Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: tunnie on 19 September 2008, 19:24:34
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Just got back from Wheels in Motion, interesting afternoon.
When i arrived there was a nice DB7 convertible on the ramps, and a Audi RS4. Then there was my 4 cylinder Omega ::)
While i was waiting and cars were shuffling around, got chatting to the guys there, mentioned I am in I.T and work for a mobile content company, and one guy said "ahhh you can help me get my videos working on the work PC"
Videos he took on his camera phone were not playing on the PC.... so within 20 mins of arriving i was on their PC installing stuff ;D
Put VLC media player on, and he was happy, also showed him how to transfer pictures from his phone, to his PC, then e-mail them.
Back to the car, and my lower wishbone bushes were ok! Plently of miles left in them, i had bought some just in case, but i will donate those to mother tunnie now.
They replaced my steering idler arm, turned out to be a b!tch of a job, had to get the gas burners out, and burn that sucker off :o
On the ramps and they did their stuff. Very impressive piece of kit!
Then came the time to pay, but because i helped out with their computer and such like, they did not charge me labour on the idler arm, all i got charged for was the geometry :o :o :) :D :D!
I was very impressed with the setup, all very clean, all the mechanics always put their tools back in the same place after doing each car, very professional, everything was clean and there is a 50" Plasma TV in the waiting room :o
Totally changed the handling of the car, goes around corners on rails now, feels like its had new springs and shocks all around, can't express how much better it feels. Much more positive, turns in better, and seams to have less body roll! :-?
I shall be sending mother tunnie down there next!
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Sounds good!
Are these WIM people all over the UK? Might be worth visiting when we settle back in the UK.
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Sounds good!
Are these WIM people all over the UK? Might be worth visiting when we settle back in the UK.
No only the one at the moment, its near Hemel Hempstead, it was an hours drive for me, and about 40 miles each way. Well worth the trip :y
The machine they use for tracking / geometry is one of the best in the world, the UK only has 3 of them!
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Just got back from Wheels in Motion, interesting afternoon.
When i arrived there was a nice DB7 convertible on the ramps, and a Audi RS4. Then there was my 4 cylinder Omega ::)
While i was waiting and cars were shuffling around, got chatting to the guys there, mentioned I am in I.T and work for a mobile content company, and one guy said "ahhh you can help me get my videos working on the work PC"
Videos he took on his camera phone were not playing on the PC.... so within 20 mins of arriving i was on their PC installing stuff ;D
Put VLC media player on, and he was happy, also showed him how to transfer pictures from his phone, to his PC, then e-mail them.
Back to the car, and my lower wishbone bushes were ok! Plently of miles left in them, i had bought some just in case, but i will donate those to mother tunnie now.
They replaced my steering idler arm, turned out to be a b!tch of a job, had to get the gas burners out, and burn that sucker off :o
On the ramps and they did their stuff. Very impressive piece of kit!
Then came the time to pay, but because i helped out with their computer and such like, they did not charge me labour on the idler arm, all i got charged for was the geometry :o :o :) :D :D!
I was very impressed with the setup, all very clean, all the mechanics always put their tools back in the same place after doing each car, very professional, everything was clean and there is a 50" Plasma TV in the waiting room :o
Totally changed the handling of the car, goes around corners on rails now, feels like its had new springs and shocks all around, can't express how much better it feels. Much more positive, turns in better, and seams to have less body roll! :-?
I shall be sending mother tunnie down there next!
destiny of IT workers :)
But its nice to hear IT knowledge drop the bills :y
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And tomorrow, Mr Tunnie, you need to come here to help me lift something in garage. And bring my oil tray with you!
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And tomorrow, Mr Tunnie, you need to come here to help me lift something in garage. And bring my oil tray with you!
Camping gear? No problemo.
Think i will do a trip to the dealer tomorrow, get some more oil, new cruise stalk for mine, its starting to feel really nasty.
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And tomorrow, Mr Tunnie, you need to come here to help me lift something in garage. And bring my oil tray with you!
Camping gear? No problemo.
Think i will do a trip to the dealer tomorrow, get some more oil, new cruise stalk for mine, its starting to feel really nasty.
Could be that tractor lump though. :o Now, that's heavy. :-X
Kevin
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And tomorrow, Mr Tunnie, you need to come here to help me lift something in garage. And bring my oil tray with you!
Camping gear? No problemo.
Think i will do a trip to the dealer tomorrow, get some more oil, new cruise stalk for mine, its starting to feel really nasty.
Could be that tractor lump though. :o Now, that's heavy. :-X
Kevin
He knows i would probably snap if i tried to lift that ;D ;D
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Tis a great place.
You can tell people how much good they do.....But noone really believes they are that good.....until they go!
I will happily do the 410 mile round trip to see em, tis a shame I can't get that service locally.
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And tomorrow, Mr Tunnie, you need to come here to help me lift something in garage. And bring my oil tray with you!
Camping gear? No problemo.
Think i will do a trip to the dealer tomorrow, get some more oil, new cruise stalk for mine, its starting to feel really nasty.
Could be that tractor lump though. :o Now, that's heavy. :-X
Kevin
That is going in the wheelie bin, bit at a time ::)
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Just got back from Wheels in Motion, interesting afternoon.
When i arrived there was a nice DB7 convertible on the ramps, and a Audi RS4. Then there was my 4 cylinder Omega ::)
While i was waiting and cars were shuffling around, got chatting to the guys there, mentioned I am in I.T and work for a mobile content company, and one guy said "ahhh you can help me get my videos working on the work PC"
Videos he took on his camera phone were not playing on the PC.... so within 20 mins of arriving i was on their PC installing stuff ;D
Put VLC media player on, and he was happy, also showed him how to transfer pictures from his phone, to his PC, then e-mail them.
Back to the car, and my lower wishbone bushes were ok! Plently of miles left in them, i had bought some just in case, but i will donate those to mother tunnie now.
They replaced my steering idler arm, turned out to be a b!tch of a job, had to get the gas burners out, and burn that sucker off :o
On the ramps and they did their stuff. Very impressive piece of kit!
Then came the time to pay, but because i helped out with their computer and such like, they did not charge me labour on the idler arm, all i got charged for was the geometry :o :o :) :D :D!
I was very impressed with the setup, all very clean, all the mechanics always put their tools back in the same place after doing each car, very professional, everything was clean and there is a 50" Plasma TV in the waiting room :o
Totally changed the handling of the car, goes around corners on rails now, feels like its had new springs and shocks all around, can't express how much better it feels. Much more positive, turns in better, and seams to have less body roll! :-?
I shall be sending mother tunnie down there next!
Ahhh.....lacking the know how ::)
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That is going in the wheelie bin, bit at a time ::)
2 cylinders at a time?
Take your hacksaw, Tunnie. :D
Kevin
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Well, I will be having fun this weekend. Helping the mother-in-law move into her new house. First job is to remove all the lethal electrical installations, of which there are quite a few.
"We'll just put a new lamp on the wall here, with 2 amp flex, wired directly into the ring main, stapled up the wall. Lovely job..." >:(
.. and I have a horrible feeling the hot water tank is fubar and full of scale as well. Didn't get warm in the slightest after the boiler had been on for an hour, and makes a dull "thud" when tapped. ::)
Kevin
-
Just got back from Wheels in Motion, interesting afternoon.
When i arrived there was a nice DB7 convertible on the ramps, and a Audi RS4. Then there was my 4 cylinder Omega ::)
While i was waiting and cars were shuffling around, got chatting to the guys there, mentioned I am in I.T and work for a mobile content company, and one guy said "ahhh you can help me get my videos working on the work PC"
Videos he took on his camera phone were not playing on the PC.... so within 20 mins of arriving i was on their PC installing stuff ;D
Put VLC media player on, and he was happy, also showed him how to transfer pictures from his phone, to his PC, then e-mail them.
Back to the car, and my lower wishbone bushes were ok! Plently of miles left in them, i had bought some just in case, but i will donate those to mother tunnie now.
They replaced my steering idler arm, turned out to be a b!tch of a job, had to get the gas burners out, and burn that sucker off :o
On the ramps and they did their stuff. Very impressive piece of kit!
Then came the time to pay, but because i helped out with their computer and such like, they did not charge me labour on the idler arm, all i got charged for was the geometry :o :o :) :D :D!
I was very impressed with the setup, all very clean, all the mechanics always put their tools back in the same place after doing each car, very professional, everything was clean and there is a 50" Plasma TV in the waiting room :o
Totally changed the handling of the car, goes around corners on rails now, feels like its had new springs and shocks all around, can't express how much better it feels. Much more positive, turns in better, and seams to have less body roll! :-?
I shall be sending mother tunnie down there next!
Ahhh.....lacking the know how ::)
The problem nut was the one towards the front, tried everything, air-gun from the engine bay down to the bolt , took the wheel off, large spanners everything would not budge.
Heat did it in the end!
Glad i did not attempt it home... was very nice of them to do it for free too :)
Ohh and that RS4 i saw, i commented on how nice it looked, they agreed, but the running costs are just staggering. A set of front brake pads, just the pads..... £240! :o :o :o
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Ohh and that RS4 i saw, i commented on how nice it looked, they agreed, but the running costs are just staggering. A set of front brake pads, just the pads..... £240! :o :o :o
about right for high performance big saloons
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I've heard of a few methods for removing the idler incl the 2 hammer trick... but never heat.
If I'm honest I DO think WIM are good - but, unless there was a problem that couldn't be solved more locally it does work out very expensive when you have to add £90 of petrol on top of the alignment costs...
Tracking adjustment cost me £85, and fuel the same again - so £170 for tracking isn't that cheap.. when no other adjustments were needed :-/
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As they say " if you have to ask the price you can't afford it". :-/
This post was about the pads being £240.00 ,
not set-up by WIM
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As they say " if you have to ask the price you can't afford it". :-/
I didn't ask the price, I just paid it, because it was so well recommended.
I'm just stating that a when charging a flat rate, £85 for simple laser trackrod adjustment isn't the cheapest.
It was only worth it to get the other angles meaured (note - measured, no adjusted), by the machine.
Don't get me wrong, WIM are good - but I would only visit again if I had a specic problem that looked like it couldn't be solved locally.
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As they say " if you have to ask the price you can't afford it". :-/
I didn't ask the price, I just paid it, because it was so well recommended.
I'm just stating that a when charging a flat rate, £85 for simple laser trackrod adjustment isn't the cheapest.
It was only worth it to get the other angles meaured (note - measured, no adjusted), by the machine.
Don't get me wrong, WIM are good - but I would only visit again if I had a specic problem that looked like it couldn't be solved locally.
My post was about the price of the pads - not WIM prices
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my pov.....£170 for wim (about the same for me) plus £60 for local garage to break it up 1st....
= false economy to trust local muppet, who even when given figures, say we didnt understand them, so we set it in the green >:(
I now go straight to WIM, imho they deserve the business.
also, local place for balancing....
Put wheel on balancer...
apply weights as directed
refit to car at 6,000,000,000 nm torque destroying locking wheel bolt, leaving some poor bastard with a day or 2's drilling to remove the tinker >:(
wim
put wheel on balancer
apply weight as directed
re-balance
repeat step 2 & 3 until balancer happier
refit wheel manually & with torque wrench.
One of my wheels took 6 goes to get it balanced (none of the 4 are round :'( ) no wonder it always suffered from vibrating, even after being balanced.
At least I understand a lot more for when I have to use local place, obviously not always practical to go so far, but when it was time for 4 new tyres & geometry, £100 travelling costs aren't so bad.
Tony & myself missed the bottom missing from one of the rear spings, I fitted a new pair and queried the consequence with wim...
Tony said it would be fine, and if not he would replace out his own pocket, now find me somewhere else prepared to offer that level of service!
I just wish there was somewhere local I could trust :'(
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I agree with what you say James - but ultimately, the emphasis needs to be on so many outlets being so incompetent, rather than WIM being so good.
As I said earlier, nothing against WIM at all - they ARE good at what they do. I just think that if travelling a long way, you do need a valid need to go there - because POTENTIALLY you could end up paying a lot of cash just to be told all is well, apart from a small adjustment that would cost a quarter of the price elsewhere.
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just to add having read your post again.. if a wheel is not "round" then no amount of balancing will totally counteract that buckle, even if WIM do it.
TB taught me that one, and he was right :y
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I agree with what you say James - but ultimately, the emphasis needs to be on so many outlets being so incompetent, rather than WIM being so good.
As I said earlier, nothing against WIM at all - they ARE good at what they do. I just think that if travelling a long way, you do need a valid need to go there - because POTENTIALLY you could end up paying a lot of cash just to be told all is well, apart from a small adjustment that would cost a quarter of the price elsewhere.
Here Here! Should have put more emphasis on the last sentance om my last post.
It is also Tony & Marks view from what I can gather
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just to add having read your post again.. if a wheel is not "round" then no amount of balancing will totally counteract that buckle, even if WIM do it.
TB taught me that one, and he was right :y
Hmmm, wonder if Jim still has those facelift wheels?
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just to add having read your post again.. if a wheel is not "round" then no amount of balancing will totally counteract that buckle, even if WIM do it.
TB taught me that one, and he was right :y
Hmmm, wonder if Jim still has those facelift wheels?
no.....
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just to add having read your post again.. if a wheel is not "round" then no amount of balancing will totally counteract that buckle, even if WIM do it.
TB taught me that one, and he was right :y
Hmmm, wonder if Jim still has those facelift wheels?
no.....
bugger, discovered he passes within 2 mile of my house weekly as well!
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refit to car at 6,000,000,000 nm torque destroying locking wheel bolt, leaving some poor bastard with a day or 2's drilling to remove the tinker Angry
.. or in my case:
refit to car at 6,000,000,000 nm torque destroying locking wheel bolt, leaving some poor bastard with a day or 2's drilling to remove the tinker. Place locking wheelnut key on the boot lid and then distract the customer into going to pay the bill meaning he'll likely drive off and lose the rather thing. Shrug shoulders and say "not my problem, mate" when he comes back looking for it. Mention in passing to the customer that his camber was way out but still within the limits on their cr@p machine, so they couldn't be @rsed to adjust it. Besides, they want to see him back in another 10K to replace the tyres they've just sold because the inner edge will be down to canvas. Oh, and refuse to align anything on a kit car because, having largely MK2 Escort and Sierra suspension bits, adjusting it is clearly going to require rocket science even though the customer knows exactly what angles to set and how. >:(
That's the best service I can get round here. I don't buy tyres every day so I feel WIM deserve my business in future for being at least competent, even if it does involve a bit of a trek (albeit not as far as you guys).
Kevin
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I loose the count how many balancing shops I left behind 20,21 may be more.. :-X
All of their job sucks.. >:(
So spend the money for proffesionals..
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Taking SWMBO to Birmingham for a conference on Monday and have about 8 hours to kill so have them a call and going down for the WIM treatment! Much needed because the rear canber is visibly out, before you spot the year on the inner edges! Then it'll be a new pair of boots in a couple of weeks :y :y :y :y
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I've heard of a few methods for removing the idler incl the 2 hammer trick... but never heat.
If I'm honest I DO think WIM are good - but, unless there was a problem that couldn't be solved more locally it does work out very expensive when you have to add £90 of petrol on top of the alignment costs...
Tracking adjustment cost me £85, and fuel the same again - so £170 for tracking isn't that cheap.. when no other adjustments were needed :-/
170 quid is a lot for tracking, no doubt about it. But you must take into accounts the law of sod James. If you had not had the car checked you KNOW it would have trashed the tires in a week... you do know that dont you James? It just would have!
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Anyone heard of or tried these guys out ? or are they Kwik fit type outfit
http://www.alignmycar.co.uk/ :-?
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Well, I will be having fun this weekend. Helping the mother-in-law move into her new house. First job is to remove all the lethal electrical installations, of which there are quite a few.
"We'll just put a new lamp on the wall here, with 2 amp flex, wired directly into the ring main, stapled up the wall. Lovely job..." >:(
.. and I have a horrible feeling the hot water tank is fubar and full of scale as well. Didn't get warm in the slightest after the boiler had been on for an hour, and makes a dull "thud" when tapped. ::)
Kevin
Sorry to hyjack the thread, brings back a memory!!!
A young girl moved in next door but one to us, she was having trouble with her 6kw shower, popped around to have a looky, there was 2.5 t&e from the emersion heater switch for 2m it went into a choc bloc in the ceiling, then came the 13amp flex for a metre, then directly into the shower via some 4mm single strand without the earth from another choc bloc. I soon decommisioned this installation.
DC Savior of the Universe ;D ;D ;D
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I've heard of a few methods for removing the idler incl the 2 hammer trick... but never heat.
If I'm honest I DO think WIM are good - but, unless there was a problem that couldn't be solved more locally it does work out very expensive when you have to add £90 of petrol on top of the alignment costs...
Tracking adjustment cost me £85, and fuel the same again - so £170 for tracking isn't that cheap.. when no other adjustments were needed :-/
Valid point, I'm going down on the train when I get mine done :D :D
DC ;D ;D ;D
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That reminded me, i noticed WIM was the only garage i have ever been to were the wheel bolts are torqued up.
They used the airgun to get it mostly in, but then torqued it the final bit.
For me it was no brainier, used less than a 1/4 tank to get there, mine was not too bad, although the toe-in was quite bad.
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I agree with what you say James - but ultimately, the emphasis needs to be on so many outlets being so incompetent, rather than WIM being so good.
As I said earlier, nothing against WIM at all - they ARE good at what they do. I just think that if travelling a long way, you do need a valid need to go there - because POTENTIALLY you could end up paying a lot of cash just to be told all is well, apart from a small adjustment that would cost a quarter of the price elsewhere.
Thing is, we all know a significant number of Omegas out there have geometry issues, particularly with camber, and to a lesser extent, rear toe, neither of which can be resolved by your local fast fit place offering 4 wheel alignment.
At least now you have piece of mind knowing the wheels are straight, angles optimised, and not simply within spec, or worse!
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That reminded me, i noticed WIM was the only garage i have ever been to were the wheel bolts are torqued up.
They used the airgun to get it mostly in, but then torqued it the final bit........
So does my local ATS, however the windy gun torques them up higher than the torque wrench is set, so as far as the fitter was concerned, when the wrench clicked, all was OK. When I came to undo the buggers the following day, I bent the car's solid bar wheel wrench - not the crappy Omega hollow handled type.
I couldn't make the fitter understand when I took it back for him to slacken them off for me! :-?
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I agree with what you say James - but ultimately, the emphasis needs to be on so many outlets being so incompetent, rather than WIM being so good.
As I said earlier, nothing against WIM at all - they ARE good at what they do. I just think that if travelling a long way, you do need a valid need to go there - because POTENTIALLY you could end up paying a lot of cash just to be told all is well, apart from a small adjustment that would cost a quarter of the price elsewhere.
Thing is, we all know a significant number of Omegas out there have geometry issues, particularly with camber, and to a lesser extent, rear toe, neither of which can be resolved by your local fast fit place offering 4 wheel alignment.
At least now you have piece of mind knowing the wheels are straight, angles optimised, and not simply within spec, or worse!
The cost of the trip down and alignment for me is about the cost of 1 tyre, and since the front edges were starting to go on mine, its made sense cause the tyres will last much longer.
Only bugger is i forgot to ask them to balance the wheels :-[
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I agree with what you say James - but ultimately, the emphasis needs to be on so many outlets being so incompetent, rather than WIM being so good.
As I said earlier, nothing against WIM at all - they ARE good at what they do. I just think that if travelling a long way, you do need a valid need to go there - because POTENTIALLY you could end up paying a lot of cash just to be told all is well, apart from a small adjustment that would cost a quarter of the price elsewhere.
Thing is, we all know a significant number of Omegas out there have geometry issues, particularly with camber, and to a lesser extent, rear toe, neither of which can be resolved by your local fast fit place offering 4 wheel alignment.
At least now you have piece of mind knowing the wheels are straight, angles optimised, and not simply within spec, or worse!
The cost of the trip down and alignment for me is about the cost of 1 tyre, and since the front edges were starting to go on mine, its made sense cause the tyres will last much longer.
Only bugger is i forgot to ask them to balance the wheels :-[
You getting any vibrations?
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I agree with what you say James - but ultimately, the emphasis needs to be on so many outlets being so incompetent, rather than WIM being so good.
As I said earlier, nothing against WIM at all - they ARE good at what they do. I just think that if travelling a long way, you do need a valid need to go there - because POTENTIALLY you could end up paying a lot of cash just to be told all is well, apart from a small adjustment that would cost a quarter of the price elsewhere.
Thing is, we all know a significant number of Omegas out there have geometry issues, particularly with camber, and to a lesser extent, rear toe, neither of which can be resolved by your local fast fit place offering 4 wheel alignment.
At least now you have piece of mind knowing the wheels are straight, angles optimised, and not simply within spec, or worse!
The cost of the trip down and alignment for me is about the cost of 1 tyre, and since the front edges were starting to go on mine, its made sense cause the tyres will last much longer.
Only bugger is i forgot to ask them to balance the wheels :-[
You getting any vibrations?
Think the rears are off, 90+ vibrations in the seat.
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There is nothing big about an A4, there only 2 inches larger than an Astra Estate with less internal space!
Heat is not a good thing to use on that bit, like a say there is a nack.......and it works every time!
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Well, I will be having fun this weekend. Helping the mother-in-law move into her new house. First job is to remove all the lethal electrical installations, of which there are quite a few.
"We'll just put a new lamp on the wall here, with 2 amp flex, wired directly into the ring main, stapled up the wall. Lovely job..." >:(
.. and I have a horrible feeling the hot water tank is fubar and full of scale as well. Didn't get warm in the slightest after the boiler had been on for an hour, and makes a dull "thud" when tapped. ::)
Kevin
Sorry to hyjack the thread, brings back a memory!!!
A young girl moved in next door but one to us, she was having trouble with her 6kw shower, popped around to have a looky, there was 2.5 t&e from the emersion heater switch for 2m it went into a choc bloc in the ceiling, then came the 13amp flex for a metre, then directly into the shower via some 4mm single strand without the earth from another choc bloc. I soon decommisioned this installation.
DC Savior of the Universe ;D ;D ;D
Clucking bell.....and the thing is that these stupid Part P regs will do nothing to stop that!