Quick Question Thread

[Zen Archer (Raconteur)]

2 hours ago, Boghead ranter said:

Why do some downpipes extend up like this, whereas others just stay flush with the gutter?

Of the 2 at the back of my house, this is 1, the other is flush.

My neighbour on one side, both their pipes are extended up and beyond the gutter, neighbour on the other, neither are. So I can't work it out due to lack of pattern.

That's a vent pipe, it obviously vents drain smells and needs to be about a vertical metre above any openable window.

It's main feature is to allow atmospheric pressure to act on what you put down the drain  

If it weren't there, your drains could act as if they were blocked. 

[Florentine_Pogen]

1 hour ago, Zen Archer (Raconteur) said:

That's a vent pipe, it obviously vents drain smells and needs to be about a vertical metre above any openable window.

It's main feature is to allow atmospheric pressure to act on what you put down the drain  

If it weren't there, your drains could act as if they were blocked. 

Soil vent stack. As Zen says, needs to be min. 900mm vertically above window.

Plumber obviously decided on the easiest, quickest & ugliest solution when he could easily have swung the pipe round onto the gable.

[Boghead ranter]

5 hours ago, Zen Archer (Raconteur) said:

That's a vent pipe, it obviously vents drain smells and needs to be about a vertical metre above any openable window.

It's main feature is to allow atmospheric pressure to act on what you put down the drain  

If it weren't there, your drains could act as if they were blocked. 

So my neighbour, who doesn't have one of these contraptions, is fucked?

3 hours ago, Florentine_Pogen said:

Plumber obviously decided on the easiest, quickest & ugliest solution when he could easily have swung the pipe round onto the gable.

Persimmon built, enough said.

Edited November 16, 2023 by Boghead ranter

[Miguel Sanchez]

Look at the gaps in the mortar below the window.

[Florentine_Pogen]

2 minutes ago, Boghead ranter said:

So my neighbour, who doesn't have one, is fucked?

Persimmon built, enough said.

Your neighbour must have one. Building Control test the drainage before issuing Building Warrants.

[Boghead ranter]

2 minutes ago, Miguel Sanchez said:

Look at the gaps in the mortar below the window.

 

5 minutes ago, Boghead ranter said:

Persimmon built, enough said.

ETA they're wee plastic ventilationy things.

Edited November 16, 2023 by Boghead ranter

[scottsdad]

1 minute ago, Miguel Sanchez said:

Look at the gaps in the mortar below the window.

You sure they're not weep vents?

[TxRover]

3 hours ago, scottsdad said:

You sure they're not weep vents?

Those look to be weep vents…but the question will be are they real or faked.

[RuMoore]

How many hair transplants has Rooney had? 

[Florentine_Pogen]

1 hour ago, RuMoore said:

How many hair transplants has Rooney had? 

Didn't realise she'd had any. I think she looks great.

[invergowrie arab]

@Zen Archer (Raconteur)

long question.

Why is my combi boiler losing pressure when the heating goes off? I need to refill it every day or two.

I know the obvious answer is a leak but im not aware of one.

This has happened after a boiler service last week would anything be done in a service that would cause this?

[Zen Archer (Raconteur)]

15 minutes ago, invergowrie arab said:

@Zen Archer (Raconteur)

long question.

Why is my combi boiler losing pressure when the heating goes off? I need to refill it every day or two.

I know the obvious answer is a leak but im not aware of one.

This has happened after a boiler service last week would anything be done in a service that would cause this?

If you have no obvious leak, the rapidity in loss of pressure may be due to a failure in the expansion vessel.

If the engineer has tested the Pressure Relief Valve, it may not have re-seated properly, evidence of this would be an external leak.

Off the top of my head, these are the most obvious causes short of a leak in an unobservable part of the system e.g. under ground floor, leaking into the solum.

ETA, there could be also be a faulty Auto Air Release Valve (high level inside the boiler casing) which could leak during boiler operation but signs of water could evaporate due to the heat of the appliance.

Edited November 16, 2023 by Zen Archer (Raconteur)

[invergowrie arab]

2 hours ago, Zen Archer (Raconteur) said:

If you have no obvious leak, the rapidity in loss of pressure may be due to a failure in the expansion vessel.

If the engineer has tested the Pressure Relief Valve, it may not have re-seated properly, evidence of this would be an external leak.

Off the top of my head, these are the most obvious causes short of a leak in an unobservable part of the system e.g. under ground floor, leaking into the solum.

ETA, there could be also be a faulty Auto Air Release Valve (high level inside the boiler casing) which could leak during boiler operation but signs of water could evaporate due to the heat of the appliance.

Cheers that's what i thought. They are coming back next week so fingers crossed.

[alta-pete]

seeing as we have your attention, @Zen Archer (Raconteur), I've asked this question many places elsewhere and have yet to get an answer I understand:

To run the gas central heating in the most efficent (cheapest) manner, should I have the boiler turned up high and the thermostatic valves on the radiators turned down low, or should I have the thermostatic valves wide open and the boiler running at as low a temp as possible? If it of relevance, I'm in a fairly modern new build house.

Spoiler

And for the pish patter thread, I've already tried it with the windows wide open and that doesn't seem to work.

 

[Left Back]

59 minutes ago, alta-pete said:

seeing as we have your attention, @Zen Archer (Raconteur), I've asked this question many places elsewhere and have yet to get an answer I understand:

To run the gas central heating in the most efficent (cheapest) manner, should I have the boiler turned up high and the thermostatic valves on the radiators turned down low, or should I have the thermostatic valves wide open and the boiler running at as low a temp as possible? If it of relevance, I'm in a fairly modern new build house.

  Reveal hidden contents

And for the pish patter thread, I've already tried it with the windows wide open and that doesn't seem to work.

 

The TRV's don't control the heating and only slightly control the efficiency.

In a typical system you have a wall thermostat someone, often in the coldest room you want to heat (like the hallway).  When that determines it's too cold it calls for heat and fires the boiler.  Typically the radiator in that room won't have a TV and will essentially be fully open (to ensure when the boiler is heating and therefore the pump is running there is somewhere for the water to actually flow through).

When the thermostat decides it's hot enough there (at whatever temp you've set it to) it stops calling for heat.

The TRV's on all the other radiators are used to set how hot you want that room to be so when the wall thermostat in the hallway calls for heat if the TRV in the living room detects the living room is colder than its setting water will flow through the living room radiator and heat the room.  If it decides it's OK the living room won't be heated.  This is how TRV's can make heating efficient.  If all TRV's are switched off hot water only flows through the radiator where the thermostat is and doesn't incur heat loss anywhere else.  the hallway (for example) then heats up quicker and switches the boiler off quicker.

If you have the TRV's full open then that radiator will be accepting water for longer (and therefore incurring heat loss making the system less efficient as there's less heat going to the hall radiator.  You could also be putting more heat into that room than you need making it less efficient there also.

You want the TRV in each room set to whatever is a comfortable temperature in that room (higher for living areas than bedrooms) but not higher than that.

As to the boiler temperature that's different and there is no right or wrong answer.  the higher the temp the quicker the rads will heat up and therefore the thermostat will stop calling for heat.  Some engineers will tell you to have it as high as possible and some as low.

[Boghead ranter]

On 16/11/2023 at 11:01, Zen Archer (Raconteur) said:

That's a vent pipe, it obviously vents drain smells and needs to be about a vertical metre above any openable window.

It's main feature is to allow atmospheric pressure to act on what you put down the drain  

If it weren't there, your drains could act as if they were blocked. 

Sorry to regress to this again - my neighbours deffo don't have this, and from a quick glance down the row of houses, only about 50% of the houses do.

Are we in line to be a smelly, drainblocked street?

[Zen Archer (Raconteur)]

28 minutes ago, Boghead ranter said:

Sorry to regress to this again - my neighbours deffo don't have this, and from a quick glance down the row of houses, only about 50% of the houses do.

Are we in line to be a smelly, drainblocked street?

I wouldn't think so.

Some properties may have an internal soil stack capped with a Durgo or Air Admittance Valve, this permits the action of atmospheric pressure but reseals when no waste is being flushed down the stack.

[Boghead ranter]

1 hour ago, Zen Archer (Raconteur) said:

I wouldn't think so.

Some properties may have an internal soil stack capped with a Durgo or Air Admittance Valve, this permits the action of atmospheric pressure but reseals when no waste is being flushed down the stack.

Thank you, again.

(I only understood "I wouldn't think so" )

[alta-pete]

On 17/11/2023 at 12:53, Left Back said:

As to the boiler temperature that's different and there is no right or wrong answer.  the higher the temp the quicker the rads will heat up and therefore the thermostat will stop calling for heat.  Some engineers will tell you to have it as high as possible and some as low.

Thanks for this. All a very detailed explanaion of the TRVs but i still think the unknown answer to my question lies in the bit where no-one seems to want to offer a definitive position! 

[Florentine_Pogen]

3 hours ago, Boghead ranter said:

Sorry to regress to this again - my neighbours deffo don't have this, and from a quick glance down the row of houses, only about 50% of the houses do.

Are we in line to be a smelly, drainblocked street?

You should be able to inspect the drainage layout drawings for your / your neighbours houses at your local council Building Control Dept.

In Edinburgh, this info is available online.