The House Projects Thread

[Jobbo]

That should be pretty easy to replace without doing anything to the rest of your heating system - it's just a control box to turn it on and off:
- turn off power first.
- the left hand Danfoss box should be attached to a wall-fixed back plate; there will be a grub screw or similar on the bottom and you undo that then hinge it away.
- if you buy something else made by Danfoss then it should fit straight onto the existing back plate. If you buy a different manufacturer's kit then you mayneed to replace the back plate or change some wires round - they ought to be standard but I had to do this when I fitted a Drayton Wiser last year - just check the wiring to the back plate matches the wiring diagram for your new kit.
- the thermostat on the right is oddly located - normally that would be remote from the box. Anyway, you'd be expecting to remove this entirely. Just check how it's wired; you don't want to leave it in the circuit.

In theory it should be very easy because you should just be able to swap the programmer for a new one on the same mounting. But we all know how theory matches reality. Whip off the existing programmer and have a look before buying anything. It's not daunting; you're pretty handy.

[Ascender]

On the subject of heating, we are on oil, have this single thermostat and control box. As you can see, it’s ancient and ugly, but actually works fine.

Is it possible to swap to a modern all in one smart thermostat without having to mess around with the rest of the system?

Don’t really need extra thermostats, valves etc, the system seems nicely balanced as is, would just be nice to have a bit more control to drop it down when we’re away, warm it up when we start heading home, have different temperatures day / night etc

That looks pretty similar to how our one was with oil. The guy who serviced our oil boiler was able to hook up a Nest thermostat to the system - I think he had to do a bit of "jiggery pokery" behind the scenes but it only took a few hours of his time.

[Mito Man]

Ok I’m pretty annoyed today. I’ve moaned about the stupidity of LED lights on cars being non replaceable. Now I shall make the same moan about LED lights in the home

So my flat had a few LED lights which had gone out, they’re not like the normal down lights but an integrated unit with no replaceable bulb. Also no longer in production and superseded by a new model which has a completely different beam pattern and externally looks different too. They’re also more efficient so dim differently to the old lights as I found out after just buying 1 to see if it fits the existing hole/dimmer switch which it just about did.
So I buy 7 more to completely replace the bedroom so I will have a few of the old style ones as spares for the rest of the rooms.

(Old one on the right, new one still in Box)
Now this is where it gets more stupid, the old ones as can be seen in the pic had a really aggressive fully metal spring, they pull out a chunk of the plasterboard and combined with the smaller new LED it looks like this


So looks like I’m filling in this shit show and painting the entire roof this weekend

Also fuck these non replaceable twatting lights. And whatever money they’ll save is already pissed away in the purchase cost of £130.
So how many Mito’s did it take to change a few light bulbs? 1 very pissed off one an hour and probably another half day to paint.
I’m off to pour some crude oil into the Thames.

[V8Granite]

Ahh, the LED light conundrum.

I have a ferocious grip and when you can only get to 10mm of the fulcrum part of the spring I’m squeezing bloody tight to not have it bring chunks out. Why they need to be like they are I have no idea.

We have 18 downstairs and have only replaced 2 in 5 years, my friend who is a builder recommended them as he has never replaced any within his new build warranties etc.

https://www.electric-vault.co.uk/Aurora ... ight-3000K

Dave!

[Mito Man]

My existing downlight hole size is 72mm so I just ended up going with the same brand as they’re compatible - I think it’s clearly quite old tech as 72mm seems quite massive now.

[DeskJockey]

Today's two minor projects became two larger ones.

Thermostatic shower thingy was dripping, so figured it needed a clean. Gave the offending valve a good soaking with WD40, but it still wouldn't budge and I was at the point of worrying about breaking the tiles. So, whole thing had to come off to get enough leverage to undo it. That's when I also misremembered that there were stop cocks (fnar) behind the bath, so thought I'd take the (very recently fitted) bath panel off. There are no stop cocks (snigger) there, so had to turn the water off at the mains.

I had planned on just removing one of the panels because the sealant had let go. Figured it needed a bit of bracing. Turns out three of the panels needed bracing at the bottom to avoid them moving about. So ended up making four braces (two for the longest panel), then removing all the old sealant and reapplying new. I hate working with sealant.

Instead of an hour, it took most of the day (only slightly delayed by partaking in the Big Garden Birdwatch). But, the shower doesn't drip and the panels won't move. All that's needed is to clean off a bit of the excess, but I'll wait for it to dry.

[dinny_g]

I think I’ve inherited the same problem in our bathroom Mito…

[Ascender]

Add me to the list of people who are infuriated when it comes to replacing what I assumed would just be a small LED bulb in a bathroom light.

[McSwede]

Bell Lighting do one will a replacement light source that's a good bit of kit.

https://www.belllighting.co.uk/products ... estay-geo/

[Mito Man]

I think the transformer is the bit that remains in the loft and in my experience it’s never the actual LED portion that dies but the transformer!

[Mito Man]

The one I fitted is a similar idea, with a quick release so you can replace the light independent of the transformer and probably safer for the moron as they’re only messing with 36v electrics rather than 240 but if after a few years the bulbs gone I reckon the transformer/driver isnt long for this world either

[jamcg]

We use ansell lights in our bathrooms and experience very few issues with them

[Ascender]

Planning permission accepted! Usual conditions about site access etc, but a new one is we need to submit a biodiversity planning statement before we can start work....

* sigh *

And find the money obviously

[Jobbo]

Well done! I'd imagine there are plenty of specialists out there who do that sort of report for planning purposes. Odd that they didn't ask you to submit it before granting planning consent; I'm not sure how different things are in Scotland.

[Jimexpl]

Ahh, the LED light conundrum.

I have a ferocious grip and when you can only get to 10mm of the fulcrum part of the spring I’m squeezing bloody tight to not have it bring chunks out. Why they need to be like they are I have no idea.

We have 18 downstairs and have only replaced 2 in 5 years, my friend who is a builder recommended them as he has never replaced any within his new build warranties etc.

https://www.electric-vault.co.uk/Aurora ... ight-3000K

Dave!

Aurora are our default for value downlights as they rarely give issues and have a nicer spread of light than the other cheap options we've tried.

Mito - early generation LED downlights are a pain, as they're often 72/74/76 mm. Some brands (not yours) I can now get refurbished with new 'Engines', which is more expensive than buying a complete light but can save a lot of £ if you have a house full of cutouts that are too large.

[John]

Submit a biodiversity planning statement before we can start work....

* sigh *

And find the money obviously

Someone I know had to do this and they found a newt, expensive

[Ascender]

Well done! I'd imagine there are plenty of specialists out there who do that sort of report for planning purposes. Odd that they didn't ask you to submit it before granting planning consent; I'm not sure how different things are in Scotland.

To be honest, first time around they took 6 months to reach a decision so I can handle this sort of thing, but yes, would have made sense if they'd asked for it as part of the initial application. They're also wanting details of paving and slates being used so they can be ranked too.

[Ascender]

Submit a biodiversity planning statement before we can start work....

* sigh *

And find the money obviously

Someone I know had to do this and they found a newt, expensive

[Mito Man]

Best go scorched earth, the biodiversity can only get better if it's currently non existent

[Jobbo]

To be honest, first time around they took 6 months to reach a decision so I can handle this sort of thing, but yes, would have made sense if they'd asked for it as part of the initial application. They're also wanting details of paving and slates being used so they can be ranked too.

Approving materials is a common post-consent condition in England too. Is the biodiversity assessment because they think you have great crested newts on the land or something?