Mattg4321

Depends if you like wasting your time or not I suppose. Chances of it being any of those things mentioned are pretty slim. I like to target the most likely thing first, before clutching at straws, but have already given advice earlier in the thread, that has been repeated by someone else on here. Getting up in the loft with the circuit disconnected and inspecting the installation is free and requires no insulation resistance tester. However, it’s probably still best to get hold of some proper test equipment or an electrician as ‘bang testing’ isn’t really something to be advised.

Apologies if any offence caused. Probably a poor choice of words. Point does stand though, although I didn’t really want to get into an argument by being specific but seems as though I’ll probably have to. Again no offence intended. A switch itself is very unlikely, if not impossible to cause nuisance tripping. Will be a waste of effort swapping them. Only if there was a fault between the switch and an earthed back box could it cause tripping. Loose connections won’t cause tripping. More likely flickering lights etc or even a fire. Going round randomly tightening connections will be a waste of time - unless you have AFDD’s fitted, but this is unlikely as they’re not in widespread use here yet. Although it’s very debatable whether they actually work on lighting circuits as the current is too low. Note that AFCI is an American term for the same thing. Would be handy to know if it’s an MCB or an RCCB or an RCBO where the problem is. Unlikely to be an earth leakage breaker, these are mostly obsolete and came before RCD’s (RCCB/RCBO’s), some of which are current operated (basically an RCD) and some of which are voltage operated (on the earth). These are not really safe for use. PVC insulation won’t deteriorate in 20 years unless subjected to very high loads or extreme temperatures etc. If in a domestic property it’s unknown how long it will last in good conditions as the earliest examples from the 60’s are still in good condition. Fuses/fuse wire very seldom blow through age in my experience, although it does happen. Very normal to change an old fuse board from 40+ years ago that appears to have most of the original fuse wire intact. Usually the lighting circuits that go when incandescent bulbs/lamps blew. Or the odd ring final circuit where they’d had a dodgy appliance perhaps. Cooker and immersion circuits the least likely to go in my experience. Also, I’m not sure it’s a good thing if you’ve got fuses that don’t disconnect in the event of a fault and just battle through!!

It does sound like it’s probably rodent damage. Especially if you can hear them! Should be straightforward for an electrician to locate with an insulation resistance test. Hopefully if access to cables in loft is ok it might be a simple fix too. The only thing you could try is to turn off the lighting circuit and get up there an expose the wiring and inspect for damage. Turn it off first though! I’ve seen it plenty of times where rodents have stripped cables bare! You probably need to ignore most of the well meaning advice on here as half of it is nonsense in this instance. Getting a good electrician to sort is going to be the easiest and quickest fix here

With that much work it’s going to be cheaper and better to knock it down and start again, doing it properly.

Looks like 10mm2 T&E most likely to me. Gut feeling is it’s not 16mm2. No such thing as 80/64 amp cable. Depends on reference method, type of load, length of run and de rating factors. 10mm2 is 64 amps in absolute perfect conditions. Unless I could inspect every inch of the run and was happy, I personally wouldn’t be wanting to go over 50 amps OCPD as a rule. Either way, almost certainly that cable isn’t safely supplying 80 amps to the other end of your house.

Don’t see why not if on different MPPT’s

Does grid voltage dropping always correlate with the higher load as per the graph in OP? If so I’m going to guess at a high resistance joint somewhere. Could be in your installation (consumer unit main switch maybe), or in DNO’s

As per the title. Any ideas? Is the round thing some sort of cover over the slot where a key would be inserted? Dates from mid 80’s and flooring is old Amtico. Can see the outline of the manhole where the flooring has been cut round it (very well actually!). There is another round cover thing at the other end in the middle.

Do you have a problem with flow rather than pressure maybe?

Is this a Honeywell valve?

Not that impressed with the design of that Sonoff kit. Makes it awkward to comply with the regulations. Exposed basic insulation (brown and blue). Needs mechanical protection as above. Also, those exposed live terminal screws are a potential danger. Edit: upon further investigation, that’s designed to be fitted inside an enclosure with a DIN rail

Not very easy to test absolutely everything unless everything has been connected up (obviously without light fittings connected to wiring). Pretty time consuming to go around and test every leg/run of cable. Usual practice is to test during/after 2nd fix and deal with the problems then, as much as that can be a pain when it happens. Cables should be clipped or run at a depth in the wall or ceiling so the screws don’t reach them and can’t be damaged

Call Heatmiser. I've found them to be helpful on the phone.

It could be either of them, or less, or more, depending on spec. £22-25k seems reasonable for that size property though, assuming outside lighting/ventilation in bathrooms etc/heating wiring/data/smoke detectors etc etc is included

Expect it’s going to be 25mm2 or 35mm2 depending on the design current. 32mm duct sounds tight. Is it solid wall/rigid with no even remotely tight bends? Not much chance if not imo. Why such a small duct! Get your sparks involved asap

4 yard skip will be no problem. I filled a 10 yard in much the same way a couple of years ago. Very neatly loaded! The skip lorry did struggle a little! Edit. Unless it’s one of those silly transit cab/sized ones. If so please film it!

Sq/m pricing is a bit like the length of a piece of string. However, I can quite believe that £5k sq/m would be the going rate for a good quality extension in London. More in an awkward or expensive area - parking/congestion charge etc. Obviously if using your own labour, then that can be a significant saving, but not so much if you’ll be bringing in a main contractor for the shell. Slightly more saving if you are going to manage trades - groundworkers/bricklayers/roofers/electricians/plasterers etc. From what you’re saying, if you’re providing own labour for things a competent diyer could complete and managing other trades, then I’d be thinking £3-4K sq/m would be realistic in London. Whereabouts are you looking at buying as that will have a large effect.

Thanks both of you. I think those adaptors are for connecting clay PIPE to plastic. Not clay fitting to plastic. I don’t believe there’s a fitting for that. If there is, I certainly can’t find it. A design cock up from when it was built. I’ve just had a look at the connection for my downstairs loo and appear to have similar. Just pointed up with mortar. Which seems to prove my theory that is what used to be at bottom of soil stack. I think I may well run a bead of ct1 or similar round it to seal the inside edge and then point up what’s left. Cant see that leaking. I can’t really see a better option and it’s quick cheap and easy as a bonus.

Thanks very much for taking the time to write this substantial reply! It’s an internal soil stack. To be boxed in asap. The finned pipe connectors are for fitting inside a clay PIPE, not a clay FITTING/ELBOW like I have? (apologies for caps) My clay elbow is designed for a clay pipe to fit into it? A complete cock up by the original builders in the 60’s imo.

It will be boxed in so just want to patch up/sort out what I have properly

I think both those adaptors are designed to go in a clay pipe, not a clay fitting/elbow?? Got a link to band seal please? Thanks

To add, not sure what’s at the bottom of the plastic. Some sort of metal, but not sure exactly what.

Late 60’s build. Got a soil stack - plastic 110mm connecting directly into a clay 4 inch elbow at ground level. Unfortunately and obviously, the OD of the plastic is smaller than clay pipe so it doesn’t fit properly. It will have been like this since built. I’m thinking there used to be mortar around the joint to seal, but this has failed over the years. When toilet is flushed you can see it slightly bubbling around the join and it’s very slightly damp, but not affecting surrounding area. However, I’m worried about what happens if the pipework backs up. Surely that join needs to be waterproof!! How should I rectify? See picture below. Thanks in advance.

Consider you might want a high level alarm/indicator at house, which would require extra core(s) potentially. Always best to run a duct with a rope through in these situations if you can.