Opel Fruit<P><BR>Opel Fruit, Dept. 53<P>

What is FIMO then? And how is it obtained? Curious.

You would use copper pipe. Plastic pipe is inherently self-insulating. The more pipe, the more heat it will collect. But the longer it is, and the more bends, the more restrictive the flow. To collect the sun's radiation, you need a large surface area in a heat conductive material, in matt black. The way other home-brew bods do this is to make an array of copper pipe in 22mm to cover a surface area of about 4m2. Then, these are sandwiched between two large thin sheets. The upper one is very flat brass or tin, and the copper pipes attached using spot hard solder. Clearly, you need good contact between the upper sheet and the copper pipes. The bottom sheet is basically a support, and should be reflective. The upper sheet should then be painted matt black. Various bits of insulation will be required at the perimeter to avoid wind cooling effect. The pump can be very small, a 15-50 on low speed would do. Then you need a control system. Again, this can be constructed in the potting shed.  Interesting stuff, for sure. Lots of variables and plenty to challenge your handskills and resourcefulness. Keep us posted. Presumably you are in La Sarthe?

This may be of interest. Clearly, the listing will end, but there are others. Just search for "Chauffe Eau" Very cheap. And good components. Interestingly, some of the components are UK sourced. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/HYUNDAI-SOH-SET01-CHAUFFE-EAU-SOLAIRE-RESERVOIR-200L_W0QQitemZ7713792983QQcategoryZ519QQssPageNameZWD2VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Now with a few photos.

I have a 1m 20mm SDS drill.

A couple of people have asked about avoiding water leaking all over their new renovation and decoration when the time comes to fill the system for the first time. With the best will in the world, there is likely to be a couple of bad solder joints or a compression joint left undone by mistake.  The way the trade do it is to fill it with air first. Only use about 20-30 psi, and you will need a compressor. There are two advantages to this. Firstly, it avoids filling with water and thus making resoldering nigh impossible. Secondly, it is generally easy to hear the leak. Once the system has been tested this way and any rework done, we charge the system with air and release one of the radiator blanking plugs - this clears out any dust or solder balls. With gusto. Make sure you be careful!

Can you get down to 14mm pipe from the cup outlet and vent off that way? The other way to do it would be to have a large evaporator dish close by, but that gets manky and you never really know if it full or not. Or is it because the ballon is below ground level????

I assume the C/E is electric. You cannot use an expansion vessel in place of the safety valve/relief valve, sorry. The comments above about the Vannes Mellangeuse (Mixer valve) are wholly incorrect. They should not be installed unless as a replacement part and are not used as described. See my sticky in the forum.

ANPE are pretty good, professional and they do actually respond to queries and emails. You must register with Assedic BY PHONE 0811 01 01 xx1 (not in person or via their (good) website) and they will send you an Inscription form to fill in. THEN ANPE will help you find work with some conviction. You could also register with the likes of Manpower, Adecco, Creyf's and Leader Interim. However, despite two of these being UK owned, don't expect them to do anything for you. You can go through the motions with them, register, apply for their offers, go and see them, and so on. But you won't even get offered the most menial of jobs. Ever. They just do not get involved with foreigners. (Might be different in Paris of course).   What you find out (from an ex-employee) is that the French interim agencies operate a kind of discrimination. But there is jack you can do about it. Applying for jobs directly with Companies will usually result in no reply. Not even a thanks but no thanks. My wife (who is French "moyen") has been trying to get part-time or short contract work. Not a chance. Even as a qualified chef. Good luck, and if you find a means to get somewhere, let us know. But do expect brickwalls. 1xx = your dept. number

In a nutshell, garbage. I use SKYPE only between ADSL users, and it is always fine. My one contact who has dial-up (basically because he is a tightwad) is a joke. ECHO ECHO!

12.5/13kg cylinders of Butane don't have to be outside. The maximum pipe length in flexible is 10m.

Nothing to do with the topic, I'm afraid, but how does this rate 5 stars????????????? Puzzled.

I have found these to be excellent, inexpensive and very flexible. This will do everything you want, with minimal fitting issues. http://www.danfoss-randall.co.uk/Site/downloads/6890.PDF

No, most turn it off. The French are just about discovering timers too. You need to keep the windows open at all times to provide relief from damp, saltpetre and mildew. 

French heating systems are still largely in the Iron Age. I suspect your outside sensor could be a Frost stat. If you have a Buderus or De Dietrich system or similar, you may well have the outside weather compensator. These have been around for several years, but are rarely correctly setup. Because no-one understands them. It's a pity, because they are worthwhile, and well ahead of the UK systems. French boilers, oil particularly, are invariably non-modulating. Even the Buderus ones. The top-end systems we fit (if requested) have sensors in every room (thermistors), and 2 port zone valves to isolate each rad or local rad group. The system also collects temperature from outside, the flow and return of the boiler and has a sun sensor. The control unit takes a day to wire and a day to fully program. It can control every aspect of the house (usually a large one) temperature at any time. But it isn't cost effective for most domestic situations. TRVs are (well the good ones are anyway). Just be careful when positioning any room stats where there is a TRV locally.

OK, my daughter tells me they are binders with coloured dividers and plastic sleeves in! Apparently!

We are near Craon, have had ADSL from Wanadoodoo for a couple of years. The nearest server is in Nantes, and there have been drop outs for a couple of weeks now. I understand that it is a temporary problem.

It's the clear plastic paper holder sleeve thingies that have holes punched down one side for putting into a binder. They are normally A4 size or A3 size, depending on your needs.

Original

Ooooo, can anyone see them??  

Pressure reduction devices. Not to be confused with flow reduction (a tap!)(which most people do!) The most effective way of making something reduce pressure of fluids is to use a 3 port device where there is an inlet, an outlet and a bleed off. This is how car oil pumps or fuel pressure regulator work. Once the pressure reaches a set level, a ball bearing or shuttle valve held in contact with the bleed off port opens and allows the excess pressure, in the form of the fluid to return to the sump or fuel tank. Clearly this is not practical with a water supply, since you cannot bleed the water off without it going to drain. Theses devices work by closing off the outlet when the pressure exceeds the set value. They are usually noisy, since they "chatter" about the set point. They are usually rather inaccurate.

Another view in another area:

You mean like this?: Fairly standard on >200 yo properties up north. The top level is terre cuite tiles, laid on torche/masse. Then there are either wood slats or oak boards on top of the crossbeams. If you are lucky, the crossbeams are laid on the tie beams and pocketed in the walls at the other end.

The difference is as mentioned. The flush mechanism is simply gravity, whereas the UK design is for a syphon action. In theory, the gravity version lasts longer because they are simpler and require no diaphragm replacement from time to time. Interestingly (or not) the UK is moving toward the gravity system. The flush buttons on the loos here are often have a screw collar around them which allows full removal of the lid. There are two types of cistern valve used here these days. The first type, the cheapest, uses a variation of the ball float, substituted by a lump of polystyrene. Very susceptible to variations in mains pressure. The second one uses a vertical plastic float which is very compact and highly effective with no obvious problems with pressure variation.

Bought and fitted dozens (289 Euro ones) and never had any problems at all. They appear to work very well on mains pressure.