Outside Lights

Apart from individual outside lights for every bedroom/studio, around half of the lights around the house are operated by a time switch in the main electric switchboard in the garage, along with the perimeter lights. The other half can be switched on and off from the upper and lower hallways inside the house.

(sketch)

Outside Cables

All outside electric and telephone cables can be accessed from surface boxes at every change of direction.  Between the boxes all cables run in straight lines.

Cess Pit

There is no sewer network in Nea Makri. A very large cess pit is located near the southern corner of the garden.

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It rarely needs to be emptied. When full it requires three small lorry loads to empty is completely. The large waste water lorries cannot pass through the access road.

Waste Water Pipes

The waste water pipes are continuous from source to cess pit. That means that, very unusually for Greece, paper can be safely thrown in the toilets.

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Access points are fitted in several places in the event of any blockages. To date they have never been needed.

Garden Water System

The automatic watering system takes water from a well located under the artificial grass very close to the small water tank that is next to the boundary wall at the back of the house. That tank acts as a pressure buffer to protect the pipe system from over-pressurisation. Perhaps every three months through the summer the air pressure inside the tank needs to be replenished. That should be arranged immediately a clicking sound is heard from the tank when it is in use.

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Two chambers in the grassed areas, one to the left side and one to the right side of the house, contain pumps that supply a total of five separate watering sectors.

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(details of sectors)

A unit in the basement controls the whole system. Start times and durations for every sector are set via that unit. They need to be reset as weather conditions change. The best mid-summer settings might be 20 minutes for sectors 1 to 4 via program 1 and 30 minutes for sector 5 via program 2. Program 3 is not used. The start time for program 2 should be set at least 2 hours after program 1, perhaps 2 am and 4 am. The system can usually be left off through the winter.

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There are also four taps around the garden that supply water from the well.  Four smaller taps supply fresh water that is metered so they should only be used when clean water is essential.

Television

A digital aerial receives local television and two satellite dishes receive many international channels.

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Balconies

A large balcony on the first floor surrounds three sides of the house so it is always possible to find both shade and sun. The section outside the kitchen is covered.

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The two small balconies at the front of the house were constructed mainly for aesthetic reasons.

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