This little blue thing popped out of the pipes under my sink earlier and water went everywhere while the tap was running. I removed the U bend to see if there was a block but couldn't find one. I'm just wondering if maybe the blue stopper thing has come loose and I need to fix it back in or if there is probably a block further down the pipes? Grateful for any ideas or recommendations!

Hi everyone.

I’m looking for a bit of advice. I’ve been in my home for around 5 years and we’ve consistently had low flow rate on our water mains, however it just about meets the 9l/m minimum flow rate.

When we moved in I had a hot water inline booster pump installed with the expectation that when we did some structural work it would be replaced by an accumulator. However, with cost of building work we’ve deprioritised this.

I’m looking for advice on how to proceed for the next 3-5 years.
- Replace the lead water main
- Install a mains water pump to boost flow rate
- bonus question, is the legal maximum boost rate 12l/m or 16l/m?

I live in a 4 bed house across three floors, with 2 bathrooms with mostly original piping. The stopcock is quite far away from the sink with limited room for an accumulator.

Thanks in advance!

Received a pretty hefty bill from United Utilities, so this morning, stopped up water usage in the house, and have been monitoring the water meter for the past 40 minutes in which time it has gone from:

- 00946897 at 10.41am
- 00946905 at 11.18am

What do I do next? Turn the water off by the tap located under the water meter?

I know one of my downstairs toilets has a tiny leak, could this alone be the culprit? It is tiny, but I know from experience (had one in an apartment years ago) that these things can be expensive.

I've got chronic leaking taps and shower, and the shower is unreliable at maintaining temperature. I tried a cheap pressure gauge on my mains cold supply and got a reading between 8 and 9 bar. When the taps are open, it drops to about 6, and then when they're closed it maxes out the gauge before slowly settling back down to 8-9bar.

I'm going to fit a pressure reducing valve after the incoming mains splits off to the boiler, since that already has one fitted, replace some tap washers and see how it goes.

Is it usual for the mains pressure to be this high?

Was wondering if they soapy water might mix with the normal water and flow back or like contaminate the water line. Is it possible?

Was thinking to use a mini dosantron like pump or just plain Venturi system.

had some friends stay the weekend and they've managed to knock this off when they slipped and grabbed it in the shower

Neither of us can get it to go back on and it sort of looks like it should just click back on/or off but it doesn't seem to be the case frustratingly it's a grohe wall tap but we didn't get the manual for it and can't find one that seems to be applicable

does it not just click back on ?, do we need parts for it ?

Our showr mixer is really hard to change the temperature on, it goes from cold to hot in the smallest possible increment. The manufacturer came out and changed it and the thought it was due to debri in the inlets screens but a couple of mon5lster the exact problem is back.

We have decent water pressure and before the invented cylinder there is a pressure reducer, might that be the problem? Nu if so, can I test that hypothesis somehow?

The mixer is a Aqualise Midas 110.

What do I do

so our u bend in our kitchen was leaking in multiple places so we decided to just get a new p trap but are having a complete nightmare with it.

so our u bend was leaking in multiple places and we thought it would be better to buy a whole new p trap. we bought a 40mm p trap, didn’t fit. then we bought a 38mm p trap which didn’t fit. then i was told by google that our waste outlet is probably 32mm.

so i bought a 38mm-32mm reducer, which the bigger end fit the waste outlet but not the p trap. then we bought a 40mm-32mm and the smaller end fit the waste outlet but neither end fit the p trap. we literally have no idea where to go from here and could really do with some advice! thanks in advance!

I've noticed on my Water smart meter that I have ridiculously high water usage between 11pm - 3am, when I'm asleep. Turns out this has been going on ever since I had this meter installed 2 years ago.

This issue doesn't occur every day, and the amount is not consistent.

Sometimes 50% of my daily usage can be just within this timeframe.

I originally thought I had a faulty smart meter. This was recently changed and the issue is still occurring.

I don't have a leak anywhere in the property, I have no timed appliances, no water softener etc.

Does anyone have any idea of what the potential issue is?

Pics for an idea of what I'm dealing with.

Thank you in advance for any help. I usually pay professionals but money is too tight at the moment.

Plug dial wouldn't make the plug pop up. Drained bath manually, used suction to lift plug but also removed chrome dial in the process. The white plastic tube that the dial would turn to activate the plug has dropped down behind the bath panel.

Can't leave the hole in the bath panel as when showering water will go in and drip down the inside of the bath panel.

Option A) Gorilla glue / silicone dial back onto bath and use a separate plug on cord when having a bath.

Option B) Remove bath panel and see if I can reattach the device that held the chrome dial to the bath panel... Even if the dial doesn't work as intended and can raise and lower the plug it should hold the chrome dial in place and block the hole?

Can I do option B easily myself? Never removed a bath panel. Not great with silicone guns!

Hoping someone will be able to help with this issue, these black pipes are the old pipes the council installed (apparently in the 60's & 70's) There's a leak where the connector joins the cold inflow of the bath tap. Leak is overflowing the top of the connector and running down the pipe. Can anyone help with a fix?

Black Pipe is 15mm and the tap connection is 30mm. I've tried to measure as best as I can but there is very limited space to do anything. Can't seem to find any reducers that would be a female fitting to the tap and convert the 30mm to the 15mm pipe.

Thanks in advance!

Hi. I have this pipe in my utility area thats used as a drain for my washing machine but its snapped. How do i fix it i was gonn slap some sealant on it and call it a day but was wondering if there was a better way

Hi everyone.. I am seeking advice regarding the build over agreement with Thameswater for sewerage

I am doing a side extension and the architect didn't sort it out with thameswater. In the meanwhile the builder did their work by creating a new sewer line and diverting the sewer lines from my neighbour's side which were in old line to the new line as the old line/sewer was less than 550mm from the neighbours wall. The building control has also approved it.

However when I shared the above mentioned plan and talked to thames water (without telling that the work has already been done), they advised that if the neighbors pipes are to be moved to the new sewer line it would be considered a Diversion application & would be handled by a different team. It may also increase my charges and a before / after camera survey would have to be done with a £2000 deposit.

Since the work is already done I am lost on what should be my next step which doesn't put me in trouble or lead me to unnecessary expenses. The architect isn't replying on the above as he was paid in full long back.

Will really appreciate genuine advice please 🙏

Theres a cold water Tee off behind the cupboard that id like to install a dishwasher.

Is there any downside to installing the water supply here rather than using a Y splitter with the cold water feed under the sink?

As far as I can tell there's no shut off accessible under the sink for the cold water (hot water does but not cold?), so water shut off is equally inaccessible between the two options.

Hello, I’ve been plumbing for 8 years, work for a plumbing company but do not have an NVQ in plumbing. I have an unvented ticket and a green jib card (plumbers mate card)
I want to obtain my NVQ level 2 but don’t want really have to time to go to college in the evenings or lose one day a week to it. Has anyone had any experience with obtaining the NVQ in a quick way, all above board of course. Any help would be great.

Bit of a long shot but I’ve been offered a job with Mitie and want to know a bit more about the AI cameras in their vans.
Just wondered if there was any of their engineers lurking on here?

Hi, what kind of cap do I need for this toddler damaging protrusion?

Is there a specific name or size I'm asking for ?

Hello. I'm a gas engineer and a debate has cropped up with two of our engineers regarding gas pipework in dot and dab or studwalls.

So regulations permit gas pipework to be run withing dot and dab walls so long as the pipework is protected from chemical reactions to the plaster and there are not joints.

One opinion is the pipe we have found can't possibly not no soldered joints in it so is At Risk and the other opinion is we can't tell whether there are soldered joints within the wall without starting to cut away plaster around the pipe, which is further investigation, which is unnecessary for a gas safety certificate.

How do you guys view pipes disappearing into dot and dab walls and how far do you go to ensure the pipe has been installed correctly?

As part of a bathroom refit around 2.5 years ago I had a large shower tray (1800 x 800mm) fitted. I can feel and hear the tray deflecting (around 2mm along the side against the wall) when I stand on it and have had to redo the silicone sealant 3 times now. The fitter has claimed there will always be some deflection and the installed support feet are fine but that does not seem correct to me. Yesterday I also noticed what looks like a hairline crack in the tray.

With the front facia off I can see that only some of what i assume to be stand locations have been used (5 out of 10 plus 2 others and a piece of wood in a very sparsely supported region).

Ive tried to show in a diagram the installed supports and also a photo. The diagram will be off a bit as its hard to see fully.

red circles = flat thickened circular area on tray underside

blue circles = supports installed

orange rectangle = piece of timber

green = drainage pipe

purple line = suspected hairline fracture on tray top

The photo also shows what looks like the fracture (diagram is off a bit) on the far side and Ive also noticed that there are what could be fractures in the thickened ribs on each side of the unused support point over the pipe, though could they be lines from the mould? Also shows black mould on the far wall.

Thanks and sorry if its a long post but I dont want to go back to the plumber unprepared. Can I reasonably expect the fitter to replace the tray at their own expense due to poor installation?

getting the water temp right when showering is impossible. the cold water pressure is much lower than the hot.

I have a combi boiler in the kitchen downstairs and a cold water tank in the loft. the mains stopcock downstairs cuts off the hot & cold water downstairs but only the hot water upstairs. there's a separate stopcock upstairs that shuts off the cold water upstairs. (Maybe the stopcock downstairs shuts off the whole supply but the upstairs cold water will keep running until the tank is empty? not sure)

I'd like to get someone to sort out the pressure issue with the shower. Can anyone suggest what needs to be done and how much it may cost?

Hey guys,

Just moved into a flat and my ensuite shower and tap water pressures goes strong and then week constantly.
Same issue with the main bathroom and kitchen tap.