New Old House Plumbing Questions

New Old House Plumbing Questions

Author
Discussion

StreetDragster

Original Poster:

1,522 posts

219 months

Monday 15th April
quotequote all
Hi all
Moved into a house, built in 2000 and i have some odd plumbing issues i wanted to ask about if anyone can help.

Firstly, the boiler, Combi, remeha avanta plus 35c.
Hot water and central heating works fine. But using the COLD water tap, in any bathroom/kitchen/hose causes boiler activity. I can't tell if it's just the pump that's running or if it's lighting, but open a cold water tap and 5 seconds later the boiler makes noise.
Why is this, is this a feature or is something broken/worn out?

Secondly, the showers are mixers. One of them constantly drips with the shower shut off. Do mixer showers have replaceable 'tap' washers or similar seals, or is a new shower module needed?
Mira, picture attached.

Thanks in advance


xiodene

153 posts

154 months

Monday 15th April
quotequote all
I had the same issue with my boiler while I was replaceing the bathroom. Apparently it is caused by air in the pipes. Do you have any dead legs in the pipework?

119

6,329 posts

37 months

Monday 15th April
quotequote all
Those look like standard pipe spacings so just replace the whole unit, especially as it over 20 years old.

Not worth the aggro imo.

StreetDragster

Original Poster:

1,522 posts

219 months

Monday 15th April
quotequote all
xiodene said:
I had the same issue with my boiler while I was replaceing the bathroom. Apparently it is caused by air in the pipes. Do you have any dead legs in the pipework?
Not sure, how would i check? All the bathrooms are tiled so it's hard to figure out pipe routes.
I'll turn all taps on full blast tomorrow and see if any air gets chased out

StreetDragster

Original Poster:

1,522 posts

219 months

Monday 15th April
quotequote all
119 said:
Those look like standard pipe spacings so just replace the whole unit, especially as it over 20 years old.

Not worth the aggro imo.
Fair enough, they aren't too expensive

konark

1,110 posts

120 months

Tuesday 16th April
quotequote all
Do you consider a house built in 2000 to be old?

StreetDragster

Original Poster:

1,522 posts

219 months

Tuesday 16th April
quotequote all
I was trying to highlight, that I've moved into a new to me house, that isn't a new build

dundarach

5,053 posts

229 months

Tuesday 16th April
quotequote all
I had one of those showers that dripped and I seem to remember my boiler coming on too with the cold water.

Was a David Wilson house built late 90's

Anyway, Aqualisa I think it was and at the time £75 for the new cartridge thing, took the front plate off and slipped it in, oow er!

Boiler, never figured it, seemed massively over complicated to be honest, great big combi thing that buzzed even when I turned off the main electric switch.

https://www.aqualisa.co.uk/products/shower-spares/... - Jesus gone up a bit in 20 years!

StreetDragster

Original Poster:

1,522 posts

219 months

Wednesday 17th April
quotequote all
Ok, new potentially stupid question, but what's wrong with my sink.
Just came to do the washing up, 1.5 sink, two plug holes, two plugs.

I can get the plugs to seal, the seals are a good 4-5mm up from the top of the waste.
They don't appear to press down or up, the outer part is tight and snug in the waste. Putting the 0.5 plug in the 1.0 sink is the same. What's going on? I didn't think there was different types of plug.

I'm not adverse to replacing the full waste and plug, but i didn't see this problem coming. I've just done the washing up in the bath lol








dhutch

14,390 posts

198 months

Wednesday 17th April
quotequote all
StreetDragster said:
Fair enough, they aren't too expensive
Depends what you buy, the rolls royce is a Mira Excel and they are not given away.

We have a 40yo one in our house and it still get daily use, no issues or complains. Best shower in the house infact.

dhutch

14,390 posts

198 months

Wednesday 17th April
quotequote all
konark said:
Do you consider a house built in 2000 to be old?
No.

Ours is 1902......

dhutch

14,390 posts

198 months

Wednesday 17th April
quotequote all
[quote=StreetDragster] What's going on? I didn't think there was different types of plug./quote]
There definitely is.

Get a washing up bowl..... biggrinfrown

OutInTheShed

7,636 posts

27 months

Wednesday 17th April
quotequote all
119 said:
Those look like standard pipe spacings so just replace the whole unit, especially as it over 20 years old.

Not worth the aggro imo.
I had a similar mixer, it 'looked like' the standard modern spacing but was a few mm different.
I managed to dremel the tiles to persuade a common bar-style thermostatic mixer to fit.

StreetDragster

Original Poster:

1,522 posts

219 months

Yesterday (14:19)
quotequote all
Just closing this off.

In the end for the sink, i replaced both drain waste and plugs in one and that now works perfectly as you would expect. Still no idea why it didn't work before.

The shower, i have replaced the mixer unit, it was a nightmare, the hole spacing was fine but the pipe protrusion made everything difficult. Its done now and working fine, but i will admit, not my finest work. It'll be rectified when the bathroom is replaced.

The boiler, this i don't know about. I replaced the kitchen mixer tap and then the boiler stopped coming on with cold water use. Before it did it with kitchen tap, other taps, hose pipe etc, but now none of those things trigger it. No idea how but that'll do.

Thanks

timetex

648 posts

149 months

Yesterday (15:30)
quotequote all
StreetDragster said:
Ok, new potentially stupid question, but what's wrong with my sink.
Just came to do the washing up, 1.5 sink, two plug holes, two plugs.

I can get the plugs to seal, the seals are a good 4-5mm up from the top of the waste.
They don't appear to press down or up, the outer part is tight and snug in the waste. Putting the 0.5 plug in the 1.0 sink is the same. What's going on? I didn't think there was different types of plug.

I'm not adverse to replacing the full waste and plug, but i didn't see this problem coming. I've just done the washing up in the bath lol







Are they 'plugs' or are they removable waste traps?

In my sink(s) you can spin them around. In one orientation they act like a plug and stop all water going down the plughole. In another orientation they allow the water to flow and trap the food and other detritus that gets into the sink - then you can easily just lift the whole thing out and knock it into the bin.

StreetDragster

Original Poster:

1,522 posts

219 months

Yesterday (15:35)
quotequote all
timetex said:
Are they 'plugs' or are they removable waste traps?

In my sink(s) you can spin them around. In one orientation they act like a plug and stop all water going down the plughole. In another orientation they allow the water to flow and trap the food and other detritus that gets into the sink - then you can easily just lift the whole thing out and knock it into the bin.
Yer, nothing as clever as that. Just a combined strainer/plug, that just appeared to be the wrong one for the waste.

miroku1

335 posts

108 months

Yesterday (18:24)
quotequote all
You’ve got a Mira excel of some kind , you’ll need to take the cover off and see what colour cartridge you have , they all available, easy swap .
Can’t comment on your boiler no experience with remeha I’m afraid .
Just swap your strainer wastes for mcalpine versions , again straightforward job , just check if you need the combined overflow or not