Le Plombier

You enjoy a tepid shower then my friend Le Plombier

This is the problem with forums Who does have knowledge of what they are talking about, especially with the use of our old friend Google From my position I run a plumbing and heating company in France, I am gas qualified in France, I am an associate member of the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers and I am a Registered Incorporated Engineer with the Engineers Registration Board I do try to offer advice from time to time but, I suspect, like my fellow practising professionals in France, I am far too busy to commit to a heavy involvement to a forum A quick look while I deal with my email at night is the only time I have Le plombier

I would add that you need a dam sight more than 18kW to heat a 240m2 house Le Plombier

If the aerothermie heat pump is charged with co2 as a refrigerant you might have a chance but if normal refrigerant is used you will probably have a problem Refrigerants in common use only are effective to minus 7C air temperature and then the performance really drops off so you do not get so much heat generated With co2 the performance does not drop off until you reach temperatures of minus 28C and therefore they are effective in the typical French winter, but I doubt you would get ine for 11000 euros, they are expensive You would be better to spend the extra for boreholes and use ground water or geothermic probes, heat recovered this way is normally between 12C up to as high as 18C and varies only a few degrees through the year Given the kind of money you are investing you should go the extra mile and get something that is guaranteed to work and provide all your hot water as well Whilst boreholes are expensive they are cheaper when drilled through rock, believe me they are Le Plombier

Expensive for aerothermie Suitable for new build highly insulated house only, for an older property normally the heat pump will not deliver sufficient heat and you will need a supplementary heat source Le Plombier

Assuming the heating you describe is geothermie with ground loops then the price is around what you should expect to pay Le Plombier

Worked with both French and British builders I have had problems with some British but never with French You need to be sure who you are taking on and that you specify the job and the quality that you require, plus you ensure they clearly understand what you want If you start a thread on British plumbers I will jump out if my box ! Le Plombier

I would take you to task on that one Gluestick Isolating valves and gate valves, whether ball and gate purely shut off flow, they are totally useless for balancing For balancing you need a regulating valve which allows a gradual reduction of flow over the whole range of the valve Gate valves only have an effect on flow rate over the final quarter turn (or less) before total closure Motorised valves only regulate flow if they are the correct type, the common ones installed merely open and close Radiators valves are designed for individual flow regulation but they are not gate pattern Whilst pressure is not affected by pipe diameter the flow rate and pressure drop across the system are and therefore correct sizing of pripework is essential. Where pipes are correctly sized a system is effectivly self balancing Le Plombier

The pump will not run continuously It is controlled by level switches and the result is that it operates in a series of short sharp bursts If your drain is full of sand then I doubt that a plunger will clear it Your best bet may be to run the shower continuously and see if the water, along with the action of the pump will clear the drain Are you happy that the saniflow unit is installed correctly I have seen no end of problems with these units due to the fact they have not been installed properly The best method to install them is a pumped vertical discharge followed by a vertical drop in to the gravity drain This dissipates the pump pressure so it cannot affect the gravity drain I see them installed a lot with the use of non return valves to connect to the gravity drain Non return valves are mechanical devices and can fail Le plombier

Gluestick Couple of points on your post Whilst French spec copper tube is thicker wall than English spec the tube wall will split with a frozen pipe rather than the joint separate That is provided the joint has been made properly in the first place, whether it be hard or soft solder For those who leave their heating on permenantly the mains water supply should still be turned off and the electric supply switched on The vast majority of heating systems here are sealed pressurised systems that require manual topping up of pressure when necessary The only exception to this is an atmospheric open vented system in which case I would agree with you The last thing you want in a freezing situation is the mains water supply turned on as it could be running full belt in your property for days or weeks before it is discovered Modern boilers are pressure sensitive and will shut off the boiler in the event of a pressure loss in a sealed heating system It is therefore important, with a sealed system, to ensure you have a stable system pressure and no leaks before you depart for the winter Cracked toilet pans and burst chauffe eaus are very rare, burst pipes are common The most disastrous results of freezing occurs on heating systems, either due to boiler failure or the owner seeking to save a few pennies by shutting off the heating for the winter I have seen burst radiators and burst boiler shells which makes for very expensive repairs Be lucky, last winter loads of problems, previous two winters not one telephone call to deal with a burst pipe Le Plombier  

Agree with most of the advice you have been given I would question what anti freeze might do to a fosse, salt is a better option Last winter was bad, caused mainly by short very cold spells, this seems to be the worst weather for bursts In the end turn off the water, open the taps and hope for the best It is very difficult to completely drain water systems The chauffe eau should be ok as it is insulated Most important is the heating if you have it Heating should always be left switched on frost protection, or about 8C if you have no frost protection, then you should only be at risk of a burst on an outside supply If you have heating always leave the electric supply switched on or the boiler and controls will not work Le Plombier

We have a wood next door to us and we had this problem We went to see the Mayor and looked up the plot details and gave us address and phone number for the owner He did say it was up to us to contact the owner We did this and the following week a little old Frenchman and his wife turned up armed with chain saw etc He shinned up the trees and cut back the worst offending branches, advised us he would return in the winter to fell the big trees and asked if we wanted to purchase the 8 acre wood. He also left us all the Oak. That's what I call good neighbours Le Plombier

Viessman are very good boilers The problem they have is the programmer, very good but just not user friendly, beyond the scope of a lot of users and some installers, far too complicated Install it, if all else fails there is a default to the original factory setting on the programmer, but you do need to look to find it Le Plombier

Boring A couple of posts on the problems and hundreds of posts on PM's What is the point Doesen't say a lot for your business if you need the Forum for sales The Forum is here to help people, not to sell to them Le Plombier

I get stopped frequently If they decide to search my van I will be looking at 5 to 10 years inside Le Plombier  

FairyNuff That is exactly the advice I have been given from French artisans when I have questioned them when drawing knives and carving up their lunch Le Plombier

I don't wish to enter a debate about who is right and who is wrong As a professional I have installed and tiled countless showers in France I have never had a tile fall off the wall or a problem with water seepage This is what I do Shower tray Position the tray and mark the plasterboard along the top edge of the tray Remove tray and apply silicone sealant to the plasterboard below the marked line, install tray Apply silicone sealant to the joint between the top of the tray and the plasterboard This is the water seal, not the silicone applied after tiling which I view a purely decorative Use this method and water can never seep down the back edge of the tray Tiling I always use Weber Broutin, would not use anthing else If you go to Point P or any reputable builders merchant you can pick up the Weber Broutin catalogue for free It contains a wealth of information and will tell you the correct combination of primer, adhesive and grout to use for you particular application With green plasterbord the surface should be sealed and the correct adhesive and grout used If tiling with stone it is vital to also seal the stone twice, once after laying the tiles and again after grouting Maybe this why you shudder and think you are being ripped off when you get a price from a professional There are many cheap solutions but the proper one is normally the best investment in the long run Le Plombier

These sites may be good for clients but not good for artisans They seek to put as many artisans up to tender as they can find, most of them aim for 5 artisans minimum With the cost of a site visit, design, material take off and production of an estimate this service is not very attractive to an artisan Some of these sites, of which there are many, both in French and English, are struggling to get artisans to subscribe One, which I will not name, has given up trying to charge artisans an annual fee and now offers enquiries on an individual one off charge basis I am swamped with emails offering the opportunity to tender for jobs in my area for free, because they cannot find enough artisans to tender for the work The best way to find an artisan is to ask around for recommendation, check insurances and qualifications, talk to previous clients and go and look at their work Le Plombier  

I had a client with an identical problem last year I checked the property for leaks internally and concluded there were no leaks The advice you have been given on turning off all water and checking the meter is good advice, the first thing I do Meters are calibrated and very sensitive instruments If you have no water leak then I suspect a blocked drain, this was the case with the problem I encountered We finally found a grease trap buried underground and totally blocked, this was cleaned and the problem dissapeared Do you have any drainage from kitchens or bathrooms in the locality, have you ever had the fosse emptied and the drains flushed If none of these your problem is groundwater, unlikely given the recent weather or some sort of construction fault My money is on a drain blockage or a leak, if you have been in the property a long time with no problem I would be surprised if it was anything else Le Plombier 

The heart of a geothermie and an aerothermie system is a heat pump ( pompe a chaleur ) Geothermie = water to water heat exchange Aerothermie = air to air or air to water heat exchange Le Plombier

You have some very interesting comments in reply to your post All the major manufacturers make and sell condensing boilers, both gas and oil, I have fitted both gas and oil and they perform very well Their performance is excellent on normal radiator systems and they do produce the cost savings of circa 30% as claimed Heat pumps are expensive to install, geothermie being very expensive but producing a 75% reduction in running cost Contra to popular belief they will work with raditor systems if correctly installed, although they may require a change of radiator in an existing system LPG is currently expensive to buy, I know as my heating is LPG, however the installation cost for the tank is minimal or free as the distributor will do a deal to get you on board. Combined with a gas condensing boiler it is a good option of performance and control at a medium running cost Solid fuel is currently cheaper but you still have to hump the wood ( or pellets ) and dump the ash Solar is good for pools and domestic hot water, it might well heat your house also but only if you want a solar panel for a roof or a huge hot water store Aerothermie is good if you have a modern very well insulated house, not good in other situations Given that I was resident in France for tax, living in my house for the very long term, prepared to make the investment and enjoy the cheapest heating and hot water, with nothing to do but twiddle with the programmer, then the only choice for me would be geothermie, unless of course the cost of a fuel cell drops to the cost acceptable to a normal household Le Plombier 

This gauge is mounted on the prv and if it reads 3 bar then the valve is working properly as it is reducing the mains water pressure to the correct pressure You might just have a leak or it maybe a bigger problem but I do think you need to get someone to take a look Le Plombier

The big brass thing is indeed a pressure reducing valve, they are normally preset to supply water at 3 bar to the house or the appliance in your case Most of them are adjustable System pressures are - heating around 1 to 2 bar, the safety valve will discharge at 3 bar - hot water 3 bar, the groupe de security will discharge at 7 bar The safety pressure release devices are there to protect the equipment If water is leaking from the body of the prv and not just a joint it would probably be best just to replace it with a new one You say you have two pressure gauges, the normal places they are installed are On the sealed heating circuit so you can monitor and top up the sealed system pressure On the water main on or immediately after the pressure reducing valve You do not normally have one fitted on the hot water supply Looking at your picture I would guess the blue pipe with the prv is the cold water feed for the hot water supply, the red pipe with no valve is the actual hot water supply and the red pipe with the gauge at the back is the cold water make up for the heating circuit ( if so this would be the gauge with the lower pressure you describe ) A better description or picture of the other pressure gauge would help to establish what it is there for Le Plombier

From what you say I would think your system is over pressure You should check the pressure gauge which should be around 1,5bar The safety valve will discharge at 3bar to protect the boiler If the pressure is too high open the drain valve for the system and draw off a small amount of water to reduce the pressure If the system is not over pressure you will have to provide better information for a diagnosis Le Plombier

Bottle colour does not matter Check what gas it is, it will say propane or butane on the bottle Whichever it is then the regulator etc, etc, should all say butane or propane to match the gas stated on the bottle If you have a valve by the cooker, dependant upon which type it will say propane or butane, or will have a green line ( butane ) or a red line ( propane ) Le Plombier