We have heat in our house.
Oh, happy day!
We’ve had our wood stove, which does a wonderful job of heating the kitchen, since last winter.
There was a boiler in the house when we bought it, but we assumed it was old and decrepit.
We were wrong.
When the guy cleaned our chimneys this summer he also cleaned the boiler. He offered to come back and show us how to use it, but, as it was August, and hot, we brushed it off.
Last week, when the current cold snap moved in, we decided we should take a look at at. Since we opened up the rest of the house we need more heat.
First, mon mari checked the fuel tanks.
Two of them, 500 litres each.
Very good.
They were connected at the bottom so that one fed into the other and then the boiler.
Also, very good.
The connecting hose had been cut in order to drain them, so now neither one held more than 2 litres.
Not good.
Project # 1. Buy a new hose, fittings, and reconnect the tanks. Done, by mon mari.
Project # 2. Find fuel, arrange an account over the phone, order said fuel and give directions to get it delivered…. All in French. (Phone calls are hard…) Done, by moi. The driver even managed to find us after only going to one neighbor first!
I’m so proud!
Project # 3. Turn it on.
This was the tricky part. The instructions are in French.
Mon mari, who knows about these things, doesn’t read French.
I, who know nothing about these things, can read French but, as I wouldn’t understand it in English, why would I understand it in French?
Mon mari could get it turned on, but it would only run for 5 minutes, than shut itself off.
To make a long, and decidedly tense, story short, eventually we took the manual, a magnifying glass and a torch (flashlight) and squeezed ourselves into the little room that houses the boiler.
Turns out this is a state-of-the-art boiler with a programmable electronic regulator thingy….
We can set the on/off times and temperature by day of the week.
After about an 45 minutes of reading, translating and button pushing, in this semi-dark closet, we got the boiler all figured out and programmed.
Mission accomplished.
Still didn’t work.
It came on but the water wasn’t circulating (we have hot water radiators).
I left… I could do no more.
Mon mari, after I left, applied what he calls ‘a little hammer persuasion’ to the pump.
He may have been a bit frustrated….
It worked.
That night we had actual heat in the radiator in the room we use as a bedroom.
I was so relieved….
I almost had to get out the long-sleeve, high-neck, heavy flannel nightgown.
And I’m not old enough to wear that…..
Of course, the hoses to the other radiators were cut to drain the water – rather than merely disconnected.
Tomorrow, reconnect the radiators to the water pump.
That’s pretty much how it goes, chez nous….
One accomplishment creates two unexpected projects.
It’s a wonder we get anything done.
This is what I did with my last few cherry tomatoes… and sage.
Sage not only goes well with turkey but it’s great with pork and most fall vegetables. Use fresh if you can get it, if not, at least try not to use some that has been in the cabinet for years 😉
The recipe, Pork Chops with Tomatoes and Sage, has been updated, nutrition information added, and re-posted here: Pork Chops with Tomatoes & Fresh Herbs.
Tomorrow – the update.
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LOL on the idea that just because you can read something in a language means you can understand it! I know *exactly* that dilemma. And have solved it the same way, by translating it to someone who can understand it. And cool you have a state-of-the-art boiler! That is amazing, considering the state of the house when you moved in!
Yummy flavors in the recipe! We’ve just had several frosts, which we don’t normally get until into November, so I’ve had to take the rest of my tomatoes down, but the sage is still there. It’s a good thing I didn’t plant a fall garden like I intended to, or everything would have gotten killed before it really had a chance to get going. The only thing still doing well is my Siberian tomato.
So glad you have heat. It will make the Winter so much more palatable. We have had to rely on a wood stove before and it can be smuggly enjoyable for about three days and then the reality of what it entails sets in. Shades of living in caveman days is one scenerio that comes to mind. I am happy you are set for the Winter. Your home is going to be so beautiful when you are finished and we know the pride of doing it yourselves.
I am sure it is not as cold in France as our winters here, but it would take the edge off for sure. Turning on the stove to make delicious meals and baking is good too:D
Tracy, I got lucky and found the manual in English, online! Now he can read it himself.
Penny, it’s much more romantic as ‘auxiliary’ heat, not main, get up in the middle of the night to put wood on, heat.
Val, thankfully, not nearly as cold. I’ve done that bit in Minnesota!