 2 years worth of some danish mix a high end wood shop gave me half a pint of, and lately some tong oil (darker but a nightmare to work with, gives almost no protection but the colour is nice).

Is all about prep, time and then more time. Osmo do various polyx with tints in it to simulate whatever effect you want. It's more pricey than some, but compared to how much you have paid for wood plus fitting is a drop (lol) in thr ocean.

I've rescued various mates wood tops that they say they have sanded abd wire wooled to perfection, only to spend another whole hour to get anywhere close to what id call done. None of the tops I've done (30+) have stains aside complete abuse like a wet rusty steel can left for days, or very strong chemicals like oven cleaner foam penetrating the finish. The osmo you'll habe to top up once a month for first 6,then 3 then just once a year is prob fine, no idea when I last did mine.

Don't varnish. Hard to repair.

Attached is pics from just now. Worktop usable area is very small, 600mm, fitted in 2017, you can see its used but nothing major. Sink rh side is basically mint, lh corner next to little sink has some rounding from washing up, pan handles etc. Colour is really nice in person, deep dark warmish colour but not yellow (danish mixs tend to be yellow er, tong tends to be more brown grey). Surface is almost shiny and beads water most of the time.

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@Chaley thanks! I think I have gone down a rabbit hole with offsets but this looks promising. Here's some photos to show the situation.

We've just removed two 90 degree bends and also removed a weird plinth the toilet was attached to. But I can sort of see now why it was done the way it was, however the two 90 bends (plus another behind the wall) were making the toilet empty really slowly (and the plinth poked out into the bathroom over a foot).

Now we have temporarily attached the toilet using a flexy hose you can just see its about 3 " away from the shower and I would like to move it over at least 5 inches.

The issue is the back to wall toilet and that it won't allow for any offset waste as the toilet back will be in the way.

Two options I see:

• Chip away at the wall and try and put the offset far enough in that the toilet will sit flush to the wall

• Get a new toilet with an "open back" which will allow for a flexy hose to create the bend that will allow me to shift it over a few inches. (this option I don't like as I don't really want to see the waste

Any other ideas?!

a bit of expanding foam probably wouldn't do any harm (other than potentially being a bit messy and being a faff if you put too much in and it spills out- though see a few posts above for the remedy!)

draughtex should in theory be a bit wider than the gap it's going in, so as it gets compressed between the bottom of the skirt and the floor, should stay in place anyway with any luck.

X post from AQA

I bought a Smeg range from eBay for a bargain price. I went to take a look at it this evening before collecting on Monday and it was in the man’s back garden, and not well covered up so wet from rain. Would rain on an unplugged oven be a problem if I leave it to dry out fully before plugging it in? I won’t be fitting it for a couple of months

Ta. It's not for a socket, but for a pir sensor which causes rainwater to splash against the house. Or maybe I should just get my gutters fixed.

It should be ok. I’d take off the back and any panels that can be removed to let the air circulate. We got our old rangemaster off a chap that had had it in a leaky shed for 5 years before we picked it up. The fan on one of the ovens packed up after 6 months, but it was a cheap/easy fix. And like your’s was a steal so.

How hard is installing your own dishwasher on a scale of 1 to 10?

And what's the hardest part?

3, reading the pictogram instructions is the hardest bit.

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Connect cold water feed, put drain pipe in waste outlet, plug it in

Free standing I’ll go a 3/10 as well. Integrated, a solid 8/10 and that’s just getting the door front right.

Fairly easy assuming you've already got pipework in place.

Can be more of a ball ache if it's integrated and you need to work out the door.