Hot Water Pressure - Shower (3rd floor)

[David Longley]

Any suggestions as to what to do about the following would be gratefully received:

The Honeywell 3 point valve's motor seems to have failed so I have temporarily "fixed" this by wedging a matchstick in the manual lever so it forces the HW and CH to be on. However, we do have a problem with the shower on the 3rd floor which may or may not be coincidental. The HW pressure on the shower (which is clearly pumped as one can hear the pump come on and off when the shower is switched on), has become rather weak. When the knob is turned to colder the pressure increases back to normal. Over the last week or so, the pressure seems to have progressively fallen further and further - not to a dribble, but not enough to sustain a pressured jet for a shower.

The Potterton Suprima 80 boiler occasionally goes into red slow flash mode, but this is always corrected by pressing the reset button on the boiler.

Obviously the Honeywell valve (motor at least) needs replacing, but the low pressure upstairs, and the incidence of the red light coming on in the boiler suggests something more serious perhaps?

Many thanks in advance.

[Set Square]

I think you have at least two unrelated problems - and it's just co-incidence that they happened at the same time.

Failure of the actuator motor in the 3-port valve means that you will have no central heating unless you take action, but the hot water will work ok. By jamming the valve in the mid position, the radiators will get hot whenever the hot water is being heated, but you'll still not have any proper control over the CH - so you need to replace the actuator (or just the motor, perhaps) ASAP.

I've no idea why the boiler is tripping. I can't see any obvious connection between that and the actuator failure.

As far as the shower is concerned, you almost certainly have a 2-channel shower pump - with a single motor which drives 2 pumps - one for the hot and one for the cold water. If the hot water pressure from this is poor, it indicates either that there is a blockage somewhere in the hot pipework, or that there's a problem with the hot bit of the pump - maybe it's lost a few blades from its impellor?

[Set Square]

add butter and pasta, serve piping with hot bread and butter.

Offspring Rolls

Similar to Vietnamese style fried rolls, they have lots of meat (of course this can consist of chicken, beef, pork, or shrimp). Who can resist this classic appetizer; or light lunch served with a fresh salad? Versatility is probably this recipe?s greatest virtue, as one can use the best part of a prime, rare, yearling, or the morticians occasional horror: a small miracle stopped short by a drunk driver, or the innocent victim of a drive-by shooting...

2 cups finely chopped very young human flesh 1 cup shredded cabbage 1 cup bean sprouts 5 sprigs green onion, finely chopped 5 cloves minced garlic 4-6 ounces bamboo shoots Sherry chicken broth oil for deep frying (1 gallon) Salt pepper soy & teriyaki minced ginger, etc. 1 tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in a little cold water 1 egg beaten

Make the stuffing: Marinate the flesh in a mixture of soy and teriyaki sauces then stir fry in hot oil for till brown - about 1 minute, remove. Stir-fry the vegetables. Put the meat back into the wok and adjust the seasoning. De-glaze with sherry, cooking off the alcohol. Add broth (optional) cook a few more minutes. Add the cornstarch, cook a few minutes till thick, then place the stuffing into a colander and cool; 2 hours Wrap the rolls: Place 3 tablespoons of stuffing in the wrap, roll tightly - corner nearest you first, fold 2 side corners in, wrap till remaining corner is left. Brush with egg, seal, and allow to sit on the seal for a few minutes. Fry the rolls: 325° if using egg roll wraps, 350° for spring roll wraps. Deep fry in peanut oil till crispy golden brown, drain on paper towels.

Lemon Neonate

Turkey serves just as well, and in fact

[David Longley]

In article , Set Square writes

Many thanks. The shower unit's controls look like a Grohe 1000 BV or

2000BV. I'm not sure how old it is, but this company's pictures and disassembly diagrams look pretty much like it. Looking through the schematic, I can't work out where the pump is likely to figure in the plumbing.

Over the past few days, the noise (from what we assume to be a pump somewhere behind the wall), cuts out until the knob is turned to the left - which of course just makes the water cold. I've had a look at the schematic for the Grohe 2000BV (at

and can't see how or where a pump would figure in the system (though I assume there must be one, as the shower is on the third floor). I've taken the chrome knobs off, and seen that the top knob "simply" rotates a compression valve. If I keep turning that it almost comes out and there's obviously pressure behind that so presumably any work there requires the water to be turned off?