floydraser

Our first and only other boiler was fitted by the previous owner of the house around 1975. It failed in 1992 when I was unemployed, on "supplementary benefit" and just about avoiding reposession. I stripped the boiler to find a cast iron manifold joining two cast blocks. All had coroded causing leakage. I cleaned up all the surfaces as best I could, applied bodyfiller and put it back together. When we were back on our feet we put some aside for when it failed again. What did I put above... 2007! I thank my dear old late Dad for allowing me to go and play in his garage as a child, to make whatever I wanted with whatever tools. And I still have all my fingers and most of his tools!

Blimey, is the anything this man hasn't done!? Fair comments Vaughan, I'll have another look later, just trying to fathom out how to get to the washer bottle on the Volvo.. any experience? I fitted the boiler myself with the help of a strong mate, to lift it onto the mounting, then brother in law made the connections and checks etc. it's been checked over several times since for instance as part of a safety review when we had cavity wall insulation done. Never been lit with a match, can't think why anyone would. I can't see any yellow in the flame now it's back together so maybe it was upset by not having it's shroud and casings fitted? Fair point on the flue. It's a balanced flue and goes directly to an outside wall. Four bolts and I can get into it. This thread was about the pilot but I'll check the flue later. I appreciate your comments.

Agreed again but in the name of balance I think the majority of tradesmen are honest and set out to do a decent job. The problem is avoiding the less motivated ones. I find word of mouth still the most reliable method.

That's what I was thinking, then the son started: Son: "I have to inform you not to use your electric shower until I've changed your consumer unit and installed the correct type of circuit protection." It already had the right protection. OK right. As they had wasted my time and were clearly a pair of cowboys I told them to carry on with their quote. When it came through we cancelled the kitchen altogether, putting in a complaint about them. We had a new cooker from Currys last year. The gas safe engineer who fitted it checked the gas pressure and asked if we had any other gas appliances as it was his duty to check those as well. I mentioned the incident with the other guy and he agreed, Cowboy.

Regulo - I agree, they would probably check for CO but I'm not sure. I have a CO alarm positioned between the cooker and boiler. Wussername - what would you do: Around 7 years ago we odered a new kitchen and the suppliers sent round their fitting contractors to asses the kitchen. A father and son team, dad was a gas safe engineer and the son a qualified electrician. Our cooker is fitted where the gas supply pipe comes up through the concrete floor like most of our neighbours with similar houses of the same vintage and builder. Our cookers have always been there and were to be so in the new design. Dad: "I'm afraid the first thing I have to do is advise you not to use your cooker until I have had time to come round and move it to a different position, it's too close to an opening window." Me: "It's always been there." Dad: "Ah, but if you had the window open when using the top burners they could blow out and cause a gas leak." ???

Some time ago I think it was Grendel who had a problem with a domestic boiler and I remember trying to describe a problem I had encountered which had similar symptoms. Well yesterday I had a repeat of the very same problem so I thought it may help others to relate the tale here: I had no hot water and presumed we had used a lot so set the HW to boost for 2 hours. Still no hot water as the boiler failed to light. I checked the tank thermostat – ok – then the pilot light – ok – so it could still be a faulty thermostat, wiring fault or boiler. Turn up the central heating thermostat to trigger the boiler – nothing doing. Ah, so it's the boiler but the pilot light is still there. Do we call Julius Caesar and checkatrade? No. I've only ever had two boilers, both conventional gas types. On both, the pilot lights have been bi-directional; part of the flame points to the main burner and the other part to the Flame Failure Device (FFD). If either part fails you get nothing. Another of my valuable brother in laws is a retired gas fitter, having spent his entire career working for the East Midlands Gas Board. He started my plumbing education when I was a newlywed in the late seventies, just after I drove a nail straight through a central heating pipe late one evening! He used to service domestic boilers and he told me there were two main parts to a service: checking the gas pressure and hoovering the dust, muck and ash from the boiler casing and burners. The ash is from cremated spiders and other bugs who thought they had found a nice, warm place for a kip on a winter's night, until your heating fired up in the morning... Is this dangerous? Yes. So is driving a car but we still do that? Because we are educated to the risks and drive accordingly, so read on.. My boiler is an Ideal Gloworm from around 2007. The casing is held together with a mixture of wingnuts, self tapping screws/clips and captive bolts/nuts. Easy stuff. Pic 1: case front removed revealing the slopey flue at the top, then the cast iron heat exchanger, then the heat chamber with white thermotiles and the main burner. I have also removed a panel from the front of the heat chamber which has a 4th thermotile on it, so I can get to the pilot. Pic 2: The main burner with the pilot covered by a shroud. Just one nut to remove. Pic 3: Left to right – Pilot jet, piezo electrode, FFD thermocouple. The FFD needs a flame on it all the time to keep the gas valve open, or it will just shut the gas off. Have a look at the hole in the pilot jet and you can see a lump ash/muck. Pic 4: From the top you can see how the pilot flame is directed in two ways. Pic 5: Bingo! Compare the photos to see how it cleaned up. All I've done is to use an ordinary Henry with small nozzle to clean out the dust from around the pilot, go along the jets of the main burner and then inside the bottom of the casings where all the muck gathers. No gas joints disturbed so no need to worry about leaks. If you are ever worried about leaks just ring British Gas and they'll be there like a shot, you don't have to tell them you've just had your boiler to bits! I'm fairly confident at plumbing but I would never touch a gas system. The only way to check for leaks is by pressure check and I don't have the equipment for it. The green sticker on the boiler is the price tag: £345.00 in 2007. Knowing a service is just a hoovering, I never have it serviced and this is the first problem I've had with it. The gas pressure was checked last year when we had a new cooker.

Before starting the engine, how about trying the same in top gear with a few people "rocking" it backwards and forwards?

G1 above lives in Gloucester and stayed with us over the weekend. It's fairly easy to put the stresses in the past as to look at him you wouldn't know any of the above; he looks like a normal, lanky streak, annoying teenager with a permanently runny nose due to the PCD. At home in the evening he had the hump because I would let him have sole control of the tv remote. Thanks Grandad.

My day Saturday: I was reminded of the arrival of our first Grandson in 2005. He had all sorts of problems including a heart on the wrong side which caused his blood to circulate the wrong way, and something I can't pronounce known as PCD, a lung problem. At 18 months old he had an 8 hour operation where they reversed his bloodflow by snipping the main arteries and reconnecting them reversed. Unfortunately his heart couldn't stand the strain long term so he had to have a pacemaker fitted. We were told that he would depend on the pacemaker for life and should it fail, that would be that. At 5 years old he collapsed at school when one of the pacemaker wires detached but that wasn't that, because as he was laying down his little heart had just about enough in it to keep him going until the paramedics arrived. He was re-connected in hospital. He was later diagnosed as being mildly autistic with Asperger's. Anyway, I was reminded of all the above stress because yesterday (Saturday) I went with him to Birmingham University Open Day as he wants to study Geography. A day we thought we would never see and what a day! I've never been in a place with so many happy, positive people. I'm sure there are a few of you who have had the same experience and I wonder if you thought the same? Plenty of students on hand who were more than happy to talk about life at uni and the courses, and even one of the professors gave his time to talk to my Grandson as an individual, who came away very motivated. So we have to hope this new enthusiasm results in decent qualification grades.

Yep, more info needed. Evidence in the last photos shows it in the yard with a brick by the wheel to stop it rolling away??

They mostly get £80 - £100 at auction in my experience, the rest will be the cost of repair, dealer profit etc.

And the other end: And the middle bit: As you can see, a rat may have chewed the leather but I doubt it could weald a hammer to do that damage! The two nuts holding the mounting spigot were loose but the pivot is solid. What has moved, has done so freely and I'll not be trying to move anything else until more history is known. As I hinted at before, it may just be a piece of junk but if it represents lives that were lost then it's a memorial and will be treated as such. I have emailed the Royal Navy Museum as a first step and await their reply.

My brother in law is into militaria and it was he who taught me to look for the broad arrow to signify military artefacts. He also buys stuff at auctions and likes to research the history of medals and reunite them with the family if possible. Anyway, he also lives near Dereham and collects my stuff for me and I do likewise when he buys from an auction local to me. This is usually once a fortnight. So he collected the telescope and inspected it briefly. Gently pulling out the eyepiece to reveal what I have pictured below.

Patience.... I'm "babysitting" three teenagers this evening so away from home. Yep, makers name, date and the broad arrow. Pics tomorrow.

As mentioned in another thread, here is the telescope I found in an auction the other week. The auction house don't publish records so I don't have the original photos but here are three I took which are basically the same as the catalogue. The main difference being that the originals were taken with a plain background so I had no idea of how big it was. It turned out to be around 38 inches long. Having seen it I just carried on looking through the rest of the catalogue but a thought started to haunt me: how did it ever get into that condition? Most articles like this go through a stage of being worth nothing, even in good condition, but even a good one left in a shed for years would still be in better condition than this? The auction house specialise in house clearances in Norfolk so it's possible this was washed up on the beach after a shipwreck and left in someone's loft?? I decided it would be worth up to £30 as a project for research and if it went for more then it would have found a more worthy owner. In good condition these only sell for around £80 - £100 at auction. Nobody else gave it a thought so it was mine for a fiver. More later..

By Owen Sennitt, Live reporter. Glad he's still with us, what happened to all the others?

Overtaking on a motorway in rain with a lot of spray about, suddenly you lose power and start dropping back. An experience you don't want to encounter.

Once rebuilt with modern parts and a bit of passion, most classics end up in better fettle than when they left the production line.

Within the family it's value is priceless; you could never replace it. It could be sold with, "been in the same family from new", but only once then it would change hands as bit of currency and that would be a great shame. He'll keep it and love it; you can see how pleased he is with it! Good luck to him! I got away from classic cars because of the inflated price of spares due to everyone wanting profit. Go to a classic car show and you hear endless bs about how much they paid, what's it worth and how much it sold for.

Shouldn't we warn paddleboarders? Nah!

I'm going to do a thread later but in Grasmere, Lake District, loos are 60p!

When I paid my road tax it didn't include free parking for years then get changed at short notice so that I felt betrayed, stitched up. With notice, I could decide whether or not the car was worth it before paying for another year.

I haven't been asked for my licence in the two years since I started fishing again. Latest one is an email so I don't know what would happen if I was asked and didn't have my phone or a decent signal with me. I guess they would want id then check up later. Until I'm asked I'll never know. The only time I was asked for it was to prove my age for a concession when joining a club.

You will get a better price if find someone with a return load from Plymouth. Sometimes that means waiting while they look for a load, or find someone who does that area regularly. Sometimes boat movers recommend others for that reason.

Because we were young and didn't listen? It's still happening now with smoking and obesity.