The grumpy thread

[Zelandeth]

15 minutes ago, reb said:

I've been in this house for nearly 4 years now, never had any problems except for some dodgy sockets that were fixed in the first year.

Went to wash my face and shave this morning (well, 2pm, but who's counting) and all that came out of the hot tap was a a small dribble of cold water then nothing.

No answer on the out of hours number for the letting agent, no way for me to troubleshoot myself because the extent of my knowledge of the water heater is there's a boost button and it's boxed in in the kitchen.

Chances of it being sorted so I can have my Sunday night bath? Absolutely zero.

Thankfully I have an electric shower that's independent of the water heater. I wonder if I can use it to fill the sink to shave without making a horrendous mess.

Silly question - have you checked it's all hot taps?  I've had a collapsed washer clog one up before resulting in next to no flow.

[Datsuncog]

Mission creep... when 'repairing that bad bit of wall' becomes 'new wall needed'.

Still, at least I can make sure the infill battening in the old doorway's actually secured to the rest of the framing - because it currently isn't...

 

[reb]

1 minute ago, Zelandeth said:

Silly question - have you checked it's all hot taps?  I've had a collapsed washer clog one up before resulting in next to no flow.

All hot taps are the same. If you leave them for a while they build up enough pressure* to drible for a time obviously proportional to the amount of vertical pipework for the trickle to build up a head in. If I leave it for about an hour I get 5 seconds of "flow" from the bathroom sink tap, bugger all from the bath and about 10 seconds from the kitchen tap.

[Fumbler]

Pulley misalignment by about 2 teeth.

Apparently all 850 PAS pumps aren't the same.

[reb]

9 minutes ago, Fumbler said:

Pulley misalignment by about 2 teeth.

Apparently all 850 PAS pumps aren't the same.

There's a lot more variation in parts for 850s than you'd expect. For example the thermostat housing on the NA 2.5 10v and 20v petrol engines is different despite being broadly the same engine, I believe it's different again on the turbo ones, naturally different again again on the TDI being it's a completely different engine.

If it had been about a year ago I could have chucked the PAS pump from my 2.5 10v in the post on the off chance it'd work, but alas it got sold to some dodgy scrapmen in order to clear space to put up a gazebo.

[Mr Pastry]

23 minutes ago, reb said:

All hot taps are the same. If you leave them for a while they build up enough pressure* to drible for a time obviously proportional to the amount of vertical pipework for the trickle to build up a head in. If I leave it for about an hour I get 5 seconds of "flow" from the bathroom sink tap, bugger all from the bath and about 10 seconds from the kitchen tap.

What sort of water heater is it?  If it's an immersion in a cylinder, then the cold water isn't getting in to displace the hot water.  There will be a header tank somewhere supplying it - either in the loft, or combined with the cylinder. 

[reb]

Just now, Mr Pastry said:

What sort of water heater is it?  If it's an immersion in a cylinder, then the cold water isn't getting in to displace the hot water.  There will be a header tank somewhere supplying it - either in the loft, or combined with the cylinder. 

I'm fairly sure it's an immersion, it's boxed in here:

With this on the wall next to it:

Which seems to be functioning as intended, if you put the timer on the light on the switch comes on.

You only need to put the timer on for large amounts of hot water, for example filling the bath. It seems to provide hot water for handwashing and dishes no matter the status of this. I am assuming it switches itself on in the dead of night or something to provide said water throughout the day.

I can't get at the tank itself without dismantling the box around it, which obviously has been painted over countless times so I can't get at the screws without damaging the paint because the caps are painted over.

Really I need the letting agent to do the job that we (me and the landlord) pay them to do.

[paulplom]

Sounds like an airlock if it is a gravity system.

Get a bit of short hose pipe force it on the cold and hot taps. Open the hot first then the cold and leave it to run for 30 seconds or so. The mains pressure will clear it.

[paulplom]

Or if you're really technical, pull your washing machine out and connect the cold hose to the hot valve and open both. Same principal.

[Fumbler]

54 minutes ago, reb said:

There's a lot more variation in parts for 850s than you'd expect. For example the thermostat housing on the NA 2.5 10v and 20v petrol engines is different despite being broadly the same engine, I believe it's different again on the turbo ones, naturally different again again on the TDI being it's a completely different engine.

If it had been about a year ago I could have chucked the PAS pump from my 2.5 10v in the post on the off chance it'd work, but alas it got sold to some dodgy scrapmen in order to clear space to put up a gazebo.

Seems I've found out the hard way. I now understand why Haynes says go to Volvo to get the pulley transferred over from the old pump to the new one- because it's pressed on.

[beko1987]

39 minutes ago, paulplom said:

Sounds like an airlock if it is a gravity system.

Get a bit of short hose pipe force it on the cold and hot taps. Open the hot first then the cold and leave it to run for 30 seconds or so. The mains pressure will clear it.

I once accidentally did this! 

I dont have an outside tap so creativity has always been needed. I once tried one of those tap to hose adapters upstairs on the bath mixer tap. 

Was working well for half an hour until suddenly a torrent of water shot out of the loft holding tank overflow pipe... Turns out I'd been doing just that by accident, pushing cold up the hot! Luckily no harm done and the overflow pipework is/was watertight

Now I disconnect the washing machine to use the hose and screw an adapter on 👍

[paulplom]

Aye, 30 seconds is long enough. 🤣

[Mally]

1 hour ago, Fumbler said:

Pulley misalignment by about 2 teeth.

Apparently all 850 PAS pumps aren't the same.

It may be possible to trim a couple of ridges off the belt so that it runs square.

No guarantees like, but I'd try it. 

[reb]

51 minutes ago, paulplom said:

Sounds like an airlock if it is a gravity system.

Get a bit of short hose pipe force it on the cold and hot taps. Open the hot first then the cold and leave it to run for 30 seconds or so. The mains pressure will clear it.

I don't have any suitable hose and the washing machine only has a cold feed.

I did however figure out I could force cold water into the hot feed by blocking my kitchen mixer tap and opening it biased towards hot. Done with the other taps closed it resulted in roughly the amount of water diverted coming out of the other taps when opened then nothing. I tried it with the bathroom sink tap open and the drain plug in, this resulted somewhat predictably in a sink full of water after about 30 seconds.

Think I need a plumber before I break something.

[paulplom]

Try it for a bit longer.

[reb]

23 minutes ago, paulplom said:

Try it for a bit longer.

Tried for about a minute this time. Got a few splutters out of the bathroom tap, then it ran hot for a few seconds, then it died again. Anything to be gained from trying again or is it totally fucking fucked?

[Fumbler]

49 minutes ago, Mally said:

It may be possible to trim a couple of ridges off the belt so that it runs square.

No guarantees like, but I'd try it. 

That'd do it, but I'd rather not. It'd certainly get me out of a fix.

[paulplom]

11 minutes ago, reb said:

Tried for about a minute this time. Got a few splutters out of the bathroom tap, then it ran hot for a few seconds, then it died again. Anything to be gained from trying again or is it totally fucking fucked?

Keep going. A bit longer. You can't break anything. At worse water will come out the overflow like @beko1987said.

 

It could in theory not be an airlock but you can't get a simpler system. A tank feeding a cylinder.  It could be a blockage in the tank but forcing mains water should shift it.

The only time it hasn't in my experience is was it was a maggot infested pidgeon in the tank blocking it. The mains water would shift it for a litre or two but then the suction would pull the decomposed pidgeon back down and block it again.

[reb]

4 minutes ago, paulplom said:

Keep going. A bit longer. You can't break anything. At worse water will come out the overflow like @beko1987said.

 

It could in theory not be an airlock but you can't get a simpler system. A tank feeding a cylinder.  It could be a blockage in the tank but forcing mains water should shift it.

The only time it hasn't in my experience is was it was a maggot infested pidgeon in the tank blocking it. The mains water would shift it for a litre or two but then the suction would pull the decomposed pidgeon back down and block it again.

I'll keep alternating between forcing the water through and trying to phone the emergency number that assures me they'll call me back within an hour.

[jakebullet]

I'm away on holiday. My sister has had a visit from a local rigger boot wearing moron, do I want to sell his m9 my escort, as it's just rusting away and an eyesore.

a ) It's a capri

b ) No.

c ) Definitely not to you so you can flip it on ebay.

[reb]

Honestly, what's the point in having an emergency out of hours number if no cunt is going to answer it?

[High Jetter]

@reb can you get to the cold tank to see if a) there's water in it and b) if anything's blocking the outlet? I presume no-one has accidentally turned any of the valves off recently.

[reb]

15 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

@reb can you get to the cold tank to see if a) there's water in it and b) if anything's blocking the outlet? I presume no-one has accidentally turned any of the valves off recently.

I'm not sure there is a cold tank, all of the taps seem to run directly off the mains.

It's probably worth mentioning I live in a 200+ year old cottage that hasn't seen any major renovation since... Well, ever.

[Mr Pastry]

38 minutes ago, reb said:

I'm not sure there is a cold tank, all of the taps seem to run directly off the mains.

It's probably worth mentioning I live in a 200+ year old cottage that hasn't seen any major renovation since... Well, ever.

If there is no cold tank then it is possibly a Fortic cylinder, which has a small supply tank with ball valve, mounted directly on top of the hot cylinder.  I'd be looking at that next if you want to get more involved.

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, reb said:

I'm not sure there is a cold tank, all of the taps seem to run directly off the mains.

It's probably worth mentioning I live in a 200+ year old cottage that hasn't seen any major renovation since... Well, ever.

The hot won't, or it wouldn't get heated. Have you looked in the loft/attic?

[ruffgeezer]

Minor in the scheme of things, but I've been trying to buy a V50 2.0d Sport now for a while and have now had 5 get passed me, the last one I messaged within 4 hours of the advert going live.

Fucksakes,  time to look at alternatives? 

[Lacquer Peel]

12 hours ago, High Jetter said:

The hot won't, or it wouldn't get heated. Have you looked in the loft/attic?

It's a downstairs flat. 

[Popsicle]

Made sure I had all the stuff to future proof the fleets underbelly's before winter set in, underseal, rust converter and primer. Even got some matching paint made up for the Vectra, Caddy and Beetle to do the sills and bumpers. I was going to take a long weekend and batter through em all with the nice weather we are having at the moment. Thats not the grump though. The grump is this bugger.

Had a short notice planned op last week, thought I'd be ok doing the motors slowly with my cack handed left hand, but no chance unfortunately, even having my arm at any angle not supported hurts like hell, by the time this heals up and the physio is done it'll be bloody dark by 4pm and wet, so I can't see me using this box of assorted spraying things till next spring ☹️.

 

Although being a stubborn old fart, who gets bored easily, I'm sure I'll try and fail before the cast is off! Just got to make sure the Mrs is out as she'll bloody bollock me.

[vulgalour]

Make sure you wrap the cast in clingfilm or similar to mask it from overspray.  The perfect crime!

This is going about as well as brakes ever do when I attempt it on my own.  Everything came undone nicely apart from this one union.  The stub of the flexi hose is seemingly fused to the hard line union.  I had the choice of cutting through the nut that held this to the bracket on the car, or twisting the bracket off the car so went with the former and so far everything I've attempted has been unsuccessful.  I can see me ending up having to replace the whole hard line that has nothing wrong with it, just because this poxy fixing is probably going to end up twisting the end of the hard line off which is too tight a fit to trim and re-flange.

[twosmoke300]

On 9/3/2022 at 7:09 PM, jakebullet said:

I'm away on holiday. My sister has had a visit from a local rigger boot wearing moron, do I want to sell his m9 my escort, as it's just rusting away and an eyesore.

a ) It's a capri

b ) No.

c ) Definitely not to you so you can flip it on ebay.

You need to be moving that car asap . Or someone will be removing it for you .