If your condensing boiler stops in freezing weather, the white condensate pipe outside has probably frozen. How to find the ice, thaw it safely with warm water, reset the boiler, the fault codes each maker gives, when to call an engineer, and how to stop it happening again, with a checker.
Open the guideA smoke alarm that keeps chirping after a new battery usually still remembers the old one, has the wrong battery in it, or has reached the end of its life. How to reset it, what the chirp codes mean for Kidde, First Alert, FireAngel and Aico, mains and sealed alarms, finding the chirper in a linked set, and the UK and US rules, with a chirp decoder.
Open the guideWhether leaving the heating on low all day costs less than a timer, for gas boilers, heat pumps and electric heaters: why heat loss decides it, the boiler efficiency catch, set-backs, weather compensation, damp and frost, the price cap rates, and a calculator for your own home.
Open the guideWhy your windows drip every morning and black mould grows in the corners, the dew point behind it, whether black mould is dangerous, Awaab’s Law and renters’ rights across the UK, the fixes that work and how to clean a small patch safely, with a condensation calculator.
Open the guideWater left in the bottom of your dishwasher? Cancel the cycle so it pumps out, clean the filter, check the drain hose, a blanked spigot or disposal plug on a new install, the sink, air gap and high loop, then the drain pump. UK and US, with a fix finder.
Open the guideTopping up your boiler pressure every week or month? Water’s getting out. How to read the gauge, find a weeping joint, check the relief valve pipe outside, test for a flat expansion vessel, and which fixes need a Gas Safe engineer, with a fix finder.
Open the guideRadiator cold at the top and warm at the bottom? That’s usually trapped air. How to bleed it with a £1 key, check and top up your boiler pressure, and a fix finder for radiators that are cold at the bottom or all over.
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