DIY/Home Improvement Thread

[NAKC20]

Yes im a self employed plumber who now mainly concentrates on bathrooms based in the north-west of the county. I could do a 1% discount for fellow city fans no problem 👍🤣

[Deano79]

On 24/06/2025 at 22:56, FoyleFox said:

Has anyone any advice on shower pumps? Parents are having a new bathroom and need a pump, they've been offered different types, some plastic and some metal. With very different costs, £200 up to to £600. The bathroom fitter has recommended metal as, the plastic is prone to leaking and you get what you pay for. As I'm arranging the install for them I'd like to check before spending more money. 

Ay up foyle. I have this sitting in my garage, I paid about £300 for it. I needed a negative and got a positive or other way round !! You can have it free of charge if any use to you 

[FoyleFox]

3 hours ago, Deano79 said:

Ay up foyle. I have this sitting in my garage, I paid about £300 for it. I needed a negative and got a positive or other way round !! You can have it free of charge if any use to you 

Thank you, that's most kind. I've had a chat today with my parents and their preference is to not have one at all. I'm going to check with the fitter that there is no reason they need one, other than to improve the water flow. 

[The Year Of The Fox]

On 27/06/2025 at 06:01, Raj said:

@NAKC20

@YearOfTheFox

 

Are you plumbers within Leicestershire?

 

I think a self employed thread would be helpful incase one of us diy ers  ever need a service off a fellow fan.

For a city discount obviously!!

Yes, also in NW Leics, although I work for a company rather than being SE. 
 

Chances are I probably know @NAKC20

Edited 28 June 2025 by The Year Of The Fox

[Raj]

2 hours ago, The Year Of The Fox said:

Yes, also in NW Leics, although I work for a company rather than being SE. 
 

Chances are I probably know @NAKC20

Ohhh plumbing friends!!!!

[NAKC20]

1 hour ago, Raj said:

Ohhh plumbing friends!!!!

We are all members of 'The Stopcock Lodge' 

[Izzy]

Ripping out old loft insulation with my 77 year old man for the last two days in this renovation house we've recently bought. Absolutely sweating our nuts off.

 

Nearly 100 sq meters of the manky stuff with old carpets and all sorts stuck down the edges. The joys of finding dead mice, birds nests, wasp nests, and general shite - disgusting.

 

Now sweeping everything clean before laying the new stuff tomorrow.

 

I really want to give the loft a total vacuum clean everywhere as its so dusty but is that a bit OTT do you think?

 

[Free Falling Foxes]

1 hour ago, Izzy said:

Ripping out old loft insulation with my 77 year old man for the last two days in this renovation house we've recently bought. Absolutely sweating our nuts off.

 

Nearly 100 sq meters of the manky stuff with old carpets and all sorts stuck down the edges. The joys of finding dead mice, birds nests, wasp nests, and general shite - disgusting.

 

Now sweeping everything clean before laying the new stuff tomorrow.

 

I really want to give the loft a total vacuum clean everywhere as its so dusty but is that a bit OTT do you think?

 

I cleaned out our loft at the weekend, me and the wife.

Filthy, dusty and full of cobwebs.

Still, she's good with the kids

[FoyleFox]

3 hours ago, Izzy said:

Ripping out old loft insulation with my 77 year old man for the last two days in this renovation house we've recently bought. Absolutely sweating our nuts off.

 

Nearly 100 sq meters of the manky stuff with old carpets and all sorts stuck down the edges. The joys of finding dead mice, birds nests, wasp nests, and general shite - disgusting.

 

Now sweeping everything clean before laying the new stuff tomorrow.

 

I really want to give the loft a total vacuum clean everywhere as its so dusty but is that a bit OTT do you think?

 

No. If you're planning to use it for storage, you'll be grateful you did whenever you get anything back out. 

[Izzy]

6 minutes ago, FoyleFox said:

No. If you're planning to use it for storage, you'll be grateful you did whenever you get anything back out. 

Yeah, having done a bit of research I think giving it a full vac first before laying new insulation is the way to go.

 

Bit of a ball ache but we are planning on putting quite a bit of stuff up there so I'll be glad I did.

 

Cheers.

[Parafox]

Does anyone know how to fix or reset an F1 low pressure fault on a combi boiler?

 

The pressure keeps dropping and the F1 fault comes up. There's no signs of a leak from anywhere in the system that I can find, but I need to top up the water pressure daily.

 

I did notice the pressure gauge was showing high when the boiler first cut out but then seemed to return to normal.

 

I can't really afford an expensive resolution so hopefully there's a simple and easy solution.

[FoxesDeb]

1 hour ago, Parafox said:

Does anyone know how to fix or reset an F1 low pressure fault on a combi boiler?

 

The pressure keeps dropping and the F1 fault comes up. There's no signs of a leak from anywhere in the system that I can find, but I need to top up the water pressure daily.

 

I did notice the pressure gauge was showing high when the boiler first cut out but then seemed to return to normal.

 

I can't really afford an expensive resolution so hopefully there's a simple and easy solution.

I messaged Mr FoxesDeb who is an ex British Gas engineer and his reply says:

 

Tell them to put a bag over the PRV outside, pressure vessel on the combi might need pumping up, hence boiler comes on pressure rises, PRV opens dumps out the water 

[Parafox]

10 minutes ago, FoxesDeb said:

I messaged Mr FoxesDeb who is an ex British Gas engineer and his reply says:

 

Tell them to put a bag over the PRV outside, pressure vessel on the combi might need pumping up, hence boiler comes on pressure rises, PRV opens dumps out the water 

 

Thanks Deb. It's (obviously) dark now but I'll look for it tomorrow. Can you ask is there a sequence: do I bag the PRV then open the valves to the boiler to increase the pressure then take the bag off?

[FoxesDeb]

1 minute ago, Parafox said:

 

Thanks Deb. It's (obviously) dark now but I'll look for it tomorrow. Can you ask is there a sequence: do I bag the PRV then open the valves to the boiler to increase the pressure then take the bag off?

When the pressure is at 0, at the top back of the boiler there should be a valve like one on a car tyre, if you push that in you'll see if there's any air in it. If water comes out when you do that it means the PRV is gone.

 

If no water comes out, and you have a foot pump you can pump the pressure vessel to about 1 bar, and then repressurise the boiler.

 

The bag is just to see if that's where it's losing water. 

 

Apparently.

[Parafox]

1 minute ago, FoxesDeb said:

When the pressure is at 0, at the top back of the boiler there should be a valve like one on a car tyre, if you push that in you'll see if there's any air in it. If water comes out when you do that it means the PRV is gone.

 

If no water comes out, and you have a foot pump you can pump the pressure vessel to about 1 bar, and then repressurise the boiler.

 

The bag is just to see if that's where it's losing water. 

 

Apparently.

Again, thanks for your and help and Mr Foxes. I'll take a look but it seems I might have to take the boiler casing off. Anyway I'll give it a go before I commit to bringing in a possibly expensive professional. 

[FoxesDeb]

Just now, Parafox said:

Again, thanks for your and help and Mr Foxes. I'll take a look but it seems I might have to take the boiler casing off. Anyway I'll give it a go before I commit to bringing in a possibly expensive professional. 

What boiler is it?

[Parafox]

2 minutes ago, FoxesDeb said:

What boiler is it?

i-mini C30

[FoxesDeb]

21 minutes ago, Parafox said:

i-mini C30

[Parafox]

11 minutes ago, FoxesDeb said:

Omg . Thanks That’s way beyond my capabilities but I'll use it to help a heating engineer if needed. 

I really appreciate your help. Thank you 👍 

[NAKC20]

15 hours ago, Parafox said:

Again, thanks for your and help and Mr Foxes. I'll take a look but it seems I might have to take the boiler casing off. Anyway I'll give it a go before I commit to bringing in a possibly expensive professional. 

If im not to late you shouldnt remove the boiler casing unless you are Gas Safe registered. They are room sealed now and if they are not refitted correctly you could cause further problems. 

[Parafox]

6 hours ago, NAKC20 said:

If im not to late you shouldnt remove the boiler casing unless you are Gas Safe registered. They are room sealed now and if they are not refitted correctly you could cause further problems. 

 

Thanks. I took a look and I wouldn't have attempted it. Our old boiler, which we replaced several years ago, I could just lift the cover off the retainer brackets. This one seems to have fixings I couldn't even locate.

 

Anyway. I am pretty confident it's a pressure relief fault of some sort as the outside pipe is dripping water and the gauge drops below the 1.0 bar on the dial, hot water cuts off until I repressurise the boiler, Rinse and repeat until I get it sorted.

[RobHawk]

18 hours ago, Parafox said:

 

Thanks. I took a look and I wouldn't have attempted it. Our old boiler, which we replaced several years ago, I could just lift the cover off the retainer brackets. This one seems to have fixings I couldn't even locate.

 

Anyway. I am pretty confident it's a pressure relief fault of some sort as the outside pipe is dripping water and the gauge drops below the 1.0 bar on the dial, hot water cuts off until I repressurise the boiler, Rinse and repeat until I get it sorted.

Same thing happened to me a few months ago, I think I mentioned it on this thread if you look back. Anyway, tiny leak in the system kept draining the pressure. Finally noticed the mould behind the curtain that showed me where the leak was as it was behind the plaster board. Easy fix though once found 👍

[Parafox]

6 hours ago, RobHawk said:

Same thing happened to me a few months ago, I think I mentioned it on this thread if you look back. Anyway, tiny leak in the system kept draining the pressure. Finally noticed the mould behind the curtain that showed me where the leak was as it was behind the plaster board. Easy fix though once found 👍

I don't mine will be. The boiler is in the garage mounted on an external wall. I have looked for where it might be leaking from but there's no sign other than the dripping pipe outside which is the exit for water when the PRV opens.

[RobHawk]

18 minutes ago, Parafox said:

I don't mine will be. The boiler is in the garage mounted on an external wall. I have looked for where it might be leaking from but there's no sign other than the dripping pipe outside which is the exit for water when the PRV opens.

Finding the leak is the hard bit. But it can be anywhere in the system. Mine was in the living room behind the plasterboard, when they'd put the stud wall up as a new build they put the nail right through the pipe leading to the radiator but it took 14 years for it to actually leak. As soon as I found the issue, which just happened to be hiding behind a curtain as well, it was an easy fix.

 

But it took me a month or two to find the leak and was constantly topping up the pressure in that time.