Why won't my central heating start?

So is that a 'chauffe eau' independent of the rest of the heating
system ? Can't see how I could get antifreeze in to our 'ballon' .

Neat - assuming the power never drops out. I thought of similar
solutions here (except for electrical heating rather than oil) but
couldn't come up with a way to reset the master 'disjoncteur' in the
case of that tripping out. I suppose I

 

<drat netbook small keyboard>

I suppose I could get our concierge to check it in the event of any
major power outage, but the last time it would have been a big issue
you couldn't get through the snow to our place without a tractor for
four days anyway. What I need is a 'disjoncteur' with a web server and
a decent backup power supply.

I've been keeping an eye on the ranch back home using WebamXP on an
old laptop.

 

Yeah the hot water system is entirely separate. I guess in theory that
could freeze too but it's pretty well insulated. I had a max/min
thermometer in the cellar where it's mounted last winter and it never
dropped below 4C. Balloon - is that your hot water tank - can't be, you
wouldn't be thinking of antifreeze in the water supply. Your central
heating circuit is a closed circuit though, shirley?

Yeah if the main power trips that the end of the game. It's only done it
once in a thunderstorm so far. Otherwise in theory the router and this
gadget are supposed to restart.

 

Well, yes, I suppose antifreeze would be a v. bad idea in a system
connected directly to the mains. The ballon is right in the centre of
the house but I suspect it gets pretty cold when it is -13 outside
(which it can be quite often in February). We haven't got any heating
other than wall mounted electric radiator/convector units, and of
course the wonderful log burner.

Our insurance man did say that it was possible to get 'remote' re-
setting disjoncteurs, but that they were so expensive that only large
businesses installed them. He advised that the only way to be sure was
to drain down, so we do that to, as well as bunging salt in to all the
waste water traps. We only need to do that in late October and again
after Xmas, so it's not too much of a faff.

 

Ah, conventional rads here - would be right royal pain to drain several
times a year. Next time I drain it I'm going to have to save it all -
the antifreeze was 143 euro(s)[1]!

Open fire atm, log burner is one of the nearterm projects...

+ empty the loo cisterns? I had one of those crack in a house in the uk
that I had left empty.

[1]never sure if there's supposed to be an s or not.

 

Indeed. The one at 'the chateau' has it's own water service valve
which speeds up the process before finally turning off the main stop
tap.

 

The semi-official advice was singular. Since it sounds odd using a
singular to describe a plural quantity, it was left up to the user. The
advice was un-heeded by most.