armb's journal

I did have some of the radiators warm for a bit. But one of the new soldered joints in the cupboard is leaking - I wanted Yorkshire rings, but PTS only had endflow in stock - I need either more practice on 28mm fittings or a better blowtorch. And the pump that has been sitting in the shed since I acquired it free from cam.misc seems not to work (and without it getting water to heat both the radiators and tanks will be tricky). Still, some progress.

{EDIT: pump is working. And I went for the "sod it, use compression fittings even if it does mean 90 degree bends not 45" option on that leak. And tighted up a few more smaller leaks.]

What idiot decided there should be (at least) two different threads used for 22mm compression fittings?
('That's not 22mm, it's 7/8"' is barely plausible, and not a good excuse for using both on the same pipe.)

Buying a new heating pump yesterday at PTS (Plumbing Trade Supplies), I picked up a copy of their new October price list. It has sections for Solar Thermal panels, and Geothermal Heat Pumps, which the previous (April) one doesn't. I'm not planning on buying anything yet, but it shows the spread of alternative sources into the mainstream.
(I did consider how I might add solar heating in future while I was working on the existing stuff this weekend, but the tanks already have twin coils and the system confuses plumbers as it is.)

[Edit: Crossposted to chlorofilk, where I meant to post it in the first place. Right, now for a shower. With hot water, now the new pump is fitted (even if only one cylinder is in place).]

The new switch was
i) broken
ii) the only one in stock - there should be a replacement in this afternoon.

What is the connection between this set:
Blue, brown, green/yellow, blue, brown, green/yellow
and this one:
Blue, red, yellow, yellow.
( answer )

Finally got around to doing something about the leak near the front hot water cylinder. It did provide an excuse to buy a blowtorch. (There's a bit I need to reuse and can't afford to cut anything off from that has a soldered joint on it.) And either the pipe is oversize or the boss is undersize - I suspect the latter.
It's tricky to mend soldered joints in place because even a small amount of water will turn to steam and blow your solder out of the way. I mention this because at least one of the supposedly professional plumbers who work on the system in the past didn't know that.
However a professional probably wouldn't have stopped part way through to go and see Wallace and Gromit.
But
i) we'd already bought the tickets
ii) it was Wallace and Gromit.
Luckily someone had the foresight to insist on isolating valves. Oh yes, that was me. And they only leaked a little bit while we were out, and it was Wallace and Gromit.

And the hose thing on the kitchen tap has gone from dripping to leaking quite fast. But at least the heating circuit seems to be staying pressurized (did need topping up at one point, but no water stains have appeared, and it's been ok since so I blame it on an air bubble bleeding itself).

Replaced the leaking mixer valve. With some cunning shuffling, only needed three bends. Seems to be ok now. I want to do some work on the other cylinder now, but that's not so urgent.
Sunday Times says plumbers can make £100,000, and I know I can do a better job that some of the people whose work I've been fixing....

(Not as a perfect source of absolute truth, but as a generally good thing. Link copied from drplokta)

Put guttering around the shrine thing. Well, mostly, found I hadn't kept the cracked running outlet I thought would do, so have now ordered a new one. Why didn't whoever built the house (about seven years ago) use a make of guttering that one of the local builders' merchants, DIY shops, or plumbing specialists kept in stock and didn't need every bit ordered in? But the old guttering I'd taken down from the back of the house just fitted (it's in much shorter lengths in its new place, with a much smaller roof draining onto it, so the fact that it had bent too much to be where it was isn't as much of a problem).
Also ordered a mixing valve for the hot water system, because the old one is dripping, another new thing wrong with the hot water/heating system. :-( (The tanks that were replaced about a year ago were supposed to come with those bits, but didn't, so old one was reused. It's been ok till now though.)

Decided not to cycle fifteen miles through rain into Cambridge for Winter Ale Festival I'd forgotten about until crazyscot mentioned it. (I don't condone cycling while really drunk, but cycling with moderate amounts of alcohol is much safer for other people than driving, even if driving is still legal.)

Bought some seed potatoes and some things for making raised beds, and decided where they are going to go (with a greater variety of vegetables later, but potatoes to start with).

Bought a cheap keyboard and mouse in Maplins sale, and now had enough parts from upgrading computer to reassemble a complete unupgraded version (with CD drive that was given away on cam.misc, and grotty old 14" monitor with burn-in from an older machine). Windows doesn't start but needs older version reinstalling to be legal anyway, and I've forgotten the root password for the Linux installation, but it at least sort of works.