Peter Morgan Posted July 22, 2006 Share Posted July 22, 2006 I wonder if someone could advise on the best procedure when leaving my 'maison secondaire' for a month at a time in winter. We have electric heating and a ballon. When I leave the property i turn off the water at the meter and open the small purge/bleed screw. I then turn on all taps in the house and leave the heating on frost setting. The ballon does not empty fully and I'm concerned that this procedure could damage it? Ideally i'd like to rid the system completely of water to prevent any chance of burst pipes if the electric circuit happened to 'trip' when i was away.Any thoughts/guidance gratefully received. The house is in Normandy by the way and so gets pretty cold in Dec-FebPeter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marym2 Posted July 22, 2006 Share Posted July 22, 2006 HiHave no answer for you but maybe someone who answers your question could help me to sort out as I also have a plumming problem.Connected Ballon had a small leak, tried to tighten up but to no advil. problem as i have no direct stop between ballon and leak( it a stop valve that is leakng) cannot tighten it and relaised that I had not put a washer in, then the group secuity fitting started a small drip reduced pressure but still dripping(as well as the valve)Question do I have to drain down the ballon to fix leak as when i turned it off it the water stopped coming out of the taps.? As well as that I also have another problem, how tight do your group scurity valve be? as this also drips constantly now and I have tried various methods and there must be an easier way, or is it normal to drip? Need to find out answers as we will be going over soon and this weather needs a good shower to go under and thats the next job.Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monika Posted July 22, 2006 Share Posted July 22, 2006 Hi Peter, According to our Project-Manager who explained the Ballon and its workings to us you are doing exactly the right thing. The ballon is left half full which allows the water to expand. But I would be interested in a "second opinion". (He said that the pipes should not freeze in a well insulated house and with the heating on the "frost setting"). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Morgan Posted July 22, 2006 Author Share Posted July 22, 2006 Thanks very much Monika. I'm not sure about the insulation thing - if the house is left for a month and the heating has failed surely the temperature will be broadly similar to outside (or certainly way below zero if there is a prolonged cold snap)?Anyway, hopefully the electricity will not trip! We had a severe freeze up in 2003 including wrecking our water heater - it was my fault as although I had turned off at the meter i had forgotten to turn on the taps to empty the pipes! Hence the ballon installation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitty Posted July 22, 2006 Share Posted July 22, 2006 What is a ballon? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Morgan Posted July 22, 2006 Author Share Posted July 22, 2006 I's a pressurised hot water cylinder - bit like our UK hot water tanks, normally white and operates at mains pressure - our one heated by electricity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kitty Posted July 22, 2006 Share Posted July 22, 2006 Thanks Peter. I opened the thread thinking that it was about balloons! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frederick Posted July 22, 2006 Share Posted July 22, 2006 Have you got a drain off tap on the house side of the main stopcock where it comes onto your property ? I have the same situation only there is in the manhole where the stop cock is alongside the drive this little drain tap .As its all below the level of the house I just shut the water off at the stopcock then open the little drain tap let it drain off onto the soil in the manhole .... and then open the house taps and the water heater train off thingy and let the air into the pipes .....its been down to below 5 last winter in the Vendee and no heating on at all ..we had no damage with a little water left in the heater . I should not worry sounds like you are doing the right thing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anton Redman Posted July 22, 2006 Share Posted July 22, 2006 Provided all pipe runs are inside a well insulated house or underground I would simply surn off the hot water at the mains, turn off the Hot Water Cylinder at the Electricity Board. We drained the copper pipe run to the graden tap which was exposed for about a metre. Over the last five years we had no problems despite several severe , minus 13 cold snaps. If however you have pipework exposed to the weather in for instance a barn then I would drain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
La Guerriere Posted July 23, 2006 Share Posted July 23, 2006 We have a mainson secondaire in Normandy, and visit about once a month. We just turn of all electricity and water at meters, and have not had any problems except one occasion when we had a freeze on the incoming water main. No problem with the chauffe-eau which is in the loft and fairly exposed. Maybe we are just lucky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
La Guerriere Posted July 23, 2006 Share Posted July 23, 2006 Sorry missed out the bit about 15 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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