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My search for a new amplifier (my first in fact) has come down to: 1) Leak 230; or 2) Cambridge Audio CXA81 Mk2 I will be using it to play my Technics 1500C turntable and a CD Transport (not yet acquired but I like the look of the Leak CDT); and eventually a vintage tuner. I have acquired a pair of Linton Wharfdale 3XP stereo speakers for just £60; I know they aren’t high end but seemed like a good speaker to get started with. Reviews mention bass can be a bit lacking with those speakers, so I want to use a sub. I have a powered Tannoy which is about 15 years old from a 5.1 system I no longer use. I can either use that, or purchase a passive sub if that is better. My question is: The CXA81Mk2 has an dedicated subwoofer out, whereas the Leak does not. I understand that this means that to use a sub with the Leak 230, I will need to wire the sub to the Leak’s pre-outs. My question is: is that a disadvantage in any way against the CXA81Mk2 given my intended use?

Nope! Presumably this is another balls-up by the BCO. They really should check for stuff like this. My outside tap is fed by a pipe which is laid under the patio and then it comes up on the side at ground level and rises to almost 70cm above ground level where it is attached to the fence. I am encouraged by @Nickfromwales comment: @OnoffI did purchase one of those a year or so ago, but came to the conclusion it was pretty pointless. Surely all that insulation jacket will do is delay the freezing by a day or two? If we have sub-zero temps for 3 or 4 days, it won't do anything. I would just need the pump to drive air into the inlet that is inside my house, so no sucking. Have found the drill pump you mention here on Amazon) but not entirely sure how i would adapt that to work in my case, as I don't really have a hose to connect to, just a little inlet. I guess the hose can can go onto the inlet, but not in a secure way and so I expect it will just disconnect as i have no way to secure the attachment to the inlet.

My garden tap is made of metal (brass I believe) but serviced by an external buteline pipe. Last winter my builder showed me how to empty that pipe for winter: it has it's own stopcock inside the house - so first step is to close that then open the external tap then there is an inlet valve inside the house just next to the stopcock. My builder attached a short hose to it and using his own lungs and mouth blew through it until he went a light shade of purple - this succeeded in purging the water from the pipe. I have tried step 3 on my own and failed very quickly. I just don't have the blow. One option is to purchase a cheap pump that can do this for me. Any recommendations? Other option is to skip step3 and rely just on 1 and 2 and the fact that buteline state on their website that their pipes are frostproof. But the same website post also says "Lagging of pipes is recommended when installing the system in places exposed to continuous freezing temperatures" so I'm confused by how confident they are in this claim. Thoughts? And quickly please... we are due to go sub-zero later this week!

Up 27% in last 7 years according to this: https://www.nimblefins.co.uk/average-water-bill

The company that supplied our water softening system, East Midlands Water, also supplied us a water filter for our drinking water (which of course isn’t softened). Photo of the unit below: They called me today to try and sell me a replacement on the basis that it is coming up to the end of its recommended 3 year life. (We bought it three years ago, though didn’t start using it until we moved in 2.5 years ago, so I probably still have a few months life in it.) It is bacterioststic, using both silver and activated carbon. But costs a whopping £179. The water tastes good, but is this reasonable? What do other people use?

Wow that is very kind. I’ve managed to sort it now, but thank you.

Brilliant idea. All I need is a 3D printer and some print medium. And a design.

I have a boiling hot water tap which has broken. Upon consulting the manufacturer, they identified that I need to change a valve, which they have sent me. It requires a 17mm socket. So out I went to screwfix and bought this: https://www.screwfix.com/p/forge-steel-3-8-drive-socket-set-18-pieces/917pg But the problem is the socket is only about 12mm deep and that’s doesn’t reach deep enough to make contact with the hexagonal valve. This is incredibly frustrating. i can return this socket wrench, but need an alternative please.

Not that much. My guy charges £100 plus VAT.

That’s quite a lot. Does that include the annual service?

My mum has a Vaillant EcoTec Pro 24 combi boiler, which has been serving a one bedroom one bathroom flat well over the past 10 years. There are two zones, one outputting to radiators and one outputting to UFH. She has serviced it almost every year - she thinks - she missed one annual service a few years ago. Recently, it had started to need replacement parts: Two months ago, the motherboard (I think it might be called a PCB) went and was replaced by a refurbished one. That cost about £150, plus a hefty call out charge plus a service charge which happened at the same time. Yesterday, the boiler lost pressure and stopped working and today the engineer who serviced it two months ago identified that the Pressure Release Valve was leaking and replaced that at a cost of £50 plus another hefty call-out charge. How does one identify the point at which it is no longer economical to keep an old boiler going?

Just thought I’d update this thread with a clarification of the settings: before setting up the quick actions, the Shelly plus 1PM needs to be set to a relay (as explained above), but not just any relay. For it to work, it needs to be: seems obvious now, but there are a tonne of settings, so not easy to find.

I agree, that was going to be my main revision.

Just re-posting this in case any sparks can comment. I've already outlined the issue with running the Sauna's power supply from the consumer unit, there is a whole (recently finished) house in the way. Other alternatives (to the extent permitted under the regs) might be: to run it from the supply that powers the kitchen appliances, we have separate fuses with isolator switches for each appliance, including an induction hob, microwave and oven. Is that even feasible? The advantage of such a solution, if it were possible, is that the utility room where all those switches are, is about 30m from the site of the sauna, and there is much less house in the way, in fact just one wall. to run from the external power supply at the front of the house, where we have in theory an outlet from which to connect a car charger. We don't yet have an electric car, so this was just future proofing for the "one day" scenario. I'd only want to do this if it still enabled us to use the car charger, but I guess worst case scenario you could have a switch which enabled only one of the two to be on (can't imagine I will Sauna for the entirety of the time it takes to charge a car). Maybe I'll have to run it from the consumer unit after all and accept that there will be some disruption in the house. It's not as bad as I first feared, but it's far from ideal.

I have a steel external side gate which has started to creak a lot recently. The hinges clearly need greasing, but the gate is only 18 months old and I've not done this before. The hinges appear to be "lift-off" types (they look a bit like this). Does that mean I need to lift the gate off its hinges to expose the internal part of the hinge to grease it? If so, this is going to proove rather difficult given the weight of the gate. Although only 80cm wide, It's almost 3m high and made of steel.