Bill, an update for you, following our exchanges in May (I hope you’ve completed on your purchase?).
Today we have finally had a Microstation Graf EasyOne installed. It took 4 full days for a team to install. They were clearly familiar with Microstations, I’m told that some installers only really know about the traditional fosse toutes eaux , and familiarity with a Microstation was one of our main criteria for selecting the installers. Be warned, the installation temporarily turns your lawn into a battlefield! Nobody should think of doing this other than in late spring/summer/early autumn, I would have thought. The cost worked out at 11000€, per the devis, including plants (to be planted next week) for the ‘nou’ or rainwater garden, which absorbs the treated water (see the first picture).
I think it looks good. The battlefield is actually small considering what it could be. @George1 - we close next week and have a number of tasks to accomplish prior to following up with the fosse septique contractor. I don’t remember a soak on our devis. If it isn’t there I’ll ask. It does make sense because the water quality should be so good out of the micro-station that the affluent is easily handled. My guess is that it will be a late fall or spring project. Thanks!
@Billd I strongly recommend considering including a muddy patch/Noue in the MicroStation plans if possible.
It has been an unexpected hit with local wildlife, eg butterflies and swallows which pile in to access moisture/mud for nests etc. Sad people that we are, we love settling down at 5pm prompt for the twice daily gurgling as the MicroStation releases the clean water into the Noue and irrigates the plants.
My wife has thoroughly enjoyed researching and selecting moisture loving plants that don’t mind being wet twice a day but don’t want to live in water (we eventually found an online specialist provider). Finally the Noue only cost about 440€, ie about 4% of the total bill.
locally, there is often someone with a “groupe électrogène” (generator) one can borrow… neighbours can be so helpful… we’ve all helped one another over the years…
If it’s for something important, the person buys their own… (like we did, never needed it but it got borrowed on occasion)
@SuePJ Sorry to hear of your 10 day power cut, that must have been horrendous.
A very fair question concerning how the Microsystem deals with such an extended power cut…
These systems are designed to cope with short duration power cuts without any particular difficulty. However we would expect that longer duration power cuts typically involve (overflow) discharges of water that are perhaps not quite as clean as normal, whilst the ‘solids’ remain safely inside the system, as per normal. We plan to raise this specific question with the manufacturer when they come to start their annual maintenance services in the next few weeks. We had a similar system in the UK, but mercifully never had to deal with a power cut for as long a period as yours.
Not much good if you are not there when the power cut happens. Acquaintances were in the UK when the storms hit. They tried to contact us not knowing we had no power/no internet and so were not receiving their messages.
good grief… when you have something which relies on electric you need some sort of check/backup/guardian.
our village has been cut off for long hours and for days…over the years.
There would be cables running from one house to another, criss-crossing… as some borrowed groupes were plugged in here and there to keep everyone’s freezers up to the mark.
specially for you!