Sometimes they include an auto-filled checklist with the certificate? If he is registered I can’t see why he didn’t do this, it’s just part of the installation and commissioning process.

Thanks for getting back to me. Yes, they are registered & we got through a cert in the post. But do the other details need to be filled in too?

Rod

Yes, the installer should have done this as part of the commissioning process, my guess is they may not be registered. I’m guessing this is a gas boiler, so check on the Gas safe website to see if they are registered and they should be able to help you get this sorted. If the person wasn’t registered you need to get the installation checked by someone who is pronto!

Hi,
We've just had a new boiler installed, and when coming to register it guarantee with it's maker.

We were told  the checklist and installation record should have been completed by the installer at the point of installation. It wasn't, I've got back to the installer, and he's been somewhat shifty about it.

So should this have been done on installation? And is there any reason why it would'nt have been done?

Thanks
Rod

I am trying to find information on the life expectancy on MICC cable.
I first met Pyro, Mineral Insulated Copper Clad (MICC) cable, 57 years ago, on a steelworks student placement job (three conductors about 10mm d, per phase), but I went into Telecommunications.  
I have done a few minor MICC installations and repairs.
So I know MICC is good stuff and copper water pipes pretty well go on for ever.  Though it is a bit fiddley to do right.
Our local  Church was rewired in Pyro in 1966, and the majority of circuits are the lighting circuits, which were designed for ES 200W tungsten gls, and are now being changed over from 55W CFL to 24W ES led lamps, so the load requirement has reduced.  There is no evidence of damp causing verdigris, except in one short location.  It was installed by Engineers within the congregation who dried the cable ends, before terminating, to a greater degree than the Pyro specification.

The Church is planning to probably upgrade the heating from gas boilers to a heat pump, consequently would require a supply upgrade.
The Rector has said that as we are having some electrical work done, "should we have the whole building rewired?", knowing that traditional VIR wiring has had to be replaced at an earlier age.

My gut feeling is that Pyro could last hundreds of years, but I need some evidence of older installations, still working.
I have come across a reference to a 70 year old installation, but that is only 10 years on from where we are now, to get that far. The routine testing does show good IR results, so I am trying to find a somewhat older figure, to show ours could keep going, for a longer time.
I have heard of one military boiler house installation that had a failure, the caretaker polished the copper sheath, and after many decades, wore it away and damp got into the insulation so it failed.

Has anyone out there met any Pyro / MICC installations of a good age preferably nearer, or more than 80 years and still in excellent condition?  I would like to hear about the longest.
Who can come up with the oldest?

Thank you for reply and advice. I have tried sharp sand and cement, but just like you said was a swine pointing with many large bits. This has become a yearly project for me, so will try SBR in mix as suggested, but don’t want to make mix to hard to remove if it doesn’t work.
Again thanks for info and replying.

Sounds like you are doing everything right with regard to the mix. You could try using SBR mixed into the mortar, 1:1 with water. Mix it so that you hold it in your hand and squeezing it makes it hold its shape but no water comes out. The only other thought I have is that you need to rake out the joints to ideally 30mm or more. Use a stick if you don’t have the proper tool to really compress the mortar then don’t let it dry out too quickly. If you point late in the day you could cover it with something to make it sweat or use a fine watering can to wet the mortar without making it run and mark the surface. Once it’s gone surface hard give it another watering to slow the drying process.
Another thing to try would be 2 sharp to one soft, or all sharp, it does depend on the quality of the sharp sand, sometimes it is full of relatively large bits which make pointing difficult but I normally use just sharp sand if I can.
There doesn’t seem to be a consensus on pointing paving everyone seems to have their own mix, I’ve seen some recommending plasterers sand but I’ve never tried that. One thing I did try was polymeric sand for jointing paving, I found it useless, weeds were coming through it within the year.
Best of luck you may need to do a bit of trial and error.

The gaps are around 12mm wide, no larger

How wide are the gaps between the slabs?

Am having problems with the pointing of our sandstone patio pointing cracking, not sticking to the sides of the slabs. Each year I have to remove the ones I did last year be cause it just will not stick to the slabs. Am using a 2:building sand, 1: sharp sand, 1:cement mix, just slightly damp and pushed hard into joints.
Have even try'd using SBR on sides of slabs, but this did not help, all slabs are solid and not moving.
Could someone tell me where or what I am doing wrong, and solve this yearly problem.

Trevor

I would expect an ovennthsts only 2.4kw will likely come with a 13A plug on it.  It's only going to be pulling around 10A.  Seems to be fairly common, meaning you don't need a spark to come and connect a replacement oven.  So you'd have the hob wired to the cooker outlet and a single socket for the oven to just plug into

Mentioned it to the landlord yesterday, they got someone out to check it over this morning.  Apparently he spent 2 hours bleeding more air out of it and now its working as I would have expected.

The plumber i usually use would charge more than that to get out of his van  

Im doing some painting in a rental that has been empty for a few weeks.  The landlord asked me to stick some new batteries in the hive and get the heating on to start getting the house warmed up.  
Ive never had one of these new tangled modern boilers so not sure what is supposed to happen with them.  Initially, it would fire up and then switch off again almost straight away.  Bled all the radiators and the 2 air vents above the cylinder.  It now fires up for a couple of minutes and then shuts down.  The radiators are getting warm, but it seems to be struggling to get all the rads hot.  Theres 2 tony ones and a towel rail upstairs and 2 medium size downstairs.  The living room and towel rail have lockshields both ends, the rest are all TRVs which are turned down fairly low.  It seems that as soon as a TRV opens, the downstairs rads all go cold.  
Is this likely to be an issue with the boiler itself?  Or more air stuck in a pipe somewhere?

Thanks in advance  

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply, and provide such precise information. Much appreciated.

The easiest to use is an external frame sealant for use in a cartridge gun. It’s about £5 from Screwfix or Toolstation and if you need a gun they start at about £7. Alternatively you could use an oil based trowel applied mastic which looks more like traditional pointing but is a bit more difficult to get a perfect finish. Both these finishes are flexible and more durable than cement pointing for round a door frame.
Hope that helps.

I replaced the wooden door and door frame on my brick-built Victorian house. The original fitter filled the gap between the frame and brick on the outside with mortar, but this has inevitably cracked and fallen out as the frame vibrates every time the door slams. What should the gap be filled with? It is white/brick so ideally a being or cream filler.

Many thanks

Hello, I'm renovating a rental and the existing oven and hob are now out and new has been purchased.
I only have a single 45A wall outlet with a 2.5mm T&E cable coming from it. I can't change this as I'm keeping the tiling. The circuit has a 32A MCB in the consumer unit.
The old set up was the wall cable to the oven then a standard 2.5mm T&E from the oven to the hob. This didn't look great to me.
The new oven is 2.4kw and the hob is 6kw.
How should these be wired from the single outlet?
TIA

This should all be specified by the architect when you applied for building consent but as a general rule the more insulation you have the better. The only downside of adding internal insulation is that it will make the rooms slightly smaller, depending on how much insulation you add. If you do decide to add internal insulation make sure whoever does the work understands vapour control and the need for vapour barriers.

New extension has plastered outside block / insulation / then inside block.
We have had conflicting advice on what to do with the inside

1. Put on insulation slabs = block/insulation/block/insulating slab

2. Or Just plaster  = block/insulation/block/plaster

Any advice ? 😫

I’ve recently purchased a new spiral bathroom light from my local retailer and unsure whether there is any additional advice I need when installing it.

Depends how it’s been stored but it’s only normally safe to use just a couple of months past its date. I was given a load a plaster for a job and it went off so quickly it ended up a disaster. Conversely if the plaster is a bit older it doesn’t go off for ages. If in any doubt buy new, it’s not worth the small cost saving for the amount of hassle should it not cure properly.

Am I likely to run into any problems using plaster that is a couple of months past the use by date?  I'm going to be doing a bit of plastering next week and I've acquired some thistle multi finish that's between 2 and 6 months past the date.  I'm thinking it's probably OK, particularly the newer stuff?

I was hoping to get away with tapered edge and then just put some plod over the joints  

I'll go look it up now.  Thanks dude

There is a YouTube channel called On the trowel and he has a load of content on plastering of all types, well worth a look as he really knows his stuff and is a good communicator.
If you use taper edge boards you could get away without plastering. If you want to do a proper job and plaster the wall look at Speedskims, they are expensive but they can really help you get a professional finish.