First topic message reminder :

There has been a lot of chat of late about doing the odd DIY project.

My best recommendation on this is a very firm DON'T.

In my training to become a Health &
Safety Professional we had to learn the good and bad practices that have been apparent in the past. There is (maybe was)a place called the Health &
Safety Exhibition in Horseferry Road in London, in this place there is book called "
Book 13"
. In this book there are pictures of the results of mal/ bad practice. Some;
not all resulted in death. It was an eye opener and I'm not going to inform you all of some of the stupid things that have been done. As a result of some the acts of bad practice people were prosecuted and some sent to prison. I'm not going to stop anyone on here from giving good advice. But I must repeat yet again if you are Not qualified in the task that you are thinking of having done then seek advice and get a quote from a professional. Electricity, Heating, Ventilation and all other types of work have there inherent dangers. Electricity can KILL, Hot water can scaled maybe resulting in death. This is not meant as scare tactics but please be careful. I know one or two of you will say this is not the UK. But the end results are always the same when something goes wrong, there is injury or death. I started my working life as an Electrician working my way up through several trades. I have been away from my vocational skills for such a long period of time that I will now call upon skilled persons to undertake work on my house. Admitted I watch them like a hawk but I have had to accept that things have trod on a march since I was last "
hands on"
.

I feel I keep plugging the same theme but as some TV presenter once said "
Be safe out there"

Hi All
please be extra careful when choosing a lecy to work for you.when i first arrived here i checked the output voltage at my home, over a period of 7days it went from 130v to 340v, i called Eon they sent a (engineer)??? . He was adamant the problem was the house wiring.which i being a professional was not happy about.
That evening i switched on my water heater and the street lights went out.

I went to see the local mayor and showed him he was amazed, and the next morning there were 4 eon vans and a Suit .i told them to look at the neutral return to find the fault . we demonstrated the problem to several wide eyed ,,,,engineers!

I had no power that day till they found a loose connection i had been running on my generator and solar power.

The suit came and said i would be getting a refund on my bills

the old guy next door came the day after and said ,this is the fist time in 5 years he had been able to use his welder to its capacity.

So be careful please even eon can get it wrong

Have fun and live long

Nice one

dave2h wrote:

Hi All
please be extra careful when choosing a lecy to work for you.when i first arrived here i checked the output voltage at my home, over a period of 7days it went from 130v to 340v, i called Eon they sent a (engineer)??? . He was adamant the problem was the house wiring.which i being a professional was not happy about.
That evening i switched on my water heater and the street lights went out.

I went to see the local mayor and showed him he was amazed, and the next morning there were 4 eon vans and a Suit .i told them to look at the neutral return to find the fault . we demonstrated the problem to several wide eyed ,,,,engineers!

I had no power that day till they found a loose connection i had been running on my generator and solar power.

The suit came and said i would be getting a refund on my bills

the old guy next door came the day after and said ,this is the fist time in 5 years he had been able to use his welder to its capacity.

So be careful please even eon can get it wrong

Have fun and live long

Excellent post and this will show how important it is to get it right

dave2h wrote:

Hi All
please be extra careful when choosing a lecy to work for you.when i first arrived here i checked the output voltage at my home, over a period of 7days it went from 130v to 340v, i called Eon they sent a (engineer)??? . He was adamant the problem was the house wiring.which i being a professional was not happy about.
That evening i switched on my water heater and the street lights went out.

I went to see the local mayor and showed him he was amazed, and the next morning there were 4 eon vans and a Suit .i told them to look at the neutral return to find the fault . we demonstrated the problem to several wide eyed ,,,,engineers!

I had no power that day till they found a loose connection i had been running on my generator and solar power.

The suit came and said i would be getting a refund on my bills

the old guy next door came the day after and said ,this is the fist time in 5 years he had been able to use his welder to its capacity.

So be careful please even eon can get it wrong

Have fun and live long

Thank you Dave yet again another fantastic piece of advice You can never be too careful around electrics.

Oddy

Hi all
Not sure if this is the right place to post but here goes.

Does anyone know of a GOOD, safe electrician in the Yambol area, pref one who speaks some english ?
We have had one recommendation, but then the conversation took a turn, on how they had had to teach the electrician not to run cables diagonally across walls etc. So doesn't instill an awful lot of faith really ! We will need the whole house re-wiring and fuse boxes put in etc. Hubby has done full house rewiring before and has studied in the past, but neither of us wants him to touch it out here, because its all so very different (earths etc). Also I couldn't possibly walk around with him if his hair is sticking up on end for several months, after getting a belt. :Clap:No... the insurance just isn't high enough.

Also while on the DIY subject. We have been looking to put in a hot water and central heating system. Run mainly off the petchka, with electrical back up and provision to put in solar at some point in the future. We have had a couple of quotes from engineers working for some of the fireplace and heating shops in Yambol.
However I am a bit worried. It could just be a case of my Bulgarian not being good at all, and their English although good, does leave room for error. Or that I do not fully understand the system they use here and it could be perfectly safe.
The petchka is going to go in the kitchen (one of the oven and stove types, with water tank) on the ground floor. They want to put the emersion heater in the bathroom. An obvious choice you would think. Except the bathroom is also on the ground floor. They said this is normal and its a pumped system so no problem. When I asked about what happens incase of an electric failure (which we have quite often) they said they could add an electrical backup device, IF we wanted ! ? I wanted to know why there was no mention of a water tank in the loft in their quote and they looked at me as if I was mad ! So what happens if the system boils ? ? ? There is no allowance for gravity feed in their system and I cannot see where there is provision for the system to vent if it should boil. All they have listed are sealed expansion tanks ? ? At the moment I am seriously thinking that maybe we should just do it ourselves. But then we have the problem of trying to source exactly what we need without being able to speak the language properly. Not a task I relish trying.
Please could someone who has petchka hot water and heating advise

Hi i would be happy to recommend a friend who is an EVN electrian and also another friend who does central heating off a petchka they have both just completed work in Kabile for an English friend and you could see the work done there,both professional people



Mike

You could contact June (Fletch) I'm sure she will be able to help. Here is a link to her profile memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&
u=47 Or pm me for her number.

Or Esta memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&
u=1186

Some people I know have had some work done by Esta and they were very pleased so try contacting her

Sunnydays wrote:

Hi all
Not sure if this is the right place to post but here goes.

Does anyone know of a GOOD, safe electrician in the Yambol area, pref one who speaks some english ?
We have had one recommendation, but then the conversation took a turn, on how they had had to teach the electrician not to run cables diagonally across walls etc. So doesn't instill an awful lot of faith really ! We will need the whole house re-wiring and fuse boxes put in etc. Hubby has done full house rewiring before and has studied in the past, but neither of us wants him to touch it out here, because its all so very different (earths etc). Also I couldn't possibly walk around with him if his hair is sticking up on end for several months, after getting a belt. :Clap:No... the insurance just isn't high enough.

Also while on the DIY subject. We have been looking to put in a hot water and central heating system. Run mainly off the petchka, with electrical back up and provision to put in solar at some point in the future. We have had a couple of quotes from engineers working for some of the fireplace and heating shops in Yambol.
However I am a bit worried. It could just be a case of my Bulgarian not being good at all, and their English although good, does leave room for error. Or that I do not fully understand the system they use here and it could be perfectly safe.
The petchka is going to go in the kitchen (one of the oven and stove types, with water tank) on the ground floor. They want to put the emersion heater in the bathroom. An obvious choice you would think. Except the bathroom is also on the ground floor. They said this is normal and its a pumped system so no problem. When I asked about what happens incase of an electric failure (which we have quite often) they said they could add an electrical backup device, IF we wanted ! ? I wanted to know why there was no mention of a water tank in the loft in their quote and they looked at me as if I was mad ! So what happens if the system boils ? ? ? There is no allowance for gravity feed in their system and I cannot see where there is provision for the system to vent if it should boil. All they have listed are sealed expansion tanks ? ? At the moment I am seriously thinking that maybe we should just do it ourselves. But then we have the problem of trying to source exactly what we need without being able to speak the language properly. Not a task I relish trying.
Please could someone who has petchka hot water and heating advise

I can put you in touch with a plumber who in turn will put you in touch with a sparky. We have a hot water and heating system without a header tank and it works fine. There are several pressure relief valves and yes it has worked when I over pressurized the system. PM me for details.

Tony

Hi Everyone

Happy New Year :Drink:Hope you all had a wonderfull Christmas !

Thank you for all your replies

I have had the heating system explained to me now, and I think I might even understand it

There is still one thing though, I know I'm probably not grasping something but.....

We wanted to put in a system of heating and water from the excess heat from the petchka. We did not want to have to have an electrically run pump, having to run all the time. Hence the thoughts of a gravity system, or something similar. Electricity is very cheap at the moment. But I have a feeling that once BG has become fully dependant on it, and the EU get more involved, prices are going to go up considerably. Also there's the whole carbon footprint thing.
Why use two lots of fuel if you only need to use one. For years in the Uk we used gravity systems without pumps and the associated bits (UPS etc). As long as they were put in properly they worked trouble free for years. I'm sure there must be a reason for having to have a pumped system with all the additional costs both during installation and long term running.... other than to charge you for things you don't really need. But i can't find what this reason is ? ?
Anyone any ideas ?

We had a system in the UK in an old cottage which was working without any pump but I have to say it wasn't very officiant until we added a pump.

The more modern systems in the UK are fully pumped. They give greater efficiency. If you insist on going for a gravity fed system you will as you say have to have a header tank plus all the down sides that go with it such as inhibitors and lagging plus the thought of freezing, plus there is the ball valve that will cause no end of problems as well. It is nothing UN-common to lose water supply in the villages so if your ball valve goes up the swanny then no water to replenish your tank etc etc. You should really contact a professional. Our system is dual wood/solid fuel and a 3 phase electric, works well with no problems.

Hi Tony

Thank you for bringing up points for me to bear in mind

Yes, I agree there are many problems associated with gravity fed systems, especially if not installed with care. However if installed, balanced and maintained well, they do the job admirably for years. I have now spoken with several heating installers over here about their systems, but none of them have ever heard of a gravity system. And they can only comment on, and push the virtues of the system they always use. So far the only problem I've heard of, that I'm worried about with a gravity system is the possibility of the header tank freezing. As we do get down to around -20 during the night in the winter.

This is our second winter here. Based on that and talking to the locals, we seem to mainly (I say mainly not to tempt fate, no-one remembers it going off during the winter ) have water interuptions during the summer months, and then only when work is being done.

Our electricity supply is a different matter though... it regularly goes off throughout the winter as well as the summer. Oh and we only have a supply of about 16 Amps to the property. Another reason why we are trying to keep our electricity use to a minimum. Its not good when you put the kettle on and an electric ring and all your lights dim right down.

At the moment our electric and water bills come in under 20lev a month, with our self sufficient style of life we need to keep it around that figure and all these little things soon start to add up. We have friends who are paying Well over double that a month just on the electricity. :shocked1:So its a case of weighing everything up very carefully to decide what is an essential and what we can live without. At the moment we have a petchka for heat in the day, a petchka for heat at night and big pots on the petchka for all our hot water. In the summer we have a barrel of water on the roof heated by the sun. Its relatively compfy, but how I long for a nice hot shower in the winter, and hot water that comes out of a real tap. Luxuries I know, but sooooo much more preferable for the long term.

Take care

tonyb60 wrote:

Our system is dual wood/solid fuel and a 3 phase electric, works well with no problems.

Our heating and water system is being installed right now and we wondered if our wood burner can burn coal as well like yours does. It is front opening and is a 33K Prity burner. Also what are the advantages of 3 phase electric, 3 phase is available for our house because our neighbours use it.

itchyfeet wrote:

tonyb60 wrote:

Our system is dual wood/solid fuel and a 3 phase electric, works well with no problems.

Our heating and water system is being installed right now and we wondered if our wood burner can burn coal as well like yours does. It is front opening and is a 33K Prity burner. Also what are the advantages of 3 phase electric, 3 phase is available for our house because our neighbours use it.

Our boiler is a purpose made sectional boiler. These things are used in dwellings and small factory units and are designed to use wood/solid fuel. With a small conversion they can also use, oil and gas. I have seen the Prity style of burner and to me it does not look robust enough for Oil and gas although I would think that any solid fuel would be ok (but I am no expert on boilers). Three phase Electric heating systems are good but rather expensive to run. Biggest advantage of them is that they are clean and virtually maintenance free. Disadvantage is that if you lose power you have no heat.

Hope this helps.

Tony