gyn_paul

Now that we've finally broken through from the house to the barn, the difference between the floor level of the 2 is more pronounced than I had expected, the drop is fully 40 cms*, and the room area is 40 sqm. I'd really prefer a solid floor - apart from anything else I want to put in u/floor heating - as opposed to a suspended wood one, but the questions is: what is the cheapest material to fill up a volume of 16 cu metres ? * elderly knees dictate that a step down is not an option, apparently !   p

Linseed oil will give them a super finish and make it slightly darker. p

Has anyone installed a Trigano 9.15 x 4.60 x 1.30 metal-sided above ground oval pool? If so, do you still have the installation instructions? Mine seem to have vanished into the packing in the barn somewhere, and will only reappear when the construction is finished. Trigano has a website, but I can't find installation manuals on it anywhere. A 'borrow' to photocopy would get me out of a b-i-g hole (yes, I know... this model doesn't need a hole !). what I particularly need to know is the total footprint including the side supports brackets, and the details of the trenching under the bottom.   p

[quote user="AnOther"]It looks like FT have got you on a max 1mb package as 602kbps is faster than a 512kbps connection could run but the critical number to see the real situation is the actual attenuation reported by your Livebox so what is that ? Interestingly my own (totally incorrect) numbers are not dissimilar to yours, slightly worse in fact, yet although Degrouptest says 512kbps max, even for FT, when I did switch to them from Teleconnect (spit) they were actually able to give me 1mb, you can draw your own conclusions as to why that might be ! Just to prove my point about estimations BTW, 5620m x 10.3dB/km (for 0.6mm cable) = 57.886dB ! [/quote] Mine's actually a freebox; that being the case, how do I get it to report the actual line attenuation? p

...... and I got this : =============================== Test Results Technical information Characteristics of the line : Line status : ACTIVE Local Switch Code : 23015AZE [ Detailed ] Local Switch Name : THE BROOM Line length : 5620 meters: 6 / 10 to 5620 meters Attenuation theoretical 57,886 dB [Estimate] Downstream ADSL : 1390 kbps ( 174 KB / s ) [Estimate] Downstream ADSL 2 + : 1348 kbps (169 KB / s) Characteristics of central France Telecom : Plate DSL: LI1 DSLAM Type : ALCATEL or ECI Dense area (> 20,000 lines): Not Approximate Number of subscribers : 1000 NRA ADSL compatible FT: Yes NRA compatible ADSL Max FT : Yes NRA consistent ADSL2 + FT : Yes NRA compatible READSL FT : Yes Operators FT Offers Internet IP / DSL: IP ADSL 512 ( 512/128 kbps) Possible 1024 IP ADSL R ( 1024 Kbps/128 Kbps) Impossible IP ADSL 1024 Pro ( 1024 Kbps/256 Kbps) Impossible IP ADSL 2048/256 ( 2048 Kbps/256 Kbps ) Impossible IP ADSL Max (Up to 8 Mégas/800kbps ) Impossible IP ADSL Max 2 + (Up to 18 Mégas/1Mbps ) Impossible ADSL Orange (Cf. IP ADSL ) Possible Naked DSL ( without subscription FT ) Possible + Orange TV ( Bouquet Orange TV ) Possible ( ) + Orange HDTV Impossible Canal + (Canal + and CanalSat) Impossible All ISPs on this network ADSL Max 2+ (Jusqu'à 18 mégas) Free NordNet Orange ADSL Max (Jusqu'à 8 mégas) Alice Budget Telecom Dartybox [ + ] view ISPs using the network are exclusively Nordnet and Orange. Type of connection proposed Option 3 Unbundling to 6.4 Mbps/640k Impossible Unbundling up to 16 Mbps/800k Impossible Naked DSL ( without subscription FT ) Possible + Telephony over ADSL (VoIP) Possible ADSL + TV : TV, Canal + , CanalSat Impossible Estimated download speed possible 533 kbps Estimated amount of flow possible 133 kbps Average time of activation of a line N / C The SFR network is used by SFR , Nerim and Magic Online. Type of connection proposed No Naked DSL ( without subscription FT ) Impossible + Telephony over ADSL ( VoIP) Impossible ADSL + TV : TV, Canal +, CanalSat Impossible Estimated download speed possible - Estimated amount of flow possible - Network is used by Numericable Completel and DartyBox . Type of connection proposed Option 5 Naked ADSL ( without subscription FT ) Possible + Telephony over ADSL (VoIP) Impossible ADSL + TV : TV, Canal + , CanalSat Impossible Estimated download speed possible 512kbps Estimated amount of flow possible 128kbps Bouygues Telecom 's network is only used by Bouygues Telecom . ============================================================== as you can see, all the offers are for 512. Am I confused ? - that's my default position ! p

[quote user="AnOther"]No, not at all. Admittedly calculating adaptive ADSL which is not common in France according to this calculator for that line length and attenuation 6mb+ is theoretically possible. Also here, here and here, or just about any other calculator you care to use, all give similar predictions for 39dB attenuation, and all come up with around 2800m which is well within the ball park. JohnRoss, what debit speed does Degrouptest actually say for your line ? PS: Have a read here too [/quote] Those links seem to be all referring to ADSL 2 or ADSL 2+. Out here in the boonies with over 5 kms of wind-blown copper between me and the nearest FT cabinet, vanilla ADSL is as much as we can hope for. 602 is what degrouptest estimates, and 602 is roughly what I get. p

No, I fell into that trap when the plasterer asked me to get him some Lutice 2000C plaster. it's not Leroy Merlin, - there's no 'r' - it's a proper builder's merchants (like -say- Point P). Have a look here for you local. www.melin-materiaux.fr/ p   EDIT: Teapot - you beat me to it!

[quote user="AnOther"]I had a similar problem a couple of years ago which only really manifested itself fairly briefly after rain so had cleared by the time FT got round to checking but after about the 3rd time of reporting via the 1013.fr website they acknowledged a fault and found and fixed it promptly. By the way your download speed is very poor considering your line stats. At 2600m and 39db attenuation I'd expect to be getting around 4 or 5mb [/quote] I think you're a bit optomistic, AnOther, my stats are: longueur de ligne : 5620 mètres affaiblissement théorique : 57.886 dB and I get 602 max download, so - yes - the OP should be getting better than I have, but 4 or 5mb? shume mishtake, shurely? p

[quote user="Chancer"] I have only found solvent fittings but wherever I use them buried I dont glue the joints, it makes it easier for future mods, allows some degree of expansion and contraction and any water that seeps out is effectively micro-filtered. For a slip joint I use a manchon and cut out the centre locating nibs, I then file what remains so that it can be slid over the joint, in this case I do use solvent but have to move quick. They do sell something called a manchon de dilatation which has a rubber seal, I use them on 40 and 50mm where for instance the waste pipe from a meuble salle de bain passes through to the floor underneath and has to be removable in order to remove the meuble. I dont know if you can get them in 100 or 125 but they would be hors de prix for me. [/quote] Actually the manchons are available without the central nibs, and - no - I've never seen the rubber colar ones in anything bigger than 50mm. Stupid really. And  - yes - you do have to be bloody quick after applying the glue to the last surface to fit them all together and to orient it all properly.  I recommend a couple of dry runs and lots of unique location marks with the old felt tip magic marker. Also be very certain the existing pipe is dry before glueing (is there really an 'e' in glueing?).. if all else fails use a wodge of paper towel as a mini dam to hold back/mop up the dribbles. At least you don't have to worry about it blocking up the pipe, unlike the screw of paper hankie I neglected to retrieve from a 14mm copper I soldered yesterday: most of it ended up in the nozzle of the kitchen sink mixer, but the rest had to persuaded back out with the garden hoze. Such larks, eh, Pip ? p

Just out of interest, Andrew, what sort of Zeolite is it you're talking about ? p

The only possible time the sand could move is during a backwash, when the reverse flow is lifting it rather than compacting it, as it would in normal use. As TP said, the sand itself is millions of years old, and I can't imagine the swirling during a backwash is going to effect more polishing than a million years or so of tidal sweep has done. p

[quote user="Martin963"]http://www.wallaceit.co.uk/sky---sky----sky-hd/engineers-menu-on-all-sky---sky----sky-hd-digiboxes/117/article.aspx I don't have a Sky + box to confirm if it works or not though.... Be interesting to know. Or borrow an FTA box with Classic FM already in the channel list and use that.....?  (which you've already thought of else you wouldn't be asking!) [/quote] Thanks Martin,   I can confirm that for Sky+ it's Services 4 01 then select and you are now in the engineer menu. And when changing the transponder setting, one must press select after each line (frequency, polarization, symbol rate, FEC) then store settings, or it reverts to the original. Doesn't seem to have made a ha'porth of difference.. still shows about 60 - 80 % on both and no Classic FM ! p    

[quote user="AnOther"]Huh......[8-)] A satellite 'F' connector going O/C on it's own overnight......................................[blink] [/quote] You've clearly lead a sheltered life ! Have you never heard of  "the innate cussidness of inanimate objects" ?   All right.. to be pedantic and absolutely accurate I imagine it's the  F-socket which is causing the problem. On cheap kit they are hardly more than a tiny sleeve of folded metal embedded in polythene. Easy enough to deform over time and make a poor, intermittent connection. There. Happy now ? [:P] p

That would mean unhitching the temperimental FTA box which is sitting on a suspended shelf above the computer in the loft. the RF feed droops down, flexing the F-connector rather too much and so it periodically goes open circuit thus killing the R4 fm feed (usually during the night when it would have been nice if the clock radio had actually woken me up!) so I disturb it at my peril. Life without R4 freely available in this house is not worth living. Thanks Martin. I'll give the link a try   p

Could someone please remind me how to get into the engineering menu on a sky + box please.. I'm about to resite a dish and have decided to use Classic FM as the guide frequency to line it up, since this seems to be the most problematic to receive here in Central France, so need to change the default transponder. thanks   p

We have a phone which displays the number of the incoming call and subscribe to FT's "presentation du numero' service which costs a whole E1.50 a month (ttc). We've found all the annoying calls (that is, all the annoying calls from people we don't know!) are displayed as 'SECRET' so it's a simple matter of picking up the phone and putting it down again. It's curiously satisfying!   p  

Brico Depot usually have them 3m deep and 3.50 (I think) wide, plain or motorized. However when I went to get one yesterday they said they had none in stock, and no idea when they were getting any more in. Sounds like the manufacturer is on summer break. p

<<<<Your pin-up I only met once when he came into the studio where I was working looking for a pair of glasses he had mislaid.   We didn't find them,  but what a charming man he was back then (and probably still is!) Your pin-up I only met once when he came into the studio where I was working looking for a pair of glasses he had mislaid.   We didn't find them,  but what a charming man he was back then (and probably still is!) >>>>> In my latter days at the beeb when I'd ceased doing anything useful or constructive like making programmes or managing departments, and had become - to all intents and purposes - a management consultant (spit) who (you will remember) is someone who borrows your watch and then tells you the time, I was based in the East tower at TVC and used to go into and out of the site via the Frithville Gardens turnstile entrance about 9.15 each morning. There is an odd trap one can fall into when working in an environment with famous people - or at least, familiar faces - and that is that you think you know them simply because you recognize the face. Normally, common sense steps in and reminds you that you only know the face 'off the telly' but not always. I was about to go through the entrance turnstile one morning, preoccupied with some fresh hell, when John Humphrys popped out of the exit one. Coming face-to-face with somone who I automatically felt I knew I brightly wished him good-day in the chummy way you do to someone you work with, and he resonded in kind, and I passed on through. It was only after I'd continued on my way for 30 seconds or so that the realisation (and embarassment) hit me. Moving on a couple of days and Mr H. and I had a repeat encounter a little further up Frithville Gardens (I was running a bit late that day) and this time it was he who caught my eye, as we passed each other, smiled broadly and bade me good morning. And ever after if we encountered each other he would always stop and pass the time of day. I don't know now if he was just being unfailingly polite or simply had the nagging feeling that he knew me from somewhere; either way, I can confirm what a nice man he is !   p  

I agree with you, it's not what it was. But isn't it a bit like Churchill said of democracy? "The worst system of government - apart from all the others" ? p

[quote user="AnOther"]Err, turn off the flow of water through it maybe [Www] [/quote] nooooo. you lummuck... what happens in the tubes I mean !  Do they just get hotter and hotter?

No the washbasin isn't an issue: it's only things you can stand in, soaking wet like a bath or a shower. p

I know this sounds a silly question, but if you have a goodly array of tubes - sufficient to heat the pool up quickly in a spell of good weather,... what happens to the heat/to the tubes when you think the pool has reached its optimum temperature? p

[quote user="Martin963"]So is it one of those freesat integrated TV's coops,  I've forgotten.....? Whilst that sort of thing often has some sort of radio screen saver I doubt there's a way of actually "turning the screen off".    It's another slight disadvantage I suppose of having an all singing and dancing integrated set up (and one which I hadn't thought of). To be honest if you're worried about the implications for the plasma TV and your electricity bill you'd probably be better off getting an additional FTA sat receiver for your radio listening (and running another cable down from your Astra 2 dish LNB),  and feeding the audio out through a separate hifi.  Isn't life complicated!! [/quote]   ...or (shhhh) feeding it into a small FM transmitter tuned to an unused frequency , then you can listen to your chosen radio station all round the house on your tranny. I believe this works quite well ! p

The 'Today' programme had a go at this, this morning (thurs 8 July) and it seems the back-peddling is well underway, and the 2015 date has already gone from a definite to an advisory. If I understood cricketing metaphors I'd probably insert something about 'kicking' and long grass' here. There was a lot of waffle about 'national services being on DAB, while everything else would be 'safe' on FM' : complete and utter tishy-tosh. I've heard 4-year-olds marshall a more coherent argument! One of the interesting observations which came out of the piece (or possibly last night's 'PM' - usually far more informative and less inflamatory) was the comparison between the digital switch-over(off) of analogue TV and of radio. The drivers are entirely different in that digital TV offered more channels (not necessarilly more choice: but that's an entirely different thread!) and the new kit needed to receive them was comparatively cheap. Whereas for radio, most people already have access on FM to the range of stations they want to listen to, and the cost of the kit to add more is comparatively expensive, and frankly still feels clunky and embryonic. As Martin pointed out, the radio audience is extremely conservative, and will certainly not be lead by the nose into paying out good money for no perceived gain. And the idea that 30 million people are going to cheerfully go out and buy a DAB car radio to replace their FM models, where the reception (unless things change radically) is going to be worse, is just plain laughable.   I also share your doubts about the viability of internet on-the-move and its consequent inability to provide a stable internet radio signal (quite apart from the cost model for such a service). My other nagging worry about DAB is the progressive slide towards lower and lower bit-rates : cramming too many stations into too small a piece of bandwidth. This allied with the almost universal uptake of MP3 which has meant that there is a whole generation of people quite accustomed to poor quality sound, means that ultimately only old fogies like me will notice when the average standard has declined to the same bandwidth and frequency response as 2LO from Savoy Hill received on a pair of GPO headphones! anyway... I will take a bet that Wrotham will celebrate its 60th birthday (2nd May 2015) under no threat of closure and that all the national stations (well, all the BBC ones at any rate) will still be broadcasting loud and clear on FM in 2020.     P

If your ceiling light is more than 60 cms away from a notional vertical line from the side of the bath then you are in the clear (zone). But the supply to this (and anything else in the bathroom) must be protected by a 30mA Disjoncteur Differential (elcb). Wall-mounted heaters etc mounted in this >60cm zone you will find are double-insulated rather than earthed. Odd but true. As you discovered, ceiling pull cord switches are unheard of over here, and there is nothing to stop you having wall lights above/either side of a washbasin, ditto a socket for as hairdryer etc provided they are in the >60 cm zone. Most of the Bricos carry DIY books on electrical installations which well illustrate the zones: some even have helpful diagrams above the shelves where you find the plugs and sockets.   p