Question

I had a water softener (Tapworks) installed a few months ago. The softener feeds both the cold and hot water. When I test the cold water, it is soft (40 ppm). When I test the hot water is quite hard (180 ppm). When I test the bypass cold water, it is extremely hard (1000 ppm). I have an unvented cylinder with a Worcester-Bosch boiler. I have just adjusted the water softener for much harder water (it was set for 270 ppm and is now set for 500 ppm, the max), and I hope this will change the hot water hardness - I will have to wait until the tank is refilled. Why is the hot water harder than the cold water?

Thanks again. They were recommendations from neighbours/friends, though I think they were not able to judge the quality of the work done (but the person seemed nice, and the final appearance looked good). Many tradesmen are chancers, hoping their work will probably be alright. That is not what a homeowner wants. We are now trying Checkatrade, (though I suspect most of the reviews are made up).

Thanks. Exhausted with dodgy cowboys, and one can't sue them as they have no assets.

Thanks very much. It is the work of two plumbers. The second one was supposed to sort out the problems created by the first one, but he didn't.

Thanks so much. We have quite a few isolation valves on CH system. Two recently installed ones are under wood flooring that would be difficult to access (see photo). Some were recently installed. What is the easiest way to sort this out? Should I replace them with full bore ones?

here is the photo when I remove the circular chrome cap. Do I just turn the nut? How does the ballofix affect the CH? How do you know that it is not full bore? It has 15 written on it.

yes, here is a picture. See copper pipes (ignore silver ones)

I had a radiator installed (dual fuel with electric element). There is a TRV on one side but no balancing valve on the other side. There is an isolation valve on the other side. Should I (a) use the isolation valve as a balancing valve, or (b) get the plumber back and ask him to put a balancing valve as he should done originally? Thanks.

I'll speak to the manufacturers about the boiler connections to the cylinder. See what they say. I'll post here what they say.

Thanks Nick. I haven't been clear. I did get a Gas Safe certificate for the recent installation. I understood a commissioning document is something different. When the boiler was first installed in 2016, the engineer filled in and signed a gas boiler system commissioning checklist in the manufacturer's "installation, commissioning and servicing instructions" booklet. The 2016 commissioning checklist contains some information about the boiler like CO levels. In May 2022, the engineer has not provided me with a commissioning document for the boiler (but did do one for unvented cylinder). There is no information about the C0 or CO2 levels when he moved the boiler. There is no sticker on it. According to the unvented cylinder commissioning document, the maximum primary flow temperature is 75 C. In 2016, the engineer who installed the boiler did not produce a Gas Safe certificate (and there is no record on Gas Safe), and he crossed out the section "domestic hot water Mode" in the commissioning checklist. At the time, we just trusted tradesmen to do the right paperwork. I will contact the unvented manufacturer and ask them which coil I should be using. I say that it takes a long time to reach the right temperature, because the boiler remains on continuously for at least 2.5 hours. Is that a correct conclusion? I am still on a journey on learning about heating, electricity, plumbing etc, so apologies if I am not clear. We found with some workmen, even the qualified ones, that we rapidly find out things that they should know but which they don't. It really is appalling.

ProDave, sorry I misunderstood your question. We recently had the boiler moved but he did not do any commissioning document. We have the original one when it was first installed in 2016. It says Central Heating flow temperature of 68 C and 47 C return temperature. I can't find any flow temperature for the hot water.

ProDave, the commissioning checklist was completed by the plumber and it says What is the maximum hot water flow rate at set thermostat (measured at high flow outlet)? 14 l/min (Hot water thermostat was set at 60 C)

I can't see KW rating for the solar coil at the bottom. I can find it for other manufacturers online but not for Telford cylinders. I see that if the KW rating is high, the recovery time is quick. So, thanks for pointing this out to me. I'll try to speak to the manufacturer's tomorrow.

Is it an unusual to take two and half hours for our new 250 litres unvented cylinder to heat up the water from cold to 60 C? (I have seen figures of half an hour on the internet). The boiler is a 30Kw Worcester Bosch. The unvented cylinder is a twin coil solar system. We got that to future proof, but we don't have solar panels. We may get panels in the future. Telford Tempest 250 Litre Twin Coil Solar Indirect Unvented Cylinder - Cylinders2Go The boiler is connected to the bottom coil only. Nothing is connected to the other coil. The coil outlet/boiler return from the cylinder is still very hot. I wondered whether the hot water is going through a short coil and therefore not heating the water that much. Is this a more expensive way of heating water?

We are just scraping it off or just peeling it off when we can (and sometimes we get loads off). It is going to take many hours. We have tried hot water, sanding and heating it with a heat gun, none of which work well. Tiles would not look good, and we don't know how to re-skim but could pay someone (presumably they would have to score the existing paint).

Thanks. The tradesman won't come back to fix it, and we have other issues with his work. We think the problem is that they either didn't put a mist coat on the bare plaster or they used the wrong paint. Whatever they did, the paint is peeling off in places and we need to remove it. It is bathroom paint so it can peel off like a skin in places and in other places it sticks on the plaster. Bathroom paint probably didn't have much water in it, so it is not surprising that it is peeling off.

Thanks. How you used a wall paper steamer with bathroom paint?

We had a "decorator" recently who painted on new plaster in our shower room. The paint has started peeling. We can lift some of it off with like a skin, and in some places it is more stubborn. When we can't peel the paint away, we have tried heating the paint, sanding it, and watering it (in the hope it will loosen). Sanding is incredibly slow. We are somewhat reluctant to use paint stripper, as it will get absorbed in the plaster. This is hugely time consuming and stressful. Any advice extremely welcome.

I measured the water pressure to my house during the daytime and it was 6 bar. I have read such a high pressure can damage appliances and cause leaks. I am planning to get a PRV for my water softener. Should I also ensure that the PRV reduces the hard (cold) water pressure to my kitchen sink and dishwasher?

Got it and the gurgling noise has disappeared. So thank you. What surprised me was that the plumber (a gas safe one) had no idea how to solve this issue. But then again, I am coming across too many tradesmen who are not that good.

Are we talking about a class M extractors? For example, https://www.amazon.co.uk/Trend-T32-Class-Dust-Extractor/dp/B089VRD5X3/ref=sr_1_5?adgrpid=141771405967&gclid=Cj0KCQjw8amWBhCYARIsADqZJoWw4Qi_ucGzSC5mR_riff6ANHisPANIGPejTV-cIAyF5N-ZffO8JnAaAoPSEALw_wcB&hvadid=606064226526&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=1006841&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=14506790469919209961&hvtargid=kwd-417414502497&hydadcr=1350_2254760&keywords=m%2Bclass%2Bdust%2Bextraction&qid=1657480910&sr=8-5&th=1 What is a cyclone extractor?

Thanks very much. We will first try getting decent extraction with a vacuum cleaner. If we were spending many days sanding, we would get the Mirka or Festool.

We have just bought a sander BEW 200 Black and Decker https://www.blackanddecker.co.uk/products/power-tools/sanders/200w-4in1-multisander/bew200 and I have two questions: 1) When we sand the walls (painted or plastered), there is load of dust in the room and hardly any dust in the dust bag. Is this normal? 2) Are there any sanders that will capture nearly all the dust? Thanks for any help you can provide.

Great,thanks so much.

Is this the sort of thing we need? McAlpine ASA10V adjustable inlet tubular P-trap 1.1/4" x 3" | Wolseley