I'm having a new extention built which will include an ensuite and a new combination boiler.
I have noted that the builder has used plastic pipes connecting to some copper pipes using push on connectors, also some plastic pipes are reccessed into the brickwork and will be used for a radiator. Is this now common practice? In my day it was all copper pipe. Will these pushon's withstand water pressure?

Any advise appreciated?

My combi boiler has been clicking on and off rapidly and apparently the problem is the heat exchangers. The boiler is still working and effectively heating the radiators and water. I have been advised by one plumber that a power flush is needed, with an expensive quote. Another plumber has advised using Ferroquest instead. Many thanks, your advice would be appreciated.

I'm an emergency plumber and have been for 18 years.

A few weeks ago, a got a lead through a website. The customer turned out to be living in Preston. I live in Manchester, an hour away. He had a dripping tap as well as a leaking overflow.

I advised that I could fit him a tap reviver kit to his tap and also a new ball valve rather than repairing the existing one. I quoted him (over the phone) £96, which he said was too expensive. He asked if I could do it for £50 and I agreed to meet him in the middle (ish) at £75. He was happy with this and said it was reasonable as I promised I'd be with him within 90 minutes and I'd guarantee the work etc.

When I arrived, the customer and his wife were friendly, very chatty and with a load of model trains hung in cabinets on his walls, we found a mutual interest, which we chatted about. I replaced the ball valve and fitted his tap reviver kit, checked everything was ok and they were over the moon. Happy to the point the customer's wife kissed me as a left. I then got a text a day later saying how happy they were with the work, how friendly I was and what a nice guy I was etc, and would there be any way of them leaving me a review online. I sent over a link for them to leave the review and received a 4 and half star rating from them. In the comments section, they put how good I was, how friendly I was, how efficient etc etc, and the last line said (words to the effect of) 'the company is good if a little expensive'

Fair enough I thought. All my other reviews are 5 stars across the board and with really great comments that I'm extremely proud of - I see a good review as a reward for the effort we have to put in to make customers happy. I stupidly (really stupidly!) decided I'd comment back to the review, and publicly explained why I'd charged £75 for the job. I explained that by the time I'd bought a new ball valve, a tap reviver kit, spent £25 on fuel and spent an hour each way travelling, that I'd only actually made £30 on the job. I was on site for nearly 2 hours, but most of that was chatting about trains and diabetes (something we both have in common!). It felt like I was visiting a friend and doing them a favour at the same time.

After my response to the review, I heard nothing until today, when I received a review from the same customer on another website giving me one star and saying how although I'm an average plumber, I represent 'rip off britain' in person and by charging £25 for fuel I'm a con man and will never be asked back to their house. I called the customer to sort it out and he told me I am a rip off merchant, he felt I'd taken advantage of him and when I offered him his money back he said it was an admission of guilt and then hung up on me, refusing the refund.

I'm wondering if I'm looking at it all wrong?

Is £75 for a ball valve and a tap reviver kit too much? Is it me who's in the wrong or the customer?

Your thoughts and comments would be greatly appreciated!

I have a new shower to be installed, plus I'm re-tiling the en-suite room.
What's the best order to do this?
Obviously I remove all tiles and shower fittings first -
Then should I tiles the wall first? If so, is it best to mark the position of the new shower unit and tile to overlap, still leaving an area of plastered wall behind the shower, or should I tile everywhere and mount the shower over the tiles?
Or should I install the shower first, and then tile up to and around the shower?

18Oct - Whilse in an ideal world I kinda agree with Kelly plumbing and others, and while it would be great to spend a few hundred quid on a plumber (times "x" for the number of jobs), some of us don't have that kind of money to spare right now!
Thanks to London Lofts for actually answering the question, guys! That is exactly what I wanted to know.
Be assured, I look to the professionals when I'm out of my depth, but then that's why these question forums are here?! If you've never done it before, then how do you know?

18Oct - Just realised that London Lofts answered the question relating to the shower tray, but it's the wall shower itself that I was speciifically asking for?
It's a co-ordination problem, really - if I get a plumber in to install the shower, should I leave the tiling until afterwards, or should I tile the whole wall first, or should I mark the shower location and then leave a gap in the tiling?

there are no nut fittings, just two plastic type hooks where the seat clips onto. so assume the screw part is within the pan. What to do?
The toilet is fiited into a cabinet,and to remove pan would have to break all the mastic.it looks like a fitted kitchen.
Only the lid of the seat has been broken, but will need to fit complete new unit.

Toilet make/model is an Ideal Standard close coupled WC.

The flush generally continues after either the full or half flush buttons have been pressed, then continues to dribble very lightly until the next flush.

Occasionally is stops, but then dribbles again after the next flush.

The WC seems to have been discontinued, but fitting instructions for a similar model can be found at http://www.ideal-standard.co.uk/InstallationInstructions/4230%20close%20coupled%20wc.pdf

My toilet bowl has an excess build up of limescale and as such doesn't always flush away and tends to get blocked, is there anything of industrial strength to use to clear it or would I be best off having a new toilet bowl fitted, and can this be done on it's own as there is no problem with the cistern.