Northender

Just to add to the other respondents. I do add a "Hiverage" product into the water as I find it helps reduce the amount of Algae come Spring time. I leave the water level as it is and let the overflow do its job over the Winter. Come Spring I "Waste" about 25% of the water as I am "hoovering" the dirt away , after brushing the walls. I also turn off all the valves in the pump room ( blank off the returns in the skimmers and cleaner socket first ). I also drain the pump and filter of water and clean the filter pads ready for next season.

Awesome

Yes there is a pressure reduction valve positioned on the incoming mains. I thought it may be a de-calc problem. I wonder if the stuff you get to de-scale kettles would be strong enough?

Can you turn them clockwise as well as anti-clockwise? I'm back in the UK at the moment and can't remember which way I was turning it. However when I turned it water came spurting out at a much faster rate. I tried this a few times but it did not stop the drip.

Every year when we winter our holiday home I drain the Chauffage de Eau by turning the Group de Security and draining the water and leave it in the OFF position. When I filled up this year it started dripping straight away from the G de S.. I guess that by leaving it in the OFF position there as been a build up of calcaire which is now preventing it from sealing properly. My question is are they servicable? I have already purchased another , noting that you can get anti-calcaire versions, which I wasn't aware of when I installed it 3 years ago. Also do you have to drain the tank to replace it?

When we had ours fitted the "Groupe de Security" (the safety valve I think OP are refering to ) kept blowing because of the fluctuating mains water pressure. We had to have a pressure reducing/stablising valve fitted on the incoming mains. I think the G de S are designed to blow at around 3.5 bar and our mains pressure would/does fluctuate between 1.5 and 6 bar.

Thanks for that Papa. The Wife will be really impressed.

Can anyone tell me if the European Champs League final between Barcelona and Man Utd is on French Terrestrial TV on Saturday evening.We are travelling down over the weekend with a scheduled overnight stay at an Etap Hotel. It makes a change from "Britains' got Talent".

Quillan wrote "So all this and more in my book points to Euroland being in far better shape than Stirling and the UK" The last time I was in Stirling it looked in fine shape to me. The UK is still recovering from the last government in my opinion .Let's see what the position is in a couple of years when I believe Sterling and the UK will be in better shape.

Thanks for that Alec . I've found one 5 miles away which I will try next time I'm at the house.

I've posted this request before but did not get a response , so here goes again. Does anyone know of a scrap yard or reclaimation place that will take aluminum panels from an old caravan that I have broken up? Preferably near to Fumel (Lot et Garonne) Thanks in anticipation.

Last time I checked at Point P , I think the price was around 38 Euro a tonne (cubic metre) and standard delivery of 70 Euro over 10 km radius. That would make it 146 Euro. Have you tried a Quarry , they are usually a bit cheaper .Not sure about a small load though. Found this forum although its a couple of years old. http://www.forumconstruire.com/construire/topic-85080.php  

[quote user="Claude"]Last week a family of 5 stayed and all they used was two hand towels.[/quote]   I thought all towels were two-handed?

Just a word of caution , if you are thinking of using soldered joints. You have to file off the chrome down to bare copper in order for the solder to adhere, making the finish somewhat messy. In the past I have found compression joints much better when using chrome.

Especially if you're from Jamaica.

Or maybe Dolly Partons' Greatest *its

Just to endorse the "Rouen" route , which I've used for 20 years. The tricky bit is when you leave the "mile" tunnel entering Rouen , I just follow the signs for A13 Paris. Strange , I know , when you are trying to avoid Paris , but you leave the A13 after a few miles , signed Evreux.

"I've only been here a couple of months so am having to ask questions and investigate things as my girlfriend isn't very DIY minded". Thats the problem with girlfriends.

The pump is usually fed via a time clock or thermostat.Is it possible to switch it off? Then you can say for certain it is the pump.

With inflation running at 1.6%  thats 187 euros cheaper than last year in real terms. Snap his hand off.

[quote user="Alan Zoff"]Seems to be common in rural France to have woefully inadquate earthing. When I bought our house, there was a skinny bit of earth wire which ran from the fuse box to the concrete path outside the back-door. It went a couple of centimetres into the concrete, and that was it. The local qualified electrician seemed to consider it adequate, though, when he wired up the cellar for the previous (French) owner to house the washing machine, boiler, etc. and simply connected the earths to the ground terminal on the old fuse box. The uselessness of the earthing point was of little relevance to the rest of the house as it was all either 2 wire only or the earth wires were not connected to anything. This included a workshop full of electrical tools. No sign of any cross-bonding anywhere in the property. The electrician, by the way, has moved out of the area and I believe now runs a B&B and sells second-hand clothes.[/quote]   Probably  belonging to all his customers he managed to kill during his past career.

If you do go via the Millau then a visit to the Pont du Gard would be on my list. IMO a magnificent example of Roman engineering.

Bon Courage! Be careful when driving through customs the heavily subsidised loft insulation is for UK use only.

I was once refused passage on the now defunct Speedferries because my car and trailor was 15cms over the 7m limit for length.The guy in the kiosk was a right "jobsworth".He actually got out and measured it after spending 5 minutes searching for his tape measure. Got a credit for a future sailing but they went bust before I could use it!

Just hope that if you present a cheque to CA it doesn't bounce. I once held a cheque for 100 euros as a deposit from an Irish client who cancelled and stopped the cheque. Foolishly I presented the cheque to CA. I was charged 15.60 euro for "encaissement" 17.14 euro for "Frais Bque Etrangere sur Chqe Impay" 35.70 euro for "S En Referer au Tireur" It taught me a few lessons.