What are plastic foam tubes?
If you want to start insulating your home, look no further than plastic foam tubing. This stuff fits over exposed pipes like a warm overcoat.
The lengths of tubing are split down one side to enable easy fitting and is secured using electrical tape or the like. Sizes are available to fit 15mm, 22mm and 28mm pipes.
How to fit plastic foam tubes
• Clean up the exposed piping to remove dust and moisture.
• If you’re lagging pipes leading from a cistern - start wrapping the tubing at the join to make sure it sits flush to the cistern.
• Join the tubes using tape, clips or adhesive.
• If you wish to camouflage the insulation, use emulsion paint only.
Posted by Bob Bulmer on Mon 8th October 2007 at 06:00 AM, Filed in Decor, Plumbing
By their very nature, pipes have to cut through walls. This results in an unsightly gap around the pipe which is difficult to fill.
The way to deal with this is to use foam filler. The foam itself is very sticky and unwieldy, so be sure to wear protective gloves.
The foam should be applied as follows:
Read more...
Posted by Bob Bulmer on Fri 3rd August 2007 at 06:00 AM, Filed in Green DIY, Plumbing
There are incredible amounts of hot water wasted in the average home every year. Here are some tips for keeping your heating bill down and helping the planet to boot.
1. Ensure that hot water pipes are kept short. As water in the pipes cools quickly it’s important to keep this to a minimum.
2. Insulate hot water cylinders. It has been calculated that lagging measuring 3 inches in width reduces cylinder heat loss by 75%.
3. Use a shower. Showers use six times less water than a bath.
4. Water should be heated as and when. A big reduction of energy used can be achieved by ensuring that the immersion boiler is switched on only an hour before hot water is required, then switched off during periods of inactivity.
Posted by Bob Bulmer on Fri 27th July 2007 at 06:00 AM, Filed in Plumbing
An immersion heater is a storage cylinder which includes an electric element for heating water.
There are three different types of immersion heater:
Top Entry - one element extending top to bottom of a cylinder.
Top Entry with two elements - one element is longer and used for cheap night electricity. One element is shorter for heating little quantities of water as required.
Side Entry - usually comes as a pair of elements, one situated at the bottom for heating the entire cylinder and one at the top for heating small quantities of water.
All immersion heaters have adjustable thermostats.
If you’re looking to get the ultimate luxury finish to a bathroom, take a look at these seriously beautiful Faubourg metal taps.
Coming as a rim mounted 3 hole basin mixer and pop up waste unit this set comes in various finishes including Gold, Chrome, Nickel, Bronze, Copper, Silver and Brass.
Retails for a cool £882 ($1700).
