Goo_Rat

Hi I have gites, and no affiliation to any pool companies. We are visited by the DDASS every month in season as are friends of ours who have gites locally. We are in department 16. We are charged around 100 euros per visit for the pleasure and the lab anaysis. There is no choice in this. What poolguy has said in his 1st post is pretty much on the money, however to clarify, the DDASS are only interested in the quality of your water, not fencing, disabled access etc etc - JUST WATER QUALITY. If you have PAYING GUESTS (hotel, B&B, camp site, gite or whatever) then you are classified as a public pool, the system may seem harsh, but there is no "only just public pool" category - you are or you arnt, plain and simple! I see it as a good thing, becuase it enforces us (gite owners etc) to take pool water quality seriously -as it should be with any amenities you provide to paying guests. David  

placoplatre rose (ie the pink stuff) could be used to replace the existing cladding, but you wouldn't want to just clag it over the top of you existing cladding.  

There is a product called Filgum, by GEB comes in a blue & white tub, this is none setting sanitary mastic, just like Plumbers Mate. Used for bedding in sinks, waste traps etc. It's readily available in the diy sheds etc http://www.raccords-services.fr/catalogue.php?level=4&level1=9&level2=188&level3=1665  

I have had this exact problem before. We are registered for TVA, as is our supplier. The explanation I have been given by the auditors of the publisher is that (an here is the good bit). The advert purchased is printed/distributed in the UK for the UK market, it is not exported, therefore it is liable for VAT. Other advetisers we have used in the UK have not charged us VAT though...  

Hi Andrew Thanks for the info.. is the 32 into the pool?? in which case what was the temp of the pool (output) and the gain over air temperature?? I'm very interested but concerned that the gain by using super efficient (and expensive) evacuated panels is lost by having to then pass it all through a super inefficient heat exchanger. brgds    

I have a salt water electrolyser (aka chlorinator) and have been very happy with it (most of the time), as I find it much better than putting a ltr or more of eau de javel in my pool every day. I have tried both systems, I don't care what anyone says about them both being chlorine, the salt water pool system is sooo much nicer on the skin and eyes. Not all salt water chlorinators are the same, like everything else they have to be sized correctly, maintained correctly, and fed the right amount of salt. (I seem to recal JJ mentioning in a post last year that his was undersized) Cassenarde makes a very interesting statement above, perhaps he (or someone else) will explain to me why: My daily pool test show that I have chlorine (lots of it!) in my pool? ALL salt water chlorinator manufacturers recommend that you add cynuric acid as a stabiliser to your pool (up to 70ppm) to prevent the chlorine produced by the CHLORINATOR being burnt off by bright sunlight - Presumably you wouldn't need to do this if the chlorine was only exposed for a brief micro-second in the depths of the pump house? Whilst I understand that after the process salt is reformed I wasn't under the impression that it happened in a "blink of an eye" in the chlorinating unit  

Looks like a set of instruction that come with a new stove rather that a law. YES/NO ??    

[quote user="clarksinfrance"]One other quick bit of info, it is required (by law) to have a chimney (also read flue) swept twice a year, once during the burning season; and once during the warm season. [/quote] Do you mean that (some) insurance companies require that you have your chimney swept once a year and obtain a "certificat de ramonage" in order to validate you insurance?  

[quote user="mmaddock"] I bought an extension to the flu to extend it further up the chimney [/quote] Your flu liner must extend all the way to the top of your chimney anything less is dangerous- how high is your chimney and how high is the flu up inside it??    

Hi Jonzjob So I hope the panel has been running fine over the summer - real nice pics BTW thanks! Have you managed to collect any real-life data to share with us? i.e. How much warmer is the pool over ambient air temp???? Thanks

Andrew Have you had problems with the stick on borders coming loose? What is the expected life-span of them? Is it down to how they are applied? Thanks  

Yes, I have a real problem shifling it[:@] Andrew - can you let us know about replacement (stick on?) borders for the top of the pool, as that is what I will probably want to do for next year Thanks  

[quote user="Dick Smith"]Yes, it has crashed my browser three times now. Annoying. [/quote] Whoops, that's what happens when you cut and paste late at night! Sorry about that Dick & all- What browser are you using [;-)]

[quote user="ltf"]I think something like 29% of people use Firefox [/quote] Less that 12% worldwide, less than 5% in the UK, the stats from my site seem to echo this: Browsers (Top 10)   -       Browsers Grabber Hits Percent MS Internet Explorer No 15199 88 % Firefox No 1374 7.9 % Safari No 273 1.5 % Mozilla No 262 1.5 % Unknown ? 53 0.3 % Netscape No 34 0.1 % Opera  

Is it working yet???  

Hi JJ Your unit is about 30% under capacity, so it will struggle in the hot months. Instead of changing the electrode you could replace the unit with one of the right size for about 500 euros shipped.  

Hi I have been using a salt water for about the same time and find it fine, but my unit is undersized for the pool, and in hot weather have to either have it running longer or add extra chlorine (usually chocs as it also adds extra stabiliser if needed) How big is your pool?your unit is designed for 60,000ltrs Have you tested your salt level? I use the aquacheck dip strips. Your unit should have a min of 6,000 ppm. Can you get the output to an indicated 90% to 100%? Electrodes can last up to 8 years, depending on the quality of the plating of the electrode. Cleaning them in too concentrated a solution of acid can kill them very quickly (1 to 10 dilution is about right). Running the unit without enough salt also kills them quite quickly. ONLY CLEAN YOUR ELECTRODE IF IT LOOKS CRUSTED UP. Electrodes are very expensive in France, but can be sourced and shipped from Australia (where salt pools are very commonplace and may manufactures are based). Prices are about half what you pay in France including shipping. Hope that helps

[quote user="Jonzjob"] the single panel we have measures 2.4 X 1.9 meters. [/quote] From the Navitron site [quote] The Navitron panel is 2.25m2 so (working on the 25% coverage figure) each panel will heat 11m2 of pool area. A 40m2 pool would only need 4 Navitron panels. [/quote] Am I calculating this incorrectly? your single panel will heat (using the ideal situation 25% coverage) a pool area of 18.24m sq (or 14m sq using the more realistic 35%) - How big is your pool??

We are in Southern Charente, and yes we get inspected every month in the summer, as do all the other "registered" gite business in the area. We heve been told by the DDASS you must test at least twice per day and keep records. When the DDASS visit they ask to see our records and always add a signed entry giving the result of their readings for that day. It's quite clear that there is a lot of regional variation on how the DDASS police public pools.

Only Zinnias[:D][:D][:D][:D][:D] One of the things ants love doing is carting aphids around from plant to plant so they can farm them for the sticky stuff the aphids make. Try some of those little blue traps you can get for the ants.    

Hi I don't know if you have a builders merchant that is part of the "Tout Faire Material" group/franchise near you. I got a 25kg sack of vermiculite from mine, cost about 10euros and was absolutly huge (coz it weighs next to nothing) SInce then I have found lots of other uses for it[:-))] - mostly involving cement or plaster thought!

I grew some for the 1st time last year, a variety called peppermint stick from baumaux- came up fantastic, very easy, long long flowering season, don't mine being dry, seemed happy in full sun and semi-full sun [:)] I would rate them along with cosmos and delias as "good easy doers!" in my poor chalky soil. I am growing a lot more this year! I recall that last year mine didn't get going until well after most other annuals, so perhaps not the best choice for early colour.

Just buy some chlorine choc tablets (dichlor or trichlor) from your local supermarket, they all make it as they are dissolved in water. Most people have the problem of too much cyanuric acid, about 30 to 40 ppm is fine, any more locks in the chlorine.

It is only the PH tablets that are calibrated specifically their photometer tester, the chlorine and cynuric acid arn't. You can use standard dpd #1 and #3 for free combined and total chlorine tests in the machine.  

Interesting Andrew - is that the Palintest cool pooltest then?? or another photometer device?