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fulcrum

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Everything posted by fulcrum

  1. You might like to note that the regulations in France for installing a "parafoudre" or over tension device only applies to houses situated in the countryside or where supplies negotiate overhead cabling. If you live in a town and or you supplies come through the ground then you shouldn't have a problem.
  2. Since Wanadoo went to Orange. I am now receiving one or two a day of viagra ads. I never used to receive any on the account before the changeover. You could put a filter on that detects OLEX or AGRA anywhere in the subject line.
  3. It should do as long as the LNB supplied is of the universal type. Most are nowadays but for thirty five euros you get the correct sixe dish anyway.
  4. [quote user="tbod"]Thanks for your reply - clearly good advice.  However, before I go in search of professional advice, I would like to get a better idea of how my system works. Anyone out there with a similar system (see my original letter)?[/quote] You need to Google for "Fosse a toutes eaux" and "Fosse septique". Both need emptying after a while but the Fosse a toutes eaux less often due to the amount of water pushed through the system. The Fosse septique is basically a large receptical that only takes the "eaux vannes" from you WC. The Fosse a toutes eaux takes all waters including rain water and converts that into disposable fluids that are released into a soakaway. I am not a sewage expert but because of having to connect my house to the main sewers have trawled through loads of web pages that explain all about it Fosses. Where there's muck there's money
  5. I would suggest that you wire the house as to the correct French standards (Norms France) and then buy separate plugin transformers/Voltage converters for each appliance or set of appliances. Doing it this way would allow any future reversion to normal French wiring very simple. You may still need to consider the Hz rating of each device as America still uses 60Hz and Europe is 50Hz.
  6. Wedderburn That's one of the best posts that I've read here in a long time.
  7. [quote user="Haventgotone"]Hi everyone, We are currently out of the blue chemical for our porta potti and have searched every shop we visit for another bottle - they all seem to sell the pink deodoriser but not the blue. Please, please does anyone know where we can buy it - we are getting desperate now!!! I wondered if we could use a tiny amount of the stuff you put in the fosse septic - would this work? We live in department 24 near La Coquille Thanks in advance for any help Val[/quote] I found something called "Water Fluid pour WC Chemiques" at an Intermarche. It comes in a small pink container with a blue lid. It has a feint blue tint to it but works well. Mr Bricolage have stuff for chemical loos too. I have just noticed that you mention finding deodoriser but Mr Bricolage sell the proper stuff.
  8. Fiona I was going through the same problem but in my case my notaire is picking up the case as the contract stated like yours that it was "tout a l'egouts" but is very definately on a "fosse septique". She knows therefore that the sellers lied and will be dealing with it at a notary level.
  9. [quote user="londoneye"] "shoddy english people" [/quote] Heaven forbid!!!!!
  10. [quote user="JJ"]We have a glut of various plums this year, have made loads of chutney but quite fancy trying to make some prunes. I have checked the internet, but no real success apart from one site suggesting that one dries the plums for 18 hours in a hot air oven. So, can anyone suggest how it is done,or is the above mentioned the only way? Many thanks. [/quote] The prune factory near us in 47 shoves them through a hot air oven. So I guess it is the way it's done.
  11. Lutece 2000 is the best plaster for general works. It gives you one hour drying time. Doesn't set extremely hard but is good for most wall plastering and finishing.
  12. Christine Meerkats are more complex than Lemurs in many aspcts but their main difference is that there is always at least one Meerkat on lookout duty. Looking the other way than the main bunch or gang. They have a lot of similarities to early humans as we know them and their social order is extremely complex right down to social behaviour. Actually if you look at your picture of the three in a basket. They are looking in three different directions. Thats one for the left and one for the right and one for the sky.
  13. Do a google search of Meerkats. You will find them as loveable as Lemurs but even more interesting.
  14. [quote user="FurryKnickers"]Morning Mr Fulcrum, I can't get the video clip to play, it goes for a few seconds showing a woman with strawberries! [/quote] If you let it run. The strawberries will disappear and the next item will be the one you want. The strawberries is just a filler from ABC. I've just tried it and it works. Thank you to Christine for finding the clip.
  15. As an animal lover. I thought this was a nice story. There is a movie clip out there too but I'm not sure how to get at it at the moment. http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload/2006/06/ll_the_cool_kid.html Tried to post another link but it's too long for the page. Yes, I know I can shorten it but I've forgotten how. Quite a cute animal.
  16. [quote user="Harvey"]I have bought an 802.11g ADSL modem with wireless router and I am having problems setting it up…. Am I missing something obvious? Everything plugged in but nothing. I have Wanadoo account would this make any difference….I am trying to avoid having a Live box..........[/quote] Wanadoo is quite tolerant of different kit instead of the Livebox. Maybe if you find a forum for your modem you may get some answers as to what might be wrong. It's probably something minor. I can't help you much as although I'm on Wanadoo ADSL, I use ethernet.
  17. [quote user="Anthony Rowland"]Can anyone tell me where I can obtain a diagram of the French wastewater and sewage system. We have recently had a manhole installed in our garden in France which connects to the main drainage, so that we can connect the house and extension to it at a later date, but there are 2 pipes in the manhole instead of one as in England and these connect to the 1 large pipe in the road.I would be grateful if anyone can help me. Thanks Tony.[/quote] As another poster said. You really need to contact your mairie. Each department has slightly different rules and in some cases if you do it wrong you will have to put it right at your expense. Here is a nice diagram that gives you an indication of what may be required. You may not need the Dispositif Anti-Reflux between your plumbing and your boite de brancement, at the left of the diagram. This device is for flood areas and will probably depend on the flood rating of your locality. http://www.assainissement-cites-en-champagne.fr/chalons-en-champagne/reseau-public-assainissement.pdf Where I live, in a small town, I contacted the local water company, as well, to find out whether they required anything special for testing my DIY installation.
  18. [quote user="thunderhorse"]I discovered that - pull the plug when the connection drops, give it a few seconds, and plug it back in again. Interestingly, it only happened under Windows XP. Now that I'm using Linux and a network card (not USB), it hasn't happened at all in the past month. [/quote] USB can sometimes be problematic for ADSL. This is because some PC manufacturers implementation of USB is flakey and especially noticeable when used for ADSL connections. It is ALWAYS better to use ethernet with ADSL. It can be slightly more complicated to set up but well worth the extra fiddling..
  19. [quote user="active8"]Just heard of another electrician who is under investigation... he has also been caught burying dominoes in walls and running diagonal conduits in the wall.... Once again the consuel is involved and he is being sued to correct the work and no doubt is looking foward to a hefty fine of some sort... Where are the good guys these days... it seems that the bad guys are getting all the work and really making a name for themselves... why?...whats the point? If you are getting paid to do it...why not do it well...? rob ( glad to not be in the building trade ) [/quote] From what I've read in this thread. It seems that some people who call themselves electricians probably know very little of what is required knowledge. They haven't read up on the French Norms and don't know that they exist. Wiring up a house and making it electrically safe IS only a job for those who know the regulations and understand the dangers..
  20. Angela If you look at you main power switch you will see a small round window (1/4inch diameter approx)) that shows a number. If you are in fact on 12kw then this number is 60. It might be worth checking this as I suppose that it's possible that the supply hasn't been set to match what EDF are charging for.
  21. [quote user="Patf"]But as BJSLIV said the vendor who pulls out has to pay both the purchaser and the notaire, so there is a penalty. I wonder what would happen if the vendor dies? ( G-d forbid.) Pat.[/quote] Nowadays there is a compulsory insurance put in place at the time of the sous signe to cover the parties involved against death. It is free.
  22. [quote user="Dick Smith"] We have applications written in Access at school and they cause us huge problems because they are so unstable, as well as difficult/impossible to modify. [/quote] If the wrong person fiddled about cobbling a database together then you will have problems. One of the problems with Access is that it is sold alongside Word and Excel. Therefore users expect to just use it out of the box. However it needs someone who understands its structure before they start. Another problem with so called expert users of Access is that they hard code some of the information into forms etc.. so that maintenance becomes very difficult. I have years of Access experience and know that it is a very stable product and works very well. You can put together very quickly a database if you know where to start. Tables are the only thing that hold data. Queries are for manipulating data from Tables or other queries into whatever order you require. Forms are for displaying the database to users. Reports are for printing your info. Modules are for Visual Basic code. I'll bet that in a day (eight hours) I could get a reasonably competent office user to understand Access in order to start constructing a fairly usefull and manageable database.
  23. [quote user="Dick Smith"] I don't like Access, though, I think it's an insult! I use Filemaker Pro for databasing, it is light years ahead. [/quote] Access is very good but you really have to understand Visual Basic to get the most out of it.
  24. Heather I think the best way to deal with your problem is by visit to the France Telecom office for your department. They may have someone who can speak English and if you talk to them nicely I'm sure they will be willing to help. Just take all relevant invoices so that they can identify you on their system.
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