Author Archive

Graham Harrison from Aquarius of Howden welcomes Geoff and Sophie Earl back to Howden after their epic Lands End to John O’Groats charity cycle ride that was supported by Aquarius and other Howden businesses.

As reported in our last blog post, Geoff and Sophie Earl are embarking on an epic cycle ride to raise money for World Vision.  Resplendent in Aquarius of Howden shirts, they have started their journey and sent this picture and feedback;

“Cyclists sporting aquarius shirts at lands end this morning. First leg all to plan just too many hills!”

Good luck for the rest of the ride and we look forward to making you a cuppa at the showroom on 5th August!

An epic cycling challenge involving an East Yorkshire father and daughter has been given a boost by a Howden bathroom business.

On 31st July, Geoff and Sophie Earl from Asselby near Howden will embark on the famous Lands End to John O’Groats cycle ride, with no support vehicle and riding the 1080 miles with just what they can carry on their bikes.

Geoff Earl, Sophie Earl and Laurie Kersey prepare for their epic cycle ride

Generously supported by Aquarius of Howden and other local businesses, the father, daughter and two friends, Laurie Kearsey (24) and Mark Mihkelson (50) aim to complete the grueling ride, taking the longer East Coast route to accommodate a pit stop in Asselby on 5th August, in only 14 days.

Geoff, who will celebrate his 50th birthday later this year and who describes himself as ‘a keen cyclist since Easter!’ explained how the challenge came about; “Over a year ago Sophie and I started talking about doing something memorable during her 2010 summer vacation from Sheffield University and we decided to do the cycle ride to raise money for World Vision as it’s a charity that we’ve supported for many years. The challenge has been made possible thanks to businesses like Aquarius, who have provided our cycling shirts and made a generous donation and we’re all very grateful.”

Sophie continued; “We’ve been cycling 100 miles a week in training since Easter and we’re quietly confident that we can rise to the challenge of averaging around 80 miles a day. The route and accommodation have been meticulously planned and we’re all really looking forward to raising lots of money for worthwhile charities.”

World Vision is an organisation that provides help and support for children and families in the poorest parts of the world to help overcome poverty and injustice. They help people to help themselves and achieve some of the things that we take for granted. Geoff and Sophie have already beaten their £3000 fundraising target, but would welcome more donations to benefit World Vision. If you would like to support them, please visit www.justgiving.com/fromlandsendtojohnogroats.

The co-founder in one of Howden’s oldest businesses is celebrating after gaining an honours degree aged 57.

Aquarius of Howden’s director Rick Kay’s  lifelong fascination with physics prompted him to embark on a degree course with the Open University in 2003.  Rick explains how it came about; “I had always harboured a desire to explore physics in detail.  By the time I got to 40, Aquarius bathrooms was well established and I considered that the time was right from a business perspective but I feared that I was too old to learn how to study and take notes all over again, so the idea was parked once more.”

A decade later, Rick bit the bullet and began an OU course that comprised six years of project and course work through distance learning and residential courses before graduating at London’s Barbican last month.

Of the achievement, Rick said; “I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and I’m delighted to have completed my degree.  It’s quite ironic that, having waited this long, I have now got the urge to continue learning and I plan to take a year off and then look at a research based masters.”

Rick, whose other interests include summer and winter climbing and ‘dabbling’ in music and the arts, was one of only 30 graduates from Yorkshire and one of only 300 nationwide to be awarded this prestigious degree.

The team at Aquarius has been delighting customers with its bespoke bathroom designs and installations for over 24 years.

Howden Cricket Club looking forward to welcoming Saturday cricket back to the Ashes playing field next season after a 12 year absence.
The club disbanded in the mid 1990s and the pavilion at the Treeton Road site fell into disrepair but a determined group of footballers and cricketers have worked tirelessly to restore the historic pavilion to its former glory in the shadow of the Minster.

Aquarius of Howden have helped to refurbish the historic building

Although the club reformed in 2004 and now plays in the Snaith and District evening league, there has been no Saturday cricket at the Ashes since 1998
A team including Aquarius of Howden employees Andy Smith, James Smith and Ian Mitchell have spent the last two months installing hot water and three new state of the art showers kindly supplied by Aquarius and will refurbish the toilets once the pavilion roof is made watertight over the next few weeks. The final stage of the refurbishment will be to fit the Howdens supplied kitchen and the make-over will be complete.
Former pace bowler and keen footballer Andy is delighted that the pavilion will be used again; “It’s such an important part of Howden’s history and we’re proud to have been a part of its restoration. We’re very grateful to Aquarius and Howdens as the project wouldn’t have been viable without their generosity.”
The earliest recorded match of Cricket in East Yorkshire apparently took place at Wallingfen near Gilberdyke on 13 August 1778, when Howden beat Beverley by 64 ‘notches’.
The team at Aquarius has been delighting customers with its bespoke bathroom designs and installations for over 24 years.

Maintenance Hints and tips

Stop cocks

Care and maintenance required for these small pieces of plumbing is an absolute must. It takes very little effort to spray once a year with lubricant and turn it off and back on again. That’s all! Apart from one other small tip, and that is to turn the stop cock on fully, then back by half a turn. This means that if you don’t maintain the stop cock on a regular basis, the metal shouldn’t seize up.

The stop cock is really just a tap, imagine if after brushing your teeth in your bathroom basin, that you couldn’t turn it off again? The only thing left is the stop cock in your drive, or out on the street. Believe me, you do not want to be involved with trying to turn this off at the bottom of a 2 foot deep hole 4 inches square.

 Gate valves

As an installation company we find that over 90% of bathrooms we replace require us to change this low pressure valve as soon as we arrive. If you have a hot water cylinder, you will find one of these valves in your airing cupboard. It controls the flow of cold water down from the tank in the loft to the bottom of the hot water cylinder. In a crisis this can stop the flow of hot water to the taps in the house. Unfortunately this valve is rarely maintained and can be less than useless.

 Tap Washers

When these fail it makes the dripping tap a nightmare, along comes the limescale again. The only way to deal with this problem is to get the tap apart and replace the washer. We try to keep as many alternatives in stock as possible. We also keep tap repair kits which contain a cartridge, the insides, to many modern taps, they also contain new tap heads as well.

Modern CD, or quarter turn taps do not have washers. These are more difficult to deal with because they are designed to fit in the tap and are different shapes and sizes, so generally you need to know which make of tap it is and in some cases even which model. Again, we keep spares, so give us a try, you never know!

 Hot Water cylinders

These vital tanks of hot water for showers or baths give little trouble, even on a yearly basis, but it is still worth giving them a visual once over regularly. Trouble spots are usually the junctions where pipes are joined. If they are weeping you will see a white coating around the joint. Guess what, good old limescale again! Don’t try to remove this, ask a professional to have a look; you don’t want the joint to fail and leak with a full tank of hot water.

 Toilets

Most households have had trouble with their toilet flushing, or filling valves.

The filling valve could be compared to a tap that turns itself on and off. I turns on when the float inside goes down with the water level when flushing. It turns off when the water level rises again, this action forces a lever against a rubber diaphragm. This diaphragm can split with age and needs replacing. Again, there are many different variations, so take the old one with you when looking for a replacement. Also note which way round it was in place, they don’t work when reversed.

The flushing valve can be of two types, the first is one that is worked by a lever, this is the original siphon type, and the second is the modern push button type. These two systems are totally different and stop working for different reasons. Like the older siphon type, there are different makes of modern ‘drop’ valves and push button mechanisms. If you can find a makers name it really does help. We can also try to help with identification if we can see a picture taken on your mobile phone perhaps.

We can usually track down most makes and types of toilet cistern internal fittings, but it can take a while sometimes.

We hope you find these hints and comments helpful. If you have any specific ones, why not try contacting us, we might have an immediate answer, but if we don’t we will always offer alternative solutions.

Cleaning Hints and tips

 Cleaning or drying?

The care and cleaning of a bathroom, according to most manufacturers is a simple affair. This is because most of the instructions for cleaning are to use warm soapy water only. This method will work if it is carried out from day 1 on a regular basis. We recommend that you try to follow this method, it is basically, little and often.

You can if you wish, use bleach, but only in the toilet pan, and not on the toilet seat. We would recommend a product like Milton, which will clean the seat, but doesn’t contain anything as abrasive as bleach.

My wife uses Harpic Power Plus in the toilet pan because this product combats limescale under the rim, but does not contain bleach.

Limescale

The biggest enemy in the bathroom is limescale.

The process which creates huge stalactites and stalagmites in caves around Britain is just the same as allowing water to dry on your shower screen, by evaporation it leaves behind the limescale. The best way to defend your beautiful bathroom against this is to dry the shower/bath/basin etc.

If you have limescale and want to remove it there are one or two natural options, but modern technology acts faster. You can either use a natural acid like lemon, or you can buy Limelite. This helps shift limescale, but can still take a number of applications, so be patient and keep trying.

Mould

Another ever present problem in some bathrooms is black mould. We are often asked for silicone that fights mould. You can buy silicones with Microban in them, these usually cost more than double at approximately £10. There is a cheaper alternative,  ventilating the room is easier and cheaper.

Don’t reach for the window latch just yet: Leaving the window open for long periods is not the complete answer. It is OK to open the window to remove steam as it is produced, but after finishing your bath or shower it is best to close it.

The general rule of thumb is when you have the room door open the window should be closed. This means that you are using the warm dry air from the rest of your house to dry out the bathroom.