Advice needed

[kevin]

Im new to this group so apologies if the following has already been answered in the past. I have two house problems to fix and Im not exactly sure what to do:-

1. My house has a doorbell wired to a 'box' in the hall which doesnt chime any more when the doorbell is pressed- the box inside the hall just makes a buzzing noise- when I turn off the RCD to the downstairs lights then no sound is made at all so I assume it is mains powered. Any idea what the problem is and how I fix it?

1. My bathroom cold water tap only turns about a quarter and no water comes out- I bravely took out the internal valve assembly and swapped it with the one in the cloakroom downstairs and hey presto the problem was fixed except for the cloakroom- what's causing this and do I need to change the rubber wasker, the complete valve or can it be repaired?

TIA

[Rob Morley]

If it's the ding-dong type there's a spring, plunger and solenoid arrangement - when you press the button the solenoid pulls the plunger up to make the ding, then it bounces back to make the dong, then the spring returns it to the middle position. As it's buzzing it sounds like the solenoid still works, so it's probably just that the plunger has got stuck. Otherwise there's a switch that disconnects the solenoid after it's pushed the plunger up so it can fall back again, and the problem could be there.

[Richard Porter]

I presume it's an electromagnetic chime rather than an electronic one. It sounds like the solenoid mechanism has got stuck so take the cover off (the supply will be low voltage from a transformer) and remove the dead spider or whatever is blocking it, clean and readjust the contacts if necessary.

What does the internal assembly look like? Is it completely scaled up? Just descale the whole thing. Make sure you can unscrew the tap fully and that the brass piston that holds the washer is free to rotate wrt the screw mechanism. If the rubber washer is hard or cracked or if the tap drips when fully closed renew the washer. If it's not obvious to you what the problem is then you might be better off taking it down to your friendly local plumbers' merchant and getting a new one.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Easiest thing to check first is the push. If there are no obvious fixing screws, there's usually a clip on cover which conceals them. Remove it and short the wires - it's low voltage so safe. If it then works, either strip and clean the contacts (if possible) or replace.

The buzzing and box suggests a ding dong type getting not enough volts. I'd next check all the connections are clean and tight. A basic ding dong is just a solenoid which dings when pressed and dongs when released. Check that the armature slides freely, as these things usually work or not, as it were. If it's a repeating type there will also be a switch somewhere.

Most can be fully stripped down by removing a circlip etc. And the threads can get gunged up in a hard water area.

[SJP]

ask in news:uk.rec.birdwatching instead of all the groups you posted this too