Rubbing down a rubber wiper blade.

I use paint stripper on hard rubber. Works well.

Reply to
Norman Rowing
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Cool. It's often the case with 'sealed bearings' that they are limited by whatever grease they can get in there from new. Removing the facing seals and part filling the void with grease probably multiplies the available grease by a factor of 10. Not only do you retain the grease but it must improve the cooling etc. Of course, this concept isn't new, most trailer and vehicle wheel bearings are designed this way.

A good mate phoned last night and he mentioned his first WM (bought before he actually bought his first house ) and like yours it lasted 20 years. He found the same model down the dump and over the time he had them both he used various bits from it to keep it going but how many people these days actually bother to even look at (repair) this sort of thing (or cars for that matter) themselves?

If anything goes wrong in this house the Mrs just assumes I'll sort it (or at least look into it). I don't know why as she knows I've never been on a TV, boiler, appliance or whitegoods course. ;-)

Except to many of us, it doesn't really matter if it's a washing machine or a car, it's been assembled by someone (or some robot) and in many cases can be de-assembled and repaired by us. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

Reply to
T i m

Same here, at present I am installing central heating from scratch ! I have had to make three separate motherboard repairs on the wm so far: twice burnt out tracks and one burnt out cap. On each occasion I have been pleased as punch when it worked.

Reply to
Mrcheerful

I started to do that here years ago (when it was ok to be done by just a 'competent person') but took it out and installed it for my Uncle as his need was greater. Because it was a 'low capacity' boiler I added a delayed release relay to drive the pump to prevent 'kettling'. It all worked for a good few years (untouched) till he passed away and the house was sold. He was probably closer to me than my Dad and it was really good to be able to do stuff with and to help him. ;-)

I may have mentioned this here before but his Reliant Robin was backed into by a truck at work (he worked for the Water Board maintaining the New River) and it knocked a 6" diameter hole in the top of the front wing. He rang me to tell me about it on a Friday afternoon but was later being picked up by another cousin to go to his sisters for the weekend. Long - short, the Mrs and I went round first thing Saturday morning and set about repairing the damage and had it filled and re-sprayed by sunset on Sunday night (I was pretty familiar working with fiberglass). He came home later that night and ran his hand over where the hole was .... but couldn't find it. He went in to get a torch but still couldn't see the damage and thought he was going mad. The only clue that he wasn't was the traces of fiberglass and filler sanding's in the gravel under his car. He then phoned me. ;-)

And for those of us who like to do this sort of thing, that is a big part of it isn't it. It's often 'easy' just to buy new and whilst it may get something going (and makes sense when doing something professionally or for others to a degree), it's a shame that what is a fully functional board, just for a bit of resoldering, ends up in the bin.

And this has (is) a big problem for me because even something considered 'broken' (even by me) may (often) still contains loads of perfectly good components that could be used to repair or even make something else. That means I find it very difficult to throw such things away, especially without stripping them down into either usable sub-components or different scrap / recyclable materials first.

And where is this 'away' where we throw things? ;-)

Cheers, T i m

Reply to
T i m

Plenty of 80s and 90s VWs had them, and quite a common failure too.

Reply to
Chris Bartram

It still is OK in your own home. Including the gas side.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

(Changing the point I know but ... ) As long as any associated mains wiring isn't in the kitchen or bathroom (or even more restrictive than that)? ;-(

But thanks for reminding me of the gas thing. I did know that to be the case (as a gas fire supplier said the same thing when I said I was going to get it 'professionally installed') but wasn't sure if it still so.

Cheers, T i m

Reply to
T i m
[...]

Sadly the regulations do not satisfactorily define what competency is needed, so it's never been tested in law.

From April 2014 a kitchen or outdoor area are no longer considered special locations, so a DIYer is able to legally undertake the same (limited) range of work as in any other part of a house other than a bathroom. This applies only to England; Wales still has the old rules. (Unless it's changed again whilst I'm typing this!)

From the same date, you can legally employ a non-registered electrician to carry out domestic installation, provided that electrician has already made an arrangement with a third-party person who can legitimately inspect and certify the work.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

The same really applies to electrics. The regs on who can do what are badly worded and have never been tested by a court. So if you DIY in your own house following the regs - ie are competent - you have nothing to worry about.

Trouble is many pros and their professional bodies have vested interests in keeping the work for themselves. And not only as regards domestic matters. Plenty in the motor trade would like to ban DIY too.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Quite. But most sensible people will know what competent means. If they don't, then don't touch it is the safest route.

The real problem never was DIY gas work in your own house. After all, there are very few that would mess with this. The problem is far more likely to be cowboy 'pros'. And exactly the same applies to electrics.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

And to compound things (ITRW), some of us might actually do a better job than the so-called professionals because in general we can (and will / do) apply whatever time and effort is needed to do the job 'properly'. A tiler, doing some plastering in my house asked 'who tiled your kitchen'? I replied, 'I did' (expecting some comment re I'd got tiles upside down or used the wrong materials or summat) and he said, 'I bet that took you some time?'. I think what he was saying was because he had noticed that everything was straight, flat, even and everything fitted 'just right', it would have taken more time than if I had it done professionally, both for the time (money) most people would be willing to pay and the limit of the effort most people might go to when doing it every day or doing it for someone else? So, whilst it probably did take me more time than it would have taken him, I have to live with it from then on and even if it took 4 instead of 2 days that's nothing compared with the years it may be there. ;-)

Oh, cool, thanks Chris. ;-)

Ok, that makes sense. OOI, what is a 'non registered electrician'? I mean, I know what a registered electrician might be ... one with the training, qualifications and hopefully experience but could I be considered a 'non registered electrician' for example? I mean, I rewired this house 30 years ago, helped many other people in between and was reminded I extended some SWA out to a pond pump for a family friend when I was still at secondary school [1](and it's still working fine), but is that enough?

Cheers, T i m

[1] At the same time I was terminating (cutting, fitting the glands and lugs) on very heavy duty SWA for an industrial manufacturing site on my 'summer job'. ;-)
Reply to
T i m

Years ago (about 1974) I installed a gas back boiler.

I rang the gas board and said "I've done it, do you want to come and inspect it?" They said "We will if you pay us to, but otherwise, no." - I guess things have changed since then.

Before I started work there was a gas supply into the property - the supply pipe arrived into a cupboard under the stairs. It was capped after the isolating tap, and there was no meter. However the cupboard always stank of gas, because the tap leaked.

So I rang the gas board to get them to fit a meter. The technician who attended also replaced the tap with a new one that did not leak.

All very strange, since the house was not that old, having been built in the mid 1960's.

Reply to
Graham J
[...]

From 2005, all except very minor electrical work in the home has to be reported to the local council's building control department. It must be possible to demonstrate how it meets the requirements of BS7671, which requires testing.

For the truly insane, it is possible in theory to do this without having formal electrical competencies. You would need to inform building control of the scope of the work, and how you intended to meet the regulations. Building control would need to inspect the premises before and after the work. You would need to show that the installation passed relevant electrical tests. In practice it isn't possible.

A fully trained and competent electrician would have to go down the same route. Clearly this would not be cost-effective, so there are a number of agencies that act as a 'go-between' between the electrician and building control. The best-known is the NICEIC:

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They check an electrician's qualifications, his ability to test, that his test equipment has a current calibration certificate, and inspect a number of jobs he has completed. These checks are repeated annually. If all is well, for an annual fee, they take care of reporting the work to the appropriate council's building control department. It all happens transparently WRT the customer, and usually is done on-line.

A competent electrician who has not been registered with one of these agencies is 'non-registered'. A competent electrician who is registered is usually described as 'Part P registered' - part P being the relevant section of the Building Regulations.

It is actually a criminal offence for a home-owner or landlord to fail to comply with Part P of the Building Regulations.

Since the changes last year, in theory a competent amateur could carry out notifiable work in his own home, then get a Part P registered electrician to inspect and test. In practice, no electrician I know would do that. For one thing, part of the test is to check every termination. Normally the registered electrician would do that as he completed each connection, but to go back over what someone else had done would cost almost as much as doing the job in the first place.

The change in the regulation was intended to reduce the cost of registration for larger contractors, who now could have a team of perhaps three guys on an installation, but only one of them would need registration.

WRT your experience, clearly you are not a registered electrician. Without a means of proving your competence by way of proof of formal qualification, you could not be considered a competent electrician. You would be allowed to work alongside a registered electrician under his direct supervision however.

More to the point, as a qualified electrician with 40 years experience, and a (now out of date) BS7671 qualification, I am breaking the law if I replace a faulty pull-cord switch in my bathroom!

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

I had better turn myself in.

Reply to
Mrcheerful

Same with a house near me, the 60s must have had very low quality control. My house is late 30s and is much better in every way, it also seems they had spirit levels in the 30s, but not the 60s

Reply to
Mrcheerful
[...]

I'm sure you feel better now you have shared.

;-)

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

Thanks very much for the overview Chris. As with much of this ever growing red tape we are seeing these days, whilst it's roots are often in good reason the practical implications often mean that people simply ignore most of them. ;-(

Charge people to use the refuse centres and the council (and individuals) could end up spending more money cleaning up and Policing the fly tipping than the Council would have earned from rules-abiding people.

My Dad experienced this at a European level re the various European standards (re lifting gear in this case). He would attend a meeting where some countries would argue and debate what was being tabled and others would be conspicuously silent. When he asked one of the latter why they weren't getting involved their answer was often 'we won't take any notice of it whatever it says'.

All this is especially frustrating when the (potentially) genuine good intention is used as a front for some quango and money for the boys. ;-(

Cheers, T i m

Reply to
T i m
[...]

IMHO, Part P legislation doesn't even have good reason.

It came about because the daughter of an MP was killed:

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Now any death is a tragedy that must be prevented by all means possible. However, statistics for years previous to Part P showed that less than one person per year were killed by a domestic electrical installation. After Part P, the figure actually went up slightly, but not in a statistically significant way.

To put this into perspective, on average 29 people die in the UK each year from being struck by lightning.

More significantly, although figures vary slightly depending on source, around 30 people a year die from electrocution from all causes. Mandatory testing of portable appliances would save far more lives than Part P ever will.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan
[snip]

Does this affect something like wiring a mains lead and plug into a piece of equipment, for example a portable electric heater?

Reply to
Graham J

No; anything after the socket is not covered. It purely deals with the fixed installation of a domestic property.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

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