Professional touches

[DrFfybes]

This week i have learnt that for a truly professional finish, you should...

a) fit isolation valves for built in cisterns in such a manner that a stubby screwdriver is no use as the handle fouls the tank, but that if you use the longer one so that the shaft JUST clears the tank, it is too long to fit between the valve and the front of the unit. At least I didn't drop the ratchet screwdriver / socket arrangement I rigged up to get to it.

b) if wiring a 12V downlighter from above prior to the loft being converted, make sure the spur feeding the transformer is about 1 inch too short to reach the hole in the ceiling so that if the transformer fails the owner has faff with at an angle through the hole to get to it.

There's no such thing as a 10 minute job

Paul

[bungeejumper]

a) fit isolation valves for built in cisterns in such a manner that a stubby screwdriver is no use as the handle fouls the tank, but that if you use the longer one so that the shaft JUST clears the tank, it is too long to fit between the valve and the front of the unit. At least I didn't drop the ratchet screwdriver / socket arrangement I rigged up to get to it.

Right angled ratchet screwdriver, 99p from the pound shop. (Bargain, and it does torx as well. )

Getting it into the slot on the isolation valve, which you can't see because some bugger has pointed it toward the wall, impossible.

Trying to turn it, only to discover that the ratchet is set to turn anticlockwise rather than clockwise, .

Realising that clockwise or anticlockwise will both work, priceless. Pass the cigar and play the Hamlet music.

BJ

[csearle]

I'm trying to stop using electronic "transformers" and LED drivers stuffed up downlighter holes altogether. The devices are complicated and therefore reduce the reliability of the system. Without access from above it is difficult to dress in the cables such that you know what they are/aren't touching once you leave them, but perhaps the main thing of all is that every time you mess around trying to remove a spring-retained fitting from the plasterboard hole you inevitably damage the edge of the hole a bit until it can no longer be covered up by the bezel of the fitting.

I now try to use ones that just have mains connexions, that have maintenance-free connectors, and have the electronics entirely encapsulated in the lamp that is inserted from below.

Chris

[bungeejumper]

I'm trying to stop using electronic "transformers" and LED drivers stuffed up downlighter holes altogether. The devices are complicated and therefore reduce the reliability of the system. …. I now try to use ones that just have mains connexions, that have maintenance-free connectors, and have the electronics entirely encapsulated in the lamp that is inserted from below.

Well, yes. Converting my six 12v downlighters to LEDs was so quick and simple that I found myself wondering why anybody still messes with the low-voltage option. In true Ffybesian style, I was braced for the likelihood that it would take two days of swearing, but it was all done in two hours with not even a hint of a four-letter word. Why, I was almost disappointed. Never mind, it meant I could have a beer with my lunch.

(Reminder: You do need to pay the extra pound or so for fire rated downlighters if there are habitable spaces above the lamps in question. It beats me why anybody would ever want to cut that particular safety corner, but apparently there are such people about.)

BJ