The DIY Thread

[EpsomWolf]

Just a bit of information sharing which might be of use to others:

Had struggled for 2 years with inefficient central heating, half of the house always cold, radiators luke warm etc. Seemed to be spending a fortune on logs as well trying to boost the heat with the additional log burner. The cold part happens to be in the original bit of the house so figured it might just be something to do with that and not a lot you can do.

Before calling an engineer in had a shufti on YouTube. Balancing the system appeared to be what was required. Drew a radiator diagram showing the order with inlets and outlets as per the tutorial, then set the first one up and patiently on to the next. Took about half a day all in all with some fine tuning required at the end, but blimey was it worth it, a really warm house throughout.

Worth mentioning as the system started working efficiently the trapped air came pouring out of the release valves, so much so the water pressure in the boiler dropped to zero cutting the thing out! A moment of panic but our friend YouTube showed how to refill the boiler and off you go again. Let out the last bit of air, then a last tweak on the balancing and for the first time since moving in have a toasty house.

Saved a good few quid and learned something along the way which is always a good feeling.

This guy was very clear and used the idiot speak I found very helpful:

All boilers will be slightly different but this is the one I used. I suppose normally the annual gas service guy would top up if required but as mentioned was forced suddenly to top up. Something that the thought of was quite scary was in fact a piece of cake.

Can’t believe we struggled so long and am hoping as it’s finally efficient the bills will come down next winter too. Don't be afraid of having a go guys.

 

[sycophantia]

Built a new garden gate over the weekend. The current one is falling to bits, not bad though as me and a mate knocked that together one Saturday morning as a tempory job, that was 30 years ago!
Looked at ready made gates but though they were reasonably priced, they all looked a bit flimsy and anyway ours is an odd size so would have had to be custom made.
I'm no chippy but actually enjoyed making it, went straightforward (for a change). Downside is I ricked my back crawling round the garage floor screwing it together so will have to wait a while before I hang it.

 

[EpsomWolf]

Might be getting into some dodgy territory with electrics but am going to ask anyway. Apologies for the idiot-speak but it’s the only way I’ll compute it.

Shed/workshop at the end of the garden, didn’t have much needed electrics. Decided to go cheap (/bodge) and bought a 4 gang cable reel drum and placed that in the shed. I took the plug off, ran the cable back through a long hosepipe, (I can feel the wincing about lack of armour protection already) safely along a border where it wouldn’t get spiked, then plug back on and plugged into an existing compliant waterproof outside socket.

So currently we’ve just got this, which I can plug stereo/power tools etc into as required and has been working fine for 12 months or so:

But, it’s a pain having to enter it in the dark and faff around with a torch until you can plug the inspection lamp in for some decent light. I’m figuring the easiest thing is just to mount an inspection lamp (or two) to the ceiling, run the cable down and alongside the inside of the doorframe, cut it, wire it into a ‘light switch’ (questions about the sort of switch coming up) by the door, then run the rest of the cable out of the switch and down to the cable reel drum where it’s left plugged in, effectively giving me a convenient light switch here:



I get that may well be a bodge too far and one to freak the electricians out, but aside of a full professional and costly installation from scratch it seems like it would work, and to my (very) limited electrical skills be a lot easier than attempting to wire in other sort of lighting.

I’ll respect anyone shouting ‘don’t do it!’ or with alternative suggestions, but assuming it’s done with the right sort of switch (anyone point me in the direction of what is the right/safe type of switch to use please?) and it’s safe then it would be a very easy fix to what is quite a problem.

 

[pavlosmacwolf]

Sounds perfect, no sense paying a fortune and a switch for the cable you should get at any lighting shop or diy store.
They do switches here in greece for two wire and 3 wire cables (sorry about the high tech language ), so if they do it here they for sure do it in uk.
just cut the cable, fit in switch as necessary and bob's your uncle.

 

[North Shropshire Lad]

Perfect DIY fix. Get LED lighting and the draw on the power will be negligible. I’d put an LED on the outside of the door as well and use the the switch on the waterproof plug to turn the whole supply off and on. The door light then makes the walk down the garden illuminated in the winter as well.

 

[North Shropshire Lad]

Replace cable reel with 4mm armoured or 6mm/10mm if you intend to get anything heavy duty when you get the time or money.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

I could feel my eye twitching when I was reading that EW, although I applaud the ingenuity

 

[North Shropshire Lad]

Replace cable reel with 4mm armoured or 6mm/10mm if you intend to get anything heavy duty when you get the time or money.

P.S. I fully intended to do the same when I ran 2.5mm twin and earth through 25mm MDPE water pipe (an official no no but similar albeit stronger idea to your hosepipe) to an outbuilding 20 years ago. It goes into a consumer unit (get one of those when you do the armoured cable) and has powered sockets and lighting ever since. The water pipe is buried along a fence line and has never been a problem and so I’ve never got round to changing it. If I die before I move hopefully someone will tell the new buyers! But it’s fairly obvious I think.

 

[EpsomWolf]

Perfect DIY fix. Get LED lighting and the draw on the power will be negligible. I’d put an LED on the outside of the door as well and use the the switch on the waterproof plug to turn the whole supply off and on. The door light then makes the walk down the garden illuminated in the winter as well.

Thanks, I like this idea a lot but the outdoor socket the whole thing is plugged into is in a very inconvenient location so ultimately wouldn’t be practical unfortunately.

I like your suggestion of the armoured cable too. Funnily enough the shed happens to be completely hidden behind some trees and I keep saying to the wife if I get bored I’m going to go all Walter White and have a shot at cooking crystal meth. That’ll be the time to look at the upgrade but will probably stick with the hosepipe for now

 

[pagey]

I've been looking at these as don't have an outdoor socket and have a German Shepherd, whose recently discovered digging.
No idea what size I'd need though, would only be used for lighting, and a few 240v power tools when required.

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[Elephant Pyjamas]

You ok @Del Woppio ??

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