Wot a week...

[froggy Steve]

Been one of those weeks. Renovation works at home not finished so family ended up a cottage up the road. It's not stopped raining. Internet has been dropping out on and off all week. Its now dead, as is the region. Problems at Orange who say it will be back on by midday Monday! All villages are out. I am in supermarket car park whete we can get internet (no phone signal at home!) Its funny cos eveyone is sitting in their cars Doing the same. Our water for our hamlet is pumped up from a spring. Our water has been going off and on all week. It was off all day yesterday whilst a new pump was fitted. Our electric has been tripping out all week. Finaly tripprd and wouldnt reset so sparky called. Lots of dam.aged frayed and melted cables in a bit recently fitted by another so called sparks. Not happy. Hey ho. Maybe our luck will change after tonights lotto!

 

[Julian T]

On days, weeks or months that I have where not much seems to go right I like to remind myself that this too shall pass and truly it does, or I just forget that it has happened before and it just seems new.

 

[frank rabbets]

Makes you think what might happen to the world when an unforeseen gremlin hits the web big time.

 

[IRLGW]

Organise a street riot, that usually works in France. Better internet and more wine ( or whatever else you wish for! )

 

[StarCruiser]

Melted cables Steve?

You’ve been very lucky you didn’t have a fire. That’s one thing that should never happen with professionally installed wiring…except when it gets covered over with insulation as happens regularly here.

 

[frank rabbets]

Or lightening. Melted the phone cables in the lane, the BT socket and router. Took the router apart and it had a badly burnt spot on the PCB.

 

[Shayne]

It's called progress dont'cha know

 

[StarCruiser]

Or lightening. Melted the phone cables in the lane, the BT socket and router. Took the router apart and it had a badly burnt spot on the PCB.

Ok, apart from lightning of course.

We do have rare situations here where a broken neutral in the supply cable underground can lead to earth wires taking the load and getting hot. I’m pretty sure they don’t use the same Earthing system in France though.

 

[froggy Steve]

The ist pic is the old board, with twisty fuses and many Aluminium conductors, many of which the insulation has crumbled and the stands of wire have been arcing......
The 2nd pic is cables inside a box, installed by a so called electrician a few weeks ago. He could have said something! Yes we are upgrading the fuse box! We have recently gone from 3 pahse to Single phase and its a bit messy.......

The new guy changed the cables in about half an hour (box to box)

 

[froggy Steve]

oops, forgot to say internet back on at 0.73Mbps.......half as much again as dial up was! Still, better than nowt....just

 

[clivehorridge]

That looks a complete mess Steve... not surprised it tried to catch fire..

 

[IRLGW]

The ist pic is the old board, with twisty fuses and many Aluminium conductors, many of which the insulation has crumbled and the stands of wire have been arcing......
The 2nd pic is cables inside a box, installed by a so called electrician a few weeks ago. He could have said something! Yes we are upgrading the fuse box! We have recently gone from 3 pahse to Single phase and its a bit messy.......View attachment 142701 View attachment 142702 The new guy changed the cables in about half an hour (box to box)

did france not join the EU or did I miss something. Surely the 1st edition would cover this nevermind the 14th!

 

[Dave2000]

Been one of those weeks. Renovation works at home not finished so family ended up a cottage
It's not stopped raining.
Internet has been dropping out on and off all week. Its now dead,
Problems at Orange
Our water has been going off and on all week. It was off all day yesterday
Our electric has been tripping out all week.

But none of this matters Steve....you got a new 80!

Regards

Dave

 

[froggy Steve]

did france not join the EU or did I miss something. Surely the 1st edition would cover this nevermind the 14th!

lol, house was built in 15th Century, looks like the wiring was installed at the same time! Good thing is that all the single wires (no twin & earth here) run through conduits to each socket / light switch, so a complete re-wire shouldnt be that bad......still expensive though. No ring mains either.........and I hate the way you have an elastic band in the back of the socket holding the face on....tighten 2 screws that open out sprung by said laccy band, to grip the back box....band breaks, socket face falls off exposing live wires.......

 

[frank rabbets]

Looks like brand new French car electrics.

 

[Pat]

In Britain and Europe do many people catch and use rainwater in tanks?
In rural NZ we are not usually on a public supply,thank goodness ,as public
Water supplies are quite often polluted and have chemicals added to them
Including Fluoride which is supposed to have some dental benefit.

 

[froggy Steve]

Not to drink usually but for watering the garden.
My bi annual water bill is usually about 150-200€. There are 5 houses on the spring fed supply, but we have to look after it ourselves. If the power goes off due to storms then so does the water. We keep a few bidons ready to flush the loo....

 

[StarCruiser]

The ist pic is the old board, with twisty fuses and many Aluminium conductors, many of which the insulation has crumbled and the stands of wire have been arcing......
The 2nd pic is cables inside a box, installed by a so called electrician a few weeks ago. He could have said something! Yes we are upgrading the fuse box! We have recently gone from 3 pahse to Single phase and its a bit messy.......View attachment 142701 View attachment 142702 The new guy changed the cables in about half an hour (box to box)

Glad to hear you are upgrading Steve. As you already know, it’s long overdue. Get good wiring and good protection properly fitted and you’ll sleep well at night.

It’s good the old board has gone as that was a fire waiting to happen with that open back and wood behind it. Good that it’s in conduit too which as you say Should make it easier to rewire.

 

[froggy Steve]

Not gone yet but on it's Way! We have double glazed windows arriving Wednesday, hardwood none of this plastic stuff. Having said that it should have been 3 weeks ago - lots of other stuff supposed to be happening as well....just wish builders would turn up and get on with it

 

[StarCruiser]

Hardwood windows, very nice. The right thing for an older property. Don’t like plastic myself but it has its place and we’ve been surrounded by if for years.