The ongoing saga of the leak
Back before we went away to Sanary we had that leak in the heating system.
I phoned our insurance people and they told us the good news. We are covered both for sorting out the leak and for repairing the water damage.
The lady and I agreed a sum for sorting out the room and I contacted a friendly ex-pastor who is now working as an odd-job man. He's coming round next week.
The lady contacted a plumbing agency to come and fix the leak. They came on the Friday, I put the heating on - no water. But there was a drip from the hot water tank.
We can't quite work out why water was flowing from the corner of the room, but it is where the hot water tank is situated, so he adjusted the overflow mechanism (expansion vase) and said, "call me if it still leaks."
It still leaked, so I phoned the company and arranged for someone to come back - it would be after our trip to Sanary. When we went away I shut off the power to the hot water tank and turned off the water at the stop cock.
A different plumber came. "What's the new problem? My colleague said it was fixed."
"No, he did something to the expansion vase, but said to phone if it was still leaking, which I did."
"OK, I'll give him a ring."
"OK, he said, don't fuss about, it's the expansion vase. Give them a quote to replace the expansion vase."
He brought back his quote but also said that the expansion vases are prone to failure and a proper solution would be to run an overflow to the outside of the house.
"Anyway", he said, "I've had enough of being a plumber in Bordeaux. I'm off back to Tours. I've had enough of trying to cobble together dodgy setups."
I think I need to find another plumber.
I phoned our insurance people and they told us the good news. We are covered both for sorting out the leak and for repairing the water damage.
The lady and I agreed a sum for sorting out the room and I contacted a friendly ex-pastor who is now working as an odd-job man. He's coming round next week.
The lady contacted a plumbing agency to come and fix the leak. They came on the Friday, I put the heating on - no water. But there was a drip from the hot water tank.
We can't quite work out why water was flowing from the corner of the room, but it is where the hot water tank is situated, so he adjusted the overflow mechanism (expansion vase) and said, "call me if it still leaks."
It still leaked, so I phoned the company and arranged for someone to come back - it would be after our trip to Sanary. When we went away I shut off the power to the hot water tank and turned off the water at the stop cock.
A different plumber came. "What's the new problem? My colleague said it was fixed."
"No, he did something to the expansion vase, but said to phone if it was still leaking, which I did."
"OK, I'll give him a ring."
"OK, he said, don't fuss about, it's the expansion vase. Give them a quote to replace the expansion vase."
He brought back his quote but also said that the expansion vases are prone to failure and a proper solution would be to run an overflow to the outside of the house.
"Anyway", he said, "I've had enough of being a plumber in Bordeaux. I'm off back to Tours. I've had enough of trying to cobble together dodgy setups."
I think I need to find another plumber.
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