Brier

Many thanks - We will see what we can find tomorrow. Hope that you enjoyed the concert.

Hi Has anyone been to this festival before? We are attending for the first time this Friday evening and the official festival web site is not very helpful. Does anyone know if it is possible to eat on site? If not, any recommendations nearby? Any other tips? Many thanks

[quote user="Babbles"]Does anyone know how to change the language settings when you send an invoice via Paypal , as its a French bank account it is automatically sent with French instructions even though I have my account settings in English which does confuse some of our clients, if they have a Paypal account already it reverts to there chosen language and no problem. Has anyone else experienced this?[/quote] We have the same issue. Some people manage without difficulty, others give up as soon as the French Paypal page appears. We include instructions in the invoice on how to get past the first couple of pages that appear on the Paypal site. Once the client gets to the card payment page, the first thing that they have to select is "Pays". As soon as "Royaume Uni" is selected from the drop down list then the page displays in English (You may need to explain to some that "UK" in French is "Royaume Uni"). It should be straightforward from there. We have found that this helps most but not all of our clients. We will be investigating Quillan's much better solution. Potentialy very useful - Thank you

[quote user="Brian"]Yes it does I'm afraid. If you're gites or b & b you have to pay for each tv you have for guest use. We had a lady from the impots call on us a couple of years ago and wanted to fine us because we hadn't declared the tvs in the gites. As we didn't know anything about it she said if we wrote her a letter in french begging forgivness she might let us off. We did and she did thank god as it was quite a big fine.[/quote] We had the same experience 2 years ago. However, we did not have a visit but the letter we received named all of our gites and which ones contained TVs. We can only assume that they found out via our website. No fine because we had only just installed them. You only need a licence for TVs you own on January 1st of the relevant year. Anyway, we also do B&B in our main residence and we queried whether this was covered by our own TV license. The answer from the regional tax office (not our local one who didn't have a clue) was that "it depends". If guests have a separate entrance then you need additional licences. If they come in via your own front door then your licence will cover it. Makes no sense to me but that's not unusual.

[quote user="crossy67"]Handy site here. http://www.ukcopperboard.co.uk/literature/pdfs/Installation-Tips/Pipe-sizing-basic-principles.pdf And here. http://flexpvc.com/WaterFlowBasedOnPipeSize.shtml [/quote] Very useful links - Thank you. Also thanks to all for their contributions.

[quote user="Quillan"] As AnOther says you need to look at the pipe, try and find a number of something to see the pressure it can take. It's probably OK but you don't want it to blow on you, its a real bind digging up half your garden to find the leak. This may also be the cheapest route if the pipe is OK.[/quote] We've been able to have a close look at a 2 metre length of the 20 mm supply pipe because we had to dig up a section to find a burst a year or so ago.  We can confirm Quillan's opinion that it is a real pain! We had forgotten we had it lying at the back of the barn. There are no markings whatsoever on the pipe and certainly not the blue stripe found on modern pipe. The section that we removed has an internal diameter of 15 mm and a wall thickness of about 2 mm. We would be reluctant to put more pressure through this pipe given that we have already had a leak.

[quote user="Théière"]As the water company has already checked for blockages and changed the meter they should be able to confirm what the size of the supply pipe is, (don't assume) that is the single most important piece of information you need to decide if your project is a go or stop.[/quote] We excavated the supply pipe to the meter this afternoon (It's not visible in the meter "box" as the shut off valve is tight against the side)  and it is in fact 25 mm external diameter so you are right and we were wrong to assume. The meter is still labelled as 20mm though)

[quote user="Anton Redman II"]" Static pressure measured at the house is just over 3 bars and drops to about 1 bar when a tap is opened. Open another tap and it drops to well below 1. Flow rates range from the barely adequate (10 litres per minute) to the abysmal (less than 4 litres per minute) depending on where on the system they are measured and that’s with only 1 tap open. " What is the flow rate in the 18 mm or whatever size pipes immediately after the meter. If that flow rate is adequate larger diameter pipes in the house will help.[/quote] We have crudely measured the flow rate immediately after the meter and pressure regulator this afternoon and as best we can tell it is about 33 litres per minute.

Many thanks to all for the responses. We measured the pipe diameters. The underground supply from the meter to the properties is a single 20 mm external diameter black plastic pipe (the type that we used to know as "alkathene" in the UK and I believe is referred to as "PE" here). We have not measured the internal diameter but specifications that we have read for this type of pipe suggest it should be about 15 mm. There is a pressure regulator immediately after the meter. We contacted the water company and they have checked for blockages on "their" side, changed the meter and advised us to change the pressure regulator which has been done.  This improved the situation a bit to its current inadequate level. We have measured the pressure in the system as 3 bars when no water is flowing. I thought that the pressure should equalize throughout the system when there is no flow and that it doesb't matter where it is measured. Is that not the case? We did not design or install the current system ourselves. We have made some changes and additions inside the properties but we "inherited" the extrior supply network. As far as we know, the main supply to the house was installed in the 1970s during a major renovation and the branches to the gites have been added by local builders at intervals since then. We know that the current system is inadequate. What we need help with is designing an adequate system or advice on where to find that help.. We do not want to embark on an expensive and disruptive project if poor design means that the end result is only going to be a marginal or no improvement. As stated before, our local plumber has not been much help. Thanks once again.

Just to clarify, the diameters I gave in the original post are all external. Is there much of a reduction between 20 mm polyethylene and 18 mm copper given the difference in wall thickness?

Hi Can anyone please provide advice on how to design a water supply system or who to ask to design one for us? The essentials of the current system are as follows: The water company facture says the meter has a 20 mm diameter. We therefore presume that the supply to the meter is 20 mm. The house is 50 metres from the meter and is supplied in 20 mm PE. The same pipe also branches to 3 gites on the way to the house. The total length of external supply pipe is about 70 metres and it is all buried underneath our drive and courtyard. Interior plumbing in the house commences in 18 mm copper and reduces down mainly to 14 in branches to supply points. Almost everything in the gites is in 14 copper. In total there is a least 50 metres of internal pipe work. Static pressure measured at the house is just over 3 bars and drops to about 1 bar when a tap is opened. Open another tap and it drops to well below 1. Flow rates range from the barely adequate (10 litres per minute) to the abysmal (less than 4 litres per minute) depending on where on the system they are measured and that’s with only 1 tap open. The maximum number of people that the system would need to serve is 19 although a more normal load would be 12. We know that the supply pipes are under sized and are resigned to the time, money and disruption required to upgrade them. We do, however, want to be sure that we end up with a system that “works”.  Internet searches on pipe sizing have yielded mixed results varying from “rule of thumb” estimations to complex formulae that would require a degree in maths to follow. Consultations with our local plumber have not inspired much confidence either – Too much head scratching and shoulder shrugging. So our questions are as follows: 1.    Can anyone advise on the size of pipes required? 2.    Would increasing the size of the pipes on our side of the meter make any difference if the external supply size remains the same? 3.    Should a “normal” plumber be able to design an adequate system or do we need a specialist? 4.    Is there any feasible alternative to replacing the external supply pipes? Someone has suggested that we install booster pumps in each property but we fear that the supply flow rate would be insufficient. Sorry for the long post. All advice gratefully received. Thanks in advance.

http://www.piscines-online.com/robot-piscine-electrique-smartpool-command.html Is this the one?

Saw this in our local paper this morning: "Chiens et chats ne peuvent être exclus des locations de vacances" The link is: http://www.charentelibre.fr/2011/02/04/chiens-et-chats-ne-peuvent-etre-exclus-des-locations-de-vacances,1019814.php It seems that some court has ruled in a test case that it is illegal to refuse to accept pets in holiday accommodation. Apparently this has been the law for some time in long term lets but they have now decided that it also applies to holiday accommodation. Any such clause in a rental contract is deemed "abusive". The article is a bit vague. Has anyone else heard or read anything about this? It could set the cat among the pigeons, so to speak!

The start of this service has apparently been postponed and maybe cancelled altogether: http://www.citylineswiss.com/ http://www.charentelibre.com/article-11-l-aeroport-est-il-deja-mort.html?id_article=325701

Ryanair have pulled out of Angouleme - There will be no flights this year or in the future according to both Charente Libre and SudOuest today. It was impossible to make a reservation on the Ryanair web site yesterday.