Nickfromwales

Hi. The pressure gauge will be isolated from the heating circuit if you isolate both the flow and return under the boiler, so you’ll not be able to tell where pressure is being lost unless it’s from the boiler itself. Is this a new boiler on existing rads and pipework? I would just top up again and monitor and wait for your chap to attend, Vaillant won’t be able to advise much better over the phone as they didn’t install it. If it’s a replacement boiler then it’s likely there’s a leak where you can’t see it, so this may need some thorough investigation to establish what’s wrong. There will be a blow off pipe, usually 15mm copper, going to the outside of the wall behind the boiler. You can check to see if the blow off (PRV) is opening and letting water out (passing) as that could have failed early. I wouldn’t interfere with the valves under the boiler as your installer may then try to blame you for misadventure etc. Best to just top up and wait for your chap tbh. Oh, and absolutely DO NOT use the hot water with the heating isolated. The boiler will perform an overrun cycle to dissipate heat and you’ll be preventing that from happening.

Hi Peter. Yup, loads of advice and info here on ground works so just choose the correct sub forum to post your questions in, and also read through some of the many posts here to see if that gets you some answers. 👍.

Yes, but offset to allow the trap and connectors / flexi, so about 400mm away from the ‘hole’ in the tray. Impey wastes can drop into a 110mm fitting, very nice, but needs meticulous planning.

Google translate may help lol https://www.naturanum.de/steico-universal-unterdeck-und-wandbauplatte?srsltid=AfmBOoql92NadyXa-HswXA3NyrDmhuB_LFO4Xh6xxaI7B5sBIZmiSGaX

Have you got a magnetic filter in the return pipework at the boiler?

That would be a brave move, plus would see the isolations behind the copper pipes? Disturbing that lot will need confidence and competence, so your call matey! Anything can be done, but my option is of course reliant on you being able to lift the pipes vertically around 30-40mm. These can be used if there’s zero movement above or below, or you go “gigantic ball’s” and do as you suggest. Better to wait until May the 4th to do it. 🙏

Whatever size the pipes are obvs!

Use decent quality ones so they don’t leak! Pegler are v good for the money.

Happy days. BTW, the grey outer collar is cosmetic, and the female threaded union you just refitted that to is welded to the tank. I looked at the MIs and the tank is stainless, so no other harm will have happened other than the bits of corrosion on the steel sleeve at the base, but again cosmetic. All good!

That’s tight as hell, so the only way you’ll get that isolated is to put a pair of 1/4 turns above and another pair below, and don’t even contemplate altering the pipework attached to the UFH, “operation can-of-worms!”. You may have to use standard gate valves if 1/4 turns won’t swing, but ideally you’ll want full bore hence my mention of lever (ball) valves as the preferential ones. You can unbolt the levers if necessary, eg on the lower inner one where it’s getting tight.

Hiring a diamond wall chaser (that an electrician would use) may be ok, but I’m not sure of the depth of cut they offer. That would defo remove a lot of the hard work and be worth the hire cost, but you may then have to chip out a bit at the deepest point. All could go to the nearest WC but it is what it is. If I plan these at the pre construction stage for clients projects I have a 110mm at each shower footprint. 20/20 hindsight is required obvs.

Yup. 🥵. You work out the minimum amount you need to remove and no more. As it’s just soapy water you need very little fall.

Some properties are leakier / more adverse so no 2 jobs can be compared in the real world. If your current BCO says fit fans you’ll be fitting fans, that’s that really. Yes, you can crack the window and never actually use the cloakroom fan, but if you drop the kids off at the pool you’ll want that being extracted, not wafted back through the house because the draught is incoming vs outgoing. I bought Icon fans with actuated shutters and they’re brilliant in winter for staving off the Baltic cold infiltration the previous open fan provided. Get some of those as if you decide to not use them you won’t suffer the draughts.

Apologies, I’ve not answered that and you did ask They’re all much of a muchness, but Reliance and Esbe are the industry leaders. Inta and Caleffi are #2, then after that it’s Russian roulette. The scale is ferrous oxide, so see what the good old internet says about getting it shifted. If you’re a competent plumber then crack on, we can help out by drawing some pics to guide you along 👍

Yup. Just some I’ve spoken to have expressed an opinion on moving in without certain things in place, like MVHR and electrical test cert plus smoke / heat / CO1 detectors etc.

I’ve used almost nothing but MR plasterboard & tanking for the last 20+ years, and lots have been high end projects (£25k in one bathroom), and I’ve never had a single drip or dribble (and I’ve had the same phone number for 25 years). Lots of these have been 1st floor installs over timber joists. Tanking is your friend, so why tank over something more expensive than plasterboard?

If the temp water pipe is disconnected the no CTax as it’s classed as inhabitable? You can push your luck and just say it’s all there for welfare. You can also remove rights of assumed access to the site meaning CTax bods cannot walk onto the site.

Showers will go to each of the 2 110’s for those back to back WCs, and the other WC will take the bath. Basins T out of the 50mm runs to showers / bath or into 110mm boss’s, but should always rise out of the slab in 40mm, not 32mm, and I only reduce from 40 to 32mm at the elbow immediately prior to the basin trap.

👌

Whack a tap connector on, waters solved, move on to next problem 👍

Yes, understood, but as said any decent plumber will just shoot off and buy some unions and make it up according to what / where / how. It’s just like playing with LEGO tbh, just just use the bits you need, click them together, fill and test, go to pub. Very simple job tbh. Mounting the pump and mixing set away from the manifold is easy, your only difficulty will be finding a good plumber who won’t instantly shit the bed when you ask them to switch on the gray matter. Are you looking to keep that manifold? Chain being as strong as the weakest link etc etc.

Which you don’t own? Buy a cheap water meter and pay for what you use?

Yup. Nobody wants you in there before completion, prob best not to ask the BCO unless you get on very very well with them. Just say it’s fitted out so you can use it for “welfare” and hope everyone ‘looks the other way’. Insurance’s will be in no man’s land obvs, so don’t put valuables in there as you’ll have no property protection for goods, only site insurance for the purpose of construction. Very grey area there, but plenty of people must do this to stop haemorrhaging money on rent and commuting.

You have some sort of up stand / outside tap? If so, now the weathers broken, you can just run 15mm push-fit pipe to that for potable water. Baby Belling cooker and a microwave, with a bit of worktop with a sink in it for wash up, and slide the washing machine under the side of that for some clean trolleys. 👍.