ChipshopCharlie

Hi, I have a house in Brittany that is heated with a "Franco Belge Berretta Exclusive Ballon 28 BIPD" gas fuelled boiler. As we are not often there, it spends a lot of time out of action and is very difficult to get started, but once it gets going, it's great. The problem seems to be that the pressure in the system needs to be above one bar to start it and it is invariably below this when we first try to light it. We tend to manage to get it going after about a day of bleeding radiators, pressing various buttons and turning various knobs. The trouble with that approach is I never really find it what was wrong and what actually solved the problem. Does anyone here have any experience with these? Would be most grateful for a couple of tips on how to get the pressure up and start it quicker, as a quick shower after the ferry ride over there would be great. Thanks in advance Charlie

Thanks guys, you've all been very helpful. The taps are plumbed in now and  no drips (touch wood). Where I was going wrong was not using a tap connector with a fibre washer to connect the 16mm pipe to the offset connector, which now gives me a fully sealed joint that I can also rotate, if I need to. Thanks again. Charlie

Hi Ron, No, there are no existing pipes coming out of the wall, I'm having to run the pipes myself through the partition. Charlie

Hello Big Mac, Thanks for your help. Strangely, having checked, neither the rubber washers nor the fibre washers fit the connector end - they both seem to be for the tap. I'm planning to use the fibre washer and ptfe tape to make up the tap to the connector. I think I will be able to do these up tight, so I'm quite happy with that connection. The connection that worries me is the offset joint to the treaded pipe connector. I've managed to put a couple of pictures up here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/90468294@N00/364357942/in/photostream/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/90468294@N00/364357943/ Apologies for the quality. My concern is to get them to meet the tap correctly, I don't think I can do the offset joint up to the pipe connector tight. Will using Hawk get me round this problem? By the way, can you buy Hawk in France? I'm assuming it sets, is that right? If so, are joints reusable? I'm also curious as to why the pipe connector end of the offset joint has a serated thread (I think you can just see it in the picture). Is there a particular reason for this? Sorry about the long list of questions! Thanks again. Charlie

Hello, Has anyone here installed a set of French taps? The reason I ask is that I'm refitting my bathroom and the taps I have bought for the bath/shower have an offset coupling with them. I have all of the neccesary fittings (the salesman at Leroy Merlin gave me everything I need to get from 16mm copper to the taps) but I've no idea what to use to connect the offset fitting to the connector and the taps. I have fibre and rubber washers supplied, but I suspect I also need to use something else to seal the joint. The obvious answer to me is PTFE tape, but I'm not convinced it will do the trick. Do I need something else (I've heard of somethig called 'tallow' in England) to seal the joint? Thanks in advance for any help. Charlie

Brilliant. Thankyou Christine. Charlie

Hi, I hope there is a native French speaker that can help me with this. I'm studying French and have been learning about the verbs that are conjugated by être in the passé composée. My book says that there are twelve - aller, venir, entrer, sortir, arriver, partir, monter, descendre, naître, mourir, revenir, retourner, tomber, rester, rentrer devenir - plus the reflexive verbs. However, my neighbour has a French teacher (who is French), who insists there are more (but hasn't named any). Can anybody clear this up for us? Thanks   Charlie

Hi, I'm currently looking at buying a flat in France and am therefore wondering whether the concept of ownership under a lease exists and is common in France or is the ownership of flats done by share of freehold? They way the agent explained it to me, it sounded like shared freehold with an external agent responsible for the communal areas. If so, am I right in thinking that the joint owners normally have the right to remove the external agent from office, if they are unhappy with their efforts? Thanks Charlie

Hi, I've been living in France for a while and have my own business that I run (mostly) via the internet. None of my clients are in France, but in order to contribute to the French system, I'm thinking seriously about setting up a SARL and channeling most of my work through it. I've had a look at some of the links available here and arrived quite quickly at the conclusion that I need to consult a French accountant. Does anyone here use a French accountant (Dept. 22) that they would willingly recommend (that perhaps has a willing ear for badly spoken French)? Thanks in advance. Charlie

Hi, I've recently come across a building plot in dept. 22 and am considering buying it but want to get a feel for the cost of construction before I commit myself. My plan is to have the bulk of the work done by a contractor i.e.walls, roof, plastering, 1st and 2nd fix carpentry and electrics, leaving bare walls, so that I can then fit the bathroom, kitchen and decorate. Has anyone here done anything similar? I'm thinking about a three or four bedroom house, about 160 sq. m. I'd much appreciate any recommendations for contractors and also who I should avoid! Thanks Charlie

Hi Kevin, I assume you will be travelling by boat to St. Malo and will be spending most of your time in dept. 22? If so, Where you go depends very much on what you're after. For example, if you have children and want to spend the day at the beach, I'd recommend St. Cast, Pleneuf Val Andre or Erquy if you want a small beach town or Dinard if you prefer bigger beach resorts. If you prefer historic towns and architecture, Dinan is a must and Rennes is also worth a visit. A lot of visitors to Brittany come with camper vans or caravans or rent a house/gite for accommodation. Chez Nous and Brittany Ferries provide an agency service for gite landlords, so give them a go if that's what you're after. The usual hotel chains i.e. Ibis/Campanile etc. are all here but don't tend to be in particularly scenic locations. If you fancy something small and up-market, try the Ecrin Hotel in Plancoet. There's also the (not quite so posh) Abbaye in Plancoet but it's been quite a while since I stayed there. There are also plenty of hotels in Dinan, but it's at least half an hour from the coast. Good luck with your trip - let me know if there's more you want to know. Charlie

Hi guys, Thanks for all your comments, alas, I'm still struggling. I've got two laptops set up to the livebox, both by wireles connection and both can access the internet at the same time, so I think, in principle, the livebox and signal are fine. The problem is setting up the network between the two laptops. I thought there might be a networking setup procedure in the livebox setup but, having rerun the installation on both, I can't see anything. The only remaining option I can see is to try to set the network up via Windows XP. In doing so, I definitely enable file and printer sharing but towards the end I get an error message that directs me here: http://support.microsoft.com/search/default.aspx?catalog=LCID%3D2057&spid=global&query=871122&adv= Has anyone else here had this trouble? It appears to me that Lynda&Richard have something similar to what I'm trying to do. How did you set your network up - was it via livebox install or Windows XP? Once again, thank you all for your help. Charlie  

Hi, I've had my Livebox for a couple of months and have been successfully accessing the internet with my laptop. Having bought another laptop for my wife, I've managed to get both of them accessing the internet, but can't seem to set up a wireless network via the Livebox. I can't see anything in the instructions that suggests it's possible, but I'm sure the salesman at France Telecom told me it was possible. Has anyone here managed to set up a wireless network via the Livebox - or should I be pleased I've got as far as I have? Thanks in advance Charlie

Hi Calvados, If you want to receive UK TV in France, you'll need a satellite receiver and digital decoder. You can either pick them up at the large briocomarches (I use Leroy Merlin) or get one of the local TV/antenna shops to install one for you. If (like me) you're not willing to pay a subscription, you'll only get all of the BBC channels (i.e. BBC 1-4 + children's channels and news 24) and ITV. To get Channels four and five, you'll have to pay a subscription. I find the freebies more than enough to keep up to date. If you're installing yourself you'll want to tune to Astra 2D (28.2 degrees east). A full list of UK free channels and the Astra 2d channels can be found on Lyngsat: http://www.lyngsat.com/freetv/United-Kingdom.html Good luck. Charlie

Hi Anton, I think I've got the disecq 1 & 2 setup right. I didn't realise I'd need to delete satellites to create memory in the box. I'll give it a go. Thanks Charlie