Frost in the North West Gers

[shropshirelass]

Does anyone know if it generally gets cold enough in the Monteal du Gers area to freeze pipes in an unheated but well insulated house?  We were hoping to get down before Christmas to put our central heating on for a few hours a night but can't now get there until the beginning of January.  How much of a risk would this be?  If it does fall below freezing is it in December or more likely to be January and February?

Many thanks.

[zeb]

Well. we've had a really hard frost overnight in North Charente. Hopefully your area is warmer! Check the meteo on www.meteofrance.com.

[Patf]

We are SW Gers and have pretty severe frosts mainly in Jan/Feb. Friends nearby live down in a hollow which seems to get the extremes of temperature and they had no water for 2 weeks a few winters ago. That was due to the external pipes freezing up. A friend who has a holiday house near you says they leave their central heating on a "gel" setting in the winter which is triggered to come on if the outside temperature falls below freezing. It can be colder here than in the UK in winter.We don't have central heating but our house is rarely empty overnight. Can you ask your neighbours? Pat.

[shropshirelass]

Hi Pat

Thanks so much for the reply.  I suppose I'm panicking a little as we have had two extremely cold nights here in Shropshire where it's been down to -5C which is very unusual for this time of the year.  We were in Montreal last November and whilst it was very cold it wasn't near freezing, but it would be our luck this year if it did freeze there before Christmas.  We do have someone who could check things over but the central heating controls aren't the simplest in the world and ceratinly difficult to explain over the phone!  I think we will try to go down there before Christmas and then it would set our minds at rest.

Thanks

Kim

 

[Lyndford]

Hi Kim,

We live 5 km from you (Sainte Maure de Peyriac) and it's b. freezing at the moment -5 this morning. Beautiful sunny, cloudless days (all washing out on line yesterday completely dry!) but of course this means temps plummet at night.

We remember (from a previous posting) you said you live on the square so I should think it depends whether you're in the middle or on an end as to whether you're well insulated - an end one might be more vulnerable to all the frost.

We've lived here permanently 6 months now and go regularly to Montréal as I'm an insulin-dependent diabetic and our Doc is the wonderfully committed Dr. Bailleul, also on the square. We love the brasserie, also excellent coffee at the bar there.

Anyway, good luck with sorting out the heating - we've currently got a plumber almost living with us, installing central heating - hope he gets a move-on!!

Liz and Richard.

[shropshirelass]

Hi Liz and Richard

Good to meet some near neighbours!  Wow it has been cold there too hasn't it!  We've just booked our flights for next weekend to set our central heating for a few hours each night.  Not only is it a general worry but it's actually a condition of our insurance for leaving the property in the winter months so better to be safe than sorry.

Montreal is indeed a great village - with excellent shops and superb coffee (and armagnac) in Bernard's bar!  Hope we'll bump into you there one day or night.  Isn't your village the one with the well renowned Sunday restaurant?  It's on our list of places to visit for next year.

Bye for now.

Kim

 

Ps -hope you get your heating sorted out soon!

[P]

Surely, the easiest way is to either fit an internal thermostat that has a 'frost setting' and set it to the frost setting and leave the heating turned on 24 hours a day. It will only come on if the thermostat is triggered, i.e. it is ccccccold. Or fit a frost stat that will bring the heating into use if this is triggered.

Both are simple to install and, if you have to employ someone relatively quick and hence will not cost much - and should be cheaper than the air fare and car hire to go to put the heating on for a few days - and what happens when you go home and it gets cold again?

Paul

[shropshirelass]

Hi Paul

In an ideal world it would be wonderful if we could employ someone quicky and easily but I fear if we were to rely on anyone turning out to do the work this side of 2010 then our house would freeze solid!  Sadly, so far, our experience of the reliability of local artisans has not been a good one.  We will indeed fit a froststat some time next year but for now will set the heating to come on for a couple of hours during the coldest part of each night.

Thanks for the suggestion though.

Kim