Mains water adaptors in France
Hi Everyone
My wife and I are touring France for 5 weeks in June and July.We'll be using service pitches for the first time and are currently buying a mains kit etc . I recall reading some time ago that some members had difficulty connecting to the water mains on some
sites and needed to buy different size hose connectors to solve the problem.
Could anyone tell me if this is still the case and if so what size connectors I used to buy.
Thanks
Comments
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It's France. They don't do standardisation very well. Take an assortment.
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I'm afraid I can't offer any advice on what to buy other than to say the range we have for this country was adequate for all French sites we stayed on. Even in this country there are variations, so we carry the two common screw connectors, together with male and female hose lock connectors in case one is already fitted to the tap.
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Those I have used in France have tended to be the standard three quarter inch screw fitting. Not quite sure why they use non-metric sizes!!! Hozelock do a set of connectors with half inch and three quarter inch which screw into each other.
David
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Some of the taps that I have come across have not had a thread to allow permanent connection. Even if you manage to fit a push-on connector, you may find the need to hold a ‘press down’ button whilst water is delivered. Otherwise, one of the combination
of threaded connectors I carry has always fitted.0 -
Many thanks to everyone for the advice.
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Take a selection, it's sods law that if you have only one it won't fit !!
Admiral
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One thing that Great Britain - when it was Great - gave the world is British Standard Pipe thread, or BSP for short. I am told it us universal across the world.
You will find French taps have 1/2 or 3/4 embossed on the side, as in half or three-quarter inch, so our UK Hozelock adapters will fit perfectly well. The French also sometimes use a slightly smaller tap which is what the screw-in convertor in the tap adapter is used for. Tip: buy the adapters in France where they are very much cheaper than here, e.g. about 90p in France, £4.49 or more in UK.
A second tip: when buying the adapter in France buy a doubler with independent taps so that you can draw water for the toilet tank or whatever without disturbing the main water feed. It also avoids any arguements with locals if there is only one tap serving two pitches - and it happens.
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Also take a few Jubilee Clips to fit over the hose. On some sites the UK clip on connector gets blown off, so you may have to make up your own connection. Try and keep the hose out of direct sun as the heat will expand the water causing a pressure increase,
and blow your connector off.0 -
Also take a few Jubilee Clips to fit over the hose. On some sites the UK clip on connector gets blown off, so you may have to make up your own connection. Try and keep the hose out of direct sun as the heat will expand the water causing a pressure increase, and blow your connector off.
My first kit had plastic fittings and at nearly every site the fitting blew off. I gave the whole lot to a french neighbour to apply fittings to and keep. I replaced the connectors on my current kit with brass fittings, suitably clipped and no more problems for the last couple of years. I agree with taking a Y connector as I tend to put water for ice cubes, cooking etc directly into the pan as opposed to pot washing which comes from the van system. You might also find that your Y piece will help if a selfish neighbour insists on leaving their connector on even on a shared outlet. Nowt so queer as campers eh!
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All shapes and sizes as stated above. Actually, from what I have seen in France the idea of a serviced pitch is simply that there is a water supply and, usually, a drain. The tap may be shared and the drain may not be accessible. I am actually not sure that
all of these pitches are intended to be plumbed in. The idea of a serviced pitch overseas is a bit alien, given that the continental idea is to use the facilities provided for washing, showering etc. You will find that people have a bucket for waste and use
very little water. Still, being hooked up will give them something to puzzle over.0 -
Hitchglithch, you have openned an old topic there. Many of those buckets have holes the bottom, and are placed there for appearances. The main culprits are the Dutch, the honest ones will tell you the truth.
I paid €30 for a brass Y connector in France, only to find plastic ones in Wilco's at 50p at the end of the summer.
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Hitchglithch, you have openned an old topic there. Many of those buckets have holes the bottom, and are placed there for appearances. The main culprits are the Dutch, the honest ones will tell you the truth.
I paid €30 for a brass Y connector in France, only to find plastic ones in Wilco's at 50p at the end of the summer.
Ah, a bucket with a hole. Never thought of that!
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Hitchglithch, you have openned an old topic there. Many of those buckets have holes the bottom, and are placed there for appearances. The main culprits are the Dutch, the honest ones will tell you the truth.
I paid €30 for a brass Y connector in France, only to find plastic ones in Wilco's at 50p at the end of the summer.
Ah, a bucket with a hole. Never thought of that!
Same as cracking the cap on a Wastemaster I'd have thought .......
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We are all so different, aren't we.
I just wander with the old Italian coffee pot to the nearesest tap, chat a bit, and eventually wander back with it and put it on to boil. No Aquaroll, no hose lock connectors, no water pipes, and the sites we go to don't have serviced pitches anyway.
Do you really cart a washing machine around, David?
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All shapes and sizes as stated above. Actually, from what I have seen in France the idea of a serviced pitch is simply that there is a water supply and, usually, a drain. The tap may be shared
and the drain may not be accessible. I am actually not sure that all of these pitches are intended to be plumbed in. The idea of a serviced pitch overseas is a bit alien, given that the continental idea is to use the facilities provided for
washing, showering etc. You will find that people have a bucket for waste and use very little water. Still, being hooked up will give them something to puzzle over.Certainly the case on one site we stayed on, the water would have to flow uphill to go down the drain, due to the site gradient.
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I use a watering can, fits every tap. Never too short. Can fill up from community taps in towns.
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We are currently at Camping Vilanova Park just south of Barcelona and have encountered a new variation of tap connector. We are on a serviced pitch and the water supply is provided with a tapered hose pipe connector which requires a jubilee clip to hold our hose in place because of the high water pressure.
Fortunately I have been able to cannibalize a spare gas hose for the jubilee connector.
Another option to cater for on our travels.
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