The plumbing

The DIY plumbing project to fix the leaks in the heating pipes has achieved its primary objective:  the pipes no longer leak.   It took (much) longer than I thought it would, because every time I fixed one problem, a new one would appear.

The pipes carrying the hot water are of the type multicouche, or multi-layer in English.   I don't know if the particular pipes I used are manufactured by these guys, but you get the general idea.   The problem I experienced was that every time I turned off the central heating at the end of Winter, one or more of the joints would spring a leak.  This year's leak was behind the plasterboard in the kitchen so I had to cut out a hole and work in the ceiling space.

I have used compression fiittings in the past, and push-fit ones (described in French as "automatic"), and both kinds have leaked.  So I decided to go with the third type of fittings that are clamped on using big, powerful pincers.  These pincers need a lot of force, and I was seriously concerned about getting the leverage in the narrow ceiling space to close them, but I managed.

I had been avoiding using pincer fittings because the pincers are expensive, but both of the other types I have known to fail.  If this type fails again I'm taking the whole lot out and replacing it with polythene pipes.

Every time I replaced a joint, the one or ones next to it, farther along the pipe, would be disturbed and also start to leak.  So in the end, by stages, I replaced the lot.   I also took the opportunity to put some copper pipes in next to the radiators.  On the way, I  learned the technique of soldering brass fittings to copper, since the first ones I did also leaked.   (You have to heat the brass fitting, and let the heat travel to the copper.  Only then can you be sure that the whole joint is hot enough: if you heat the copper or the copper/brass border, the brass fitting might not be hot enough to melt the solder to the full depth of the join)