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Gluestick

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Everything posted by Gluestick

  1. When you say, "The overflow smells" what do you actually mean by overflow? The only "Overflow" you should have is the outlet pipe to the distribution field. This takes the clear liquid away. If a fosse smells particularly, it is normally from the vent pipe, which ideally should be above roof level. Depends where it's sited, of course. Since you do need access, from time to time, obviously a good idea to cut some form of hatch. Since it will be pre-cast concrete, from what you say, I'd probably use a large angle grinder with a stone/concrete cutting disk, rather than a cold chisel! My friend had similar problems: fosse blocked and constant back-flushes back into the loo. Most unpleasant as he had a house full! In the end he, some French neighbours and an English friend who was a building inspector, finally discovered the fosse...............................................under a concrete and beautifully tiled terrace! One new fosse septique later................................. There does seem a confliction here, too. All the info I have managed to cull, has one lot of "Authorities" stating that the fosse won't require emptying if it is working properly. Whereas the opposite side stoutly maintain it needs total emptying once every three or four years.[8-)] Anyone have some specific data on this?   Edit: P.S. I have since searched and found that under the new regs, apparently every fosse has to be emptied once each four years. Thus the "leave it alone if it's working well" idea, seems now to be consigned to the same theory file as the "Chuck dead rabbits, moles, foxes etc" into your fosse.    
  2. Davido: This was discussed at some length, on another recent thread. Search "Heating". I'm a bit pushed today, as off to la belle France tomorrow bright and early (Like up at 3.30AM[:(] - ouch!), or I'd try and find it for you. The conclusion seems to be that it can be tricky to extract much heat as the external temp drops. Some authorities dispute this and claim effective latent heat extraction at very low temperatures. I would be concerned that since in physics there is nothing for nothing, then the electric energy consumed would be very high once the outside air temp drops below a certain point, which would therefore negate the "Cheap" concept! Lots on the web on this subject too. Seems to be popular in Ireland. Check here as a starting point. http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=AirSource+Heating&meta And, if anyone fancies a nice headache and is in to the maths of Thermo Dynamics, this is a very informative article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_pump    
  3. [quote user="Frederick"] Is there anybody who has installed a wet room ? and do you think it was a better idea than a shower cubicle re condensation etc ? are you glad you have one or wish you had never done it ?. They seem to be the way to go these days wet rooms  but I just have no experience of one ...never see one other than on TV and  they seem to chuck a lot of water about . from more than one jet in some of them .   [/quote] Well, it's Friday evening and on Sunday at the crack, wife and I are back to France for three weeks, so I'm demob happy! [:D] This thread set me thinking.[blink] I experienced these new fangled wet rooms: about thirty years ago in Greece! The shower was a spray that came out of the wall and the floor sloped and had a drain! And everything and everyone got wet! In those days, however, they weren't called Wet Rooms: they were disparagingly described as "Agricultural"![:P] Amazing what marketing men (and women of course) can do with an old idea, innit!  
  4. Our local Aldi (in Fruges) have had a pile of orbital sanders in for at least three months.  
  5. Just had a look at one of my (French) reference booklets. This clearly shows the expansion vessel sitting on the return circuit. GP: I sort of follow your thinking, however since one is dealing with water, then the first law of hydraulics governs a closed circuit; i.e. liquids are fundamentally uncompressable. Therefore the actual pressure anywhere in the circuit will be identical. Ergo, it doesn't matter where you site a safety valve it would blow off once its preset pressure was exceeded. How would massive over-pressure build up if the boiler didn't cycle but ran continuously? I would think that what would happen in practise, would be that the rads would run at overheat until the TRVs cut them out, then probably, the boiler water jacket would split and put the flame out! [:D] You do have some nice thoughts![6] There must be another safety component here, surely? Probably some form of thermal fuse which would cuts power to the injector pump if it overheats: which it would as the air temp in the casing would be enormously high! Also, I have a feeling that boiler stats fail safe, not dangerous.  
  6. No problems taking paint etc through thus far. I did enquire about a gas bottle (for the blowlamp). No problem with this, but you have to advise them and report early and then they cover your car with "Danger" stickers and isolate you, I think in an end coach. Just treated new shutters. I used a Leyland product. Excellent coverage, keen price and far cheaper than Sadlins etc. Far cheaper than anything I could find in France. Personally, with new wood especially, I would use Xelophene first, though, as UK products don't seem to have the same anti-parasite properties.  
  7. Might I suggest, Steve, that you post this question to the first thread in this section, on heating etc? If you are really lucky, Opal Fruit will answer and he is the de facto mine of info on all matters relating to heating and plumbing![:D] Also, very much worth a look through the Heating threads starting at the beginning.  
  8. I'm pretty sure, Dick that both Propane and Butane bottles have an identical thread. I have been searching, for quite some time, for a "Dumpy" bottle of propane with the standard fixture. I want this for my blowlamp! So, in my naive way, I bought a French manifold fitting (for both Propane and Butane) from Mr Bricolage, took it back to the UK and modified a UKworkshop  fully adjustable regulator to fit and voila, I thought! But no, it seems! I even bought a dumpy bottle, similar to my UK propane bottles (I've more than one UK bottle, in fact, since there are now competitive suppliers and the Jobsworth mindset swings into gear when one wants to swap them!). However once I stripped the sexy plastic packing off the new sparkling yellow French bottle, it has a sort of bayonet fitting. Took it back to swop and my friendly assistant at Champion instantly banged a new regulator on - for gas stoves etc! And I can't remove the S*****g thing! And the gas trickles out now and is non-adjustable. Ideal for boiling oeufes, but totally useless for sweating pipes! So me blowlamps's fine, all provided I am happy (Not!) to lug a great big bottle around with me! It would seem that competitive French gas companies paint their bottles all different sorts of colours, too, just to confuse us! Thus far, I've seen them red, blue, green, yellow and a sort of metallic blue, too.  
  9. Yes, the old "Return it in its original packaging" scam is a wonderful wheeze. I remember reading about an American lady who bought online, in the early days of the E-Commerce boom. Whatever it was she purchased was faulty. and after Christmas she wanted to return the goods, whereupon the supplier started the old "Original Packaging" lark. Unfortunately, with the rush, they had shipped in all sorts of outers and hers was sort of ideal for a huge fridge freezer! Which she couldn't actually fit in her car................ Ummmmmmm.  
  10. Agree about Brico Dept .v. Leroy Merlin, Quillan. Brico Depot are great for everyday stuff at low prices. Most times, the staff are hopeless and don't even want to assist: even if they could, which is doubtful! Leroy's assistants certainly seem more knowledgable to me and Leroy's seem to have far better quality items as well as budget end.  
  11. Since the hot water supply in France is (usually) fed either from the Balloon or a chaffauge which is similar to a British Combi boiler. Not normal (excepting on old and unusual installations) to have a gravity fed open to air system.  
  12. Glad you sorted out your heating, billy10; nice to learn about people saving money! Not much I can add, here, in fact, as GP has pretty much covered it. Propane has to be stored outside the house. The gas feed from the bottle must use the safety device as GP states. BTW, propane is fine outside: butane, however, will freeze. On mixture: as GP has already stated, if the mixture of gas and air is correct, then the flame will burn blue. A yellow, sooty flame indicates incomplete combustion: the yellow tinged flame shows that there is unburnt hydrocarbon. Combustion is set by firstly the inlet jet and secondly by the (normally) rotating sleeve on each individual burner inlet. If you look under the hob (or indeed, any cooker) you will see a steel (normally) pipe running to each burner assembly. The gas inlet has a separate jet and the rotating sleeve. This where the gas and air mix.So if you like, it's the mixing chamber. If you remember bunsen burners from the stinks lab at school, you rotated a sleeve for a blue flame: close the sleeve and the bunsen burned yellow. This is because the flame is taking oxygen from the air for combustion, rather than the air and gas mixing earlier in the feed pipe. The mixing chamber ('cos that's what it is) also creates a sort of forced draft effect: same as a gas blowlamp; it is the air and gas being forced into the burning area, by a form of venturi, which is why blowlamps roar! If the jet is incorrect, then you will have all sorts of problems. Once you've cracked the jet problem, then finally adjust the rotating sleeve for an optimal (blue) flame at the full-on position and a perfect flame in the simmer position. Like most things in life it is a compromise! BTW: it has probably not been cooking very well, either, as the heat output will be very low with a yellow flame.  
  13. Surely, a good thermostatic mixer unit will prevent this? Of perhaps this is what you mean. As a guide Screwfix thermostatic mixers range from circa £79 to 350, the upper prices being quite esoteric items; they do list more expensive options, but these seem pointlessly complex. Mine was pre-installed in the cabinet (Leroy Merlin), never had any problems when other taps are turned on in the house, hydro jets all round cost from memory circa € 400, on offer, complete.  
  14. Much if our house was re-built circa 38 years ago (was torshe, previously), using terracotta blocks. Good for reasonable insulation: very hard to make service holes in, neatly, as they are extremely brittle, although a good diamond core drill should solved this problem. Also, it is very hard to obtain a really good fixture using most normal wall plugs (chevilles) as any hole drilled, is very irregular. Perhaps someone else knows of a good, strong fixing method? Just had new shutters fitted and I now have to change the position of most of the iron clips which are meant to hold the shutters back, as the carpenter fixed them in the joints and not at the end of each shutter! If you use these briques you fundamentally have to cement most fixings in. With a new build, I would probably elect for normal blocks and a cavity wall and then the justification for the terracacotta briques evaporates. Lintels, btw are all cast concrete as are the external cills.  
  15. I have been quite cynical about this concept, GP, since it was obvious to me that ambient air temp, when it's cold, is one of the core reasons that buildings become cold! The whole rationale -allegedly - about GSH is that subterranean temps tend to be stable, irrespective of external conditions and higher than ambient air temp. Thus perhaps we can classify Air Heat Exchange as great for hot water when the sun is shining! In which case, solar would be cheaper and easier. Yet another example of CCTV to shave with!  
  16. When you say "When Cutting.................", do you mean after cutting to length, to remove scratches and burrs etc? Or "Cutting" as in cutting back? All depends which specific grade of stainless steel. Normally, stainless would be polished on a high speed mop, as it is pretty hard stuff. You would usually use a very fine polishing paste at high speed. Normal automotive paint Cutting Compound, such as Farecla (think that's right), would probably be far too course. Most body shops today use TCut as a light compound for mopping paint, which doesn't happen too often, now, as two pack synthetics in a decent booth don't need cutting - if applied correctly. For polishing brass and copper, for example, I use a standard polishing soap stick which I've had for years, 'cos it doesn't take much. I believe it was from Canning, who used to supply plating and metal treatment sundries and salts. Edit:   Here is a US company who airship small quantities. http://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/buffing.htm And here is a good site with info on cleaning and polishing stainless steel. http://www.azom.com/details.asp?ArticleID=1142  
  17. Yes, it is interesting Albert, thanks. One aspect that has to be emphasised, however I feel, is that large projects achieve -obviously - greater benefit due to economies of scale. Personally, I believe that with new build residential, the future will include central sewerage processing, grey water re-cycling + rainwater capture and, of course, ground source heating fitted as some form of shared facility. (Probably discrete heat pumps taking the energy input/disposal from/to one core and large resource). In theory, it is even now quite possible to stand-alone process sewerage and be independant for cooking gas, for example. What does surprise me is that no sizeable speculative developer in the UK (particularly in the South) has identified the attractiveness potential of environmentally friendly and green technology. As water resources become even scarcer and more expensive and as energy costs rise, exponentially during the next few years, perhaps this will -late - force their hand.  
  18. I am guessing, here F of S. My gut reaction is that what is critical is the depth of the trench, since latent heat is extracted from the strata, as the ground protects the earth from heat loss. Prevailing winds would be critical, obviously, due to the chill factor. In any case, suppliers normally carry out a site survey which apparently includes planting sub-terranean thermometers. Bore holes are more effective. According to some sources.  
  19. My email finally caught up with my chum amd he will shortly revert to me with the electricity costs for the Winter, the actual area of the barn conversion etc. He did tell me he is absolutely delighted with his geothermal heating: the glycol was leaving at -5C and returning @ +2C in very heavy frosts: and maintaining ambient room temps. of 18C. So now all we need is the running cost!  
  20. I shall chase him up: I would like to see the answers too! Don't hold your breath, as they say, he travels a lot. Apparently, the claim ([8-)]) is that despite low ambient air temps. the gound can provide significant heat gains, as the deeper one goes, the less the temp is affected by air temp. Caves are normally quoted as illustrative. What does concern me (and obviously yourself!) is the energy cost to extract heat as the temp drops! I too am concerned about the real amortisation of the capital costs  against the (alleged) savings. It does seem to work, provided one is circa 30 and the equipment will last for twenty years!  
  21. Don't know if anyone else saw the TV prog about the man and woman who self-renovated of an old burned-out mini chateau a few months ago? Used macons and roofers for the demanding bits, of course. They imported their slates direct from China. Needed a pretty large amount of course, as there was no roof at all!  
  22. PKBoo: I do quite a lot of research into this topic a couple of years ago: and re-visited it, last year. Sources: Simply, Boreholes, (self-expanatory); "Slinkies": Lakes. Slinkies, are long plastic tubes, sunk circa 1.5 - 2.5 Metres, into trenches. Their length is predicated by the heat demand necessary, in terms of required output. (Allowing for the losses in the Heat Pump). Type of heat Exchange: Favoured, is underfloor (Wet), since as Will has already stated, operating temperature is lower. Warm air is possible, as are rads., however they are simply not as efficient. The main objection seems to be the Capital Cost. Even allowing for the gains over (e.g.) gas and oil, it takes a considerable time to amortise the front end costs; by which time it is probable that the heat pump would need replacement. Grants are apparently only available against mainstream income tax, for which applicants have to be fully registered and based totally within the French system. I am presently awaiting the final analysis of overall electricity costs and efficiency of a chum's borehole geo-thermal installation, in a newly completed Welsh barn conversion, using underfloor wet system. This will be very interesting, since it was a very cold and long Winter! He also has excellent insulation, as one might expect, being only completed, last year. A new contender, BTW, is a system which extracts heat from external air.    
  23. Neither do I, Steve. I'm with you on the concept of junkboxes with a b****y great brass screw and pillar! Chocky blocks would be fine, if they had a separate hole of the precise wire diameter, for each cable. With high current 12 volt automotive stuff, we always soldered, since Ampex type Lucas connectors always seemed to give robs on race cars; like falling off! That's why I much preferred the old push-fit bullet end cable fittings (soldered, natch) which of course, were round terminals going into a tightly fitting round sleeve. Pig to undo once they became slightly corroded, mind. [:@] In the past, with multi-wire connections, I have even soldered all the wires together and screwed the terminal down, hard, into the solder, to obtain the best possible connection! [:)] Wouldn't pass the IEE specs, I'm sure, [:D]  however, it worked!  
  24. I am not ignoring this Chaps: pretty busy at the moment. When I am over the present workload, will revert with source data etc. Nick: I have in the past and will in the future defer to your professional knowledge, as I am aware of your background. My own concern with loading too many outlets onto one spur is in fact the point contact resistance, as the connectors are not very effective in dealing with 2 X 2.5 m.m. cable in and out. And, of course, neither are chocky blocks, either! One flat-ended round screw trying to make good contact with two stiff circular 2.5 m.m. wires! Also, the French seem to love sockets for almost everything! Macertors, bi-fuel "Serviette" rads etc.  I have two 2,500 panel heaters in the salon: not very effective, thus needs more sporadic backgound heat in the Winter at present, so it can mean instant current overload! And that was my concern. Roll on the CH!    
  25.  A couple of points to remember, here. When sockets are "Daisy Chained", ALL of the total load, is carried by the first socket, in the chain, since the sockets are acting as distribution terminals as well as end-feed sockets. Thus, if you have eight doubles and say the theoretical load is 2,000 Watts per socket, (fan heaters e.g.) then the first is expected to carry 7 X 8.69 Amps = 69.56 Amps! Additionally, since the French mains is a Voltage driven system (unlike the UK where it is a Power -  i.e. current driven system), the voltage can significantly reduce at each successive socket in the chain. Therefore often far better to split the chain into two separate circuits. I know that the scenario above is pretty far out, but once sockets are installed, the load capacity is often forgotten, as users gaily plug in all sorts of kit with abandon.  
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