Sharkster

I think I have a dodgy fan belt on my car.  I started the car this morning and after about 15-30 seconds of driving, there was a loud screech coming from the engine.  I pulled over and looked under the bonnet and the noise was coming from the passenger side, near where the timing belt is (and I guess the alternator and fan belt).  I started to drive to the garage, which is about another 2-3 minutes away and before I arrived, the noise had completely gone.  I have an appointment with the garage tomorrow, but curious if a) my diagnosis is likely to be right b) what is the expected cost of replacement - the garage is an independent and not a main dealer.  Also, what the consequences of using the car today i.e. what if the fan belt snaps?

It is different.  From reading it seems, it may be a limited release at the moment.  I cannot find an option to change the language and am also struggling with port forwarding, which seems far more complex than it was on my old livebox.

Took myself to the Orange shop today and they exchanged my Livebox without question, since the man classed it as Ancien:).  So I know have a mini Sagem livebox and all seems well.  Does anybody know if you can change the language to English on the mini Sagem Liveboxes?

Great.  I think I will show my self up and visit Google translate first and write a letter to hand over, since my French ain't so great:)

[quote user="Jonzjob"] We also went in with a mate of mine who doesn't speak French. They checked his out, no wifi, and the box was changed with no problems. His was a Sagem and I asked for it to be replaced with am Inventel and this was done with good grace. I didn't have to jump through any telephone call hoops in either case, just straight into the shop. [/quote] Are Inventel boxes better?  We have a Sagem. Also, can I go to any FT shop, since according to their website, there are a few near me.

Yes I still pay the monthly rental.  I have seen liveboxes for sale in HyperU (but you I thought you had to sign up for a contract), can I just buy one and swap it for the old one?  I have thought about doing this before but was never sure, if the livebox had to be registered or something.

[quote user="tj"]Hi Thanks for your replies, after much messing around with the damn thing, I went and got a new box, and we're back in business! And they filed a report for the engineer to come out and check the local distribution board to see if they can sort out the problem of losing the signal when it rains, so a fairly productive day, in French terms anyway!   thanks alot   [/quote] How easy is it to get a livebox changed?  I have just subscribed to the Orange phone service and it is not working.  I get a dial tone with loads of other noise in the background and it does not dial out or receive calls.  Can I just take the box to an FT shop and they will exchange it?  The box is 3 years old and the wireless gave up the ghost about 1.5 years ago and when I tried to call Orange, they could not help unless I went through the full tech support in French and unfortunately my French was not up to it (and is still not).  If I go into a store, can they check and then replace it there and then?

Ah. you must have a different brand of Livebox, since were are on software version 3202_26014A.  It seems there was a lot of issues when this was first rolled out late last year and I cannot think why they have decided to update my box now. The strange thing is that I can receive incoming calls, without my VoIP phone being registered with the provider?

Did you happen to have a firmware update before the problem started?

Orange have updated my Livebox firmware today (auto update).  Since then my internet telephone (not Orange) does not work and my internet connections is dropping out intermitently.  Anybody else having any issues after the update?

Not sure how correct this is, by I read on an American pool forum, I guy in Arizona emptied, cleaned and refilled his pool during the night, since the intense heat in the day could have damaged the pool (its gets well over 100 degrees farenheit in Arizona and I think the post quoted something like 115!)

We visited Frontignan plage on Wednesday and to our amazement, on a really hot day it was relatively quiet.  The other coastal resorts such as Vias plage, Cap D'Agde, Sete and Valras plage are all really busy this time of year and the traffic is terrible, but for some reason Frontignan plage was quiet.  It seemed like a nice beach, just wondering if there is any explanation for this?  Must say though, we went to a restaurant for something to eat and it was terrible, but that would not put us off the place!

You should have a code which is 26 digits long, so you need to select hexadecimal and enter the code.  I find it easier to open notepad and type the number there and copy it across.  This way you can be sure you have all the digits right. Saying that though, we have a Livebox and after 2 years of owning it, it started making all sorts of odd noises and crashing on the wifi side.  Wanadoo/Orange would not do anything unless I went through their diagnostic with an engineer on the phone, but the problem for me would have been the French, so I opted for a wireless router and have not looked back.

We use an anti-wasp spray available from Mr Brico and Castorama and probably other bricos (different brands but the same thing).  You spray it on the exposed parts of the pool (on an intex pool spray it on the top tubes all the way around the pool or if it is inflatable I guess just on the top of the pool).  Seems to have worked a treat, since before this year, we have had a terrible problem with wasps, but this year it has kept them at bay. It does not kill them just repells them. You could also try putting another water source in your garden, a muddy pool is supposed to be best, as they prefer this.  I must say this did not work at all for me, we just had wasps in 2 places in the garden.

So what are the negative effects of chlorine at 10ppm?  Just curious, since we swam in our pool when it was at that level (did not realize it was so high until I bought a digital tester!)

Does chlorine not reduce at about 1ppm per day if you do not add more chlorine?  Also, what are the effects of having chlorine at 10ppm (actual not because of the tester).  I thought bleaching did not happen until 50ppm+ of chlorine?  Also, when you shock your pool, I always thought the aim was to get the free chlorine level to be 10ppm+, am I wrong?

[quote user="ams"]CONCENTRATED CHLORINE and they still live. msa super bug weeds !!!!!! now that is impressive, i would move house.   ams [/quote] They seem to be survive Round up too

I have also poured very concentrated chlorine on weeds, and they lived to tell the tale:)

Well when I first opened our pool I had free chlorine at 10 and just stopped putting chlorine in until it reached the correct level and all seems to be fine.  Also if it is sunny, leave it uncovered as much as possible and the sun will help burn off some of the chlorine I believe (although the stabilizer does stop this somewhat).  By the way, the Aquachek digital reader does not monitor stabiliser, you are looking at something like the Scuba+ unit poolguy sells and I think that is well over 200 euros!  The Aquachek tester does PH, Free Chlorine and Total Alkalinity, which are the most common ones to monitor.  I believe that the Hot Tubs guy on here (sorry I can't recall your name :() offers free water testing.

I may be wrong, but I think we the high amount of stabiliser, the chlorine may not actually be working at all.  I think a partial drain/refil may be required since this is the only was to reduce the amount of stabiliser.  Please wait for an expert opinion though.

[quote user="Poolguy"]Chlor Choc (chlor rapid- acid trichlorocyanurate) [/quote] On another note, I used the above to shock my pool, but was curious since I thoght trichlor had cynauric acid / stabiliser in it, so was unsure why this was good for shocking.

I use the aquachek tru test digital meter for testing the free chlorine, total alkalinity and ph and it cost me about 50 euros from my local big mat.  It seems pretty reliable and easier than using strips along where you have to guestimate the levels.

I think Aviva offer pet insurance.  About 3 weeks after we got our dog, he fell ill and was at the vet from 3-4 days on a drip, so afterwards we enquired with our broker about pet insurance.  I was shocked at the price to be honest, so passed and since then (3 years later) my dog has only had to go under once (to have a shave after getting an infection on his face).  I would be interested in any reasonable pet plans to.

I saw it discussed on an american pool forum and the experts rated it better than zeolite and sand.  I have no plans to change for at least 3-7 years (just put Zeolite in my filter), but was curious what people this side of the pond thought. Here is a link with all the claims http://www.glasspackfilter.com/

The first year we lived here (Herault) we had an Asp Viper (black) in our front room.  It had been a rainy day and they come down from the local castle when it rains.  Being half asleep, I picked it up and threw it out of the door.  Not seen any more asp vipers but plenty of other snakes whilst out walking, but they tend to slither off before you get too near.  I must say though, the viper was calm when near my wife, but although I was half asleep it took quite an objection to me (starting hissing and looking aggressive) when I neared it.  The day after I invested in one of the bite kits from the local pharmacy:).  We get more black scorpions in the house than anything else, along with our winter visitor (who seems to have moved out for now) who we believe is a stone marten. I think one of my favourite locals has to be the preying mantis, they just look like aliens:)