Onoff

I barely touched him m'lud!

That's Siemens is gorgeous looking. Think our no name, sell off when Comet went bust came in at £160 - 170. Wouldn't be without it.

After the first one seemed a bit tight to push on I used a countersinking bit in the cordless drill to give a little lead chamfer on my Pex-Al-Pex pipes.

I just put all our kitchen waste in the DeLorean...

2 in stock at Sittingbourne apparently.

Just spoken to CEF Crayford and they could get one in for tomorrow and it'll be "£6 or £7". I reckon just phone your local branch or the next nearest and ask again quoting the stock code.

Showing 63 24"x12" at CEF's central warehouse. Part Code: F2412 Stock Code: 1453-5475

Seriously, type in "oil boiler grant".....like I did.

What size are you after?

Ta. PV is tbh something we want to look at later. Ref the boiler the existing one is seemingly 89% efficient. I'm sure when I very briefly looked at oil combis before they weren't that much better. Appreciate the current one hasn't got the combi advantages. Where do I find out about grants? Cheers

Something's got to happen soon! Wife was running a bath last night downstairs so hot from cylinder and cold from CWS. Son decides to have a shower upstairs at the same time. Shower is pumped, hot via Surrey flange in cylinder and own cold feed to pump from CWS. He switches the shower on and bath / shower both stop pretty rapidly. The tiny 25 gallon CWS tank I guess emptied meaning no flow to start the pump switch. At the same time the cylinder now has no head from the CWS. So.....he decides to have a shave.....no hot or cold in the upstairs basin! I boiled him a kettle and went to bed after giving him the whole "Of course, when we were younger and ran out of coal!". To which he replied "FFS it's 2017!"

I might pop in there tonight seeing as I didn't get her anything for Valentine's Day.....

We had a result on ours when Comet closed down. It's a pretty unknown make, Electra Elecheib. Israeli brand made in Turkey. Should have been I think £300+ but down to £199. I found a discount code that I still remember "HOB15" so a further 15% off. Schott Ceran glass, easy to clean. Super fast. Has a pause button. Cools down super quick. Switches off if pans boil over. Only pita is it WAS going in one place as depicted by my Tippex'd bin liner mock up: Then "we" decided it was moving to the left:

Missus loves it. Rings a bit small though so you have to be careful how you position things.

You know you want one Ed:

You'll be wanting a Fronius for that: http://www.rapidwelding.com/dynamic/DisplayItem.aspx?c=4075200850

54V, got to be a game changer?

Soon develops a frown after I've been in there!

I wonder if Dow Corning 795 would be any good as I might be able to get it for nowt! https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.siliconeconcepts.com/Category%20Data/Dow%20Corning/Structural%20Sealants/795%20(New).pdf&ved=0ahUKEwjj7PHXi5DSAhXkKMAKHU88A3wQFghoMAY&usg=AFQjCNFNerdCpDt-2BpJIWnv-zRzcAUnww

Didn't you say a while back that pretty much any old generic silicon mastic (cheapest of the cheap sort of thing) could be used to stick tiles to plywood and that it was more reliable than tile adhesive?

Cars - that helped me find the link. It was Volvo commissioned this. I remember getting as far as reading the names of the two birds who wrote it then having ABBA esque fantasies, there was that evening where they put the report to one side etc Anyway, stuff in there about pu "foams" Says about warranting further investigation. I've written and offered my services! http://bada.hb.se/bitstream/2320/9301/1/2011.2.10.pdf

Leeching. Skimmed it and saw a bit about cables made in the 70's. WAAAAYYY too heavy for me! http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.627.6558&rep=rep1&type=pdf

LSF I'm sure fares better, specifically on the leeching, but I can't remember where I read that. Will dig out the "official" source on that later. PU I don't think is out of the woods if the conditions are such as to accelerate leeching and breakdown of the cable such as increased temperatures. Hence adhering to the whole halving the cable current carrying capabilities business if run through more than 500mm etc. Again, retrofitting leaving old "leechy" T&E in place and so on. Take those comments with a large dose of "IMHO" btw. Maybe another project that'll never happen, encase a length of T&E in PIR and overload it, then do some in "foam", clamp meter on etc. "We washed this half in....!"

A wordy thread title there! There's been some discussion on another thread reference the possible detrimental effects of "cables" being in direct contact with: - Solid insulation products namely EPS. PU and PIR - Expanding foams (assuming PU) - Silicones / mastics I'm really no expert on the science of this but have personally seen T&E (twin and earth) "sunk" into EPS walls and similarly into loose fill and solid EPS between joists. It was pointed out to me as a then mate in a "trickle down / hand me down knowledge" sort of way. My understanding is that the plasticizers used in the cable to give flexibility leech(ed) out over time. This is certainly the case when you see old T&E where the surface is cracked and crazed. It would do that on its own even if clipped direct. Some T&E, years on you can strip by hand! Other factors come into this such as the heating/cooling the cable is subject to under load and thus repeat low level expansion/contraction. Add in exposure to UV from sunlight and there's a few factors to consider. I attempted then to find some scientific basis for all this. There's loads of forums with peoples personal opinions. There's anecdotes on the lines of "I sandwiched a bit of T&E between two shhets of polystyrene for 10 years and it was fine!". We all have stories but I wanted some "facts". I've tried to keep to official sources. I've even avoided the IET as there's so many opinions on ther. There is then this PDF from East Sussex Fire worth it for the pictures alone: http://www.esfrs.org/black-museum/all-the-black-museum-cases/pvc-cable-insulation-and-polystyrene-insulation/ Personally I think it could be a bit glossed over saying the fault was not due to thermal effects of covering the cables with EPS. More likely a combination of factors as in the cable runs warmer, more plasticizer leeches out and stays semi-encased, the cable becomes brittle etc. It's not overly scientific and indeed goes on to reference this from General Cable down under: http://www.generalcable.co.nz/getattachment/0ebda90b-b4f8-43ae-b622-c9280295116b/PVC-Cables-in-Contact-with-Polystyrene-or-Bitumen.aspx Note though how the General Cable sheet specifically mentions PU as well. The fact that the plasticizers are absorbed into the cable during the compounding process, one could reasonably assume if the cable then gets overly "hot" the plasticizer could (will?) leech back out. Dig further via the Green Building Forum and there's this: http://tratosgroup.com/quality/cpr/ The Tratos page on the new Construction Products Regulation does make mention of the product not releasing dangerous substances during normal operation. This I imagine would cover cables that are "non migratory" in that the leeching effect has been minimized. A bit from Voltium here confirming EPS is the real one to watch: http://www.voltimum.co.uk/articles/q-day-are-pvc-cables-still-damaged-contact-expanded-polystyrene The Irish ETC: http://www.riai.ie/public/downloads/ECTI_Warning.pdf Jablite: http://jablite.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Jablite-EPS.pdf Loose filling cavities with EPS with generic packing beads I imagine could cause a serious issue, especially if there is old T&E in there which is anyway breaking down through age. A worry for retrofitters. http://www.pacspackaging.co.uk/DATASHEETS/Expanded Polystyrene COSHH.pdf One reason apparently why when you buy say a new pc encased in EPS packing the mains leads are always in their own plastic bags! PU doesn't appear to get off the hook by any means: http://www.prysmiancable.co.nz/insight/pvc-cables-recommended-installation-practices/ My view is that all the products, cables, "foams" etc have evolved and are evolving. Certainly T&E nowadays seems harder to strip than years ago but then I might be getting less dexterous! A bit here on foams, Evo-Stik specifically their foam won't damage the pvc coating on cables but go onto to say about the effect of enclosing "long runs". In reality that should be taken as anything more than 500mm. http://www.bostik.co.uk/diy/product/evo-stik/Foam-Filler/68/faq Siicones, Voltium saying probably not but with so many variants etc: http://www.voltimum.co.uk/articles/q-day-will-silicone-sealant-adversely-affect-cable-insulation It comes down then to then selecting products that are fit for purpose as in does it specifically say it is for use around "cables"? And read (keep?) the product data sheets. There is always going to be some reservation on the part on electricians with some justification given the history of the problems and potential outcomes. The old better safer than sorry thing!

So should the pockets be done in: A) Aquaboard or similar B) Marine ply C) Moisture resistant plaster board ?