The grumpy thread

[Metal Guru]

2 hours ago, adw1977 said:

Combi boilers should be alright, slight delay for hot water coming out of the tap but shouldn't take two minutes!

If either the gas or electric goes off, you instantly have no hot water but the advantage of not having a hot water tank is not paying to heat a load of water that mostly just sits there gradually getting cold.

Definitely worth looking at the settings.  A previous resident might have set them to maximum penny pinching mode!

You can set the water and heating  temperature on our one.
Another reason for luke warm water could you have high water pressure ( high flow to be accurate) and the boiler can’t keep up. Ours is 12l/ min , if it’s a lot higher than that, it could be your problem. 

The pre-heater is supposed to reduce the time you wait for hot water but it doesn’t often seem like it. Some energy “experts” were saying turn it off to reduce gas useage but I checked ours and it used just over a kWH a day ( 7p maybe). I really can’t be bothered waiting even longer for hot water to save that much. If you are on metered water, I doubt if there’s any saving.

[somewhatfoolish]

9 hours ago, maxxo said:

Just moved into a council flat, it’s pretty half decent I must admit

but fucking hell, it’s got a combi boiler and I’ve never used one before

people actually like them? It seems a right turd, 2 minutes for lukewarm water and firing up constantly when running a tap

not impressed at all

Unless the boiler is 300 yards away the water should be hot in seconds, someone will have turned the wick down to mingebag, turn it back up so you can blanche your hands.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

10 hours ago, maxxo said:

Just moved into a council flat, it’s pretty half decent I must admit

but fucking hell, it’s got a combi boiler and I’ve never used one before

people actually like them? It seems a right turd, 2 minutes for lukewarm water and firing up constantly when running a tap

not impressed at all

Had one for six years.  We set ours at 60C.  It comes on in moments and at most takes about 20 seconds to get hot water.  Wouldn't go back to an immersion heater.

Incidentally, congratulations on the flat!

[maxxo]

sort of figured it out now, turned the water right up to maximum and it's about acceptable now

trying out the central heating as we speak, it's a bit underwhelming, boiler is set to max and the thermostat in the hall is on full but not really much heat coming out

radiators are warm but not boiling hot and boiler is running quite a bit of the time

quite a decent sized flat so i'm wondering if it's undersized

[24vdiamond]

5 minutes ago, maxxo said:

sort of figured it out now, turned the water right up to maximum and it's about acceptable now

trying out the central heating as we speak, it's a bit underwhelming, boiler is set to max and the thermostat in the hall is on full but not really much heat coming out

radiators are warm but not boiling hot and boiler is running quite a bit of the time

quite a decent sized flat so i'm wondering if it's undersized

Check the little pressure gauge on the boiler, it might need topping up with water via the filling loop 

[maxxo]

4 minutes ago, 24vdiamond said:

Check the little pressure gauge on the boiler, it might need topping up with water via the filling loop 

just checked, about 2 nothces under 2 so seems alright

i'm used to the ancient back boiler at my parents house, never gone wrong and apart from a service every now and then just works and gets the water and rads stinking hot

[Mally]

Are the radiators equally hot at bottom and top when its running? If not they may need bleeding.

If you ever have to bleed, then the Pressure gauge will need resetting by opening the loop.

My water is good when heating is running, but takes ages to get warm first thing in the morning.

[somewhatfoolish]

34 minutes ago, maxxo said:

sort of figured it out now, turned the water right up to maximum and it's about acceptable now

trying out the central heating as we speak, it's a bit underwhelming, boiler is set to max and the thermostat in the hall is on full but not really much heat coming out

radiators are warm but not boiling hot and boiler is running quite a bit of the time

quite a decent sized flat so i'm wondering if it's undersized

Probably worth bleeding & balancing the radiators before agitating with the LL or letting agent for a power flush; people fiddle with radiators despite not knowing how they work and this stops them working. There may also be a separate temp setting for the heating and if that's been turned down to mingebag also the same disappointment arises. It's still fairly warm at the moment so unless the boiler is grossly undersize the radiators should be approaching too hot to hold your hand on at full bore.

[maxxo]

radiators are all equally and fully hot, i can't hold my hand on it but it's got a magnaclean filter on it so shouldn't be that sludged up?

it's on at the minute and it's not that warm

it's still got pretty much the entire old ducted warm air system in place and there is a lukewarm draught through all the vents which considering the heater is long gone is impressive, sadly they're that painted over i can't close any of them

[somewhatfoolish]

Then you need to work on heat retention;

- any drafty windows, check if the catches need adjustment, maybe new seals are needed.

- draw the curtains if present.

- that duct system is probably a source of heat loss; can it be blocked up?

- any fire places or drafts around the external door/s?

What sort of building is it, age etc? Older buildings may be a bit of dead loss thermally and despite govt funding for insulation being available some arsehole LLs do nothing.

[myglaren]

Are the radiators fitted with thermostatic valves and are they fully open?

If so then the shield valves at the other end may be turned down.

They are supposed to be set so there is an 11℃ difference between the inlet and outlet but they may be incorrectly set.

[tooSavvy]

22 hours ago, myglaren said:

Sounds faulty.  They are usually pretty good, especially the newer ones.  The delay for hot water is a bit of a peev though.

Ours is only a few steps from the bathroom but the pipes go up into the attic then across to the far end of the bathroom and on down into the kitchen.  Takes a while.

On the other hand, the downstairs toilet is just below the boiler and hot water takes only seconds.  Hardly ever used of course.

Our Combi is top notch, old & serviced + gets a few parts over the years 👍

BUT.....

When it went in, about Dec 12th, it was fitted after our back boiler was condemned (by the same plumbing outfit) and they expressed *concern we had our heating/water resolved pronto!!

We have a cement kitchen floor so any installation NOT there was 'expedient' 🙄.

It was mounted on the ONLY external wall, in a ground floor terrace = FRONT bedroom/flue into street!!

Did a super swift job, no creaking boards/carpet relaid and done in two days (heating/water done in same day = no cold period!).

We still stand in the bathroom and count slowly to 30..... waiting for the hot to arrive.

Ah well 😉

🚙💨

[captain_70s]

12 hours ago, maxxo said:

quite a decent sized flat so i'm wondering if it's undersized

People often fit the cheapest they can find, especially in rental properties. The one in my cottage in Moray was nearly brand new but could barely generate enough heat to wash dishes, let alone heat an Edwardian house...

 

We have a 3 bed house and you get a good heat out the radiators despite the boiler's warranty expiring in 2008. Takes about a min to get hot water to the upstairs bathroom, more like 15 secs downstairs.

When we moved in some radiators wouldn't get hot and a plumber came out and found the shield valves had been closed. He didn't know why anybody would do that, but given every multi-bulb light fitting in the house had all but one bulb unscrewed I suspect a previous tenant was just miserly...

[Metal Guru]

45 minutes ago, captain_70s said:

People often fit the cheapest they can find, especially in rental properties. The one in my cottage in Moray was nearly brand new but could barely generate enough heat to wash dishes, let alone heat an Edwardian house...

 

We have a 3 bed house and you get a good heat out the radiators despite the boiler's warranty expiring in 2008. Takes about a min to get hot water to the upstairs bathroom, more like 15 secs downstairs.

When we moved in some radiators wouldn't get hot and a plumber came out and found the shield valves had been closed. He didn't know why anybody would do that, but given every multi-bulb light fitting in the house had all but one bulb unscrewed I suspect a previous tenant was just miserly...

Mine is rated at 31kW in a 3 bed house. You only need that much for instant hot water, I think heating only uses about half of that.

[UltraWomble]

Can honestly say this is rubbish

[myglaren]

^  But what is it?  ^

[horriblemercedes]

On the subject of boilers, I've lived in a house with a combi boiler for about a year now. I had immersion heaters and oil heating and others before this. 

 

I would never go back to them now. The combi boiler is just so much better. Cheaper to run, more user-friendly and effective

[UltraWomble]

1 hour ago, myglaren said:

^  But what is it?  ^

Hydro.co vehicle foam wash. 

Ball ache to find the dilution ratio (fuck all on bottles and really hard to find on website) . Does foam. Doesn't really make much odds with dirt and finish was "meh" 

I'll go back to fairy liquid

[myglaren]

I usually get some foamy stuff from B&M.  Put it on the shelf and let it mature for a year or two.

[Metal Guru]

12 hours ago, UltraWomble said:

Hydro.co vehicle foam wash. 

Ball ache to find the dilution ratio (fuck all on bottles and really hard to find on website) . Does foam. Doesn't really make much odds with dirt and finish was "meh" 

I'll go back to fairy liquid

Fairy liquid contains salt. Not a good idea for car cleaning. 

[Jazoli]

2 hours ago, Metal Guru said:

Fairy liquid contains salt. Not a good idea for car cleaning. 

No it doesn’t, it’s an old trope, fairy liquid is fine if you want to strip old wax and polish off, a proper car shampoo is better though.

from google, other search engines are available 

“Washing up liquid does contain a 'salt' but this is the active ingredient and should not be confused with road salt. There is nothing in a washing-up liquid that will exacerbate corrosion – there's no sodium chloride salt to worry about. The issue regarding corrosion is the 'chloride' bit of the salt.“

[BorniteIdentity]

The degreaser in washing up liquid is really very useful when cleaning a filthy car; it doesn’t seem to streak as much for me either.

I only run old snotters so care little. I find fairy very effective 

[Split_Pin]

Magnum washing up liquid is about 60p a 500ml bottle. But you'll need quite a bit each time to get a decent lather and enough strength to shift dirt so a bottle won't last as long.

So let's compare 5l of Fairy which is £18.99 from ebay or a bit more if you're buying individual 500ml bottles from the supermarket.

5l of Simoniz or Turtle Wax car shampoo is £14.99 free post from ebay. One of those lasts me about 7 months at about 2-3 washes per week for a wrong 'un like me.

So 1) It's nothing more than inverted snobbery saying you just use dish washing liquid to clean your car and 2) it's not actually cheaper...

I love you guys but come on, don't make folk think you've also got plain water in the cooling system, remoulds and 2nd hand engine oil strained through a football sock 😂

If you really do care that little then washing the car is gonna be last on the agenda!

[EyesWeldedShut]

I'm with @UltraWomble - I have some snowfoam type stuff and, frankly, it's shite. After faffing around getting the pressure washer setup and putting the stuff on I can see eff all difference. Bit of GoogleFoo and YouTubeMonkey - still 'meh'.
Emperor's new clothes or does it only 'work' on cars that you wash thrice weekly?

I usually just use TFR (currently G101 but usually a cheaper version) as I only wash the cars/van rarely (i.e. maybe once a month sometimes less) and then, on a dry day, I'll maybe even do some polish. Bini MOT on Friday so I'll bling that up internally and externally too - otherwise I'd rather change the engine oil than wash them  
 

[beko1987]

I love snowfoam and have always got on with it, but I use a foam cannon that fits on the pressure washer. Always been a bit dubious of these hand pump things that seems to be the current tend.

Nice thick foam from the lance, then go round with the brushes and do the trims and tightwork. A good rinse and 70% of the dirt should come right off

It works better if you clean the car every week/2 weeks. A foam and rinse on a well waxed car will be all you need

But that's alot of effort 😂

 

[24vdiamond]

31 minutes ago, beko1987 said:

I love snowfoam and have always got on with it, but I use a foam cannon that fits on the pressure washer. Always been a bit dubious of these hand pump things that seems to be the current tend.

Nice thick foam from the lance, then go round with the brushes and do the trims and tightwork. A good rinse and 70% of the dirt should come right off

It works better if you clean the car every week/2 weeks. A foam and rinse on a well waxed car will be all you need

But that's alot of effort 😂

 

Clean the car every 2 weeks !!!! 😁😁

[Jazoli]

46 minutes ago, 24vdiamond said:

Clean the car every 2 weeks !!!! 😁😁

That’s insane, it has to be done at least weekly.

[beko1987]

There's people who do it every couple of days out there 😬 Not been on the detailing world forums in years though! 

I just keep enough kit about nowadays to do a good decent wash and decontamination that doesn't take all day and inflicts the least amount of damage. Not bothered with waxes or finishes for a good while now, bar a quick go over if I've got time. 

Nowadays washing the car involves going to my mums and doing their car too. I do them 2 or 3 times a year. 

[maxxo]

I’m not going to say how I usually wash the xm

alright sometimes it’s a proper wash with the bucket karcher and polish etc

but usually I use waterless wash and wax and a micro fibre towel I’ve never cleaned to give it a quick freshen up

sometimes I use a petrol station jet wash

i know that’ll give people nightmares but that’s how I’ve always washed cars

[IronStar]

How common are contactless self-service car washes over there? They seem to be all the rage here for the past decade or so. Some of them have snow foam, some not, but they all do car shampoo, wax and demineralized water from pressure washer. They are mostly alright with quality of the shampoo and wax as well, some better or worse than others obviously. Slightly under a Euro coin usually gets you 90 seconds, you need 2-3 coins to reasonably wash a car if you’re not doing wax so fairly cheap as well.