Bulletin No. 7. The Dog – why are French professionals so rude?

When we got back from Italy, we had a few predictable problems from the flooding, and the Dog had ceased to work. Now most readers will know what the Dog is, but to avoid confusion here is a picture.

It’s a pool robot which trundles around the bottom of the pool for an hour or so each day, collecting leaves and other debris that falls in. No doubt called the Dog because of things like its sweeping tail, and generally helpful demeanour. (He’s actually a Polaris 280 www.polarispool.com/poolcleaners  if you want the technical stuff.)

The problem was that the rain had got into the locale technique where all the pumps are and submerged his pump. What to do. A swift call to our pisciniers, Haiti Piscines elicited that they diagnosed the pump as “morte” but could not say when they could come up to deal with it as they were débordé (overflowing) with work repairing pools that had slipped and locales techniques which had flooded. Clean the pool with the “aspirateur” they said. Now the aspirateur looks like this.

As you’ll see is doesn’t aspire much. You attach one end to the “skimmer” and it sucks up water. The trouble is that you have to push the brush bit around the bottom of the pool (still sucking up water) with a pole. This takes about half an hour to cover the whole pool and the novelty wears off after a couple of goes.

So we decided to dry out the pump in the garage and see what we could do. Amazingly it ran. So we connected it up again and were overjoyed when it ran again. For about three seconds when it threw the trip switch. All very wet inside again. And where was the water coming from. After dismantling the pump side – the motor was distinctly undismantle-able – we were no further forward. Que faire? Only one thing for it – a Skype video call to Michael Dandridge, engineer extraordinaire and former employee of France’s premier pump manufacturer, Pompes Guinard.

Michael's video examination of the pump via Skype revealed that all was well – thyristor in good shape, capacitor still connected – and Michael’s advice was to dry it out thoroughly in the sun for two days. This we did, and with trepidation put it back together yesterday. But I found I had mislaid a rubber connecting washer. Very annoying. The answer was to use all new all purpose anti-wet device, the silicon gun (it’s coming in handy with the lights – see Bulletin No. 6  - though we’ve ruled out tanking the whole house with it). Thus equipped we connected the pump and were overjoyed again, and continue to be as it works a treat and the Dog is now happily back sweeping up the leaves in the pool.

I thought I’d better get the proper rubber washer however so dropped in to our piscinier yesterday afternoon, to ask if they had one. The whole équipe was there. “Ah non” they said. OK where would you recommend I look for one? I asked. “Ah – not un seul washer comme ça nulle part à Draguignan” they said. And “You might find one in the mud” (Draguignan still looks a bit bedraggled after the inondations) one of them said with feeling. “Well I’ve managed to dry out and connect la pompe” I said. Whereupon they all chorused that I was mad, it would fail again, or intermittently, a new one only costs €300 and you can claim on the insurance, if you don’t have a new one you won’t be insured, it’s all very bad for your pool, keep on sweeping with the aspirateur, and if you carry on with your old pump your pool will explode. “C’est écrit d’avance” (it’s written in advance) said Monsieur le Grand Piscinier (who by the way I like very much) shaking his head. (Even Madame la Grande Piscinière shook her head sagely at me.) After a pause I said “Comme la Bible”. Which did, after another contemplative pause, at least make them laugh. Anyway, so on to Laugier, the builders merchant, where the plumbing counter came up immediately with a small bag of the necessary washers, and I noted copious quantities of other useful pool supplies.   And then on to Nice Airport to collect Lucy (B.Sc, 2:1), who has been staying with us this week, from her 24 hour hop back to London for an interview.

So now the Dog is very happy and here’s a picture of him going about his business.

Any comments on likely pool explosions or future failures of pump Mike?  Or anyone else.