Home DIY

Oh and as absurdbird says they are flipping heavy - I moved ours on the landing when stripping wallpaper and thought I was going to have an Indiana Jones moment with that chasing me down the stairs.

Need some help guys

Looking to replace the bathroom window which currently opens to the utility room.

I'm looking to replace the window (currently only single pane and wooden) with a smaller window, kind of size of a normal top opening part of a window (does that even make sense)?!

Where would I find such a window?

Not really DIY and I don't know if I'm being an idiot, but I need some help installing a washing machine. The problem is, I'm not sure whether it's a cold-fill or a hot/cold fill washer.

It has hot *and *cold water inlets, but the manual (page 44) essentially say you can use a cold water supply, but it needs to feed in to both water inlets (using a Y-piece connection.

I appreciate this may be blindingly obvious, but I'm lost.

Not really DIY and I don't know if I'm being an idiot, but I need some help installing a washing machine.

It really depends on whether you do it yourself or not. :)

Hippy someone will have them for scrap.

Just make sure they're disconnected first for a good 36 hours as the bricks can hold a lot of heat.

Come on, it's not cold. Been off for months now. :P

Not really DIY and I don't know if I'm being an idiot, but I need some help installing a washing machine. The problem is, I'm not sure whether it's a cold-fill or a hot/cold fill washer.

It has hot *and *cold water inlets, but the manual (page 44) essentially say you can use a cold water supply, but it needs to feed in to both water inlets (using a Y-piece connection.

I appreciate this may be blindingly obvious, but I'm lost.

if you have a condensing boiler then it makes more sense to plumb in separate h&c supplies, else you have to rely on the washing machine's heater, which will deffo require descaling at some point.

Not really DIY and I don't know if I'm being an idiot, but I need some help installing a washing machine. The problem is, I'm not sure whether it's a cold-fill or a hot/cold fill washer.

It has hot *and *cold water inlets, but the manual (page 44) essentially say you can use a cold water supply, but it needs to feed in to both water inlets (using a Y-piece connection.

A lot of new models are cold fill only and current energy ratings are determined using a cold fill at 15'C whatever the inlet configuration.
I've used a Y connector without problem for about 10 years though not in a hard water area. This may be cost effective if your boiler is elderly / less than efficient? - balanced against descaling boiler or washing machine or both?

I believe the only washing machine available now with H&C fill is an ISE -obscure but excellent Swedish brand designed for 20 years use, and cost £900

Better for the life of the machine and with a combi boiler is probably more energy efficient. Plumb in a hot supply and you're ahead of the game, I reckon.

Thanks for the info guys. I'll just fit the hot supply and leave it be.

if you have a condensing boiler then it makes more sense to plumb in separate h&c supplies, else you have to rely on the washing machine's heater, which will deffo require descaling at some point.

Yes we've recently fitted our washing machine to our new combi boiler and now the washing is done in under an hour opposed to the old time of around 2-3 hours, I thought I was imaging it at first.

Does it need to open?

Ideally yes - for air flow.

We may even replace the window with a new DG unit and fit shutters - could be nice.

dappled sunlight in the utility room, how romantic!

Anyone here with plumbing expertise and a willingness to suggest some ideas? Our kitchen sink drains extremely slowly, unless we fill it up before taking out the plug, in which case it whooshes away super-fast. Waste pipe is clear all the way through to the manhole out at the back.

I think it's either some sort of venting problem (do we need an air admittance valve?) or there's an uphill section, resulting in an effective second trap under the floor which takes a lot of ooomph to shift.

Not sure how the latter might have happened - but we've only had this problem since our sink was replaced a couple of weeks ago, and the chap who did it said he'd lifted the waste pipe up under the sink (as there was quite a lot of up and down play in it) and that may have caused some sort of change in the configuration of waste pipe under the floor - perhaps pulling the upstream end upwards has pushed a middle section down.

any thoughts folks?

Telephone the chap who replaced the sink and say "since your visit the sink won't drain properly, please sort this"?

Well, the reason we have the new sink is that we had a new kitchen done about three years ago, and we've had all sorts of trouble with the sink which was originally mounted under a granite worktop, but he never got the seal to work, despite us dragging him back every few months to sort it out. The water (that is to say, the water that wasn't soaking into the cabinets and floor) was draining away perfectly.

So in the end we agreed he would (at his expesne) fit a brand new sink on top of the granite, which involved getting the granite taken out and recut and reinforced with steel bars set into the underside, refitting the granite and the glass splashback and fitting a brand new sink. And a new cabinet.

We've had him back a few times to try and sort it out but he's stumped. So he agreed we could call out a plumber of our choice, at his expense. Which we did. Our chosen plumber was also stumped.

So I thought I'd ask some cyclists.

get a eastern europe guy?

So I thought I'd ask some cyclists.

I'd ask on a Tri forum. They're into water.

It did occur to me to ask the manager of the hotel we stayed in at Sandown for the IoW Randonnee if we could have the details of their plumber.

They'd clearly used someone pretty talented, as they'd got the pipework to gurgle all through the night so as to prevent us from feeling so fresh and perky on the morning of the ride that we'd be a hazard to other cyclists.

The plumber had also restricted the flow of water in the shower to a pathetic trickle which I am sure is good news for saving scarce natural resources.

I reckon its a uphill section of pipe.
When you have a large enough body of water (filling sink with plug in) it has enough momentum to go over the negative drainage section then siphons the rest of the water along.
It may be an air admittance issue but usually the symptom that requires that remedy is a siphoning pipe -it draws the water from the trap into waste pipe.

I'm with Dammit get the fitter/plumber you paid to fit it to sort it out.

thanks for that - as stated upthread, we've had the original guy back a number of times and the best he can manage is to look sad, scratch his head and try to change the subject to street luges and camper vans.

How much of the pipe run is visible without taking up the floorboards, and how much of a massive pain in the arse would it be to take the boards up (if the pipes run underneath the floor)?

Hmmm, the first few feet would be OK, as they're just the old original (deal?) boards that were either put down when the place was built in 1915 or replaced the originals on a like-for-like basis, so they've had a fairly rough life and I don't mind pulling them up. Beyond that, however, we're in tricky territory - I fear the waste pipe then heads under a floor that was put down three years ago and is made of narrow strips of t&g maple, probably laid on top of something impossible like 18mm ply sheeting.

I might see if I can shift the upright section of the waste pipe under the sink so that it's back in its "low" position. I've drawn a pair of before and after pictures which suggest how the pulling up of the waste pipe under the sink may have resulted in a previous gentle downhill slope turning into a sag as a result of the waste pipe being pulled up against a joist. Just an idea.

is replacing a tap washer easy? can you buy washers in various size 'kits' in case you don't know what size you need?

Yes and yes. You may need to recut the valve seat though, for which you will need a tool, but try replacing the washer first.

dappled sunlight in the utility room, how romantic!

I meant shutters in the bathroom window which opens to the utility room.

You mean to get rid of the smells..........

Shame, I was going to suggest glass bricks/blocks.

Yeah I had thought the same myself, but I don't really want to open a can of worms not having a window.